The Right Note

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.

Delegates Hope and Sullivan announced they would work across the Commonwealth to cut into the massive GOP majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.

Delegate Hope previewed his stump speech saying “Republicans are killing their constituents.” Hope’s over-the-top reference was reportedly to GOP opposition to expanding the Affordable Care Act and supporting coal.

Setting aside the Supreme Court’s failure to uphold the plain meaning of words as well as the fact there is nothing affordable about the law, it seems that the recent health care ruling breathed new life into this issue for Virginia Democrats. The wisdom of campaigning for this Washington program anywhere outside of the beltway remains to be seen.

Coal not only helps fuel the economy of southwestern Virginia, but shutting down all coal-fired power in the United States any time in the near future would cause utility rates to skyrocket. Higher electric bills impact those at the bottom of the economic ladder with the least amount of disposable income the most. In addition to home heating and cooling bills, it would drive up the price of every other good and service they need. Seems like a losing argument most places across the Commonwealth.

On balance, if Hope and Sullivan are going to bring their brand of being a Democrat to the campaign trail outside of Northern Virginia, GOP Speaker Howell might pay their way to stump for Democratic challengers. Their far left positions may play well in Arlington, but not in most, if not all, GOP-held seats.

Sullivan did argue the GOP would not change unless they lost elections over a specific issue. This is an argument I made about the Democrat-controlled County Board on the Columbia Pike trolley, and it proved to be true.

Mobile App “Saved”

Yesterday’s “breaking news” was that Arlington Public Schools mobile app has probably been saved from budget “cuts.” It seems as if Blackboard is willing to provide it for free.

You have to wonder whether or not the APS staff explored this possibility with Blackboard before announcing it would cut the $12,000 expenditure or whether Blackboard made the offer after APS notified them?

Whether it is a $12,000 mobile app or $1.2 million for Macbooks, the staff at APS owes it to Arlington taxpayers, students, parents and teachers to always look for innovative ways to save money, even though they have plenty of it.

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.

This week the Arlington School Board voted unanimously to add gender identity to its employment and harassment policies. The School Board did so rather quietly, adding it initially to its consent agenda before eventually holding a separate up or down vote.

Also included as part of the policy updates, the School Board made three additional changes related to the hiring of staff that received no coverage either before or after the fact.

On both the goals policy, which describes the staff the School Board seeks, and the equal employment opportunity policy they added “economic status” to the list of things the Arlington Public Schools would not take into account in hiring decisions.

Certainly, this is a change that would have widespread support. It is also almost certainly a change with no practical impact other than to comply with suggested legal language. No one would imagine discrimination of this type currently exists in the Arlington Public Schools (APS).

On the goals policy, the School Board struck “political affiliation” and “affiliation with an employee organization” from the same list. The accompanying memo did not state a reason for these changes other than to “align language across policies.”

While those items were never a part of the equal employment opportunity policy, it seems odd that the School Board would find a need to strike them from our goals.

Does the change mean the School Board now thinks it is ok for APS to consider whether or not an applicant voted in only Republican or only Democratic primary elections?

What about requiring an applicant to be, or not be, a member of the Virginia Education Association or another state’s teachers union as a condition for employment?

No, I do not think Superintendent Murphy will put these items on the job application or that he will assign a staffer to do a political background check. Yes, it is possible a lawyer told them they were better off to have the two lists match exactly.

But goals are just that, goals. It is disconcerting that protecting an APS staff member’s First Amendment free association rights are now somehow less worthy of a mention.

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 CNBC’s rankings, Virginia continues to slide down the list of the best places to do business. Last year, Virginia was ranked 8th. Now, we are ranked 12th. This is consistent with a trend noted in this column in April.

In 2013, Governor McAulliffe campaigned on the platform that he could take his successful business acumen and transfer it to the Governor’s mansion. At the time, many of us disputed McAuliffe’s claims that he was successful in building any businesses, though he always ended up making money for himself. The voters disagreed and sent him to Richmond.

Unfortunately for our economy, the latest business rankings come on top of the recent report that 2014 showed zero GDP growth in the Commonwealth. Last year, Virginia ranked 48th in economic growth according to the Commerce Department, just ahead of Alaska and Mississippi.

Governor McAuliffe may be trying, but it is clear the path we are on is heading the wrong way.

Here in Arlington, it was reported this week that our new Director of Economic Development Victor Hoskins has a plan to effectively cut our office vacancy rate in half over the next 75 months.

Arlington’s leaders should not act surprised at the 21% office vacancy rate today. It is no secret that we are never going to return to spending at 2009 federal government stimulus levels, nor should we. Federal deficits are still running nearly half a trillion dollars every year, and they are projected to rise to nearly a trillion over the next decade despite taking in record levels of your tax dollars. Arlington will also not get back the federal occupants of office space lost to BRAC.

The Board has been aware of this changing federal presence for years and has seemingly done little to stem the tide. While the details of the new plan were not reported in the Washington Business Journal, it was described as ” A mix of much more aggressive marketing efforts, incentives and other government aid, and the help of “frenemies” in competing local governments such as the District and Alexandria.”

Use of the word “frenemies” aside, nowhere does it appear that Hoskins is proposing that the County Board change policies to make Arlington more competitive. For example, abolishing the BPOL tax is not under consideration.

Arlington remains some of the most valuable real estate in the United States. The federal government will continue to provide us with a foundation of economic support, but location is not enough. And to be competitive for businesses, you cannot just throw some marketing plans, incentives and other shiny objects around.

Arlington is learning the hard way that if you are not improving your overall business climate, you are going to lose out to neighboring jurisdictions. Like our elected officials in Richmond, we must create a more favorable tax climate and a regulatory structure that is consistent and not overly burdensome. Whether at the state or local level, the fundamentals count.

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.

A while back, I made brief mention of the County’s decision to take away a travel lane in each direction on Eads Street in Crystal City. While it certainly can be frustrating to wait an extra handful of minutes on Eads Street each day for those of us who live there, it sounds like Wilson Boulevard is even worse, with reports of adding 20 minutes or more to the commute.

The County said it anticipates traffic will improve on Wilson, but it is hard to imagine taking a lane of travel away during rush hour will ever improve traffic flow.

Cynically one might say Arlington County transportation policy is to make it so miserable to drive a car that more people will give up their cars for public transportation out of frustration. The County almost certainly also believes that creating dedicated bike lanes will encourage more bike usage. And no doubt, this is part of the “greening” of Arlington.

Unfortunately, Metro is an unreliable, expensive and often unpleasant experience.  And the eye test on Eads says that increased bike use during rush hour is not happening so far.

The fact is most people are still driving their cars, just sitting in longer backups to do it. The result is more idling while backups occur. Idling means each driver will burn considerably more gasoline which adds cost to their monthly budget and puts more CO2 into the atmosphere. Instead of CO2 savings from bike usage, these decisions are actually going to end up being worse for the environment and our wallets.

Some drivers could also begin looking for alternate routes that will involve cutting through residential neighborhoods during heaviest traffic times. That means any small amount of safety for bikes gained along the main roads could be lost to pedestrians and bikes on residential streets.

Arlington continues to add density in its development. This new development here and in the surrounding communities is going to only increase traffic that must move through.

Yet, Arlington regularly adopts transportation policies that do not increase our ability to move this traffic through our roads efficiently. Arlington opposed the 395 HOT lanes and opposed measures to improve 66. Now, we are narrowing non-highway surface streets.

Of course, these decisions are brought to you by many of the same people who insisted that putting a fixed rail line down existing lanes of travel on Columbia Pike would make traffic flow better.

The County is putting a lot of time and effort into these so-called “Complete Streets” projects. As they are being rolled out, maybe it is time to re-evaluate whether or not this actually represents the best path forward.

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.

What did Tuesday’s primary results mean? According to the Chairman of the Arlington Democrats, it meant that affordable housing will be the central issue of the fall election.

Chairman Malinosky’s job is to spin the election results in a way that he sees as benefitting his party. But reading into the results of a six way primary for two spots is virtually impossible, particularly when five of the six candidates received a substantial share of the vote.

When there is little substantively differentiating the candidates on issues, these elections are won by the quality of the candidate and the quality of the campaign operation. Cristol and Dorsey simply outperformed their opponents on the campaign trail to claim the top two spots.

Election analysis aside, what about affordable housing?

Throughout the last decade, the County Board has had a stated goal of improving housing affordability. And, this has been a County Board controlled exclusively by Democrats until last year. Yet, there is little the County Board has tried on the housing front over the last decade has changed the trajectory of housing affordability. In fact, our Board relies on these ever-increasing property values to fund its lavish spending habits.

If in fact, it has become the top issue for the voters in Arlington, it could be argued it is because of a major failure of Chairman Malinosky’s own party. Is the Chairman of the Arlington Democrats actually making the case that the voters should reject his nominees and add two more Independents to the County Board?

Probably not. But, if Cristol or Dorsey stand up at a forum and say they are going to address affordable housing, will they be able to answer the question: what would you try that is different than the policies that have already failed?

Maybe a majority of Arlingtonians would commit to higher taxes in the name of spending hundreds of millions more over the next decade to subsidize housing. You would be right to be skeptical that Cristol, Dorsey or even Malinosky will make that their topline talking point.

Yes, we can continue to do the things we have been doing that have met with limited success. We can revisit the approval of accessory dwelling units and in-law suites. The Board can even approve the development of micro units in Crystal City as Katie Cristol suggested.

At some point, maybe we will all just admit that housing is simply not going to be affordable in Arlington over the long haul. It is the laws of supply and demand at work. Arlington is conveniently located to our nation’s capitol and people are willing to pay a premium to live here. At the same time, governments have been trying to change the laws of economics for years, so I wouldn’t look for the Arlington County Board to stop claiming it can now.

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.

This Saturday’s Arlington County Board Agenda will take more money from your pockets, raise your debt unnecessarily, and spend irresponsibly.

Parking is About to Get More Expensive

If the County Manager’s proposal on parking meters is adopted, Arlington hopes to add over $1.6 million annually to its coffers. The rates have not been changed since 2011, so it is not unreasonable to give them another look.

The more troubling part of the proposal is the effort to extend the hours from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. The extended hours certainly do not create a welcoming environment for evening patrons to our retail and dining establishments.

Yes, people will ultimately feed the meters after 6:00 p.m., but is the extra $675,000 per year really necessary in a county already flush with cash?

Bonds to be Issued

There is a strong argument to be made that many of the items the County Board issues bonds for should be funded out of the regular budget. Parks and facilities maintenance, HVAC and roof repairs for our schools, and non-construction improvements to the Water Pollution Control plant should not be funded in the same way as infrastructure like school construction or replacing aging sewer lines.

Maintenance should be treated as regular and ongoing operating costs that the county and School Boards should budget for each year rather than borrowing money to pay for it. If you build a school or put a park in service, you should expect to have to pay to maintain it rather than adding to our already hefty debt service burden.

The county noted the bonds will not be issued until we get our annual bond ratings check-up that reaffirms our highest possible debt rating. Yes, that is in order to get us the lowest possible interest rates — a good thing when borrowing money.

But, the county often touts this rating like it is a measure of fiscal discipline. It’s not. It is a measure of the County’s ability to raise taxes on us to pay off the debt.

New ART Bus Facility

According to the County’s press release, building our own bus facility will save Arlington $57,000 per year. It will cost $14.2 million to build it.

In other words, in about 250 years this bus facility will have paid for itself. That’s one very generous definition of “long range planning.”

No one should argue with a straight face that this is some sort of cost saving measure. Sure, the funds to pay for the facility are not all at the expense of local taxpayers as Virginia is kicking in state funding. However, Arlington taxpayers are paying for that, too.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

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.

Around 2000, I sat down to eat in the now-closed Taco Bell on Wilson Boulevard. A few minutes later, one of my fellow patrons sprinted out of the restaurant as his car was being hoisted into the air by a tow truck. Later we learned an “unmarked spotter” had identified his car for towing because he had first walked to the ATM next door to get cash before ordering his Taco Bell dinner.

The car owner showed the tow truck driver his Taco Bell receipt, but was told it did not matter because he had left the premises. Once the tow truck was called, the driver explained, it was his job was to tow the car. So, the car owner stood directly in front of the tow truck refusing to move for more than 15 minutes until the tow truck eventually dropped the car and left.

Needless to say, reports of “predatory towing” are not a new problem in Arlington. But, with social media and some cases recently going viral, the practices have been thrust into the spotlight. Almost certainly, today a video of the car owner standing defiantly in front of the tow truck at Taco Bell would have been posted to YouTube or Facebook and retweeted on Twitter.

Enter County Board Member Jay Fisette, who this week said he would look at changes to these towing practices. Specifically, he said it may be in order to have the property owner sign off on each tow.

While towing companies will oppose any changes to the regulations that impact their business model, Fisette’s approach is worthy of consideration. It protects a private property owner’s unquestioned rights to control their parking spaces while ensuring that same property owner cannot simply blame a tow on a third party spotter who gets it wrong.

As Fisette noted, it is not in a retail property owner’s best interest to get it wrong when it comes to towing. There is a good chance the car owner never went back to that Taco Bell after the parking incident. Why patronize a business that appears to care more about its parking spaces than its customers?

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.

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.

Our education record in Arlington is a pretty good one. According to the Washington Post, we spend the most per pupil in the region, and second place is not close. Our average teacher salary ranks first. Our average class size is below the regional average. And, our average SAT scores rank third.

Arlington is proud to do it again next year for $18,558. That is the cost per pupil trumpeted by both the Arlington School Board and Arlington County Board as they passed the FY 2016 budgets.

Except $21,814 is the actual total cost per pupil. You arrive at the more accurate figure when you divide the projected enrollment of 25,626 by the total spending of $555.9 million.

$3,256 is the difference when you subtract what we are told our cost per pupil is with what it actually costs taxpayers for every child in the public schools. $83.4 million is the total amount of spending reflected by the difference of the reported per pupil cost and the actual per pupil cost.

Yes, Arlington reports the numbers this way because that’s the way everyone else does it — in accordance with some bureaucratically defined formula. Whether everyone else does it that way or not, should not be the point. The average person who takes a county-generated press releases at face value almost certainly believes it represents the total cost per pupil.

Would Arlingtonians demand more spending accountability from the School Board based on the use of a higher number? That is an open question.

There are certainly questions being raised about when and under what conditions every APS student will receive a notebook or laptop. Who gets them and when? How much will it cost? What safeguards will be in place? How will we equip teachers to carry out the digital learning plans?

What of the rest of the APS budget? Class sizes will remain the same and staff will receive raises. Washington-Lee, which rolled in trailers when it opened because it was not built big enough initially, will soon undergo a costly expansion.

And, the School Board allocated $67,000 to hire temporary help to communicate better with the community. Certainly, it is not on the same scale as the PR campaign employed by the County Board to try and save the trolley. But, shouldn’t the School Board already be able to communicate the rationale for the policies they vote to implement?

Bottom line, we could probably better spend the $67,000 in the classroom.

Arlingtonians certainly support their schools and deserve maximum transparency and accountability in return.

Mark Kelly is a former Arlington GOP Chairman and two-time Republican candidate for Arlington County Board.