Arlington Board Takes a Step In New Direction:
Street Politics
Residents Point Out Trouble Spots in First 'Walkabout'
by Lisa Rein, Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, April 29, 2001
Even in Arlington County, a place where people move because they can fight City
Hall and maybe win, little things can cry out for attention. Not enough trash
cans on the streets. The maddening search for parking.Those speeding cut-through
commuters.
So yesterday, County Board members took themselves out of the government building
and into a neighborhood for some pothole politics.
They called it a walking town meeting, a two-hour tour through South Arlington's
Barcroft area and the first of six road shows planned for coming months. It was
politics Arlington-style, with a county staff member -- one of a dozen employees
on the walk -- wheeling bottled water in a shopping cart and barking dogs drowning
out speakers at every turn. And it was in keeping with the county's historic emphasis
on decision-making through consensus-building, which places a premium on input
from residents.
"It was an untapped desire we tapped into," said Barbara A. Favola (D), one of
four board members who participated. Favola marveled at the turnout of 70 or so,
three times the participation for a board or civic association meeting, she said.
The politicians heard a wish list of improvements long sought by the Barcroft
School and Civic League. Among them: curbs and gutters for South Taylor Street,
and stop signs and speed bumps on South Abingdon to slow the 1,838 cars a day
that use it (yes, the traffic calming committee counted).
There were real-life demonstrations that no amount of pleading at a public hearing
could convey as well, such as the red Subaru that made a quick U-turn in front
of Barcroft Elementary to show the danger to children crossing there.
There were calls to flatten the hill on Buchanan Street to improve sightlines.
Residents also noted that a jogging trail near Columbia Pike has become Arlington's
version of Central Park, with rollerbladers, bikers and baby strollers on a collision
course -- though no one could say what should be done about it.
"Everybody's in a such a hurry," mused Del. L. Karen Darner (D-Arlington), reflecting
on the changes in the county -- more people, more cars and not enough space for
all of them -- that have led to some of the problems.
Barcroft is a community of newcomers and longtime government workers, professionals
mixed in with working-class residents. Founded a century ago, it is one of the
county's oldest sections, and residents complain that crime has recently crept
around its edges.
At each of yesterday's nine stops, Barcroft Civic League President Mark Wigfield
set a tone that was positive yet stern, thanking officials for the help received
while outlining what still needs to be done.
"Years ago, this park was desolate and full of beer drinkers," he said at the
first stop, on Taylor Street. "It's hugely improved. But we need practice fields
and more maintenance. And a water fountain."
As he spoke, Wigfield held a billiard cue, a symbol of the community's unhappiness
over four killings outside a local pool hall in recent years.
Board Chairman Jay Fisette (D) said he proposed the walkabouts after concluding
that his efforts to engage residents in Internet communication with county government
overlooked the tried-and-true. "It can't replace face-to-face contact," he said.
The Dover-Crystal neighborhood is next on the list.
The county has heard many of Barcroft's requests before, as line items in the
neighborhood's application for grants through the popular Neighborhood Conservation
program. But some items haven't received funding, and others that have remain
on plans in file folders.
Other requests, like shaving down the hill on Buchanan, are pipe dreams at best.
"That's an engineering nightmare," county spokesman Dick Bridges said.
"We can't fix every blade of grass," Favola said. "But now we can figure out where
these issues are in the process."
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Arlington, Virginia 22201