Shaping Arlington's Future Together
Arlington is continually evolving and our leaders need to be ready to navigate the challenges that come with growth and change.
-
How can we accommodate the high demand for housing in Arlington, while offering options for various income levels and maintaining the charm that many of our residents hold dear?
-
How can we adapt our commercial spaces and zoning policies to changes in how we live and work and finally move the needle on vacancy rates?
-
How can we chart a course towards achieving our environmental goals that makes financial sense?
-
How can we capitalize on new technologies to reduce backlogs and serve our residents?
These are some of the questions of how we will shape Arlington’s future. Answering them effectively will require leaders who can bring us together as a community to have patient and thoughtful conversations, guiding us to understand diverse perspectives and to recognize the tradeoffs that exist with any potential solution. It will require the kind of trust that takes time and is built on listening, transparency, and compromise.
I believe we’ve fallen shy of this in recent years, evidenced by the bitter divides we have around issues of housing and zoning. Good government should not create this level of controversy. Many I’ve spoken with during my campaign are frustrated by policies they feel were pushed through without meaningful opportunities for input—essentially without a well-functioning democratic process. Single party governance, as we have in Arlington, can often suffer from unchallenged policies and limited perspectives.
​
When I’m elected to Arlington County Board, I promise to truly listen to input from diverse perspectives across the community and build policy solutions on the common ground I know we can find. I promise to lead us in shaping Arlington’s future together.
Priorities in
my vision of Arlington’s
future
-
A well-functioning democracy with improved civil discourse, continued use of ranked-choice voting, and data-informed decision making
​
-
Budgets that reflect more fiscal restraint to balance investments in our community’s long-term health with affordability of running businesses and living here
​
-
Public transportation and infrastructure that support: a more livable Arlington; economic growth; and positive environmental outcomes like cleaner waterways, reduced emissions, and protection of green spaces
​
-
A Potomac River clean enough to swim in (Arlington contributing to this goal to the extent within its power)
​
-
Top-of-the-line community spaces that continue encouraging our residents to be physically active, spend time together, and get outside (all three of which support mental health!), including parks, trails, bike paths and lanes, walkways, community centers and fitness facilities, pools, fields, courts, tracks, etc.
​
-
Permit processes and tax structures that encourage leaders to do business here
Where I stand on Missing Middle (aka Expanded Housing Options)
I advocate for monitoring the Expanded Housing Options (EHO) policy and revising as needed. I agree with EHO’s notion that, because we have incredibly high demand to live here, Arlington needs to move towards building more housing / enabling increased density across the county and that should include looking at neighborhoods that have historically been zoned only for single family homes. Our community needs to be able to adapt to the changing economic realities it faces. Where I disagree with EHO is that I feel it was too abrupt and too wide scale for what the community was ready for. When policymakers thrust that kind of change on people, backlash and dysfunction inevitably ensue and we’ve seen that with EHO. Examples include lawsuits that have cost the county $100,000’s in legal fees, homeowners adding anti-EHO covenants when they sell their homes, and general animosity within the community.
​
I believe monitoring the issue will help us adjust the policy over time to address valid concerns, find reasonable compromises, and reduce division.