Opinion

Progressive Voice 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 a national leader in the smart growth movement.

Throughout the country, we are seeing a strong trend for younger workers and older suburban homeowners to choose to move to transit-oriented communities.

Arlington has developed successful transit-oriented corridors — using those corridors as a focal point for development while simultaneously protecting the character of suburban neighborhoods across Arlington.

On May 15, the Coalition for Smarter Growth honored Arlington Board member Walter Tejada with its Livable Communities Leadership Award bestowed annually to those who have made significant contributions to smart growth in our region.

In Walter’s case, CSG honored his work on the Columbia Pike corridor, adding that Walter “ensured that the Columbia Pike planning process brought everyone to the table, addressed the needs of current residents, and placed affordable housing at the forefront.

“Walter demonstrated outstanding leadership in making the case for the plan and the Streetcar, which is essential to supporting the increased density and ridership expected in the corridor, while spearheading innovative housing policy and funding strategies to preserve and add affordable housing in the corridor as it redevelops.”

Note that CSG recognized that Arlington is trying to use transit-oriented development to save, not displace affordable housing, and that we need high quality, high capacity transit to make it work.

In the Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan, we leverage economic forces to preserve affordable housing. By allowing developers additional density, we can also require that at least 25 percent of the new development is affordable housing. The Plan would preserve 6,200 affordable apartments, equal to all the market rate affordable apartments on the Pike.

On Columbia Pike, we are lucky to live in a respectful and friendly community that is one of the most diverse neighborhoods anywhere. It’s a place where papusas and pad thai are comfort food, while the soft ice cream sign at The Broiler is a welcome sign of summer.

The diversity is remarkable to people in my generation, but not to our kids. They have grown up in neighborhoods and schools where everybody is who they are and not defined by their skin tone or accent.  The world can learn a lot from the Pike.

Affordable housing makes the Pike culture possible. Yet our property is becoming more desirable. Our aging apartment buildings will soon need renovation and the easiest route for owners is to move everybody out, install upgrades, and triple the rent. They can do that by right.

To keep the cultural identity of the Pike, we need an alternative — to make it possible, and profitable, for property owners to keep affordable units when they inevitably renovate. It would cost over $2 billion to buy and renovate the 6,200 affordable apartments we now have. We can’t afford that, so to save affordable housing we have to create more property value by allowing more density.

We also need to respect surrounding neighborhoods. By putting taller buildings on the Pike itself, we can buffer our neighborhoods. But we can’t jam more traffic on the Pike and more parked cars on neighborhood streets.

How do you add thousands more apartments and move people more quickly than they can move now? Answer: a modern streetcar system.  (more…)

Progressive Voice 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 1992, I began my morning commute crossing a vast asphalt automotive lot to the Clarendon Metro. This was before Whole Foods, Starbucks, or the Apple Store. Instead, I was treated to gritty wind blowing in my face. There was not much of interest to young people in Clarendon then, nor did residents have many dining and shopping options within walking distance.

But there was a subway station.

Today, Clarendon is a thriving area and the Orange Line helps move tens of thousands of people daily in Arlington and to points around the region.

We have other corridors in Arlington that need transit solutions to reach their potential. Columbia Pike is one such corridor, and it needs a healthier business environment to support a stronger Arlington.

Arlington residents expect a high level of services — excellent schools, public safety, parks and recreation, affordable housing, quality health care options. They also want to ensure lower residential real estate taxes than other jurisdictions.

We can do this only by keeping our economic engine humming. Arlington’s commercial tax base pays half the cost of our services, a far higher percentage than most other places.

We cannot maintain our services if we ignore infrastructure required for economic growth: our transportation system.

Now, more than ever, we need long-term planning and investment to ensure Arlington’s economic vitality. We need to do what is required to attract employers to our County and offset cuts to federal and military jobs, vacant commercial space, and downsized federal agencies.

There is also increasingly vigorous competition as reflected in the National Science Foundation soon departing for Alexandria. Meanwhile, the Silver Line is poised to open. Tysons Corner will attract residents and additional businesses in response to its new transit offerings.

Arlington needs to invest in more and better transit options to attract and retain the businesses that provide our commercial tax revenue, as well as workers who spend money without demanding much in the way of County services.

On Columbia Pike and Route 1, this means a streetcar system. The streetcar will more than pay for itself over time through economic vitality. Such a system will also help us avoid haphazard development while preserving surrounding neighborhoods, retaining affordable housing and improving open space.

What happens if we don’t build the streetcar? The opportunity cost would be tremendous. We will lose out on bringing employers to Columbia Pike and Route 1. We will lose the economic activity that raises revenues needed to build schools and meet other core needs across Arlington.

Why do we need fixed rail? It offers permanence and is far more attractive to riders than other options. Entrepreneurs know this, and they respond by investing. The promised streetcar has already brought new construction and retail activity to the east end of the Pike, with the expectation that a streetcar system will drive demand and business success. East end residents see flickers of light: Columbia Pike as a destination.

So far, this is great, but it could be snuffed out easily. With the streetcar project under threat, and concern about delays in construction, this private investment may end.

By contrast, enhanced bus service cannot meet projected ridership needs, much less our economic needs. Articulated buses (buses with accordion-like centers) are wider and longer but carry fewer passengers and offer less comfortable rides. (more…)

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. It is written by a rotating group of contributors. The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ARLnow.com.

Last year, Arlington Democrats campaigned for statewide and House of Delegates candidates on a message of carrying Arlington’s values to Richmond. During the past two weeks, these efforts have borne fruit, with major progressive actions taken by our governor and attorney general, both of whom were elected with strong support from Arlington voters.

Today, I focus on Attorney General Mark Herring’s announcement last month that instantly provided access to higher education for 8,000 Virginia residents who have successfully completed high school or its equivalent and who were brought to the United States as children by parents who were undocumented immigrants.

These students, called Dreamers (named after the DREAM Act), can now qualify for in-state tuition at Virginia’s public colleges and universities. With his two-page letter, Mr. Herring broke through a logjam in the General Assembly that had seemingly stalled progress indefinitely on the Virginia Dreamers’ access to higher education in the state where they grew up and achieved K-12 academic success.

From a policy perspective, Mr. Herring’s decision is beyond common sense. Dreamers are children whose status as undocumented immigrants was most often not a choice of their making. Indeed, in many cases, these children came to the United States as babies. Many may not even know the circumstances of their arrival in the United States. Yet they have been successful students and contributed to the vibrancy of our communities in many ways.

Dreamers have completed their education at Virginia high schools, in many cases with honors. They have maintained a clean record. They want to become even more productive members of society by going to college and getting a degree. Put simply, these are the type of productive Virginians that we want and need in our communities.

By gaining admission to Virginia’s institutions of higher education, they will not only enrich those colleges and universities through their hard work and desire to succeed, but they will also have the opportunity to remain in our Commonwealth and positively contribute to our economy and workforce — following the path of hard working immigrants seen throughout the American experience.

Long before Attorney General Herring’s action, Arlington led the way as a champion for Virginia Dreamers.

School Board Member Emma Violand-Sanchez is the chair of Arlington’s Dream Project, dedicated to encouraging and supporting promising immigrant youth in their pursuit of higher education through mentoring, scholarships, advocacy, and community outreach.

Our Del. Alfonso Lopez and state Sen. Adam Ebbin have been patrons and champions of the DREAM Act as General Assembly members. Our County Board, led on this issue by Walter Tejada, has made passage of the DREAM Act a legislative priority for Arlington.

I am proud to live in a community that not only speaks about its values of inclusion and diversity, but takes steps to translate them into action.

Republicans in the General Assembly, by contrast — and indeed, some right here in our community — have decried Attorney General Herring’s decision as overreaching. (more…)