Progressive Voice

Progressive Voice is a weekly 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 Laura Saul Edwards

What’s a surefire way to get people talking in Arlington? Tear down an old house and replace it with still another McMansion that will be listed for more than a million dollars on the market.

“In neighborhoods across Arlington last year — at the doors, in coffees, and at civic associations — I heard concern regarding the size of single family homes being built to replace smaller, older homes,” confirmed County Board member Matt de Ferranti recently.

Meanwhile, teardowns continue. Neighbors and passersby watch an excavator methodically rip apart an old house, and they wonder how much the new house will affect the neighborhood, the environment, flooding and school crowding.

In one recent teardown, an approximately 1,500 square-foot home built before WWII was demolished, and all the surrounding trees were cleared, to make way for a new house more than triple the size of the one it replaces.

What can be done about this trend?

“While we can and should respect individual property rights, we also should recognize the impacts large homes can have on our neighbors, including storm water runoff,” de Ferranti said. “We must make sure the regulations are enforced, monitor and update our own ordinances, and work to obtain additional authority from Richmond, where appropriate, to make sure Arlington remains a sustainable place to live.”

The high price of land in Arlington and Virginia’s strong property rights laws generally mean a homebuilder will construct the largest allowable house to maximize economic value. Sales figures validate market demand for these large homes. Moreover, some of Arlington’s small older homes are too decrepit and outdated to make renovation a practical option.

This doesn’t mean, however, the county’s footprint and height allowances can’t be reviewed or tightened. The last time the County Board dug into this issue was in 2005, when Arlington’s 1950 zoning ordinance was amended to reduce the maximum lot coverage for single-family homes.

“Home sizes that were once the theoretical maximum are now the de facto minimum for new home rebuilds,” observed County Board member Erik Gutshall. “Arlington needs to initiate the modernization of our zoning ordinance with a frank discussion of just what character do we want in our neighborhoods.”

Longtime Arlington real estate agent Bob Adamson said, “Affordability is a worthy aspiration. Economic feasibility is crucial. The devil resides in the details.”

Updating Arlington’s zoning and land use requirements for single-family homes could be a genuine success story if it identifies practical, feasible changes responsive to factors that vary across the county, such as topography and lot size — while also honoring the rights of property owners.

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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 Jill Caiazzo

The 2019 Democratic primary in Arlington was a bruiser. On all sides, emotions ran high while the rhetoric ran disappointingly low at times. With the votes now in, the hue-and-cry of the campaign trail has given way to calmer calls for unity. This article is not one of them.

Don’t worry, I’m not calling for ripping up the cobblestones and taking to the barricades either. Instead, my post-primary call is this: Stay passionate, Democrats. Whatever else can be said about this year’s primary, it was passionate! The 2019 primary sparked many discussions about important issues in our community that are too often muted for a variety of reasons — not the least of which is the cacophony of terrible from the Trump-led GOP.

The extreme nature of the Trump-led GOP has grown our already big tent, as people of conscience of all shades of blue, purple and even a little red have sought refuge within the Democratic Party. This is a joy — but also a challenge, for of course such a diverse array of people will not always agree on each and every policy or candidate. To that end, not everyone is happy with the outcome of Arlington’s primary. That’s OK. I, for one, am not asking you to pretend otherwise.

Whether you’re happy or not, by all means, stay loud. Keep it clean for the kids of course, and perhaps try some civil leadership training courtesy of the Arlington Young Democrats. This training seeks to improve community relationships and individual interactions, to foster better understanding of differences across race, class, culture and politics.

Bridging these divides is important and possible only through active participation. So stay loud. Remain engaged. Keep at it. Democrats didn’t lose the 2016 presidential election because we were too boisterous; in the end, we lost because of apathy (with some help from several thousand Russian bots).

Let’s not make the same mistake this time around. Pour your energy left over from the primary into one of the many candidates seeking the Democratic presidential nomination.

Even better — give everything you’ve got to a Democratic candidate for the Virginia General Assembly who best reflects your views. Our entire state legislature is up for election this year, and Democrats have the opportunity to retake the majority and move the Commonwealth forward on issues that matter to your daily life. If you want to protect access to affordable healthcare, improve education, implement gun safety measures, and combat climate change, only a Democratic majority in the state legislature can do it. Help make that majority happen, and ensure that the legislature includes at least one member who really gets you and will champion your key issues.

Building a noisy and diverse coalition of independent thinkers with shared core values always should be our goal. I chafe at the notion that an effective Democratic Party must require its members to move in lockstep. That’s a fool’s errand — not only because it’s impossible, but because its pursuit is destructive.

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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 Paul Ferguson

Progressive Democrats care deeply about the environment, the dangers of climate change, and the scientific data that support it. During my 12 years on the Arlington County Board, I learned that getting public policy changes done takes a practical, pragmatic approach and a clear-eyed view of what’s actually possible.

It is in this spirit that I want to assess the Green New Deal. Climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed immediately, and the Green New Deal, a non-binding resolution introduced in Congress, has gotten more people talking.

To me, the Green New Deal (GND) stands for the proposition that the time is past for half-measures. We must decarbonize our economy rapidly. If we had acted 20 years ago, we would not be in such a precarious situation. However, we delayed, denied and tiptoed around the issue. The 10-year timeframe called for in the resolution is an aspirational goal. The real timeline will be in legislation that comes later.

Those who do not want to address climate change falsely claim that the GND will outlaw hamburgers, air travel and more. This is not true. There are thoughtful concerns about the GND: that it is a laundry list; that it calls for too much, too fast; that it should focus on climate change and not try to solve many social problems at once; and that it should strive to be bipartisan.

I tend to agree with those concerns. I think they point in the likely directions the GND could take as it evolves toward passage as legislation in the next Congress.

As a first step, if there is any hope of bipartisan support in Congress, legislation will need to separate the environmental components of the GND from the social justice ones. Putting a price on carbon and investing in renewable energy are issues we can achieve consensus on. Policies that focus on income inequity are needed but will be more challenging to enact.

Locally I was encouraged when I recently met with Jim Presswood, former chairman of the Arlington Republican Party. Presswood runs a non-profit dedicated to convincing conservatives to address climate change. Democrats should work hard toward a bipartisan approach that accomplishes what science says is necessary.

The original New Deal in the 1930s was not one thing, but an approach toward ending the Great Depression, getting people back to work and restoring faith in the country’s financial system. Many ideas were debated and some were implemented. Some worked for a while, some failed, and some have stood the test of time.

I expect the same from the Green New Deal. It’s time to do the best we know how based on science and experience. Let’s put a price on carbon; invest more in clean energy research; invest more in renewable energy infrastructure; and ensure that the benefits of the new energy economy benefit all Americans, including those now dependent on the fossil fuel industry.

There are many variations on the New Green Deal. There already is a proposed Virginia Green New Deal that focuses on state policy. There should be a practical Arlington Green New Deal, too. Here are a few ideas to start:

• All new County buildings and schools should commit to be net-zero energy. The School Board should be commended for achieving this with Discovery Elementary School, FleetElementary School and Walter Reed Elementary School.
• Arlington County government should commit to 100% renewable electricity for County operations by 2023.
• Arlington County as a whole should commit to 100% renewable electricity by 2035 at the latest.
• Arlington should commit to converting all of its vehicle fleets to electric power.
• The County should commit to being powered by clean renewable energy across all
  sectors by 2050 at the latest.

As President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1939, “The most serious threat to our institutions comes from those who refuse to face the need for change.” Today’s Green New Deal is a call to action that can be modified and refined to achieve consensus. My hope is that all of us will collectively face the need for urgent change to protect our climate and environment.

Paul Ferguson has served as the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Arlington and the City of Falls Church since 2008. He served as a Member of the County Board from 1996-2007.

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.

To inform voters, Progressive Voice asked each candidate in the upcoming Democratic primary for State Senate to respond to this question: “What is your one most progressive accomplishment for Arlington citizens and how does that reflect your progressive leadership?”

Barbara Favola

As an Arlington County Board member, I initiated a coordinated community response to domestic violence and sexual assault; and chaired the roundtable that guided the community response for five years. That effort, now known as Project Peace, continues to educate, protect and empower Arlingtonians.

Project Peace has “buy-in” from the police, judicial system, faith community, non-profit service providers, legal service groups, and the public schools. The goal is to educate the community about domestic violence and sexual assault, enhance the protections offered by the judicial system and address gaps in services. An important component of Project Peace is preventing unhealthy relationships and discussing this topic in an age appropriate manner with both sexes.

As a State Senator, I allocate dollars in a way that ensures a seamless local response to domestic violence and sexual assault. For example, Inova Hospital, with the help of a state grant, was able to expand the number of Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) to ensure that survivors could access the exam without long delays in a waiting room. Additionally, I passed legislation to require that a backlog of Physical Evidence Recovery Kits (PERKs) be evaluated by the State Department of Forensics.

On the prevention side, I passed legislation that requires the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission to include lessons in patron safety for bartenders. This idea came from a Project Peace program that voluntarily encourages establishments to join the “Ask Angela” Campaign.  If an individual feels threatened or unsafe, she can utter the words “Ask Angela” and the bartender is trained to take corrective actions.

The General Assembly established a Sexual Assault Advisory Committee and I have chaired that committee for the past four years. More needs to be done and I look forward to keeping my pragmatic progressive values at the forefront in Richmond.

Nicole Merlene

Integrating our regional economy is a top priority of what I hope to achieve in Richmond. Two years ago, I wrote in ARLnow about bringing more people to the table to achieve local policy goals. Our planning processes were insular with people from different areas of the county talking past each other and, rowing in their own directions with blinders on.

For the past year I helped lead “Engage Arlington” with the County Manager’s office and the Civic Federation. This brought together, for the first time ever, civic association leaders from all neighborhoods of the county, business improvement districts, apartment property owners and developers, advocacy groups representing groups like renters and environmentalists, and various government agencies.

Our problem of not working together and thus creating inefficient systems is not just an Arlington problem; it’s a regional problem.I wrote about integrating Arlington into a regional economy. Arlington is only 26 square miles and by virtue of our size, the solutions to everything from housing affordability to public transportation, business competitiveness, and even creation of more efficient recycling facilities, must be addressed with regional solutions.

To have Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun working in their own silos to try to tackle these regional problems decreases the efficiency that working through state partnerships could help solve. For example, a regional approach to transportation spending efficiencies could be addressed by an improved process between the big picture-driven Council of Governments and the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority, the functional vehicle for transportation funding. With respect to housing affordability, we must regionally increase density and protect renters’ rights, but as we grow be diligent to have adequate infrastructure and schools. I look forward to leading Northern Virginia forward with you and for you — not special interests — to succeed as a region in the global economy.

Merlene is a lifelong Arlingtonian with years of service to the community. She was appointed as an Economic Development Commissioner, has led on the boards of her civic association and the Arlington Civic Federation, and has served as a citizen liaison to the Rosslyn Business Improvement District and various capacities within the Democratic Party.

Sen. Favola serves on Transportation, Rehab and Social Services and Local Government Committees and chairs the Sexual Assault Advisory Committee and the Senate Women’s Healthcare Caucus. She served for 14 years on the Arlington County Board, chairing that body three times; and was recently recognized for her public service from the National Academy of Public Administration.

Progressive Voice is a weekly 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 Tannia Talento

How do you achieve social justice, equal access to opportunities for all, and access to the American Dream? If it is achievable anywhere, most of us believe it could be in Arlington.

We all seek to be accepting and not prejudiced.

But let’s think about what we see when we see a police officer. What do we see when we see a Black or Latino male walking down the street? What do we see when we see a person with a disability? What do we see when we see a White person? Depending on the lens you bring to this discussion, whether it is the lens of having a disability, being Latinx, being Black, being an immigrant, or being White, you will likely view each of these people differently. For instance, what I see when I see a police officer, as a Latina woman who grew up in a working-class minority neighborhood, is fear for my well-being, a potential negative disruption to my day and potential harm. What I see when I see a Latino male is my brother, my father, my uncle or my cousins.

I see the world around me with my personal lens created by my life experience. I have had to remove my personal lens to understand that some people might see safety, protection, and help when they see a police officer and understand that some might see a gang member, an undocumented immigrant, or a potential criminal when they see a Latino male.

Consider what your lens is showing you.

We consider affordable housing in Arlington a mechanism for keeping our community socio-economically diverse. This is another area in which we need to consider our lenses to successfully support affordable housing in Arlington.

For instance, do you know what it feels like to have severe limits in living choices? Limits on where you can buy food, how much food you can buy, and the type of food you buy simply based on money. Consider the limits on the location of living accommodations that are strictly based on an affordable grocery store being within walking distance and a strong public transportation system to get you to work.

Under these circumstances, you do not get to truly pick your neighborhood, your school, or your community. Depending on when a unit becomes available, if it has enough rooms at a price you can afford, and if it is close enough to a metro or frequent bus line that starts early and runs late, your home picks you. If you have never experienced this, how would you know that a bus line that runs every hour versus every fifteen minutes is a barrier to something as simple as walking your child to school before work? If you have never experienced this how would you know that affordable housing in sections of North Arlington, while affordable, may not be a choice for you if you do not have a car, because there is no grocery store within walking distance or a transit line with frequent service. If you have never been low-income, these barriers are invisible to you.

Consider what your lens is showing you.

If we want to bring about social justice, ensure equal opportunities for success for all and access to the American Dream, the first step is to acknowledge our personal lens created by our backgrounds and experiences. The next step is to put them aside and learn about the lenses of others. We need to see through the different lenses that exist within our community so that we can see where the invisible barriers are located and help to remove them. This is how we in Arlington should support and assist each other in our pursuit of equity and social justice, inclusivity, and the American Dream.

Tannia has lived in Arlington for 15 years and is currently serving as Vice Chair of the
Arlington County School Board. She is a long-time community activist and an advocate
for equitable access to educational opportunities for all.

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.

To inform voters, Progressive Voice asked each candidate in the upcoming Democratic caucus for School Board to respond to this question: “The community has heard a lot about issues regarding a fourth high school, the capacity crunch, and school budget. What is a different major issue affecting students’ future success that you would address as a School Board member?”

School Board Chair Reid Goldstein

Arlington Public Schools are rightly considered excellent, and our students’ achievement is remarkable. But the stress on our students, from demanding classes, competition, peer pressure and just being an adolescent or pre-adolescent are showing up in alarming ways.

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is taken by 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th graders nationwide. These are some of the Arlington students’ responses from 2017

• About 340 high school students attempted suicide
• Half of the 8th, 10th and 12 grade girls were sexually harassed
• Illegal use of over-the-counter medications by 6th grade students has increased from 2% in 2013 to 11% in 2016
• More than a quarter of 8th grade students have used alcohol.

This is a big problem and growing worse. To serve our students well, we must do more to reduce their stress.

Student stress is a community health issue that requires a community response. I will continue to support efforts to:

• Push harder on bullying and harassment prevention, making sure every student is acknowledged, accepted and safe;
• Continue expanding the number of social workers and psychologists;
• Support social and emotional learning, particularly in building empathy;
• Teach students how to moderate their stress; and
• De-emphasize academic competition in favor of personal achievement that boosts personal goals.

Programs supporting these goals are essential, not frills.

Students can engage more with each other on similar anxiety topics when they understand that their peers are struggling with the same issues.

Parents need to talk to their children, but empathetically, realizing that the child’s developmental and school experiences are different from the parents’ experiences.

And we all need to pause and remember that we are in this together as teammates, not competitors.

Dave Priddy

Under the Arlington Public Schools’ (APS) 1:1 Initiative, every student in grades 3-12 (2nd grade is shared) will be provided a personal computing device. Providing digital devices to every student is an ambitious and reasonable proposition in light of the Internet age and the workplace demands for digital literacy. Yet questions remain about the most effective use of technology, both in the classroom and at home, for supportive learning, critical thinking and problem solving skills.

On March 28, 2019, APS with the help of the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, released the 1:1 Study (Phase 1): Preliminary Findings survey which evaluates the use of personal digital devices in the classroom, comparing benefits and drawbacks from the perspective of teachers, students and parents. Among the initial findings, the Institute noted that:

• Students are using their devices 47% of the time in class.
• Teachers report a range of 66-85% positive outcomes on student development.

There is difference of 26-40% in opinion from the parents, with the parents questioning the effectiveness of the program.

While the 1:1 Initiative is essential for digital literacy, it is crucial to ensure that all students have a balance of skills that include mastery in collaboration, creativity and problem solving. As lifelong learning becomes the norm, it is essential that interest based learning is student driven, not technology driven.

The success of all Arlington students cannot be solely dependent on learning any single type of technology or digital platform. As a candidate for School Board I will strive to bridge the gap between the frustrations of parents and the perceived effectiveness of the program by making sure that all voices–teachers, parents and students–are included and remained informed as changes in the program are developed by APS.

Reid Goldstein is a 33-year resident of Arlington. He began his service on the School Board in January 2016 and has been the School Board Chair since July 2018.

Dave Priddy is a native Arlington resident who grew up attending APS Schools. He and his wife Melanie have two children in the Arlington Public Schools system. He enjoys playing basketball, tennis and Muay Thai.