Statement of Jay Fisette

Arlington County Board
January 1, 2003 Organizational Meeting

Good morning. First, I want to extend a special heartfelt welcome to our new chairman, Charles. I share your interest in assuring success in our planning for Columbia Pike and the Courthouse Plaza. I am keenly interested in a conference center – though I recognize that several questions loom large, including a financing package. I support your plan to implement a citizen satisfaction survey and have great confidence that you will find yet new ways of enhancing civic participation in the decision-making of our community.

And congrats as well to our new Vice Chairman, Paul. As the senior member of this Board, I am certain that you and Charles will make an excellent leadership team. And finally, to Chris and Barbara, I continue to respect your talents and look forward to working with you both in the months ahead. Chris, this past year you worked hard, and much was initiated and accomplished that you, we, and the community should feel very good about.

Over five years, it has become evident that my time as a Board member is heavily invested in three major areas: (1) the budget; (2) development issues, and (3) regional issues.

Fiscal Responsibility/Infrastructure

On taxes and budget issues, I will continue to promote fiscal discipline and accountability in balancing responsible tax policies with needed public investments. The deep state budget cuts will hurt Arlington and challenge us to be resourceful and fair in developing our budget.

Our revenue-sharing agreement with the School Board enshrines our commitment to public education and the recognition that our children represent our best hope for the future. I will continue to promote prudent investment in our infrastructure – including technology infrastructure – as well as creative, effective e-government efficiencies.

Development/Urban Village

I am a convert to New Urbanism. Arlington’s planning, pedestrian emphasis, bike lanes, public art, and our form-based coding are living manifestations of new urbanist planning.

If you are even remotely interested in these issues, I direct you to a watershed book written in 2000 titled “Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream.” This is a profound commentary and a practical resource. 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.” This is true. It is appalling. A street corner looks the same across America. The same 200 stores are replicated across America. These are generic, listless, lonely places. Arlington is different.

As the authors say, “We shape our cities and then our cities shape us.” We’re not talking about bricks and mortar, but the body within which are nurtured the hearts and souls of Arlington. These structures and spaces should facilitate connections among us and enrich our quality of life.

As we consider projects and update our sector plans, we should rethink and discourage superblocks throughout the corridor, allow smaller, affordable space for individual investors, and ensure a mix of uses. As we further tackle the affordability of housing in Arlington, we should aggressively explore live/work units, granny flats, and English basements. And we must plan for open space as carefully as we plan for structures.

Regionalism/Smart Growth

Arlington should continue to play a leadership role in regional issues – a role larger than our size would suggest. At the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, I will continue to represent Arlington in regional emergency preparedness efforts. Our emergency response in 2001 and our efforts since, including the establishment of our Citizen Corps Council, have given Arlington a platform and reputation nationally. In 2003 we will host a national conference and further share our insights with other jurisdictions around the country.

In 2002, the regional Sales Tax Referendum barely won in Arlington and failed regionally. Many of us were disappointed, as we saw this as an opportunity to provide resources in addressing the region’s transportation issues – with an unprecedented percentage directed to transit. I know many Arlingtonians were conflicted about this referendum. Now we must look forward.

As a smart growth advocate, I am convinced that the most effective long-term solution to our region’s congestion problems is better decisions about where and what to build – better land use planning. We know that the region’s population will grow by over 1 million people in the next 20 years. The question is: Where should those people and jobs be placed? The answer: Near transit, in compact, mixed-use activity centers – not eating up open space and randomly sprouting up throughout the region.

I am committed to work with our regional smart growth groups, the business community, and our colleagues in other jurisdictions to promote smarter growth patterns and obtain the information and tools to facilitate such changes. Arlington is a model – recently receiving EPA’s first annual award for Overall Excellence in Smart Growth, yet the land use decisions of our neighbors will affect us in Arlington. As we know and as folks are increasingly realizing, “Trying to cure traffic congestion by adding more capacity is like trying to cure obesity by loosening your belt.”

The Values

Underpinning all decisions, whether on the budget, development, regional or other issues, are a set of values and principles that are non-negotiable. Ours is a nation and a community that values freedom, open government, civil rights, fairness and justice. We live these values in our decisions every day.

Ours is a nation and a community that has grown strong because it opens its arms to the world, that looks and sounds like the world, and revels in the tapestry of our differences. The census tells us that 28% of Arlingtonians are foreign born, and that we have a greater percentage (33%) of homes in which a language other than English is spoken than any other jurisdiction in the region.

As a gay man, I respect, defend and celebrate our differences as a part of our community’s strength. As the world gets smaller, and as the world is challenged to live by its rhetoric, Arlington will continue to live these values in our decisions every day.

Conclusion

I will conclude by sharing the words of a woman I consider to be Arlington’s Poet Laureate. Caroline Hufford Anderson expressed her view of Arlington, and her wish for it’s future, in accepting an award at the annual dinner of our Commission on the Status of Women in March 2002. She said:

It is nearing fifty years that I have lived in Arlington. Now, one fact is plain to me, having experienced innumerable aspects of this place. I love it here. Our Arlington shines out, like a dear child growing, as a recognizable community of infinite possibility. Together the people here, in so many various ways, struggle towards the very best of goals for our county – our urban village, you might call it – to make it a caring, inclusive, forward-looking place: a place where our children are educated to be better than we have been; a place where diversity is understood and appreciated; where the stranger is welcomed; where the frail are cared for and the needy sustained; where the environment is nurtured; where books and art and gardens and music may flourish; and where the least is lifted up. My prayer is that we may continue on this path, step by little step, till all can see and say, “Look at that Arlington! What a model for the world!”

Let us all continue our work together to help make Caroline’s prayer come true. Happy New Year.