Arlington — Hynes Addresses County Challenges
“ I don’t have a whisper of a doubt that bus service will be insufficient in the long-term.”
County Board Chair Mary Hynes
Like a shark, Arlington will need to keep moving forward if it wants to survive.
The need to continually develop new strategies to face Arlington’s economic and transportation needs was the primary topic of Arlington County Chair Mary Hynes’ final State of the County address.
In February, Hynes announced that she would be retiring once her term expires in 2015. Hynes replaced Councilman Jay Fisette as chair of the board in early 2015. It was her second time serving as County Board chair since being elected to the board in 2007. Before her departure, Hynes used the address to focus on advancements and insufficiencies in the county’s infrastructure.
“We have the opportunity to have the leading edge in the second generation of smart growth,” said Hynes. “We have to honor the values that have guided us for decades ... diversity and inclusiveness, strategic long-term investments in our infrastructure, and commitment to community development plans.”
TRANSPORTATION
Those strategic long-term investments in Arlington infrastructure took the center-stage of Hynes’ address. While Hynes said that the county is working to address problems with Arlington’s roads, the single largest complaint from local citizens.
“People are most upset about roads,” said Hynes. “We are investing in roads, but be careful what you wish for because it gets worse before it gets better.”
Eric Balliet, a spokesman for the Arlington Department of Transportation, said that road work had just been completed near Wakefield High School and Four Mile Run. Balliet said that upcoming road improvement projects will be primarily focused on western Arlington near the Fairfax County line. Meanwhile, Balliet said that his department is focusing on undergrounding utilities and streetscape improvements in Crystal City and on Columbia Pike. In Crystal City, Balliet said the Department of Transportation is beginning work on multimodal improvements centered around biking and transit access.
The largest transportation story to emerge out of Hynes’ year as County Board chair was the cancellation of the Columbia Pike Streetcar.
“The hardest decision I had to make in 20 years of elected office was to discontinue the streetcar,” said Hynes. “The reasons I voted to do that had to do with my belief and my care for the community overall. I didn’t believe there was enough bandwidth in our community to address these other needs. Everything was being evaluated through the streetcar lenses. They say ‘if you only have a hammer, you only look for the nail’ and I was very worried we were going to miss other things that needed to be attended to if we kept it alive.”
In the place of the streetcar, the county has begun implementing expanded bus service to Columbia Pike. Starting on July 6, ART Bus routes 41, 43, and 87 will have extended operating hours, including additional weekend hours for ART 41 and 87.
However, Hynes is unconvinced that bus route changes can fill the infrastructure gap left by the abandonment of the streetcar.
“Personally, if the plan that the board adopted for Columbia Pike continues to build out, I don’t have a whisper of a doubt that bus service will be insufficient in the long-term,” said Hynes. “But our community wasn’t there, our community didn’t understand it, and as I said it was coloring the conversation to an extent where I thought we couldn’t move forward.”
Hynes’ final jab at the streetcar opposition’s insistence that buses, in particular bus-rapid-transit, did not sit well with some members of the board and local community.
Peter Rousselot, spokesman for Arlingtonians for Sensible Transit, a group that opposed the streetcar, said he agreed with Hynes that at some point the current bus system will become insufficient.
“We advocate a regional bus rapid transit system to replace the streetcar proposal that the county board axed,” said Rousselot. “The question now is how long will it take before the regular buses prove to be insufficient? That depends on how rapidly density on Columbia Pike develops.”
John Vihstadt, an independent on the County Board and one of the leading voices of opposition to the streetcar, said he agreed with Hynes on nearly every point except the insufficiency of the buses.
“I disagree with Hynes; we are already responding to increased development along the Pike by augmenting our Art Bus Service,” said Vihstadt. “I’m confident we can do what we need to do along the Pike to meet increased transportation demands for years to come. The streetcar is cumbersome and slow … we need to be more cost effective and I’m confident we can respond with bus service to meet transportation demands.”
Vihstadt did emphasize that Arlington needs to focus around expanding its ART bus service in the place of Metro buses.
“We control [ART bus] routes,” said Vihstadt. “They’re much more cost effective and nimble in terms of changing to meet transportation needs and patterns.”
When the County Board voted to cancel the streetcar, they directed staff to come forward in the fall with a new transit proposal. This proposal will likely emerge as part of the county’s updated Transit Development Plan.
“The state requires an update to the Transit Development Plan every six years,” said Balliet. “Although we’re making near-term improvements, we’re still looking at the longer term to see what improvements we can make in certain corridors and county-wide.”
Balliet said the staff is focusing on Columbia Pike and Crystal city, and that the assessments and transit suggestions will be available by the end of 2015.
ECONOMIC INFRASTRUCTURE
During the address, Hynes highlighted two new businesses in Arlington and emphasized entrepreneurship as the future of the Arlington economy. However, with 20 percent office vacancy throughout the county in 2014, reaching as high as 29 percent in Rosslyn, Hynes acknowledged that repairing the county’s economy is going to be slow and tedious work.
“The incredible ups we had are not going to come this way again,” said Hynes. “There’s not going to be any huge boost in our economy. We have to collaborate. We have to use common sense and build consensus.”
Hynes recognized German grocery store Lidl for its decision to open its American corporate headquarters in Arlington. According to a press release from June 12, the new Lidl headquarters on the Arlington side of Potomac Yards will create 500 new jobs. Lidl is investing $202 million into establishing operations in Virginia, which will include $77 million for their corporate headquarters in Arlington.
Hynes also recognized 1776, a global incubator and seed fund helping startup, for acquiring the Crystal City-based Disruption Corp and moving into the converted office space near the Pentagon.
Over the past year, Hynes said the county has closed 27 deals and filled 1 million square feet of office space.
“It’s a good start,” said Hynes. “We’re not there yet, but I really do believe that when business succeeds our whole community will prosper.”