Common Sense Solutions for Alexandria

Since 1950, all our City Council members have been elected at-large, instead of by districts or wards. As a result, residents do not have a member of the City Council they can call “their own,” who is responsive to their neighborhood’s needs.

We have legislative districts on the federal level. We have them on the state level. Every other city in America close to our size which holds partisan elections for council have them. To truly represent the needs of our citizens and neighborhoods, there is no reason Alexandria, too, shouldn’t as well. Lets look at having three Council members elected by districts or wards, with the other three serving at-large.

Last year, the City Council voted - over the objection of the Alexandria School Board - to remove school resource safety officers from our middle and high school campuses. And they did it all without giving parents a say.

That is wrong. School Resource Officers keep our kids safe. This should not be a political issue, it is a matter of common sense. It’s time to bring back our School Resource Officers for good and ensure our kids are safe at school. At the same time, let’s bring together parents, the School Board, ACPS, APD and other stakeholders to find ways to improve the SRO program. See my recent press release urging the Council to restore the program and its funding.

A few years ago, the city imposed a special “storm water” fee. But the city did not put those funds in a lock box, leaving storm drains clogged and unable to handle the runoff created in part by increased density with residents left to deal with flooded basements and unusable yards. Now our Council has doubled the fee with no guarantee that all funds raised will be dedicated to upgrading our storm drains.

In August, I called on the City to appoint a Czar to take charge, to develop an accelerated plan with deliverables and timelines, and to implement a strategy to get federal funds. I was glad to see the City appoint a Czar a few weeks ago. Now let’s speed it up, get to work, and go seek federal funds.

We cannot make Duke Street into something it is not. This is a major commercial road and artery. We should hit the pause button on any changes until we have full data and impacted neighborhoods are looped in. With a road of this import, we need a consensus, not another Seminary Road.

Road diets (eliminating travel lanes) at the same time the city is adding population and cars makes no sense.

With cut-through traffic, lanes eliminated from major roadways, limited parking and increased density, traffic in Alexandria is bad enough already. Our City should work to alleviate traffic, not make it worse.

To meet a “commitment” set by the Washington Council of Governments, a private, non-governmental organization which wants Alexandria to take on 10x more than our fair share of their regional goals for new housing, our city continues to promote more density. Even in the midst of the pandemic. When we are already the densest city in Virginia, and among the top 15 most dense cities in America.

Tax dollars should not be spent to promote more density until our schools and infrastructure catch up to meet the needs of our current residents, and Alexandria has a plan in place to address the addition of more density.

Our city continues to approve zoning changes and other initiatives promoting overbuilding throughout Alexandria. Now, it wants to bulldoze Chinquapin Park, citing pollution data from streams with farmland runoff in Pennsylvania while ignoring testing of Taylor Run done by local residents and discounting findings by the city’s Natural Resources staff.

We have too little green space and tree canopy as it is. City Hall should work to preserve what we have — not destroy it.