Fisette’s Re-Election Kickoff Brings Out Big Guns
by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
(Created: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 7:37 AM EDT)
Among those on hand for Jay Fisette’s re-election kickoff were (from left) Democratic gubernatorial nominee Creigh Deeds, lieutenant governor nominee Jody Wagner, Fisette, attorney general nominee Steve Shannon and state Sen. Mary Margaret Whipple. (Photo by Scott McCaffrey)

County Board Vice Chairman Jay Fisette brought out the heavy artillery in his formal kickoff for re-election. All three members of the Democratic statewide ticket were on hand June 15 at Signature Theatre, where Fisette opened his quest for a fourth four-year term.

“You are lucky to have this guy,” said state Sen. Creigh Deeds, the Democratic candidate for governor, who rearranged his schedule to be on hand in front of a crowd of several hundred for Fisette’s opening campaign salvo. Deeds was joined by lieutenant governor nominee Jody Wagner and attorney general candidate Steve Shannon, who testified to Fisette’s reputation across Virginia.
“He is fiercely loyal to his constituents,” said Shannon, a member of the House of Delegates from the Vienna area. “He listens to people, he learns from people. He is a phenomenal statewide leader.”
Despite having been in office since 1998, Fisette said he wasn’t tired of serving on the County Board. “I love this job, and there’s a lot left to do,” he said. “We still have challenges.”

Four years ago, in his last bid for re-election, Fisette was unopposed. This time, Republicans have not fielded a candidate, but Fisette is being challenged by John Reeder, a member of the Green Party who last year won about a quarter of the vote in his challenge to Democratic board member Barbara Favola.

“I look forward to those debates,” Fisette said of the upcoming campaign, which will ramp up at the Arlington County Fair in August and hit its stride at the Arlington County Civic Federation candidate forum in early September…………….
http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2009/06/16/arlington/news/nw535.prt

Opinion> Arlington’s $150 million trolley folly> Washington Examiner, June 12, 2009 5:41 PM>
> By: Barbara Hollingsworth>

> Arlington County is planning to spend millions of dollars on a> nostalgic-looking streetcar that will cause massive traffic backups on> Columbia Pike and help drive out the small businesses and moderately> priced apartments that give the Pike its funky urban charm.>>

The trolley, which will run down Columbia Pike from Pentagon City and> then veer over to Skyline Mall on Route 7, will supposedly reduce> traffic congestion and improve air quality while it spurs economic> development. But not even some Arlington environmentalists are buying it.>>

Last year, during his unsuccessful campaign to unseat Barbara Favola on> the County Board, Green Party candidate John Reeder challenged Favola’s> assertion that the trolley would save energy and reduce greenhouse gas> emissions. Reeder cited a 2007 study by M.J. Bradley & Associates that> found that fully loaded, natural gas-powered buses actually use less> BTUs per passenger mile than light rail.

>> Add up the electricity to power the trolley, which will come from a> coal-fired power plant in Wise, Virginia and the energy required to bury> utility lines, add rails, resurface the road and install overhead copper> power lines, and Favola’s assertion that the trolley will consume less> energy is “dubious,” Reeder told members of the Arlington Civic> Federation during a debate. Dubious indeed.>

> Favola and other members of the Board often point to the light rail> system in Portland, Oregon to justify their multi-million trolley folly.> But according to a new study by transportation analyst Wendell Cox,> Portland’s highly touted streetcar system is largely a flop.>> Despite opening two additional light rail lines since 2000, the> percentage of transit riders in Portland actually fell 28 percent from a> 9.5 percent share in 1980 to just 6.8 percent in 2007 - while annual> transit costs tripled.

>> Greenhouse gas emissions in Portland were reduced by a miniscule 0.6> percent annually over 22 years - at a whopping cost of $5,500 per ton.> Due to increased traffic congestion largely due to the diversion of> federal highway money to mass transit, Portland drivers now waste 18> million more gallons of gas while stuck in traffic than they did in> 1985, according to the Texas Transportation Institute. Cox points out> that this is “four times the estimated reduction in GHG emissions that> was assumed to have occurred from the increase in transit ridership.”

>> Think Arlington’s new streetcar will do any better? Consider the fact> that it will needlessly replace 11 Metrobuses on one of the most popular> and heavily used bus routes in the D.C. area and go about 12 miles per> hour, setting new standards for slow.>

> Expect gridlock conditions when the inevitable trolley breakdown occurs.> Meanwhile, drivers will be caught in extended backups as they inch their> way down a much narrower Columbia Pike, wasting both time and gasoline.>> Joseph Warren, a retired transportation economist at the U.S. Government> Accountability Office and a member of the Arlington Transit Advisory> Committee that voted against the streetcar proposal, noted that a 2005> consultant’s study violated professional evaluation standards by> including $30 million in unnecessary streetscape and utility costs in a> deliberate attempt to torpedo a bus rapid transit option - which would> move the same number of people at a quarter of the cost.>>

Thanks to the backers of the Columbia Pike trolley folly, Arlington> residents will wind up with higher energy costs, more greenhouse gas> emissions, longer commutes, and more traffic congestion - all for the> low, low price of $150 million.>> It’s also a perfect example of the new Arlington Way.>> #

# #>> Barbara F. Hollingworth is The Examiner’s local opinion editor

Measure? Just Reduce Poverty
Letter to Editor of the Arlington Connection Newspaper
Thursday, June 11, 2009

To the Editor:
The Connection reports that Gov. Tim Kaine appointed Arlington delegate David Englin to yet another commission to study poverty in Virginia ["Arlington’s high cost of living obscures the amount of need in the county," May 20].

While we certainly welcome that the Governor’s and the General Assembly’s desire to measure the extent of poverty in Arlington and Virginia, we’re puzzled by the call to “study” what census data and other readily available information already make clear — significant levels of poverty and hunger exist statewide and in Arlington. It’s time for Virginia Democrats and Republicans, including Kaine and Englin, to change state laws and policies that would actually reduce poverty rather than wasting time and resources trying to “measure” it.

Researchers and advocates for the poor already highlight the steps that would greatly reduce poverty and hunger in Arlington and in far southwestern Virginia:

1. Raise the Virginia minimum wage of $6.55 an hour to the living wage rate of $12.50 an hour (which is based on the federal poverty level for a family of four).

2. Lower the regressive Virginia 9-percent effective tax rate on people making less than $20,000 a year (those making over $200,000 pay only 4 percent).

3. Raise the miserly Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance provided to children ($80 a month), and the disabled, and stop the State of Virginia from using federal TANF funds designed to go to the poor for other state programs, such as highways.

4. Finally, eliminate laws and restrictions that deny unemployment compensation and food stamps to Virginia’s working poor and unemployed.

The Democrats and Republicans (each for different reasons) wish to divert the public’s attention away from concrete steps that would directly reduce poverty and hunger in our state that large affect children, the working poor, the elderly, and the disabled.

The time to study poverty is past; it is time to make Virginia laws and policies work to relieve poverty and hunger, and give our friends and neighbors a helping hand.

John Reeder
Josh Ruebner
Suzanne Sundberg
Arlington Green Party
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=329652&paper=60&cat=110

Arlington Sun Gazette June 11, 2009
GOP Takes Pass on County Board Race Arlington Sun Gazette, Thursday, June 11, 2009 6:25 AM EDT

The June 9 filing deadline passed with no Republican County Board candidate. The field for the Nov. 3 County Board election will be incumbent Democrat Jay Fisette (currently the board’s vice chairman) and Green Party candidate John Reeder, who unsuccessfully challenged Democratic board member Barbara Favola last year. This year will mark the second in a row that Republicans fielded no candidate for County Board. Fisette is seeking his fourth term, having first been elected in 1997. Four years ago, he ran unopposed. # # # http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2009/06/11/arlington/news/nw540a.txt

Arlington Sun Gacette > Opinion:
Arlington Highs & Lows
(Created: Monday, May 11, 2009 10:11 AM EDT)
Our editorial page view on the local scene:

THUMB UP: To those wily Green Party backers of a referendum to create a housing and development authority in Arlington.

The referendum failed decisively last year, and legislation enacted by the General Assembly earlier this year makes it much more difficult for such a measure to ever again be placed on the ballot in the county.

But supporters found a loophole: The new legislation doesn’t go into effect until July 1, and they have submitted enough petition signatures to get the measure on the ballot under the current, less restrictive rules.

We’re not fans of creating a housing authority, but we think that the backers of a referendum fulfilled the existing legal requirements to get the measure back on the ballot this year. For that reason, we urge the Circuit Court to go ahead and certify it for the election. And we give the backers points for being clever enough to find a way around the legislature.
http://www.sungazette.net/articles/2009/05/14/arlington/opinion/acmt777.txt

Arlington > News:
Green Party Candidate Makes County Board Ballot
by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer
(Created: Wednesday, May 13, 2009 4:52 AM EDT)

John Reeder of the Green Party has qualified for the ballot, meaning incumbent Democratic County Board Vice Chairman Jay Fisette will have competition in the Nov. 3 general election.

Reeder’s place on the ballot marks the fourth year in a row the Green Party has fielded a County Board candidate.

It will be a second run for Reeder, who challenged Democratic board member Barbara Favola last year. In a race that had no Republican candidate, Reeder won 23.3 percent of the vote - a higher percentage of the vote than Republican U.S. Senate candidate Jim Gilmore won in Arlington.

Republicans have yet to field a candidate for Fisette’s County Board seat, the lone one on the ballot this year. Fisette is seeking his fourth term, and was the only Democrat to file for the seat.

The Green Party’s Josh Ruebner also has qualified to be on the ballot. Ruebner, who sought County Board seats in 2006 and 2007, is running for the 47th House of Delegates.

As I have campaigned across Arlington this fall, I have come across the detritus of a housing boom that has burst leaving empty condos, empty lots where graceful moderate income rental apartments housed thousands of people, and bankruptcy. I am reminded that our county leaders–the Democratic county board–could have done much more to have curbed this housing madness, but went along with the mania.

Two complexes that were razed and now have empty fields overgrown with grass where about 90 modest apartments stood are the Buckingham Village complex on Henderson Road and N. George Mason Drive, and about 150 apartments at the Parkland Gardens (bounded by 21st Street & N. Glebe Road). Now we have empty fields where 500 people lived. The Buckingham site contains two rows of mostly empty, unsold million-dollar townhouses. The Parkland Gardens site is surrounded by a high wood fence that hides the foot-high grass where previously 50 years of Arlington renters lived in modest brick apartments.

Another complex, the former Concord Gardens near S. 4-Mile Run Drive and Walter Reed Drive, was converted to condominiums, nearly all of which sit empty. Condo prices are dropping like those of houses; the supply of unsold condos growing both from owners trying to sell and new projects coming on line, according to industry reports like Delta Associates, Trends in Washington Metro Area (May 9, 2008, www.deltaassociates.com).

Is this kind of “economic growth” or “development” that County Board Democrats want? They allow developrs to tear down perfectly good rental apartments standing for 50 years, and replace them with empty fields? This is not growth, but economic contraction. The well-being of Arlington residents is worse off.

As a result of a legal consent order between Arlington County Government and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) that enforces EPA clean water standards, Arlington County was forced in 2001 to upgrade its sewage treatment plant that was sending treated effluent with high levels of nitrogen into the Potomac and ultimately into the Cheaspeake Bay. So much for Arlington’s reputation as “protector of the Bay.”

Rather than boldly stepping forward to improve Arlington wastewater, the County Democratic Board had to be dragged into a legal consent order by DEQ and EPA to meet its clean water obligations to help save the Bay. Is this the Democrats commitment to the enviroment–wait till you are being sued–to clean up your act?

Nevertheless, this welcome step in markedly improving Arlington wastewater may be over-whelmed by the relentless development in Arlington that brings in more thirsty commercial and residential developments. High rise buildings produce prodigious amounts of waste water from their cooling towers and toilets and sinks.

For example, there are a half-dozen high rise building being built in the Potomac Yards area on Jeff Davis Highway just outside the gates of the Arlington treatment facility on S. Glebe Road that will add alone 0.5 million gallons of waste water daily taking up 1 percent of Arlington treatment capacity.
Every high rise building built in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor adds similar large amounts of wastewater.

Question: Will continue commercial and residential development in Arlington overwhelm Arlington’s new sewage treatment plant that will not even come on line until 2011?

Arlington County is modernizing its sewage treatment plant (”water pollution control plant”) in an elaborate $560 program that will bring a new plant on line by 2011 (within 3 years). The plant will reduce the nitrogen in treated sewage from 8 mg/liter to the EPA standard of 3 mg/liter. (See http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/environmentalservices for the fact sheet).

The capacity of the new plant will be 40 million gallons daily, up from a listed 30 million gallon capacity currently. Currently the plant operates at 100 percent or more of this 30 million gallons; during heavy rainfall, the plant has to release untreated sewage. So, actually the plant capacity is closer to 32 milion gallons daily or higher. Twenty percent of sewage treated comes from Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax County–so only 80 percent of the sewage comes from Arlington.

The EPA requires that treatment plants operate at no more than 95 percent of full capacity. For the new plant, this means a new usable capacity of 38 million gallons. The county indicates that the new 40 million capacity expands current plant of 30 million gallons by 33 percent, and will meet expected Arlington’s needs until the year 2020 or for the next 12 years.

However, if one uses 32 million gallons as the current capacity and considerd that only 38 million of the new 40 million gallon capacity should be used following EPA standards, the increase in capacity is closer to 19 percent. The new plant comes on line in 3 years from now.

Will the 19-percent de facto capacity increase last for the next 12 years or will it be overwhelmed as more water-intensive development occurs? Then, how much will Arlington taxpayers have to spend to upgrade the plant in 2020, and where will it be built since the current plant site is now fully taken up by the new facility?

Arlington County manager Ron Carlee released a “fact sheet” on the housing authority referendum that passes from fact into fiction and from neutrality to advocacy against the voters’ initiative. Municipal emplyees are required by Virginia law to remain neutral on referendums and this fact sheet clearly is anything but neutral violating state law.

Why are county employees ’spinning’ the facts to county voters and why is the county manager trying to sandbag the housing authority and sandbag the Arlington Green Party?

This fact sheet violates state law that clearly indicates what can be in a “neutral referendum statement.” Such statements cannot contain advocacy and opponent arguments nor can such a statement exceed 500 words. This “fact” sheet is written to oppose and discredit the authority and parrots arguments made by the the Arlington Democratic Party against the authority. The fact sheet violates State law.

Several mis-statements on the “fact sheet:”
http://www.arlingtonva.us/Departments/CPHD/housing/pdf/page66345.pdf

l. The Housing authority could have its own staff and legal counsel (page 2). Yes, equally true, the authority may rely on existing county employees and have NO staff as it the situation in Fairfax County. There is no reason to assume that it will have ANY staff.

2. Page two, the county has 6,610 committed affordable housing units, but it includes units not yet built! Actual CAF rental units number 5,367. More importantly, the county lost over 13,000 market rate apartments since 2000, but gained fewer than 2,400 net new CAFs. The actual supply of CAFs and marekt rate apartments still fell well over 11,000 units and fewer than 20% of units are affordable in 2008.

3. Page two: The county would NOT have access to new sources of revenue. There is no new dedicated sources of funding for a housing authority. HUD has provided no new funds [for housing authorities] since 1994. According to the Arlington Connection article in September 2008, HUD would provide funding for a new Arlington authority.
County staff are engaging in pure speculation as to HUD’s activities. The $850 billion financial bail out Congressional bills are likely to provide many billions of dollars of new HUD funds including some specifically for housing authorities. Arlington county municipal employees cannot speak on behalf of the Federal HUD.

4. (Page two), “Would a housing authority produce more affordable housing than the county can do today? No.”
This is pure speculation. If a housing authority were more efficient and built new housing at a lower cost than say the $400,000 per unit being spent in Buckingham or Arlington Mills projects, then the authority could produce more units with the same amount of funds.

County employees speculate as to what an Arlington housing authority would do. They have no basis for these conclusions.

5. (Page three), What new or addtional power could a housing authority provide for the development and preservation of affordable housing in Arlington? The fact sheet indicates only that an authority can “operate or manage” rental housing, it neglects to mention that it could OWN housing.
The County under state law is not entitled to own land or property with rental housing.
The fact sheet fails to mention that the authority has the power to use eminent power to preserve rental housing under the threat of development.

6. Page 3, the authority would have access to no new forms of financing. This is untrue, according to the Fairfax Housing Authority that issues revenue bonds based upon rental property that is acquires. Arlington County cannot issue legally revenue bonds based on rental property since it by law cannot own rental property.

7. How will property for affordable housing be acquired? Through voluntary negotiation with private landlords. That is true of course but there are other ways to acquire land for a housing authority. Public land used for schools, highways, streets, or recreation for example, can be transferred to the housing authority which is merely a subdivision of the county government. There is no sale of public land merely transfer. Moreover, the housing authority could threaten eminent domain and then voluntarily acquire land through negotiations with private operators.

American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) Local 2211 that represents federal employees of the U.S. International Trade Commisison, the Federal Trade Commisison, and the National Transportation Safety Board on September 18, 2008 endorsed John Reeder for election to the Arlington County Board:

“Mr. Reeder, a long time member of Local 2211, is running on a platform that includes a living wage fo all private employers in Arlington County.  Mr. Reeder worked with the Northern Virginia Living Wage Coalitin to provide a living wage for Arlington County municipal and contracted employees.  He is a strong proponent for the working poor in Arlington County so that they do not have to apply for and receive assistance and  live above the poverty level (now  about $23,000 a year) (by receving a living wage).  Because of his long-standing support of county employees, Local 2211 supports Mr. Reeder’s candidacy.”

Signed:  Diane R. Whitfield, President, AFGE Local 2211 AFL-CIO