Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Politburo - White Citizens Council Hold Hugfest Meeting

Hey, Yupette,

I attended the County Board's annual organizational meeting last night, followed by the County Board's work session with the Arlington Civic Federation, aka White Citizens Council. Can you spell C-H-A-R-A-D-E-S ?

County Board members spouted the usual drivel about the need for transparency, openness, fiscal responsibility, etc., after spending 2017 approving exorbitantly expensive programs and projects and secret deals (like the $1 billion corporate welfare package for Amazon). Current prohibition against citizens removing extravagant programs and projects from the consent agenda will remain. First Yupette Katie Cristol was elevated to Chair of the Politburo. First Yuppie Christian Dorsey was elevated to Vice-Chair.

What stood out from the drivel was the County Board's total commitment to its New Urbanism/Smart Growth ideology/addiction/belief system/religion and the concomitant increase of Arlington's population by 70,000 in 22 years (2040). That's why the County Board has to embrace the CivFed like Kim Jong Un embraces Dennis Rodman.

As for the CivFed, it's become less inclusive and diverse over the past several years and much like the White Citizens Council it was 100 years ago. Both the CivFed and County Board are committed to excluding non-upscale, non-trendy people from the County. Looking around the County Board Room last night it was hard to find a minority-group member who wasn't County Staff.

As usual the police were sitting in the Board Room on the lookout for "troublemakers" who the Regime's enforcers have told not to attend meetings, while County's bloated PR bureaucracy makes videos telling citizens to come to meetings. LOL. Police are also on the lookout for non-trendy homeless who have been banned from the County's Taj Mahal homeless shelter.

So look for more of the same, and worse, from the County Board this year.

Eric, 22205

Sunday, December 31, 2017

Arlington County Government in 2017 - Bad to Worse

Hello,

AY's contributors were asked to assess the state of County Government at the end of 2017. All of them gave the County Board, County Manager, County Staff, Civic Organizations, and Advisory Commissions negative grades and said County Government is going from "bad to worse".

Among their observations:

Transparency: Citizens are increasingly kept un-informed by County Government about all manner of decisions, ranging from what's been promised to Amazon to what's been promised to developers and special interests in closed meetings and secret meetings. Expensive programs and projects are placed on the County Board's Consent Agenda and are off-limits for discussion by citizens at County Board meetings. Residents have to file freedom of information requests to determine what's been promised, and much of the FOIA material is redacted or off-limits (attorney-client protected). Local media owners and publishers are so greedy for profits that they essentially serve as County Government boosters.

Process: Expensive and comprehensive programs and projects are either rushed to the County Board for approval without adequate time to analyze costs and benefits (e.g., housing conservation districts), or delayed for years until the desired outcomes based on "handshake deals" can be facilitated by County Staff (e.g., Four Mile Run Valley Arts District). (County Staff is currently being re-trained in advanced facilitation techniques to quell community opposition). "Community Leaders" are increasingly expected to facilitate whatever is proposed for their neighborhoods, with no regard for consequences. Advisory Commission members are appointed based on their willingness to rubber-stamp whatever is placed before them.

Inclusiveness: County Government does not reflect the social, economic, racial, and ethnic diversity of the County's population, and County Government is becoming less inclusive. Although one-third of the electorate votes for Independent candidates, Independents are ignored and disparaged by Democrats who have run Arlington for more than 35 years and, decades ago, adopted New Urbanism as the County's sole planning paradigm. Committees, commissions, and civic groups are packed with persons who will do as they're told. County Staff is increasingly hired and promoted based on non-residency. Although the County Board states it wants citizens to attend County Board meetings, persons with grievances are told by Democratic ward heelers that they will be arrested if they attend and speak at meetings. County government includes an expensive and expansive public information bureaucracy that constantly promotes whatever the County Board wants. The Civic Federation and the Civfed's component civic associations are also becoming less inclusive. This year the County embarked on a program to remove all low-income residents still living in market-rate apartments by creating so-called housing conservation districts.

Fiscal Responsibility: This year the County's traditional lack of long-term fiscal responsibility reached the point where fiscally responsible Independents became alarmed. All public infrastructure is extravagant and is referred to as "Taj Mahal" (both as a noun and a verb). Schools continue to be planned with every possible amenity but too few classrooms. Spending for parks and recreation infrastructure is so extravagant the the County has become a regional provider of upscale parks and rec infrastructure on Arlington's borders. County Board members routinely use expensive projects and programs to buy votes from special interest groups.

Sustainability: County Government is committed to packing as many people into as little space as possible over the next two decades, between 50,000 and 70,000 by 2040 (depending on who one talks with at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard). There is no estimate of the cost of extravagant public infrastructure to support the increased population. The County Board allows significant amounts of impervious surfaces to be created while allowing Arlington's tree canopy to be destroyed. County Government reached a new low in renewable energy this year by approving a $67.5 million aquatics center with no renewable energy on-site. Extravagant public infrastructure is approved without thought to maintenance and replacement funding.

All this made possible by the current national state of emergency that's been ongoing for 16 years, with no end in sight, and constant warfighting in the Third World. Arlington's future appears to be the County becomes an expensive gridlocked mess during the next decade.

Cindy, 22206