Last night the Potomac West Business Association sponsored a panel discussion/debate of the candidates for city council. With my civic activism in high gear I (EZ) decided to go and hear what our candidates have to say on the various issues facing our city.
I was seriously underwhelmed.
I don’t want to embarrass the candidates by naming names but I was shocked at the lack of knowledge displayed by many of the candidates. I would think that a candidate would want to familiarize themselves with the major issues and, given the size of Alexandria, there are not many major issues. Sure the questions might vary a bit but you *know* there’ll be questions on Potomac Yards, traffic, transportation, education and, of course, the budget increase.
To be fair, some candidates clearly did know some issues quite well and were able to present intelligent responses but there were two candidates who, to be nice, were complete imbeciles.
I lived in Arlington for a while before moving to Del Ray and have constantly found myself wondering why, when presented with the same opportunities as Arlington, Alexandria always seems to squander them. It sometimes makes me consider moving back to Arlington.
Take for example transportation issues. One topic covered last night was the Potomac Yards/Route 1/Metro station situation. Several candidates said very emphatically that they will do whatever they can to get a metro station in Potomac Yards to alleviate traffic. One candidate was brave enough to state that Alexandria will not be getting a metro station any time soon (which if you research the issue you’ll realize is very true).
Why won’t we be getting a metro station and why won’t this solve the transportation problems soon to arrive?
First, metro is a regional transportation network. It won’t address local traffic. What will help to reduce local traffic is a better secondary transit network – trolley lines (light rail), improved bus transit, and sidewalks/paths.
Second, Alexandria squandered an opportunity to get a metro station by zoning Potomac Yards at (relatively) low density. Metro now says that the projected ridership would not support the station and, besides, there’s no money in their budget to fund the station anyway.
Third, even if we were able to get a new metro stop it would be 6-10 years in the planning/building. The New York Avenue station was about 6 years in the making and that was probably a best case scenario.
Alexandria has made two major mistakes here. First they zoned at a lower density due to unjustified fears of overburdening the city (transportation, utilities, etc.). They are now compounding the problem by underfunding/underbuilding the secondary transit system. Essentially, their course of action is making their worst fears come true – too many people and not enough transit options & capacity.
Now, contrast Alexandria’s reaction to the Potomac Yards opportunity with Arlington’s. Arlington is building up but – just as importantly – they are planning for the density with mass transit (Metro, buses, trolleys, etc.) and creating a “walkable community”. Like Alexandria, Arlington has left space for a metro station in their plans.
I predict a single Potomac Yards metro stop will be built and it will be built in Arlington.
Bringing my transportation discussion back to the panel discussion, the candidates clear lack of knowledge or insight into transportation and Potomac Yards explains a lot. If the candidates (and incumbents) can’t be bothered to educate themselves about pressing issues, they are sure to make bad decisions. Alexandria has had quite a few of these over the years and, judging from what I heard last night, we’re in for more in the future.
[Update] An email received from the DRCA list says that Comcast recorded the panel discussion and will show it on channel 69 on two different dates: Wednesday, April 26 @ 9pm and Friday, April 28th @ 5pm. So those of you who missed the meeting, have an interest in these things and have cable can watch it yourself.