Remarks of Jay Fisette, Incoming President of the Virginia Municipal League

VML Annual Conference Banquet

October 16, 2007

I want to thank Rayetta, who did a marvelous job as President this past year, and my colleagues on the Executive Committee for their commitment to this organization and to public service.  I look forward to our continuing to work together.

A personal thanks to folks at the Arlington table, including County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson.  Several Arlington County staff are here, led by Deputy County Manager Marsha Allgeier and including my invaluable assistant Bonnie Parker.  We are blessed with creative and talented staff in our local government that inspire me on a daily basis.

And a special thanks to my life partner of 24 years, Bob Rosen, who brightens the day of anyone he meets and makes his own professional contributions to better the world every day.

And finally, thanks to VML, and the staff that make it work.  The Virginia Municipal League has been around for 102 years – making it one of the oldest in the nation.  It has served us – the cities, towns and urban counties of Virginia – very well.  In 1926, VML fought for our sole authority to tax real estate and personal property.  In 1966, VML worked for the adoption of a sales tax, and in 1980 VML met local needs with the creation of our insurance pools.  In recent years, there are admittedly more battles AGAINST BAD legislative efforts than FOR GOOD ones – yet VML and its capable staff are always there for us.  Please join me in thanking Mike Amyx and the VML staff.

I am honored to serve as your President for the coming year.  Last year, Rayetta spoke eloquently and forcefully about the importance of Virginia’s transportation needs – and our role in getting the resources necessary to meet those needs.

This year I want to speak about three important issues – inextricably linked – that were highlighted as specific tracks during this annual conference: (1) revitalization of our cities and towns; (2) connecting transportation and land use; and the third, which will be my special focus, energy and the environment.  How we, in local government, respond to these challenges will determine the quality of life of our communities in the near and distant future.

First, the revitalization of our cities and towns.  How do we bring our cities back to life?  How do we create good paying jobs, protect family owned businesses from the onslaught of big box chain retail, and get more folks living in the center of town?  My jurisdiction of Arlington would pay dearly for some of the beautiful, historic structures found in many of your cities and towns.  How can we protect these magical places and recreate their vibrancy and quality of life?

Of the many ideas shared on this issue, I want to highlight one:  Call the Virginia Housing Development Authority.  Okay, I’m biased.  I am a member of the VHDA Board.  But that has given me an opportunity to understand their programs and see their work.  VHDA has recently begun to finance locally-supported revitalization efforts.  And these are just what many of you are looking for – mixed use and mixed income projects that our cities and towns need.  Call VHDA and get some money to help your revitalization efforts!

The second challenge deals with transportation and land use – primarily the growing awareness of the critical connection between our land use decisions and the transportation network.  I knew nothing about this issue 10 years ago, and today I am a believer in the principles of sustainable growth – that include mixing residential, commercial and retail uses, concentrating development in targeted areas while retaining open space elsewhere, and always thinking about the pedestrian.   I have seen the damaging effects of unmanaged sprawl and the tangible benefits of smart, managed growth.  Many of us grappling with more and more traffic have come to agree with the analogy that, “Trying to cure traffic congestion by adding more capacity is like trying to cure obesity by loosening your belt.”

If you are even remotely interested in these issues, I suggest you check out a watershed book written in 2000 titled “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream.”   As the authors state, “For the past fifty years, we Americans have been building a national landscape that is largely devoid of places worth caring about.”  Think about it.  This is true, as many a street corner looks the same across America and the same 200 stores are replicated across America.

As the authors say, “We shape our cities and then our cities shape us.”  How and where we build (Or as Tom Hylton said, how we “arrange” things) can undermine or facilitate the sense of community – the connectivity and warmth of belonging – that give a community a soul.  I have visited many areas of our country which have failed in creating a sense of place and sense of community.  Many thriving suburbs are seeking ways to create more town centers, with a true sense of place and the architectural character and walkability that would draw people to them – Places much like the main streets of many of our older cities and towns that still have that innate character, charm and warmth.

My sense is that everyone in this room understood and related to our keynote speaker’s message yesterday morning.  We know he is right, but we don’t always know where to start and are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the changes needed.  It feels as if the land use pattern is already in place and too difficult to change or that our constituents won’t understand and won’t support these efforts.

I think we should be easier on ourselves.  Look to VML, the Urban Land Institute and others for assistance in using the tools that are available to us. Begin the planning and community education to redefine your community.  As Tom Hylton told us, it took 50+ years to create this mess and unravel our cities and towns – it will take decades to correct.  You will not be responsible for finishing the job, but are responsible for starting it.  There will be tangible successes along the way, but this is a long-term legacy project.

Thanks to Governor Kaine, last year’s transportation bill contained several important land use provisions.  If properly designed, they provide local governments with additional tools to improve the coordination between transportation and land use planning.  VML’s  July symposium, a standing room only event, discussed tools such as road impact fees, cash proffers, urban development areas, and transfer of development rights, and how they can be used to make growth work.  VML will continue to assist our members to understand and take full advantage of these land use tools.

Here, I need to plug the New Partners in Smart Growth Conference – there was a flyer in your conference bag.  This is now considered to be the "premier" smart growth conference held each year and it happens to be in Washington, DC in February 2008.  VML is a co-sponsor.  All the issues come together at this conference, connecting transportation, land use planning, public health, energy, and housing and providing practical tools to create sustainable communities.  I encourage you to consider attending.

And the third challenge we face deals with energy and the environment.  Climate change and global warming is scientifically documented.  Whether you personally believe it’s as bad as a recent Nobel Peace Prize winner says, it doesn’t matter.  If only a fraction of the predictions are true, then life will be changing significantly in the coming years and decades.  This is not, and should not be, a political or partisan issue.  It is a moral issue.  It is a responsibility we have to the next generation.

Native American Proverbs often say it best, "We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children." 

So, we must Think Globally and Act Locally.  This global challenge calls for local action.  And the good news is that it will actually save you money over time.  The concern I hear most often from colleagues is about the extra cost, for example, to build LEED certified buildings.  Yesterday we learned that if you require a LEED standard at the beginning of your project, the construction cost will increase by about 2%, and that you will recoup those costs within 5-6 years.

Many of you have already stepped up to the plate and shown leadership:

Charlottesville and Fredericksburg have made a serious commitment to energy audits using the Environmental Management System.  Charlottesville can show hundreds of thousands of dollars in energy savings as a result.  The city also developed an innovative cash incentive program to encourage individual schools to reduce energy consumption.

In Arlington, we passed a personal property tax exemption, on the first $20,000 value, for fuel-efficient and alternative fuel vehicles, and also initiated our first ever residential energy tax.  It’s a small tax, but the revenue goes directly into a new Environmental Sustainability Fund.

The small but mighty Town of Warrenton may be turning one man's trash into another man's energy.  Mayor Fitch wants to, “Put Warrenton on a low carbon diet.” The town’s Green Initiative includes a green building code, improving the energy efficiency of government buildings, and powering a new indoor recreation center of 25,000 square feet with solar panels and methane gas captured at the nearby sewer treatment plant. The centerpiece of the Green Initiative is a biomass plant at the landfill just outside the town limits. The plant would use wastes to produce both electricity and ethanol. The goal is to make Warrenton energy independent where its electricity and fuel come exclusively from renewable resources.

And the Virginia Beach Convention Center is now certified Virginia Green, the state’s new campaign to promote environmentally friendly practices in all aspects of the tourism and hospitality industry.  Virginia Beach is the first to meet the program’s “Core Activities” for convention centers, which include recycling, minimized use of Styrofoam/disposables, water efficiency, energy efficiency and supporting green conferences and events.

At the state level, state agencies have lowered energy bills by over $8.5 million/year through the use of energy savings performance contracting.  For example, the Virginia Employment Commission reduced its energy used per square foot by 64% from 2002-2006 and Norfolk State University reduced its energy used per square foot of buildings by 45% over the same period.

There are many more examples of Virginia local governments that are taking the lead and stepping forward to help make sure that clean air, water and land will be here for generations yet to come.  In fact, the interest across the country is palpable and has led to major initiatives at NACO, NLC, the Conference of Mayors and NGA – along with multitudes of states. 

VML will not be left behind!  Tonight, I am proud to be able to announce a new VML initiative: GO GREEN VIRGINIA.

The Initiative is designed to inform, encourage and support local governments’ efforts to implement practical strategies that are both economically viable and environmentally responsible.  The Initiative would include the following elements:

• Establish an ad hoc advisory committee (8 – 12 members) to help guide the Initiative.
• Hold four or five “Best Practices” Regional Forums across the state that would serve to educate and provide a venue for local governments to exchange ideas and successful programs.
• Publish a “Best Practices Green Book,” based on a survey of VML local government members, that would catalog programs and practices used in localities across the state to promote sustainability.  The book would be an addition to the Local Officials Resource Series and would focus on programs that have shown budgetary savings and can be replicated.
• Establish a monthly column in VML’s magazine to further the Initiative.
• Sponsor a Green Government Challenge for local governments.  This would be a friendly competition designed to encourage Virginia’s cities, towns and counties to implement specific environmental policies and take practical actions that reduce the carbon emissions generated by the local government.  One hundred “green points” earns a certification as a “Green Government.”  The top three jurisdictions, within three population brackets, will receive special public recognition at the 2008 VML Annual Conference.
• Provide additional support to VML for targeted environmental legislative action. Over the past 10 years, Virginia has lost about 165 acres a day to development, or almost 60,000 acres a year.  We should continue to strongly support Governor Kaine’s 4-year effort to protect an additional 400,000 acres of land by the year 2010.

Last night, as I walked through the Jamestown Settlement Museum, it was startling how not that long ago, there were so few people living here and so few environmental effects from those people.  It was also not hard to believe that the manmade threats to that same land, air and water are real and serious.

You will be seeing more of our GO GREEN VIRGINIA initiative in coming months.  We are excited and we look forward to your active participation.

I will conclude by sharing the words of Zoe Jones who wrote this as a 7-year old, 1st-grade student at Oakridge Elementary School for Arlington’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. essay competition in 2003.  Sometimes the words of our children - unencumbered by those adult tensions swirling above them - remind us of what’s really important in life.  Zoe wrote:

This is what I would do to make the world a better place.  I would say to everyone to not be mean to each other.  I’d change the world by putting up signs that say no littering.  I’d make sure that no one is being a bully.  I’d put up signs that say no picking on other people.  I’d say to our enemies that we shouldn’t have a war but instead make up with each other because what are we really fighting for?  I would make one school for everyone even if you have black skin or white skin because what’s wrong with black or white skin?   I would make the world cleaner than it is because some people litter all over the place.  I would make the world a better place to live in.  I would give everyone somewhere to live instead of on the ground.

Now, with Zoe’s words fresh in our minds, let us all recognize the power and importance of each person and each solitary act of kindness and conservation, and continue our work together to create a community and a Virginia that reflects the best hopes and aspirations for ourselves and for our children’s future.

Thank you for all you do.