December 6th Blog: Important Arlington Government Issue!

 Dear Friends:

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. There is a lot to be thankful for despite the state of our nation.

The Arlington County Board will have its last meetings of the year starting next Saturday and I’d like to bring an important issue to my Arlington readers’ attention. 

Those who follow the County Board will know that the Board is considering whether to set up a commission to look at changing our County government structure. As described in the agenda item staff report: "The final report shall offer both qualitative and quantitative recommendations grounded in research and shaped by community input. Key areas addressed shall include:

1.     Board Composition and Size

• Should the Board expand beyond five members?

• What population or service benchmarks would justify expansion?

2.     Leadership Structure

•   Should Arlington adopt a separately elected, at-large Board Chair?

• How do rotating and elected Chair models compare in terms of effectiveness?

3.     Election Structure and Timing

• Should Board elections remain staggered or shift to simultaneous format?

• What are the implications on continuity, accountability, and voter turnout?

4.     Representation

•   Should Arlington transition to district-based or hybrid representation?

• How would such shift improve on equity, access, and inclusion?"

These particular changes have long been pushed by the Civic Federation and the NAACP which say such changes would make the Board more responsive to residents.

While I agree that after nearly a century it could be good to evaluate how our government structure is serving us, I have several major concerns:

1. First, there is the substance of the charge which seems to assume a certain outcome rather than considering various ways to solve a problem, which has not yet been clearly stated. Asking the right questions is crucial to solving a problem.

• For example, the issue of low pay for County Board members preventing many good candidates from seeking election is not mentioned, but I suspect would do more to improve representation than establishing small districts within the County. 

• In fact, such small districts would probably decrease responsiveness because Board members would only focus on their small districts rather than the County as a whole. Presumably such issues would surfaced during the study. 

2.     But, second, I am most concerned about the timing. Large and important tasks like this can take up a lot of time and focus for everyone. 

• Next year will not be an ordinary year. As next year’s budget discussions will make clear, Arlington faces one of its most difficult, if not the most difficult, times financially. Federal funds for long-standing safety net programs will disappear at a time when many of our residents from federal workers to recent immigrants are losing employment, health care and security. 

• The extent of the challenge reminds me of when we faced Covid, but rather than the Federal government being a supportive partner as it was then, it is now actively hostile. I do not believe the extent of the crisis is at all clear yet. 

  
  

• In my view, to undertake a project like restructuring our government now is like deciding to paint the life boats right after the Titanic hit the iceberg. We need to focus on how to help our residents survive the coming economic storm without crippling the County’s finances, not on addressing a problem that is not yet clearly defined.

Eric Berkey, a member of the Planning Commission and former member and Chair of the Housing Commission is circulating a petition (signatures due by Tuesday 12.9) which outlines this issue well. Maureen Coffey’s statement at the November carryover meeting was particularly good. I encourage you to watch her comments (and you may want to watch the whole discussion) and sign the petition, as I have.

To follow the whole discussion of this issue, please click on this YouTube video link: https://www.youtube.com/live/NkV2vdj1Mnk?t=25476s To move to Ms. Coffey’s remarks, scroll the red line/dot at the bottom of the picture to minute 8:25:25.

My intrepid team on the Fairlington Bridge continues our rush hour resistance. But we are cutting back on our time with the holidays, dark and cold weather. If you think you’d like to join us, let me know so I can confirm when we will be there. We are trying both daylight and dark actions and are varying our weekday schedules.

Finally, I hope you find this blog helpful and interesting. Would you consider a small contribution? Our total budget is about $3,000/year. Townley and Austin receive small stipends and the website host has a fee. January will start our second year. The funds left from my campaign account which were transferred to this blog will run out before the end of 2026.

Yours in good government and peaceful resistance,  

Libby