Alexandria City Council made many decisions at its last public hearing of the year, including approving a media staging area for the trials at the Federal Courthouse; endorsing and working for passage of the increased sales tax in Northern Virginia to support transportation, placing a traffic light at W. Glebe and Old Dominion Blvd., and increasing development fees.
The meeting lasted nearly 11 hours and Council members heard from more than 50 citizens as officials tried to wrap up issues before the summer recess. Several items were deferred.
Jessica Cabrera, a junior at T. C. Williams High School, spoke in support of a teen center. “We just watched as white parents got approval for $200,000 for a skate board park and all we get from officials is delay about meeting with us about a place where we can go to use computers and hang out on weekends and after school,” she said. “We have met with some of you and have scheduled meetings with others but we still have no place where we can go to spend our time in Alexandria.”
Councilwoman Joyce Woodson, who got money to study this very issue, responded. “I have met with you and your group and have told you that we are looking into this matter,” she said. “I live in Del Ray and understand the need for a place for teens to go because many of them go to my house. However, we must find space that is affordable and appropriate and we have found nothing that meets that criteria in the Arlandria area.
"It is a fact of life that someone is going to have to use public transportation to get to a teen center wherever we locate it just because of where teenagers live in the city. I do want you to know that I am an advocate for the needs of teenagers and will continue to work toward finding appropriate space for just the things that you are talking about.”
Mayor Kerry J. Donley agreed. “The lack of available, appropriate space that is affordable is all that is stopping us from implementing this idea,” he said. “It is not because we are not interested. I am willing to meet with your group and discuss this further, but we have looked at space and are continuing to do so. We will not forget that this is something that we need to look at.”
Woodson offered to work with the teens to see if the two recreation centers in the Arlandria area could accommodate the activities that the young woman described. “I know that teens have been reluctant to go to these centers because of the younger children, but perhaps we can work out some accommodation.”
COUNCIL VOTED TO ENDORSE the referendum to raise the sales tax by half a cent to support transportation in the region. “We have always said that we should have the right to control the money that goes for transportation programs in our own region and this gives us that opportunity,” Donley said. “We stand to gain $4.5 billion over the next 20 years and we need this money to support not only our own road projects in the city, but particularly the transit projects that we will have to pay for out of general funds if we do not have this additional money. This would pay for our increased share of Metro contributions and allow us to increase our own DASH routes.”
Vice Mayor Bill Cleveland disagreed. “Right now we send $1 to Richmond and get back 35 cents,” he said. “With this new tax, we would get back 37.5 cents. We would build more roads in other areas and get very little in return. This is just another tax that would give us almost nothing.”
Councilwoman Claire Eberwein supported the tax. “Virginia is one of the least taxed states in the country,” she said. “I hope that if this referendum passes, the state can begin to focus on the other issues that it needs to fund. Even with this increase, this will keep our tax burden lower than many other states but we are facing serious deficits in education that need to be addressed. The state’s commitment to public education has been lacking for many years. We must pay for our transportation needs in some manner and if we support this referendum, perhaps we will have available some general fund dollars to dedicate to spend on education. I am glad to see that food will not be taxed because I would not like to see our most vulnerable citizens suffer from this tax. This is a very difficult decision but it is what is available at the moment.”
Councilman David Speck also spoke in support of the increased sales tax. “The public pays for public transportation,” he said. “The public pays for public safety. The public pays for public education. The public is you and me. It’s not someone, somewhere else who has some giant Visa card to pay for things, it’s us. It isn’t a matter of if we are going to pay for these things; it’s when and how. We must find a way to meet our obligation to Metro and to deal with our own roads. Voting against this is good politics but not good public policy.”
Woodson agreed. “This is not a perfect solution,” she said. “While I support this, you are going to hear me say loudly and often that we need to do more. We need to reform our entire tax system in this state if we want to make any real difference. But we do have obligations to meet and we do need to find a way to pay for them. This gives us a way. I am very concerned about our public schools and the state has not done a very good job of supporting them. If we pass this referendum, perhaps we can free some dollars to begin to address those needs.”
Councilwoman Redella S. “Del” Pepper also supported the referendum. “I have always wanted to increase the number of neighborhoods that we serve with our own DASH system,” she said. “This would allow us to do that by purchasing an appropriate facility where we can store and maintain more busses. We must get people out of cars and this is a way to do that.”
Councilman Bill Euille agreed. “The only way to get people out of their cars is to make sure that we have a safe, affordable, accessible solution to our mass transit needs,” he said. “This will allow us to improve Metro and DASH service as well as making road improvements.”
Cleveland was not convinced and was the only member to vote against the referendum. It passed, six to one. The issue will be on the ballot in Northern Virginia in November. In the meantime, supporters and opponents will be out speaking to community groups and distributing fliers on both sides of the issue. While the campaigns will begin this summer, expect to see efforts get into high gear in September.
COUNCIL VOTED TO CONSTRUCT a media center across from Carlyle Towers. Twenty-one speakers spoke on this matter, most of them from Carlyle Towers and most of them against constructing an area for the media to work during the trials of John Walker Lind and Zacarias Moussoui. Barbara Gordon, the city’s Public Information Officer, described what is being proposed.
“We are proposing to use a vacant lot at 2000 Jamison Road as a staging area for the media who are going to come to cover the trials,” she said. “We do not know how many people to expect but this is the only way we have of controlling where they go. If we do nothing, we will have chaos. While we recognize that this will be disruptive to the citizens, we believe that it will be more disruptive if we do nothing and allow the media to park on the streets and come and go at will. We are trying to make the best of a bad situation. We did not want the trials here but that is not our decision. They will be here and we must make accommodations for them.”
The staging area will include a platform where members of the media can place cameras for views of the federal courthouse, just across the street. There will be trailers with desks and telephones where members of the media can work. There will also be restrooms and a food trailer where members of the media can purchase food. This service will be operated by a local restaurant or caterer. Costs will be defrayed by the media.
CLEVELAND SPOKE AGAINST the media staging area. He also expressed concern about the proposed security measures that would lead to closure of Elizabeth Lane and Jamison Ave. “When are these security measures going to come back to us,” he asked. “When does Council get a chance to discuss this?”
Sunderland said that this would not come back to Council. “If the federal marshals determine that these streets need to be closed for security reasons, that will happen,” Sunderland said. “It isn’t something that Council would decide. It would be up to the federal government.”
Cleveland disagreed. “It is not up to the federal government,” he said. “Those streets are within the city of Alexandria and we do not have to cede them to the federal government. I work on Capitol Hill and know what it is like to work in an armed camp. We cannot receive deliveries of pizza or flowers. We have to go out and get the things we want. This is going to be very disruptive to everyone who lives or works in this area. We do not have to build a trailer city for the media. There are plenty of hotels and restaurants in the area. They can use those much more comfortably than they can use a trailer. This is ridiculous.”
“City taxpayers will not pay for any of this,” said City Manager Philip Sunderland. “Those who use the facilities will agree to our terms and will pay for them. Extra costs will be covered by the federal government.”
Alan Rudd was one of the residents who spoke against the media staging area. “We do not have to build a trailer park in front of our homes to accommodate the media,” he said. “They are managing just fine now and would manage just fine without this trailer city. This was decided long before it was brought to Council and without adequate study of other options. We are building a trailer park because that’s what someone decided we were going to do, not because it’s what makes the most sense. There are many other options that could be considered. We should hire the appropriate people and study the matter and then make a decision.”
Another resident asked that the space return to what it is now. Speck supported this but took issue with exactly what the space is. “It’s not like we are taking a park and turning it into a trailer park,” he said. “While I do believe that we should return it to the vacant lot that it is and make sure that we plant grass, I want to remind all of you that, very soon, this lot will be a giant hole in the ground with a large hotel rising from it. This hotel is part of the Carlyle development plan that has been in the works for some time and that will go forward. It is not going to remain green space. It was never intended to remain green space.”
SOME RESIDENTS HAVE been walking their dogs in this space but it was never intended to be a dog park. The space will house up to 15 trailers for working media; food and restroom facilities and fiber optic cables. The Special Use Permit will expire in October 2003, and must be reviewed by Council at that time. The city and the federal courts will jointly credential members of the media. Only those with credentials will be permitted to use the staging area and interviews will be conducted from that area. The trials are slated to begin in the fall.
Council approved the SUP by a vote of six to one, with Vice Mayor Cleveland voting against it.