After years of planning, community meetings and debate, Arlington’s planned Columbia Pike and Crystal City streetcar system was scuttled yesterday following a somber press conference and brief vote.
County Board Chair and streetcar supporter Jay Fisette said the voters had spoken in their election of streetcar opponent John Vihstadt, and “political realities” meant that the streetcar project must be derailed.
Do you agree with the decision?
Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
Arlington is thinking far too narrowly about the APS capacity crisis.
Our options should not be limited to property currently owned or leased by APS. With the exception of parkland, all property currently owned or leased by the County also should be considered. Subject to a cost-benefit analysis, so should property not currently owned or leased.
No neighborhood should be immune.
We provided the tax revenue that enabled both APS and the County to acquire title to land, but APS and the County should not be treating that land like private property owners.
Jason Rylander, a leading community activist, has provided a valuable roadmap on how we might approach these issues. In an Oct. 23 letter, Rylander outlines a series of needed changes.
Below is a summary of some of Rylander’s best ideas (Much more detail is provided in his letter).
Expand Evaluation Criteria For New Schools
The current criteria for considering county-owned property as sites for new school facilities are far too restrictive.
For example, why should:
Vacant office space should be considered.
Joint County-APS Planning Process To Locate Best Sites
We need a comprehensive, integrated vision regarding where our school facilities should be located and why. That vision should be developed by combining County and APS expertise in a master planning exercise.
The Arlington public justifiably lacks confidence that our current public institutions are doing the best job estimating future public school enrollment.
Based on the most recently available data, APS now appears to be planning for at least a 32,300-student system. But, because the goalposts keep moving so frequently, the public is rightly skeptical.
Improve Public Communication and Outreach on Potential Sites
It’s long past time to break down the silos between the County and APS.
The current lack of transparency in discussing these issues and presenting them for public discussion is unacceptable. As Rylander explains:
Repeatedly, citizens have been told that certain sites are not “on the table” or “cannot be discussed publicly” due to ongoing negotiations between our county and school governments.
CONCLUSION
Jason Rylander and I don’t agree on every aspect of how best to handle the capacity crisis. For example, we respectfully differ on the extent to which parkland should be part of the conversation. However, the community owes Jason a vote of thanks for his thoughtful recommendations on how best to proceed.
The County and APS need a new start on this issue.
Peter Rousselot is a former member of the Central Committee of the Democratic Party of Virginia and former chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.
The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
On Tuesday, the Arlington County Board will give its annual budget guidance to the County Manager.
First, and probably most importantly, this guidance is almost always ignored when it comes to building the final budget. It is a jumping off point to the six-month budget building process. The Board will not be bound by what it says now when it comes to taxes or spending levels.
As we enter budget season, we hear a lot of terminology thrown around. One of my favorites is “shortfall.”
It does not mean what you think it means. We do not have shortfalls in Arlington. Our spending goes up every year — every single year in recent memory. And nearly every year, it goes up faster than the rate of inflation plus population growth — a standard measure for whether your government is spending a higher percentage of your income each year than it needs to maintain current levels of service.
Think our schools have shortfalls? Not really. Case in point, Arlington schools shook the couch cushions and found enough to buy MacBook Air computers for every 9th grader at three high schools this summer, all from unspent funds.
At the end of every year, the County Board also has tens of millions in extra tax revenue available to spend on non-budgeted items in what is known as the closeout process. The schools get a cut of the closeout money every year as well. This process will also take place at Tuesday’s meeting, but the report outlining how much it will be was still not available online.
Since this revenue underestimation of revenue happens every year, one might think the County Manager would adjust her estimating process. But, she doesn’t. A working theory is that the County likes for projected revenues to create so-called “shortfalls” in order to increase public pressure to raise taxes.
The Board did trim the property tax rate by one penny per hundred dollars in assessed values in the spring. But, our real tax bill still went up by $324 on average this year.
Based on initial estimates reported in the Washington Post, the average single family tax bill is slated to go up by 8 percent next year, or $440, if the tax rate remains the same. It never sounds like too much each year, but it adds up over time.
It is time to stop the annual rite of passage of public relations maneuvers that keep raising our taxes far faster than is warranted. We should see guidance to trim the tax rate again next spring. And, we should start the discussion of permanent guidance to the County Manager to cap revenue and spending growth at the rate of inflation plus population.
Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.
Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
Right before last week’s election, David Letterman’s said in his nightly monologue:
“Take a look at this: gas under $3 a gallon. Unemployment under 6 percent, whoever thought? Stock market breaking records every day. No wonder [President Obama] is so unpopular.”
In three short lines, Letterman encapsulated thoughts of Democrats around the country.
By many metrics, the country is better off than when Barack Obama took office. To Letterman’s metrics, I would add a resurgent American auto industry, millions more Americans with health insurance, extricating ourselves from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (albeit with an escalating military presence against ISIS), and expanding access to higher education and quality jobs.
And yet, on Election Day, Democrats across the country took a drubbing. Even in Virginia, once-invincible Mark Warner eked out only a narrow victory.
Many Democrats wonder how is it, given what is going right, that people could still be so dissatisfied?
The answer, I believe, is simple. People are not necessarily upset with any one metric, one issue, or even with the state of our country generally. They are upset with the dysfunction of our government, which has muted these successes. On Tuesday, people voted against the party in control of the White House and Senate — or in many cases, they didn’t vote at all.
In recent years, the tone of discourse in Washington has been toxic. There is rarely a day without reports about one party attacking the other. Mitch McConnell’s No. 1 legislative goal was to thwart President Obama’s political agenda. President Obama blamed Republican obstructionism for a lack of progress. The media exacerbates this problem by scorekeeping on who’s up and who’s down after each round of finger pointing. And the public is simply left to throw up its hands.
It wasn’t supposed to be this way. In 2008, voters turned out in record numbers for Barack Obama on the promise of a post-partisan Washington — where the parties could come together to hash out compromise on tough issues. Younger voters in particular responded to this positive message.
Yet six years later, little in Washington has changed. If anything, the tone is worse. The 2008 voters are therefore left to question why they should even participate in elections at all.
Political inaction on tough issues simply feeds this narrative. Indeed, all too often our government shirks tough decisions in the interest of perceived political expediency.
For example, on immigration reform, both Republicans and Democrats agree that our current system isn’t working, that immigrants have a role to play in our economy, that we would benefit from more security on our borders, and that the growing influx of immigrants on our southern border has created an unsustainable humanitarian crisis. Though there is disagreement about how these factors should be prioritized in an immigration “fix,” the seeds of compromise should exist.
Yet rather than undertake the tough negotiations needed to reach agreement, both sides were content to let the issue lapse and instead trade barbs over who was to blame. This is not governing, and it is not what we send our representatives to Washington to do.
Last Tuesday, voters took out their frustrations on Democrats. Now that Republicans control both the Senate and the House, I believe they will face the same voter backlash if they do not change their approach. Mitch McConnell’s statement immediately following that election that he wants to “work together [with President Obama] on issues where we can agree” is a good — albeit tepid — start, as was President Obama’s similar overture. (more…)
There are many reasons cited for Arlington County Board member John Vihstadt’s historic electoral victory last week.
Most explanations seem to center around concern about county spending projects. Among them: the delayed and increasingly expensive streetcar system, the indefinitely delayed $80+ million Long Bridge Park aquatics center, the delayed and occasionally problematic $1.6 million Clarendon dog park, and the delayed and occasionally problematic $1 million bus stop.
If you voted for Vihstadt, which of the following, if any, was foremost in your mind in the voting booth?
Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the individual author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
Arlington is a community that has strong tradition of women in leadership positions — in businesses, government, nonprofits and electoral politics.
Carrying on that tradition is something that we cannot take for granted. Fortunately, our community creates opportunities to promote leadership and career opportunities for women.
Recently, the Arlington Commission on the Status of Women, Ballston Business Improvement District, Living Vicky and the Arlington chapter of the National Organization for Women held the 2014 Women in Business Conference titled “Women in Non-Traditional Careers.”
It was a good opportunity to network and listen to panelists in nontraditional careers for women: financial services, law enforcement, entrepreneurship, and corporate executive positions.
Moderated by Maureen Bunyan of ABC7, the panel engaged the audience with personal experiences, words of advice, and thoughts on encouraging women to pursue nontraditional careers.
I believe that we can learn those lessons at a young age. My father tells a story about when I was 2 years old. One minute he was watching me in the front yard and the next minute I was gone. He soon found me at a playground we frequented down the street. Although he helped me to understand risks, he also encouraged me to want to get back to that playground!
I imagine all of the dynamic women panelists have similar childhood stories of independence, taking risks and setting goals, just like I did in wanting to get to the playground.
The event ended with a raffle for an “Entrepreneur” Barbie. Despite her faults, the Mattel doll introduced in 1959 has had nontraditional and empowering careers — astronaut, politician, surgeon, and football coach. In that admirable way, Barbie has been a model for girls and boys to be open to and comfortable with seeing women in all types of careers.
Fortunately, I grew up at a time when women were increasingly encouraged to explore all careers. That helped me decide to go into the “nontraditional” career of politics. In 2014, fewer than 25 percent of elected officials at the federal level, in statewide office, and in state legislatures are women, and only 40 percent of all school board members are women.
A 2013 Huffington Post article cites Census Bureau reports that the leading occupations for women in 1970 were secretaries, bookkeepers, and elementary school teachers. In 2006-2010, the leading occupations, similarly, were secretaries and administrative assistants, cashiers, and elementary/middle school teachers. Leading jobs for men were also similar in 1970 (miscellaneous managers, truck drivers, and production supervisors) and today (truck drivers, miscellaneous managers, and freight, stock, and material movers).
Moderator Bunyan noted that her profession — journalism — has seen increasing numbers of women over time. She remembers when sexual harassment and discrimination were acceptable behavior. Today, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act offers protection to individuals encountering gender-based discrimination such as sexual harassment and direct requests for sexual favors, as well as workplace conditions that create a hostile environment for men or women.
According to Norma Carr-Ruffino, an expert on women in management, economic need drove many women to work. She credits affirmative action for redefining the cultural acceptance of working women and giving people an opportunity to “experience women and minorities in roles that they thought they could never be good at.” (more…)
Peter’s Take is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
In Tuesday’s County Board election, Arlington voters again rendered a decisive verdict on major priorities and practices of the current majority on the Arlington County Board (Jay Fisette, Mary Hynes, Walter Tejada).
The verdict: change your priorities and practices, or we’ll elect others who will.
Independent John Vihstadt won another landslide election by again uniting tens of thousands of Arlington Democrats, Republicans, Greens, and Independents into a broad-based coalition that shares Vihstadt’s policy priorities and rejects those of Fisette, Hynes and Tejada:
MAJOR TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS ELECTION
For Fisette, Hynes, and Tejada
The statesman-like thing you should do now is to vote to cancel extravagant, wasteful and unnecessary projects like streetcars and the aquatics center. Commit instead to redirect our tax dollars toward investments in:
Move forward aggressively with new initiatives to make Arlington’s government far more transparent.
For all other Arlington Democratic elected officials
Tell Fisette, Hynes, and Tejada it’s time to unite the community around the agenda outlined above. Renounce further plans to support a referendum on the streetcar because there is ZERO likelihood that Virginia will enact legislation forcing Arlington to hold a binding referendum on the streetcar.
For the Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC)
You have lost the excuse that Vihstadt’s election in the spring was a fluke. Don’t make the same mistake again. Alan Howze lost both elections because he embraced policy priorities for Arlington (e.g., streetcars, aquatics center) that a majority of Arlington voters don’t want.
Because these policy priorities do not spring from core Democratic values, thousands of Arlington Democrats rejected the Democratic candidate who championed these failed policies. If you keep nominating candidates who advocate these failed policies, Arlington voters will continue to reject those candidates.
Some of the practices ACDC itself adopted after Vihstadt’s spring victory have subjected ACDC to justifiable ridicule. Examples:
Unflattering comparisons to the Soviet politburo continue to circulate. ACDC leadership should renounce all such practices, and embrace the politics of addition instead of the politics of subtraction.
CONCLUSION
It is no longer enough to get elected to the County Board that you be the Democratic nominee.
The Right Note is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.
According to Inside Nova, Kip Malinosky, Chairman of the Arlington Democrats said he was going to try and “reverse engineer” Tuesday’s County Board loss. Malinosky told ARLnow, “…people are obviously unsatisfied about something… ”
“Something?” Not that I am opposed to allowing the Arlington Democrats to waste their time on a reverse engineering project, but I can make it simple for them: Tell the County Board to stop doing things a majority of voters oppose.
John Vihstadt is the voice of the majority in Arlington when it comes to big-ticket spending items. It used to be a quiet voice, but now it has spoken. Twice. Overwhelmingly.
By back of the envelope estimates, more than one out of every three Warner voters ignored the Democrats’ sample ballot to vote for Vihstadt. This after Democrats spun the special election result as merely being the by-product of a lower turnout.
The Board has spun, advertised, paid for friendly studies, lectured, cajoled, and decried opposition on the streetcar. It has not worked. We are not buying it. They have lost the argument. Unfortunately for the voters, the current makeup of the Board still has the votes to move forward — at least for another year.
And, it sounds like they have every intention of moving forward. This paragraph from yesterday’s ARLnow story seems to sum up just how oblivious the current trio of streetcar supporters is:
Tejada also obliquely referred to Garvey and Vihstadt’s rhetoric as “divisive,” saying many of the Board’s critics are “condensing” the issues into “sound bites.” He said he looked forward to “continue to inform details to the community, particularly factual information that it took quite a long time to get to.”
Just because someone opposes you, does not mean they are being divisive. Just because it took you a long time to make a bad decision does not mean it should not be reversed.
The streetcar trio can stay in its bubble and talk only to their supporters, or they can take the vote on Tuesday for what it was. If the Board does not reverse course before next November, we will probably be reading another story about how the “dominant” political party in the county is trying to “reverse engineer” another loss.
Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.
The following letter to the editor was submitted by local resident Bobbie Fisher.
Fisher also wrote about the intersection of race and Arlington politics in a letter to the editor in the Sun Gazette last year.
Last April, high-profiled Democrats like Libby Garvery, Theo Stamos, Peter Rousselot, Frank Thomas and loyal grassroot voters REJECTED Democratic nominee Alan Howze, who “lost badly” by 3,500 votes to Republican John Vihstadt for the County Board seat. The Sun Gazette quoted the Arlington County Democratic Committee chairman:
“We certainly lost. We lost badly on Tuesday,” said Kip Malinosky, chairman of the Arlington County Democratic Party. “We need to do much more to listen, much more to engage, much more to rebuild the trust that has eroded over the years.”
ACDC Chair Malinosky just doesn’t get it! The County’s white leadership has never bothered to “engage” nor “listen” to the issues of Black voters: jobs, minority students trapped in poor performing schools; gentrification of Nauck neighborhood; affordable housing, and the under representation of black-owned businesses.
What has ACDC done for Black voters? As an African American, homeowner and taxpayer there’s never been any open up discussion about the County’s racial disparities. For decades, Arlington County continue to exclude African Americans from elected public office and at senior-level positions in government.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) recently released her new book who is no fan of Arlington. “We lived in a soulless suburb. It wasn’t the right place for us, and we needed a change,” she wrote.
Here’s why Arlington remains a “soulless suburb.”
Barbara Donellan, first female County Manager resides in Fairfax County — not in Arlington! Worse, Ms. Donellan has 19 senior-level leaders who report directly to her. No African-American male or female is employed on Ms. Donellan’s senior-level staff.
This year, four highly qualified African-American Democrats were on the local ballot for public office: Bill Euille (three-term mayor of Alexandria); Charniele Herring; Lavern Chatman and Atima Omara-Alwala. All lost! Not a single black candidate won any support from ACDC, or any significant white votes in Arlington.
Alan Howze,”consistently talked about the need to support our educators and address the overcrowding challenges we face.” Yet, avoids discussing declining SOL grades at Drew School, where he attended as a child. Howze is silent on the growing achievement gap among minority children. In 2013, Drew ranked worse than 80.5% of elementary schools in Virginia.
John Vihstadt may ask tough questions about spending priorities, yet ignores discussing the County’s racial disparities in senior-level positions in government.
So, why should African American residents vote for candidates who ignore the concerns of black voters? Fifty years ago, Arlington County was wrong on racial segregation. Fifty years later African-Americans remain excluded from County politics and in government.
In 1984 Evelyn Reid Syphax, a former Arlington elementary school teacher who served extensively on a variety of elected and appointed boards for schools and civic and community organizations, was often identified as “the only black member of the school board.” Syphax was quoted in the Washington Post: “We have not arrived if I still have to have that distinction.”
In 2014, thirty years later, Ms. Syphax words rings true today, “We have not arrived.”
On Election Day, November 4, Black voters need to stand up to both Democrats and Republicans and demand: “no seat at the table – No Votes!!”
Bobbie Fisher
Pentagon City
ARLnow.com occasionally publishes letters to the editor about local issues. To submit a letter to the editor, please email it to [email protected]. Letters to the editor may be edited for content and brevity.
This month, we asked the candidates from each competitive race on the ballot on Election Day to write a sub-750 word essay describing why Arlington residents should vote for them on Nov. 4.
Here is Republican candidate for the 8th Congressional District Micah Edmond’s unedited response:
The congressional race in the 8th District to replace Jim Moran should be about your priorities and your future. You deserve a candidate that spends no time attacking anyone else, no time talking about their political party and no time looking backwards. Instead, you deserve a candidate that talks about an inclusive future. That’s specifically why I didn’t put a political party label on my campaign literature. I believe all that mattered was telling you my vision, my priorities, and my plan to achieve those priorities.
I believe leaders rise above party and should be measured by results rather than popularity or polls. While leaders should have common principles and values rooted in organizations like political parties, they should be willing to abandon party orthodoxy when it pushes for all or nothing extremes over a willingness to compromise on bi-partisan, practical solutions that achieve progress.
I got into this race last year because I was tired of partisanship that blocked results in Congress on both sides of the aisle. Both were willing to accept sequestration as a partisan political issue to campaign on in the mid-term elections rather than embrace a bi-partisan compromises like the President’s Simpson-Bowles Commission and Congress’ Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, both of which I was happy to serve on as a senior advisor. The failure to enact these compromises proves that while we have real, bi-partisan solutions, we lack real leaders willing to compromise and enact them.
So here is why I would like your vote.
I would be proud to have your vote and represent the whole 8th district. I have continued to make my campaign forward looking and inclusive. With your support, you can trust me to bring a new vision, a new voice and a new energy to making the American Dream achievable again for all people.
Please visit www.micahedmond.com for more information, or email me at [email protected].
This month, we asked the candidates from each competitive race on the ballot on Election Day to write a sub-750 word essay describing why Arlington residents should vote for them on Nov. 4.
Here is Libertarian candidate for the 8th Congressional District Jeffrey Carson’s unedited response:
Simply put, you should vote for me because it’s in your best interest to do so.
(But you’re a Libertarian! Aren’t all Libertarians kooks?)
Let’s take a look at the issues, shall we? Let’s take a look at where we might see eye-to-eye. My guess is we’re going to agree on a whole lot more than you think.
Do we agree that it’s wrong to steal from future generations to pay for things today we can’t afford? Do we agree that our $17.9 trillion in debt is a problem we can’t continue to pretend doesn’t exist? Do we agree that it’s about time Congress got its act together and ran a balanced budget?
Do we agree that there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and that it’s wrong to print $ trillions out of thin air and hand it over to Wall Street in order to enrich the 1 percent at the expense of the 99 percent? Do we agree that it’s time we eliminated all forms of corporate welfare, and that the federal government should not be in the business of picking winners and losers or doling out favors to this industry or that one?
Do we agree that we shouldn’t constantly be picking fights around every corner of the globe, that putting our service members’ lives at risk for yet another war in the Middle East is not a good idea, and that (high-level) a foreign policy of non-interventionism — by way of free trade, smart diplomacy, and honest friendship — might just be the best way to go?
Do we agree that having the highest incarceration rate in the entire world is not something we Americans should be particularly proud of, and that it’s about time we stopped putting people in prison for using a substance? Do we agree that we should be treating drug use — and in particular, drug abuse — as a public health issue instead of a criminal one? Do we agree that the practice of civil asset forfeiture is about as unconstitutional as it gets and needs to be stopped immediately?
Do we agree that we shouldn’t have to worry about being spied upon by our own government? Do we agree that Benjamin Franklin was right when he said: “Those that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”?
Do we agree that when it comes to our children’s education, parents, teachers, principals, school boards, and local communities should have (much) more of a say than Washington bureaucrats and labor unions?
Do we agree that the opportunity for a better life — the American Dream — should be available to those honest, hardworking people around the world who would choose to come to this great country to pursue it?
Do we agree that individuals and families tend to make better decisions than lobbyists and bureaucrats when it comes to our personal lives and financial affairs?
I’m betting we agree on a whole heck of a lot.
Einstein once said: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results.”
If you’re concerned about the direction our country is headed — as I am — and if you want to see meaningful change in Washington — as I do — maybe it’s time you tried something new at the ballot box. Maybe it’s time you voted for a Libertarian.
I really am one of the good guys, folks, and I need your help. I’m asking for your support. I’m asking for your vote. I’m asking you to help me restore some sanity to Washington.
