Hello,
Several of us who contribute to this blog attended most of this year's candidate forums. We also attend most County Board, Planning Commission, County Board and School Board work sessions, last year's County Board and School Board CIP work sessions and read County Board's consent agenda and peruse agenda items. We do Web searches, read other local blogs and local newspapers, and talk with Arlington residents, at meetings and events and in neighborhoods.
Consequently, Arlington Yupette endorses Audrey Clement for Arlington County Board.
In making this endorsement we evaluated first, what specifically candidates promise to do if elected to the County Board and, second, what they have done over past 10 years years to actually move Arlington forward.
We determined that Katie Cristol, Christian Dorsey, and Mike McMenamin support the status quo that resulted in a voter revolt and John Vihstadt's victory last year. All support New Urbanism 2.0, which doubles down on Smart Growth, despite the many problems New Urbanism 1.0 caused.
Katie Cristol is all about vague promises and feel-good rhetoric. Christian Dorsey is for "Growth" without many concerns about consequences. Mr. Dorsey was insensitive to the environmental concerns of Abingdon School neighbors as an appointee to the Abingdon Building Level Planning Committee. Despite repeatedly saying he isn't pandering to special interests, he supports removing 170 mature trees to create another bike trail to benefit BikeArlington. Mike McMeanmin proclaims himself "an experienced leader", but his service on the Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee and Civic Federation produced no significant results.
On the other hand, Audrey Clement sued VDOT to stop the widening of I-66, worked hard to make "affordable housing" affordable, and has attempted repeatedly to make APS more efficient, most recently by running for School Board last year and this year calling for APS to determine why Arlington's public education system costs so much compared to nearby school systems. Dr. Clement has also called for greater transparency in County Government, a reduction in business taxes to largely benefit small business, preservation of historic buildings like Wilson school, and acquiring open space outside Arlington for multi-jurisdiction field sports facilities.
Audrey Clement deserves our votes on November 3rd.
Cindy, 22206
