Progressive Voice

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By Lawrence Roberts

In the March 31 Progressive Voice column, I explored the impact of the Dillon Rule on Arlington County – how Arlington cannot exercise its governing will unless the governing authority has been provided by the Virginia General Assembly. Moreover, the General Assembly can pass laws preventing localities from addressing matters of concern to the locality.

Perhaps the most publicized recent action by a state to prevent a locality from acting was the passage in North Carolina of HB2 (called the “Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act”).

Much of the news coverage about HB2 focused on the requirement that people (including transgender individuals) use bathrooms that correspond to the gender on their birth certificates and the restrictions on the rights of LGBT individuals to sue in state court to address discrimination.

But the bill was passed in a rushed special session hurriedly called to invalidate an anti-discrimination ordinance recently adopted by City Council of Charlotte, the state’s largest city.

Not only did the state legislature reverse Charlotte’s expansion of LGBT rights, but it also banned North Carolina cities from raising the minimum wage.

North Carolina’s governor quickly signed HB2 into law, only to face backlash from a broad spectrum of interests including major businesses and academic institutions.

While the Governor has now taken steps to give state employees more nondiscrimination protections, the invalidation of Charlotte’s ordinance and ban on local minimum wage increases remain in place.

One difference between North Carolina and Virginia is that in North Carolina the same party controls both the state legislature and the Governor’s office. By contrast, in Virginia Republicans control the General Assembly while Governor McAuliffe is a Democrat.

In the March 31 column, I identified bills vetoed by Governor McAuliffe that would have limited local authority or expanded state control in ways contrary to the view of a large percentage of Arlingtonians.

Over the past two weeks, before the veto deadline, the Governor wielded his veto pen to stop other legislative initiatives that would either assert state authority or restrict local self-governance in ways that most Arlingtonians would consider inconsistent with their values.

Measures that would have become law but for the Governor’s veto (as those bills were described by the Governor) include:

1) HB481 and SB270 attempt to prohibit the release of individuals in custody if those individuals are suspected of violating U.S. immigration laws where the bills are intended to communicate a sense that non-citizens are to be feared and should be treated as more dangerous than other persons;

2) HB516 would interfere with local school board policies and have the state require schools to identify material that is “sexually explicit” contrary to the state’s long policy of entrusting curriculum management to local school boards;

3) HB518, HB389, and HB8SB would undercut local school boards’ constitutional authority to determin how to assign students to schools;

4) HB1234 would permit school security officers who are not employees of a local law enforcement agency to carry firearms in schools without ensuring adequate training; and

5) SB626 and HB766 would eliminate the application and training requirements before carrying a concealed handgun in ways that would encourage victims of domestic violence to introduce deadly weapons into an already dangerous situation.

In all, Governor McAuliffe vetoed 32 of 811 bills passed by the General Assembly – more than any Virginia Governor since Jim Gilmore in 1998.

The Governor’s vetoes will be considered by the General Assembly during a Reconvene Session to be held on April 20. Two-thirds votes of both the House of Delegates and State Senate are required to override the vetoes.

Arlingtonians will be left to consider how different the state and County would be if, as in North Carolina, a conservative legislature does not have to contend with a progressive Governor.

That will be the central question facing Arlington voters in 2017 when Virginia will elect a new Governor and the 100 House of Delegates seats are up for election.

Larry Roberts is a 30-year resident of Arlington and an attorney in private practice. He chaired two successful statewide campaigns and is a former Chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By Abby Raphael

One in five women has been sexually assaulted while in college, according to a 2016 report of the Bureau of Justice Statistics. This statistic does not begin to capture the reality of being a victim of sexual assault. At Duke University, students organize an annual photo exhibition of survivors. These stories about the assaults, and the reactions of friends, family, and campus officials, can be found at: https://www.facebook.com/dukebreakingout.

Recognizing the serious problem of campus sexual violence, Governor McAuliffe established a Task Force on Combatting Campus Sexual Violence in 2014, chaired by Attorney General Mark Herring. The Task Force issued its report in May 2015, with 21 recommendations focused on providing a coordinated and trauma-informed response to survivors of sexual assault, improving campus policies and procedures, and minimizing barriers to reporting.

The 2016 Virginia General Assembly acted swiftly to enact legislation based on many Task Force recommendations, including development of curricula on trauma-informed sexual assault investigations; new requirements for the storage and analysis of Physical Evidence Recovery Kits to assist in the prosecution of sexual assault cases; enhanced information-sharing between universities and local law enforcement agencies; and wider participation by campus officials in Sexual Assault Response Teams, convened by local Commonwealth’s Attorneys.

The Governor’s Task Force also addressed prevention of sexual assault on college campuses, recognizing that education should start in elementary, middle and high school, with a focus on healthy relationships. Such education efforts not only can help prevent sexual assault in college, but also address the reality that middle and high school students also are victims. According to the U.S. Department of Education, one in five female high school students reports being physically harmed and/or sexually abused by a dating partner. It is important to note that male students also are victims of sexual assault in secondary school and college.

In Arlington, much work is being done to promote healthy relationships and prevent sexual assault involving our young people. This includes the Arlington Public Schools (APS) health curriculum taught through tenth grade. In December 2015, APS partnered with PAVE (Promoting Awareness | Victim Empowerment), a national non-profit, to host a national SafeBAE Summit. SafeBAE (Before Anyone Else) is a national campaign to raise awareness about sexual assault in middle and high schools.

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Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

When following issue discussions in Arlington, it seems that most people understand that federal law is the supreme law of the land and that County actions cannot contravene federal laws pursuant to the “supremacy clause” of the U.S. Constitution.

However, it is not as well known how Arlington’s actions are constrained by state law.

Most states have adopted “home rule” provisions that permit local governments to act in any way that is not specifically precluded by state laws.

By contrast, Virginia adheres closely to the “Dillon Rule” set forth by an Iowa Supreme Court Justice in the 1860s.

The Dillon Rule essentially holds that states hold all governmental power not conferred to the federal government by the U.S. Constitution and that local governments have NO power to act unless given that power by the state.

Virginia courts have concluded that local governments in Virginia have only the powers that are specifically conferred on them by the Virginia General Assembly; those powers that are implied from a specific grant of authority; and those powers that are indispensable to the purposes of government.

Early in the 21st century, the Virginia Supreme Court invoked the Dillon Rule to invalidate Arlington County’s attempt to expand employee health insurance benefits to domestic partners who were then prohibited from marrying under the state constitution.

Why does any of this matter?

Because the General Assembly in Richmond recently concluded a session in which it passed a number of bills that would either set state authority or restrict local self-governance in ways that many Arlingtonians would consider inconsistent with their values.

The only reason these bills are not likely to become law is because Governor McAuliffe has vetoed them and there are not enough General Assembly votes to override those vetoes.

Here are some of the measures that would have become law but for the Governor’s veto (as those bills were described by the Governor):

1) SB41 would shield from civil liability those who actively discriminate against same-sex couples;

2) HB1090 would harm tens of thousands of Virginians who rely on the health care services and programs provided by Planned Parenthood health centers by denying them access to affordable care;

3) HB1371 would prohibit Virginia localities from making their own decisions to improve wage and benefit conditions;

4) HB264 would prohibit local governments from adopting a wage floor for contractors that is higher than state or federal requirements;

5) HB1096 and HB382 would make Virginians less safe by eliminating common sense restrictions on the possession of firearms in or around state office buildings;

6) HB9 would require local registrars to deny voter registration applications submitted by eligible Virginians with non-material omissions;

7) HB298 and SB44 would extend costly and ineffective coal tax credits, while SB 21 would bar Virginia’s Department of Environmental Quality from submitting a plan to comply with the EPA’s Clean Power Plan; and

8) HB587 would override the authority of local governments in order to prevent them from deciding whether to remove or alter symbols of the Confederacy.

Most Arlington residents would agree with the Governor’s vetoes. As evidence, in the 2013 gubernatorial election Terry McAuliffe received 76.4% of the two party vote in Arlington – over 33,000 more votes than his opponent Ken Cuccinelli.

Yet Governor McAuliffe’s statewide margin over his opponent was only 56,435 – winning 51.4% of the two party vote compared to Cuccinelli’s 48.6%.

Stated another way, a switch of only 28,218 votes (out of nearly 2.1 million) from McAuliffe to Cuccinelli in 2013 would almost certainly have resulted in all of the bills described above becoming state law.

The power of the veto pen is on display this year. But for Arlingtonians who agree with the Governor, the need to be cognizant of and engaged in state politics, elections, and governing should be apparent.

Larry Roberts is a 30-year resident of Arlington and an attorney in private practice. He chaired two successful statewide campaigns and is a former Chair of the Arlington County Democratic Committee.

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By Andrew Schneider

2016 is a year of elections – from the highest office in the land to positions as a Civic Association President in Arlington.

After serving six years as Yorktown Civic Association President, I look forward to the tenure of my elected successor.

Our civic association is located in North Arlington encompassing neighborhoods near Yorktown High School. Within its borders are more than 1,000 households. What did I learn during my tenure? The lessons ranged from the profound (people care!) to the exhausting (this is a lot of work!).

Above all, I learned that running anything is not that easy. Lining up volunteers, writing newsletters, generating community engagement, and scheduling meetings takes time, focus, and attention to detail. Yet, it does lead to interesting opportunities to make a difference — use permits, sidewalk projects, interacting with the County, etc.

I also learned that it’s worth it. The Civic Association provides a voice for County residents at the most fundamental level.

Right before I took office, we were dealing with a major issue in our neighborhood about a restaurant also serving as an after-hours nightclub. The neighborhood activated and the nightclub activity was curbed. Similarly, the Civic Association had been intimately involved in the reconstruction of Yorktown High School, Greenbriar Park, and additions to Marymount University.

Without the Civic Association involvement, basic civic input would have been muted and funneled through more bureaucratic channels.

More recently, Yorktown has been active in helping guide improvements to Chestnut Hills Park (Harrison Street Park), been a founding partner in the Lee Highway Alliance, opposed and worked (to no avail) to prevent the opening of TitleMax, and been engaged in the ongoing conversation about the future of Fire Station 8.

I learned that there are many dedicated County Employees. As President, I engaged with the full gamut of County employees, ranging from Code Enforcement, Law Enforcement, elected officials, and Parks and Recreation staff. Almost invariably, our County employees were responsive, collaborative and dedicated.

We didn’t always agree or get answers as quickly as we wanted, but I believe on the whole we are very well served by County government. One example is the County’s positive response to our efforts to improve conditions and code enforcement at the Garden City Shopping Center.

From that, I also learned that change is hard. My primary goal as President was to work with neighbors, business owners, landlords, and the County on the overall appearance and cleanliness of the Garden City Shopping Center. We have seen improvements. Several new businesses have moved in. But vacancies remain, trash is an ongoing issue, and the parking lot remains difficult to navigate.

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Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz

I am proud to call myself an Arlingtonian. One of the reasons for this pride is that I believe our community recognizes the importance of creating opportunities for all to succeed. Ours is a community that proactively gets involved in the process of effecting positive change.

As a result, we have done very well as a community from a macro socio-economic perspective. However, as a community we have a lot more to do to create conditions whereby that success develops more broadly – especially for communities of color to prosper in ways that are more equitable while also benefiting the entire community.

This can be seen from a closer look at poverty in Arlington County. Overall, the County has a low income poverty rate (6%). That rate is less than half of the percentage of households living in income poverty across the United States.

Yet African Americans and Latinos face a different income situation in Arlington. Their poverty rates are 14.7% and 15.4%, respectively.

Moreover, while the median household income in Arlington is approximately $103,000, the median household income for African Americans is approximately $60,000 and for Latinos approximately $63,000.

Another indicator of the socio-economic wellbeing of a community is the ability of its residents to deal with an adverse personal financial event. According to a new data analysis from Family Assets Count — a project of the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) and the Assets & Opportunity Initiative — more than one of every five Arlington households (23%) is financially vulnerable. Communities of color fare even worse: 50% of African American households and 58% of Latino households are poor in terms of liquid assets.

A household is considered to be liquid asset poor if it does not have enough savings to live above the poverty line for just three months if they face loss of a job, a medical crisis, or a similar substantial income disruption.

As a result, one out of every two African American and Latino households in Arlington live in a state of persistent financial insecurity, one emergency away from falling into debt, losing a home, or suffering from poverty.

While there is no magic formula to fix problems in life, there are steps we can take to build a stronger sense of household financial security.

Based on my professional experience in working on asset-building and wealth creation solutions for low- and moderate-income families, I have five recommendations that can serve as a good starting point:

• Empower low- and moderate-income African American and Latino youth to maximize their usage of our world-class education system;

• Further position our superb library system as a conduit to provide financial capability services and access to financial capability resources and tools;

• Strengthen and increase homeownership, entrepreneurship and small business technical assistance programs for Spanish and Amharic-speaking residents;

• Lower the number of Arlingtonians who are unbanked or underbanked. Currently, one out of five Arlington residents is unbanked (doesn’t have a checking or savings account) or underbanked (has bank account but still relies on an alternative financial service such as payday loans or check-cashing;

• Raise awareness of tax credits for low-income residents in order to attract further federal monies to our community, especially associated with the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and the Savers Tax Credit.

Let’s celebrate financial and entrepreneurial successes in our community. Let us also recognize that we can simultaneously provide opportunities for many others to succeed. More can be done to make our vulnerable residents less so, and enhance financial acumen to broaden our prosperity.

We can be a stronger community and a more stable and equitable community by recognizing vulnerability and sharing more broadly the tools for success.

I look forward to being part of our collaborative approach to benefit all in the community. How about you?

Joseph Leitmann-Santa Cruz works for an asset-building organization in Washington, D.C. and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Arlington-based non-profit organization Dream Project.

Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By Mary Rouleau

We have seen mounting evidence and substantial reporting about the growing income and wealth (net worth) gaps nationally. These gaps have become a key theme in this year’s Presidential election. They have also been picked up more and more in local coverage.

Less reported — and perhaps less understood – are the opportunities for economic mobility in our society and the factors that influence such mobility. Economic mobility measures movement up or down the income ladder throughout a person’s life (intragenerational mobility) or relative to their parents (intergenerational mobility).

Income inequality and the wealth gap have both grown. The opportunities for intragenerational and intergenerational mobility have not improved – which may be one of the reasons for growing income and wealth gaps. While upper incomes grow, people with lower incomes find themselves stuck on the same rung of the economic ladder.

To reverse the income and wealth gaps, we will need to generate opportunities for economic mobility.

What can be done on the local level to create and sustain economic mobility?

It starts with housing, which is the primary portal to education, jobs, and transit — or, in other words, to opportunity.

The Urban Institute conducted a recent review of how housing policy has an impact on economic mobility.

The review noted that “housing policy can play an important role in improving the economic well-being of low income households….” Yet, “housing policy can also impede progress when families do not have access to affordable, safe and stable housing and when economic and racial segregation leave some communities with reduced financial, social and human capital….”

At its core, stable affordable housing enables children to have better cognitive development and improved learning. This success, in turn, reduces parents’ stress, allows families to maintain relationships, and helps build social connections. Through these relationships and connections, it is easier to identify and access resources for training, education and enrichment.

By contrast, when policies trap people in unstable housing, poor schools, few jobs, and a lack of community assets and social institutions we see individuals being unable to ascend the next rung of the economic ladder. This serves to “perpetuate the cycle of poverty for the next generation.”

The type of poverty and opportunity gaps that are generally the focus of study are found in large areas of concentrated poverty in cities and rural areas. Unstable housing, poor schools, few jobs and a lack of assets doesn’t sound like Arlington.

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Progressive Voice is a weekly opinion column. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of their organizations or ARLnow.com.

By: Alan Howze

Last night, the County government and Arlington Public Schools held a joint community forum on how to improve snow removal. No doubt, there was a wide range of suggestions, and with global warming contributing to more frequent mega-snows it is good to see that County leadership recognizes that its approach to snow removal needs to adapt.

How well did the County respond to the blizzard? Let’s look at the numbers:

376      Lane miles maintained by Arlington (excludes VDOT and federal)

4          Days to complete first pass of all Arlington roads

254      # of vehicles – county and contractor – involved in the cleanup

That amounts to 81 feet of roadway cleared per vehicle per hour.

In the spirit of yesterday’s forum, I offer suggestions for how the County and APS can get the community up and running more quickly.

1 – Use data. Many cities and state transportation departments have implemented GPS systems that track vehicles – including snow plows. Real-time information is made available to emergency managers and residents. County government and APS should implement a unified GPS system for their respective fleets – and work with contractors to improve data collection.

Better data, made publicly available, would speed snow removal and lower costs, and the benefits would extend beyond the snow season, providing year-round information to improve county services. The benefits of better data for snow clearing include:

1. Real-time snow clearing information for residents, emergency managers, and fire / EMS

2. Information to improve operations – for example, it would allow for analysis of driver behavior, time spent plowing, filling up with salt, refueling, shift switches, towing out other trucks and more

3. Data upon which to make route adjustments – during the storm cleanup and for future planning

4. More efficient application of de-icing material with less duplication of street coverage

5. Faster clearing by allowing plows to be deployed where needed – with less duplication

2 – Set targets. The County uses a four-phase approach to snow removal – but a process is not a goal. What is missing are explicit service level targets. How about 24 hours to clear roads and reopen schools in snows of 8 inches or less – and 48 hours for larger storms? Or a target to clear 120 feet of roadway per vehicle work hour.

With a clear target, County and APS staff can engineer an approach to hit the mark. Clear expectations would also improve accountability by setting benchmarks for measuring performance.

To budget for infrequent but significant snowfall, money could be set aside in a “rainy day” fund that rolls-over from year-to-year. In years without snow the account accrues and then is drawn down when big storms hit.

3 – Integrate County and APS efforts. As with the County, APS should have clear targets for how quickly after storms it will clear its properties, and then work with the County to develop a joint approach to re-open schools quickly.

Arlington students missed an entire week after the storm. A number of APS schools didn’t see a plow until late Tuesday, a full three (sunny) days after the storm had stopped. And on many streets, County crews dumped giant snow piles onto already cleared sidewalks – forcing pedestrians, including children, to walk in the streets to reach bus stops, metro or schools – and further delaying school reopening.

The community facility study conducted last year identified a number of opportunities for County/APS cooperation, and snow removal is another area where joint efforts could benefit the entire community.

There was much that Arlington did well in the storm. The County made a real effort to provide better information to residents – albeit with mixed results. Staff and contractors worked incredibly hard and should be commended for their effort.

By working smarter – using data, setting explicit targets and coordinating County and APS efforts – our community can recover from the next storm faster, with less disruption, and for lower cost.

Alan Howze lives in the Overlee Knolls neighborhood and has been active in Arlington civic life, including a prior bid for County Board. He is the father of three Tuckahoe Elementary Turtles and a management consultant by day.