On June 12, make your vote count by putting new members on City Council who will respect residents and their neighborhoods, revere and protect our historic ambience and uniqueness citywide: Old Town, Del Ray, Rosemont, Arlandria, Beverly Hills, Parker Gray, etc.
Elect new council members who will really bring residents to the table and respect promises; e.g., no lights at T.C. Williams.
Elect new council who will prioritize citywide needs and wants so that taxes can be held in check preventing further gentrification and loss of affordable homes for working class men and women and seniors on fixed incomes.
Elect new council members who will put qualified citizens on boards and commission and make sure they are balanced between business and residential members. Most of all, elect City Council members who will demand that our planning department adds creativity to its process and deny developers who bring forth tired cookie-cutter, dense tall buildings. And be sure to vote for council who will actually want to know the "real" results of projects, such as residential paid parking. Has this resulted in less business for our retail and restaurants and has it really encouraged people to park in garages. Where are the valid data?
Same for the BikeShare program: Are we only subsidizing the District's thriving program providing free storage via our racks or do our eyes deceive us and the the racks always filled with red bikes are actually paying their way so we can stop subsidizing them for half a million dollars a year?
And please elect new council members who will work closely with our schools to make sure they are providing a quality education for all our children, so parents won't have to use private schools.
Finally, on a positive note, please elect new council members who will commend as I do our police and fire departments for giving us a safe city in which to live. And to commend residents who work hard for our many non-profits and help to keep our city beautiful by adopting parks. We need new council members who understand that health and safety and educating our youth are their primary roles and who are able therefore to prioritize spending, questioning major projects (Metro stations, bus rapid-transit) to make sure taxpayers' money is well spent and benefits everyone in one way or another.
Most of all, vote on June 12. We need new council members at this critical juncture. Alexandria is a wonderful, unique historic waterfront city — we need to maintain this legacy for generations to come.
Linda Couture
Alexandria