Petition to Congress and the Arlington County Board: Establish a Year-Round Homeless Shelter and a Public Jobs Program for Unemployed Arlington

County Residents

Whereas:

        All people have an inalienable right to basic shelter and to be treated with dignity,

        All people have a right to a job paying a living wage to support themselves at or above poverty levels,

        Over 500 people were counted as homeless in Arlington in January 2009 (a 25-percent rise from January 2008),

        In September 2009 over 5,500 Arlington residents were officially unemployed and many more thousands unable to find full-time work,

        Average rents in Arlington in 2009 exceeded $1,700 a month and required an income in excess of $65,000 a year to be affordable,

        The county’s one winter shelter can only accommodate 73 people in a dilapidated building and is open only from November through March, and

        Many unsheltered people must live outdoors in Arlington parks and open space.

Therefore:

1. Arlington County Government should open and operate a year round shelter to accommodate all unsheltered homeless people.

1. Arlington County Government should seek federal government stimulus funds to begin a public jobs program for homeless and any unemployed resident to perform needed community work, and undertake green energy savings efforts such as weatherization and free energy audits for county residents.  Each job must pay at least a living

       wage of $13 an hour, and provide health benefits.

Return the Petition to:     Arlington Green Party, P.O. Box 50473,  Arlington, VA 22205

Or email to:   Info@Reeder4Arlington.org

A Fact Sheet on Homeless and Unemployed Persons in Arlington County Virginia

       l.  Over 500 people were counted as homeless in Arlington in January 2009 (a 25-percent rise from January 2008), according to the  Metro Washington Council of Governments  (http://www.mwcog.org)

2. In September 2009 over 5,500 Arlington residents were officially unemployed and many more thousands unable to find full-time work, according to data of U.S. Department of Labor.

3. Average rents in Arlington in 2009 exceed $1,700 a month, and require an income in excess of $65,000 a year to be considered affordable.  Source: Arlington County Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development.

4. The county’s one current winter shelter can only accommodate 73 people in a dilapidated building, and is open only from November through March. Source: “In Arlington, Need for Emergency Shelter Swells,” the Wash. Post, Dec. 3, 2009.

5. Many unsheltered people must live outdoors in Arlington parks and open space.

6. Fair market rent for a 1-bedroom apartment in the No. Virginia in 2009 was $1,131 per month; to be affordable a worker needs to earn $22 an hour and work 40 hours weekly to afford this rent.  Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition, Out of Reach, 2009, and SALT (Social Action Linked Together).

 7. . In Northern Virginia in 2008, the average retail salesperson, cashier, waiter and waitress, fast food cook, janitor, hotel worker, nursing aide, janitor and maid earned less than $13 an hour.  Source:  State of Virginia, VEC Occupational Employment Survey, May 2008.

Published by:  the Arlington Green Party, P.O. Box  50573, Arlington, VA 22205

For more information email info@Reeder4Arlington.org

Mr. Jay Fisette

Chairman, Arlington County Board                      Date

Dear Mr. Fisette          

As a resident of Arlington, Virginia, I am concerned about the 500+ homeless

individuals and families (some of whom are living outdoors) and the 5,000

unemployed residents in our county. I urge the County Board to do more.

 >Please open a year-round homeless shelter for all. Arlington’s wintershelter

currently operates just 5 months a year, with just 50 beds.

 >Please seek federal stimulus funds to begin a public jobs program for the

unemployed, with a living wage of $13 an hour and health benefits.

If we can spend millions for a new arts center, we have the funds to care for

 those in need.  Thank you for considering my petition.

__________________________________________________

Name (print here, please)                                   Signature

__________________________________________________

Street Address                                      Arlington, VA               ZIP

Mail to:                                               Jay Fisette

                                                          Chairman, Arlington County Board

                                                           2100 Clarendon Blvd, Suite 300

                                                           Arlington, VA 22201

Good morning members of the Arlington County Board

My name is John Reeder, and I am here today on behalf of the Arlington Green Party to speak in favor of the petition presented to improve the situation of the homeless and the unemployed in Arlington.

In addition to Arlington Greens, this petition is supported by AFSCME Union Council 30, and by a number of Arlington faith-based groups that directly serve the hungry and homeless in Arlington.

The petition calls for a year-round homeless low-barrier shelter in Arlington from the current 5-month winter shelter.  The county currents support the 5-month per year winter shelter at a cost of about $180,000.  Extending the shelter to 12 months would mean an additional cost of about $252,000 annually.

With a year round shelter, we would like to see more direction of the homeless to that shelter rather than having them arrested for simply being homeless or having mental and addiction problems.  Studies across the U.S. indicate that local government actually save funds this way rather than having the criminal justice system involved.

The petition asks the county to seek federal funds to begin the first public jobs program in Virginia for unemployed and homeless residents to do community and Green projects to help our community.  We understand that Obama stimulus funds are or will shortly be available for this purpose.

County employees could directly administer these jobs programs for existing county programs such as cleaning up public streams and parks, repairing and improving county and Commonwealth property. Salaries of these county employees could be recouped from these federal funds so that these programs would benefit the county budget…

We Greens support the start of a Green jobs program.  We would like free home energy audits for residents for residents.  We believe that this would improve our environment and provide useful jobs for the unemployed.

During the past campaign, Mr. Fisette mentioned his desire to improve environmental programs in Arlington.  We Greens highly recommend a jobs program financed by federal funds as an important step to making Arlington a more environmentally sustainable community and at the same time giving employment to the over 6,000 unemployed or underemployed Arlington residents.

Petition to the Arlington County Board—A Plan to Improve the Well-Being of the Homeless and Near Homeless in Arlington County Virginia

            December 12, 2009

Whereas:

      All people have an inalienable right to basic shelter, and to be treated with dignity.

      Over 500 people were counted as homeless in Arlington in January 2009 (a 25-percent rise from January 2008).

      In September 2009 over 5,500 Arlington residents were officially unemployed and many more thousands unable to find full-time work.

      Average rents in Arlington in 2009 exceed $1,700 a month, and require an income  in excess of $65,000 a year to be affordable.

      The county’s one current winter shelter can only accommodate 73 people in a dilapidated building, and is open only from November through March; and

      Many unsheltered people must live outdoors in Arlington parks and open space.

Therefore:

1. The County Government should open and operate a year round shelter to accommodate all unsheltered homeless people. This year-round shelter should be a “low barrier” shelter (similar to the current winter shelter) that takes care of any unsheltered individual.

2. The County Government will finance the establishment of single room occupancy (SRO) dormitory style housing, so that single adults can be quickly transferred from the shelter to the SRO or to any other vacant affordable apartment in the county.

1. The County Board shall direct the Arlington County police who encounter homeless individuals living and sleeping in open space in the county to call county (DHS) social workers so that such homeless individuals may be directed to this safe shelter instead of being arrested for living in the open.

1. The County Government should seek Obama stimulus funds to begin a public job program for homeless people and unemployed residents to perform needed community work in county parks, school buildings, community clean up efforts such as along Four-Mile Run, the Potomac River, and major roads and streets, and undertake green energy savings efforts such as weatherization and free energy audits for county residents.

1. That the causes of chronic homelessness be addressed.  There needs to be increased funding for the treatment of mental illness and substance abuse. County officials, such as police officers, fire personnel, should be more rigorously trained to diagnosis, handle and treatment for such individuals. 

1. That more stringent guideline should be put in place to deal with such individuals in order that they may be given treatment earlier in the progress of their disease. This will prevent treatment only when their problems have become so chronic that they pose a threat to themselves and others of our community.

1. That services to combat homelessness need to be extended to all individuals regardless of their residency status (including undocumented workers).  That extra effort is exerted to contact and treat the Day Laborers of our county. 

My name is Audrey Clement. I’m Co-Chair of the Green Party of Virginia and a resident of Arlington County. I’m here to tell you that I recently filed suit in federal district court to stop the widening of I-66, a/k/a the I-66 Spot Improvement Project.

Although the Spot Improvement Project is billed as the solution to congestion on I-66, the I-66 corridor outside the Beltway—at least three lanes in either direction–provides proof that road widening doesn’t work, as the entire stretch from Tyson’s Corner to Manassas  is routinely backed up during rush hour.

No one knows this better than Arlington County Board member, Chris Zimmerman, who sits on a Transportation Planning Board (TPB) task force that’s studying real solutions to congestion on I-66. Zimmerman recommends express bus service, and the Arlington Green Party agrees that this is the most effective near term solution to congestion in corridor. Not only would it take cars off the interstate, it would reduce traffic on parallel arteries as well.

Unfortunately although it has sued to stop construction of I-395 HOT lanes, Arlington County Board has not sued to stop the widening of I-66 even though grounds for both suits are identical–VDOT’s use of so-called categorical exclusions to avoid assessing alternatives to road widening. Perhaps Arlington County Board agrees with critics that its decision to support a TPB deal that allows construction of Spot Improvement #1in return for a multi-modal corridor study compromised Arlington’s ability to successfully challenge the Spot Improvement Project in court.

If that’s the case then there probably won’t be any express bus service on I-66, because express bus service requires a continuous stretch of uncongested road, not the discontinuous merge lanes that the Spot Improvement Project will put in place. Under these circumstances only a citizen’s suit will stop the project from going forward, and I urge Arlington County residents to join me as plaintiffs in this suit. To do so, just send me an email at: 

Aclement65@hotmail.com

The Greens contend that adding a third lane to I-66 in Arlington would violate the Coleman decision from the late 1970s that permitted the original construction of I-66 in Arlington subject to a number of environmental restrictions, including a ban on widening I-66 from two lanes wide in each direction. The suit also contends that VDOT violated federal law by not conducting an environmental assessment of such highway construction.

This case is a pro se case, and Greens are seeking more individual citizens to join the lawsuit. For more information, email John Reeder at info@reeder4arlington.org

     First–is it “green” to demolish 50 year old houses and apartment buildings and to build much larger buildings in their place?  In other words, will this “save carbon based fuel” from being used?  For the most part, the amount of energy used to demolish, re-build, and manufacture the inputs in new structures will always be far higher than any energy saved.  Why should a 50-year old structure be torn down and not remodeled or simply equipped with modern heating, cooling and solar technology?

       The energy incorporated into constructing new buildings is enormus:  the cement industry is one of the principal energy intensive industries as are virtually all other products such as wallboard, steel.  Moreover, in  our area, virtually all the rubble from demolition goes into solid waste fill (after being trucked long distances).  Demolishing old buildings is NOT a green solution.

    New buildings and new McMansions use many more times energy than do the smaller and older houses and apartments.  A 5,000 square foot McMansion uses four times the energy to heat and cool as a small 1,300 ft2 brick colonial house.  Most McMansions do NOT come with high efficiency air conditoners and furnaces.  Affluent people in McMansions also own and use more cars as do affluent people living in apartments.  The older apartment complexes simply have no parking places and most residents are lower  income and thus have fewer vehicles per household than afflulent people.

     High rise commercial buildings, whether for offices or apartments, use very high amounts of electricity and water.  Their cooling towers generate large amounts of waste water that must be treated as sewage.  Even if near a Metro stop, more workers and more residents mean more auto traffic trips.

   Older apartments in Arlington are small, typically less than 1,000 ft2; often they have no dish washers and other energy intensive appliances.  Because new apartments are larger, they use more energy to heat and cool.   However, old apartments should be upgraded with Energy Star highly efficient appliances and windows, but this costs much much less than demolition and reconstruction.
 
    The Democrats says they are using “smart growth.”  Well the days of smart growth already occurred and Arlington has grown in population and density.  Other jurisdictins also need to grow–in particular our neighbor DC with a population of only 560,000 (less than 1 million in the 1950s).  Metro rail is already at capacity on the Orange line; do you really want another 30,000 people living in Clarendon and Va Square? Arlington is really into a phase of “stupid growth.”
 
    In my opinion, Arlington cannot grow much more without seriously injuring our environment.  The Democrats on the county board want to add another 40,000  people to Arlington, the smallest county in the entire U.S.  We already a higher density than most major cities in the U.S.   How dense should  we get? 

Arlington has about 26 square miles and now has over 202,000 residents with over 250,000 people here during the day.  The county projects 236,000 residents within  8 years, a gain of over 34,000 or 17 percent.  This means 17 percent more traffic, more sewage, more electricity used.  Is this “smart growth” or just profit driven growth that destroys the great community of Arlington?
 
    Should we eliminate all our trees?  What do we do with our sewage and storm water?  If traffic is bad now, what will it be with another 40,000?  And, only rich people will live here since the land will be so valuable that no middle class folks can own or rent here anymore.

The site is alongside I-395 and the railroad line that cross the Potomac River into Arlington.  The site is surrounded by abandoned buildings and commercial office buildings.  There are few residential apartment buildings within walking distance, and the location is difficult to reach even by car.

Very few Arlingtonians live adjacent to it.  Why did county officials agree to take ownership of this toxic waste site which will require millions of dollars to remedy?
 
    Building an aquatics center in North Tract is ridiculous given that all three new high schools will have NEW swiming pools at double or triple their current size.  Taxpayers are spending upwards of $400 million for the new schools with their pools.  Why not go  over to one of them and swim or to the Upton Hill public pool on Wilson Blvd to swim in the summer?  Moreover, the high school pools are smack in the middle of residential areas and acessible to more residents.
 
     The real purpose of the North tract project is to subsidize the landowners next door who will benefit when this toxic dump is cleaned up at public expense.  Democratic board members are working in the interests of landowners in Crystal City, just like they are trying to get the Columbia Pike trolley to subsidize landowners on the Pike.