Is local government a collaboration or a competition? That?s the question some Cherrydale are asking themselves, as they look at the membership of a group deciding the future of the Cherrydale fire station.
?They?re winning,? said Scott Springston, president of the Cherrydale Citizens Association. ?They?re beating us down to the point that a lot of us are saying, ?I don?t know how much more I can take.?? Springston is one of five Cherrydale residents serving on the Cherrydale Fire Station Relocation Task Force, which met for the first time Monday, March 10.
After the first meeting, Nancy Iacomini, chair of the task force, said she expects initial resistance to the task force to lessen as the group continues its work. Iacomini has scheduled bimonthly meetings through August, when County Board members expect to hear recommendations on a new site for Fire Station No. 3.
The relocation issue began in 1990, when a fire department study recommended moving the station next door to its current home at 3900 Lee Highway. But delays and missed opportunities meant that property was lost, county official acknowledged last year. Cherrydale residents saw the loss of the property as a slap in the face and Springston is worried the same thing could happen again. ?In the end, we really have no guarantee that they?re going to listen to anything we have to say,? he said. ?I really am scared to death that it?s going to be like the Planning Commission, and they?re just going to ignore us.?
Kevin O?Brien, another Cherrydale task force member, shared that concern. Board members have done nothing to convince him that they?re ready to respond to citizen input, he said. ?I don?t care whether my county board is Republican, Democratic? Socialist or Anarchist, as long as they can listen to the citizens.?
Even if board members accept one of the task force?s recommendations, Cherrydale residents say they still might feel cheated.
The fire station has historically been located in the Cherrydale neighborhood, and neighbors say they want it to stay there. When officials named task force members, the County Board included members of 11 different civic associations, two at-large members, and a member from the Emergency Medical Services Council.
Five representatives from Cherrydale are the largest single contingent, but they only have a plurality, not a voting majority, on the task force. ?Bringing in all these other people are just going to water down our opinions,? said Springston.
All civic associations represented on the task force lie within the first-due response area of Fire Station 3, and therefore have a vested interest in where the new station is located. But that?s not a problem, said Iacomini. ?That?s not selfish, that?s simply being pragmatic on their part,? she said.
Robert Deason, the representative from the Chain Bridge Forest Civic Association, didn?t feel any conflict at the first meeting. ?I think everybody?s trying to be very conscientious about it, and I get the impression that it?s going to be a very thorough review before the task force makes its proposals,? he said. ?But I really do get the impression that they?re trying to be objective about it.?
Task force meetings will be held Mondays and Wednesdays and are open to the public.