Op-Ed: Herndon Needs To Face Shared History And Current Reality

This opinion piece was written by Town of Herndon Councilmember Donielle M. Scherff.

In the spring, Herndon lost a rite of summer when the Herndon Festival was cancelled indefinitely. The Town was unable to sustain the staff-heavy requirements it so staff made the decision to call it. On all sides, people were understandably unhappy. While I will miss the music, rides, and ending up at Jimmy’s with my neighbors as much as the next person, I decided to see this not as a complete loss, but as an opportunity for a reboot:

How do we offer and maintain a full complement of activities and amenities without overburdening our staff and police? As long as we are thinking about change, what do we really need and want from our community events? It is true, Herndon Festival brought everyone together, but in talking to constituents and partners I learned the other event, a Friday concert series, left some feeling unwelcome in the middle of Town all summer. Taking this into consideration along with the results of last year’s business and resident surveys, it was clearly time to get to work.

Belonging Matters

I reached out to the partner that hosts the concert series with a simple ask: can you make some room for music that has more broad appeal to our community? I shared the context of my ask and asked for their ideas. Sitting a Town space made available to the partner, meeting about an event the Town (read: taxpayers) contributes to; one that limits the ability to host any other weekend summer events — my outreach was flatly turned down. I was shocked, but only temporarily.

Stepping back, I realized this is a microcosm of a larger problem. How do we treat one another in big and small ways and who gets to belong? How do we hold our partners and organizations accountable if they demonstrate an academic or public relations-only understanding of value of inclusion, but don’t work toward achieving it when they are called on? And if there is this much resistance to making listening to music on the grass in the summertime more inclusive, what is happening in spaces critical to opportunity and wellbeing?

One Fairfax

The good news is, we have a guide to how we govern and manage to advance equity and inclusion. One Fairfax, the policy that directs how Fairfax County does business; a policy I was on the roundtable to draft and implement, applies. Is calls us to:

• Face our history and our current reality
• Understand where we are and what we want for the future
• Establish clear priorities and making explicit choices
• Commit to bold and innovative approaches, and
• Meaningfully engaging community and key stakeholders

Town Council drafted and adopted a strategic plan establishes clear priorities to inform our choices and actions. In support of One Fairfax, the plan includes fostering a secure, interconnected community. It calls us to celebrate diversity.

We have stated our vision and values. Now we are faced with the work of achieving them as a community and a municipality — and includes being accountable for who we partner with. Our partners have the power and platform to help move us forward as a community. When they don’t, and that is allowed to stand, where does that leave us? For a town, it leaves us behind. For our community, it leaves people out. Both are unacceptable.

The Town of Herndon is a minority majority community according to the Census. In the past there have been race issues so inflamed they caught national attention. More recently, collective work is being done to prioritize the inclusion, safety, and participation of all people who live here. This is systemic, ongoing work. It is characteristically slow. Each step we take matters, including this one. We need to be intentional with our partnerships and resources to foster unity in our community. This year, Council approved a program to diversify our portfolio of partners, and in an economical, equitable way, give residents some fun back. It is beginning to yield results but it will take some time.

There are still keyboard warriors ripping up the Internet, insisting this is about changing a time-honored, yacht rock-only tradition. But that was never the case. There's room for everybody (and the door is still open to this partner and all others). Keep 20 weeks of summer exactly the same. Then on a few occasions, listen to something else. I would give the same advice to the reluctant partner; step out of the echo chamber, and listen to something else. Be the change.

It is time to walk the walk we outlined in our strategic plan and in One Fairfax. My intention to help Herndon be the best it can be by lifting up and serving the people who live here. My expectation is that anyone who lives, works, or does business here will do the same—and if they can’t, that they will get out of the way. Like Robert E. Simon said, change is going to come. I just hope we can find the collective will to usher it in with grace.

Hon. Donielle M. Scherff, Councilmember

Town of Herndon, VA

PS-Don’t believe the hype; you can the Freedom of Information Act allows you access to ALL

public documents, including council communications. You can see all of this for yourself.