Arlington 2015 Budget – Proposed Bike/Ped cuts and ABAC asks

[dasgeh]

As we discussed at the meeting, the bullets above (along with any other talking points yall have) could be used as talking points with powers that be.

I’m told there will be a story on the potential bike/ped cuts at 4:30pm on WAMU (88.5/NPR) and again tomorrow morning (which might feature a familiar voice

[americancyclo]

@dasgeh 110150 wrote:

As we discussed at the meeting, the bullets above (along with any other talking points yall have) could be used as talking points with powers that be.

I’m told there will be a story on the potential bike/ped cuts at 4:30pm on WAMU (88.5/NPR) and again tomorrow morning (which might feature a familiar voice

Just heard you on morning edition!

[dasgeh]

@americancyclo 110209 wrote:

Just heard you on morning edition!

My kids did too. They didn’t recognize my voice, and when I pointed it out they didn’t care.

[Starduster]

And you can listen here: http://wamu.org/news/15/03/04/why_is_arlington_considering_slashing_its_budget_for_alternative_transit

Except… this is the 01:30 audio excerpt- Gillian isn’t heard here (boo-hiss on WAMU’s part).

[scoot]

Washcycle blogged today on this topic: http://www.thewashcycle.com/2015/03/arlington-2016-budget-includes-proposed-cuts-to-bicycle-and-pedestrian-programs.html

What strikes me is the disconnect between the proposed cuts (pedestrian and bicycle programs) and Ms. Donellan’s justification for the choice of these items: “My approach was to propose no “Washington Monuments;” to not fully eliminate any program or service; and to largely focus on programs that are not core to public safety or health.”

How exactly is enabling and protecting active transportation users not core to public safety and health???

[PotomacCyclist]

Should we get people to write to the County Manager and the Board in addition to the ABAC letter? Is there a convenient list of email addresses? County Manager, DES, Board Members, others? This might merit a thread on the General forum, which tends to get more traffic and views than the other sub-forums.

[Starduster]

@dasgeh 110216 wrote:

My kids did too. They didn’t recognize my voice, and when I pointed it out they didn’t care.

Give them a couple of years…

[dasgeh]

@PotomacCyclist 110436 wrote:

Should we get people to write to the County Manager and the Board in addition to the ABAC letter? Is there a convenient list of email addresses? County Manager, DES, Board Members, others? This might merit a thread on the General forum, which tends to get more traffic and views than the other sub-forums.

That’s what I meant by the powers that be. You can email the entire county board at once: Countyboard@arlingtonva.us and you can email countymanager@arlingtonva.us

I don’t think DES needs the prodding.

You may also want to mention to the manager that the bac should not be excluded when other boards are solicited for input, as happened this past December (all the other commissions were invited to give input about the budget – bac and pac were left out) (still haven’t heard back from my email on the topic).

And one more talking point:
-business look for walkable and bikeable communities for their office locations, as their workers, especially millenials, seek out offices in such places. Cutting bike services hurts arlington as a business location

[Terpfan]

I’m not an Arlingtonian so I fear my voice wouldn’t really be heard, but I do think you all should be very loud and very vocal. I say it selfishly as the more bike-friendly Arlington has become, the more pressure it has put on Alexandria and Fairfax to follow suit. Sure, Fairfax is way behind, but they’re starting to actually designate some bike lanes and it’s obvious they feel the need to try to at least mirror some of Arlington’s progress. If Arlington regresses, I fear they will just point to that and say, well, you really don’t need this.

[dbb]

@Terpfan 110608 wrote:

I’m not an Arlingtonian so I fear my voice wouldn’t really be heard, but I do think you all should be very loud and very vocal. I say it selfishly as the more bike-friendly Arlington has become, the more pressure it has put on Alexandria and Fairfax to follow suit. Sure, Fairfax is way behind, but they’re starting to actually designate some bike lanes and it’s obvious they feel the need to try to at least mirror some of Arlington’s progress. If Arlington regresses, I fear they will just point to that and say, well, you really don’t need this.

I think you should write the Board and say just that. Characterize Arlington County as a regional thought leader and commend them for their service in making the region more accepting of alternatives to cars. Might want to highlight the words safety and health because the proposed cuts were characterized as outside of those categories.

[Steve O]

@Terpfan 110608 wrote:

I’m not an Arlingtonian so I fear my voice wouldn’t really be heard, . . .

@dbb 110612 wrote:

I think you should write the Board and say just that.

You should also mention that this makes it more likely that you will work/shop/play/ etc. in Arlington. It’s not just citizens who are served by our government, but workers and businesses, too. Attracting more people to come to Arlington for any reason is good and the County Board should understand that.

[PotomacCyclist]

Another good talking point is the recent announcement from Marriott International that they plan to move out of their Bethesda-area suburban office park when their lease expires in 2022. Their CEO specifically said that they want to move to a Metro-accessible location, because he realizes that younger workers/recent college graduates do not want to work in car-dependent office parks. This is such a concern that Marriott Int’l wants to move their entire headquarters. (Of course, they also want to pit local jurisdictions against each other, to get the best incentive package available. But the CEO did say that the new HQ has to be located near a Metro station. They did say that they would remain in the greater DC region.)

The CEO mentioned Metro access but he also mentioned urban setting for the new HQ. An important part of the idea of transit-oriented development is human-scale design and safe non-car travel within the immediate area of a Metro station. This means walking and biking.

So not only does bike/pedestrian planning deal with safety and transportation, but it also affects economic development. BRAC has hurt Arlington, but Arlington still has the important draw of having business districts that are Metro-accessible and that also accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. Much more than competing locations like Tysons Corner.

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/03/a-new-marriott-hq-here-are-some-possibilities.html?page=all

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/03/a-new-marriott-hq-here-are-five-possibilities.html?page=all

http://www.bizjournals.com/washington/breaking_ground/2015/03/more-headquarters-options-for-marriott.html?page=all

[Terpfan]

@Steve O 110629 wrote:

You should also mention that this makes it more likely that you will work/shop/play/ etc. in Arlington. It’s not just citizens who are served by our government, but workers and businesses, too. Attracting more people to come to Arlington for any reason is good and the County Board should understand that.

Well, you all raise good points. While I doubt they will listen given I’m not a constituent (and in a prior life, that was the bar we always used in determining responses), it’s certainly worth a shot. Besides, if I could afford to, I would live in Arlington .

[PotomacCyclist]

Hmm, I sent a lengthy email to both the Board and the County Manager. Polite in tone, but disapproving in the message. A couple days later, the County Manager announces her retirement. I swear, it wasn’t my doing!

[dasgeh]

By way of update on the “process” side of this issue: Turns out that neither the BAC nor the PAC were consulted on the proposed cuts or the budget in any way. In fact, Transportation staff wasn’t consulted on the proposed cuts.

On the up side, the Chair of the PAC and me, as Chair of the BAC, will be testifying during the County Board’s work session tomorrow night (at the end of the night, if you want to come). Should be fun.

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