Election Gridlock
Ever since the lame-duck session of the City Council approved a five-to-two plan to ditch springtime elections in favor of November balloting, proposals and counter-proposals have been circulating around City Hall for a new election format. If council members do nothing, the next city election will be held in the midst of a presidential cycle in November 2012 — a possibility supporters of the move from May to November said they would like to avoid. But council members have become deadlocked over what kind of charter amendment to seek during the next session of the General Assembly, and the deadline for approving a proposal to be considered in 2010 is fast approaching.
On Tuesday night, council members voted to remove the charter amendment from the other agenda items for the upcoming General Assembly session so they can hold a separate public hearing for election reform. Councilwoman Alicia Hughes suggested conducting a referendum to find out what the voters want. And Councilman Del Pepper offered a compromise that would create four-year terms and make changes after November 2015. Meanwhile, the council remains deadlocked over the issue of staggered terms.
Four members would prefer ditching the current model of electing all members at once. But three others members are opposed to that idea, preferring the traditional model of electing all council members and the mayor on the same ballot. The elected leaders still have a month to find a solution. But the Democratic-controlled City Council has to be careful not to send anything that might be viewed as partisan to a Republican-dominated House of Delegates.
"That’s just inviting meddlesome action," said Vice Mayor Kerry Donley, a former chairman of the Democratic Party of Virginia. "They meddle enough."
Strong Opposition
After adopting a resolution withholding support for "high-occupancy toll" lanes on Shirley Memorial Highway in March, the City Council has become increasingly concerned about the proposal. Since then, community opposition to the plan has reached a fever pitch and officials at the Virginia Department of Transportation have been slow in responding to inquiries from Parkfairfax residents and city officials. And then, of course, there’s Arlington County’s lawsuit challenging the federal government’s decision to forgo an environmental impact study.
Consequentially, the city’s official position of withholding support no longer seemed adequate. So council members unanimously approved a resolution Tuesday night that "strongly opposes" the HOT lanes project on Interstate 395. A handful of Parkfairfax residents were in the chamber to applaud the measure, even if it was largely symbolic.
"We are very pleased that Alexandria is on-record opposing this ill-conceived HOT lanes project," said Greg Coda, co-chairman of Parkfairfax’s HOT lanes task force. "Encouraging more single-occupancy drivers is not the solution to Virginia’s transportation problems, and forcing more traffic that increases congestion and pollution along the I-395 corridor will only make things worse."
$125,000 Conclusions
Market pressure supporting short-term redevelopment of industrial properties in the West End is weak, and significant constraints exist to relocating them. These are the conclusions of a $125,000 industrial-use study conducted by a California-based consulting firm known as Bay Area Economics. City Council members received the final version of the report Tuesday night, although nobody seemed surprised by the findings.
"Going forward, I’d like to keep any studies like this in house," said Councilman Frank Fannon. "That would keep costs down."
But Planning Director Faroll Hamer said her office is already stretched beyond the breaking point, and that it would have been impossible for city staff to conduct the industrial land-use study council members received Tuesday night.
"In theory, it’s a good argument," said Hamer in response to Fannon’s request. "But in this circumstance, spending the money helped us present the study in the designated time."
