Happy New Year.  Feliz Año Nuevo.

To the voters of Arlington, thank you for giving me the chance to serve you four more years.

I want to thank Mr. Ferguson for his outstanding year as Chairman in 2007 and for his impressive record of accomplishment as a Member of the Board. 

To my colleagues, thank you for bestowing on me the immense honor of serving as the Chairman of the Arlington County Board.  I look forward to working with each of you. 

Arlington is one of the best communities in the world.

My goal – the goal of all of us – is to make Arlington even better.

To move Arlington forward, I will offer today a three-pronged Agenda for Progress:

•        An Agenda for Health,

•        An Agenda for Affordable Housing, and

•        An Agenda for Inclusion.

Before we consider an Agenda for Progress, however, we must always first address the basics of good government. 

Basics of Sustainable Government

Our most important responsibility as leaders is to make government work for ALL of our residents and for the long-term.

We must pay attention to the basics of good service, economic sustainability, and excellent value to taxpayers.

We must maintain our tradition of high-quality services…

•        Superior schools,

•        A safe community,

•        Dependable utilities in our urban setting,

•        A strong safety net, and

•        A highly qualified, dedicated staff that has the resources and support they need to meet our expectations.

We must have strong financial management…

•        Arlington has a reputation for fair and competitive tax rates.  We will maintain that reputation in 2008. 

•        We must continue to provide funding for Maintenance Capital to maintain what we have built, like tuning up a car to keep it running well.

•        We must make prudent choices in the Capital Improvement Program to restrain the rate of debt growth, re-investing in community facilities at levels that we and the next generation can afford.  Our newest colleague, Mary Hynes, has a particular interest in this area and will address it in her remarks.

To pay for necessary services, we must continue to grow our economy while enhancing, not reducing the quality of life.

•        We must continue to adhere to our smart growth Land Use Plan, supporting quality projects where appropriate and protecting the quality of neighborhoods. 

•        We must continue to work with small businesses, strengthening business partnerships to ensure the character of our community and provide opportunities for entrepreneurs. And…

•        We must continue to support our citizen-based programs, such as Neighborhood Conservation.

These are the basics and what we do best.  They are why we have…

•        A safe community with the lowest crime rates in decades,

•        The lowest taxes in Northern Virginia,

•        The highest credit rating possible,

•        The most stable land values in the region,

•        The lowest unemployment levels in Virginia, and

•        One of the highest ranked school systems in the country, in fact, recently ranked #1 in the nation by Forbes magazine. 

We cannot take the basics for granted.  We must continue to pay attention to these core functions of successful governing.

And…we cannot rest on our success. 

Agenda for Progress

Looking forward, we must continue striving to be better, and that is the purpose of my 2008 Agenda for Progress.

Much of what we will do this year builds on familiar themes.  In Arlington, instead of looking for the “flavor of the year” we look for big ideas that get to the heart of who we are and the community we want to be.  Big ideas don’t get accomplished in a single year.  They take sustained time and energy to implement.

As a Board member, I have championed several such priorities. 

None of these efforts was a one-time splash.  They were all about changing the way we do business and making us a better community for the long-term.

In the same way, the Agenda for Progress I offer today builds on past work to enable us to meet new milestones in 2008 and beyond.

Agenda for Healthy Environment & Healthy Community

My first Agenda is for a Healthy Environment and a Healthy Community. 

Last year Arlington embarked on our Fresh AIRE initiative, building on our long history of good environmental stewardship. 

I want to assure everyone that the stewardship that began with Fresh AIRE continues as a strong priority in 2008 through the following:

•        We will further reduce County government emissions toward our goal of a 10% reduction by 2012.

•        We will create a new community emissions reduction plan, part of which will promote a Car-Free Diet.  I will work closely with my colleague Jay Fisette on this effort, and he will speak to this in his remarks.

•        We will improve the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay through our storm water program, which my colleague Barbara Favola will address.  And…

•        We will increase recycling, focusing on multi-family residential communities and small businesses.

In 2008, I want to make an even stronger connection between a healthy environment and a healthy community. 

Getting out of cars and walking or biking not only reduces air pollution; it creates healthier people as well.

I will continue to expand and promote a healthy lifestyle through our FitArlington initiative.  This year as part of FitArlington…

•        We will encourage every Arlingtonian to take a Walk About in Arlington.  We have 15 Walk Abouts mapped on the County’s web page for self-directed excursions.  Some will be led by my colleagues, the County Manager and me.  These are in addition to and different from the three we lead each year called Walking Town Hall meetings.  We will elevate the publicity of these events to reach even those without internet access. 

•        We will promote the elimination of smoking in public places;

•        We will promote the elimination of trans fats in restaurants;

•        We will promote healthy food choices in vending machines in County facilities to help combat obesity. 

•        We will launch the “Take the Stairs” campaign to encourage this simple exercise routine. 

•        We will break ground on the North Tract – which will be transformed from a brown field, no-man’s land to a grand park with fitness opportunities for everyone. 

•        We will enhance the FitArlington webpage to promote these and other fun and healthy recreational activities that everyone can enjoy.

Agenda for Affordable Housing

My next Agenda for Progress in 2008 involves affordable housing.  No priority is more important for Arlington than ensuring that people of all income levels continue to have a chance to live in our community. 

We have now secured 14.5% of our rental housing as long-term committed, affordable units. 

In 2007, we added 504 rental units and 38 ownership units to our affordable housing inventory.

In our smart growth development, the last three site plan projects approved by the County Board in 2007 will generate more than 7 million new dollars for affordable housing – and not one of these new projects eliminated any existing affordable housing. 

Yet I believe we must do more. 

The time has come to make tenant relocation payment mandatory to the full extent of our authority.  I will ask my colleagues to authorize the County Manager to develop recommendations for the FY 2009 budget to ensure that low-income tenants will no longer be thrown out on the streets with nothing. 

Also in 2008…

•        We will implement the Buckingham affordable housing plan, Arlington’s most aggressive community preservation plan ever. 

•        We will approve on-site housing on County land as part of the Arlington Mill Community Center. 

•        We will act on the replacement of our Emergency Homeless Shelter as a critical component in our 10 Year Plan to End Homelessness.  I will work with Vice Chairman Favola to assist the Roundtable working group to move forward on this important effort. 

•        We will break ground on our first assisted living housing program, the project previously referred to as Oak Springs. 

•        We will consider zoning amendments to permit Accessory Dwelling Units – a new form of affordability in Arlington.  I am asking Mr. Fisette to lead this effort.  And

•        We will begin planning the residential areas along Columbia Pike, determining where new housing can be provided and affordability preserved.  I am asking our colleague, Mr. Zimmerman, to take the lead in developing a plan for the Columbia Pike Housing Initiative.

This is very ambitious, yet only part of our ongoing fight to secure affordable housing.

In 1999 I was part of the Affordable Housing Task Force that developed Arlington’s Housing Goals.  In 2003 we adopted Housing Targets. 

To make sure that we are on the right track, in 2008 we will take time to assess where we are in our housing efforts.

With the support of the Board, I will ask the Housing Commission to hold a public forum…

•        To analyze the annual update of Housing Targets,

•        To solicit feedback from the community, and

•        To provide recommendations on how we should prioritize our efforts to achieve the targets going forward.

I am also asking my colleague Ms. Hynes to join me in leading this process. 

Arlington is a highly successful community where many people want to live.  I am as committed as ever to do all we can to ensure that people of all economic levels have that opportunity. 

Agenda for Inclusion

The final item of my Agenda for Progress is an Agenda for Inclusion. 

Arlington distinguished itself in 2007 as a community deeply committed to its vision of “a diverse and inclusive urban community…in which each person is important.”

While others were making scapegoats of immigrants and promoting divisive policies of exclusion – Arlington took a stand for justice and inclusion.  This will not change in 2008.

For decades Arlington has had a tradition of being a welcoming community.  People come for a chance to live the American Dream.  We support this dream by promoting the full inclusion of newcomers. 

To promote inclusion, in 2008…

•        We will work with our non-profit partners to expand opportunities to pursue U.S. citizenship. 

•        We will provide more assistance for English language training.

•        We will continue to develop grass-roots leaders through the Neighborhood College. 

•        We will continue to promote “Attention to Prevention”, sponsoring a major town meeting in February on preventing youth violence and gang involvement.

•        We will continue to encourage leadership development among our young adults through the Community Role Models program.  In fact, today, I make a special “Call to Action” to our CRMs to continue helping our nonprofit organizations and protecting the environment, and to support a ban on smoking in Arlington County.

In addition …

I will continue to reach out to all segments of our community, inviting participation in our civic life. 

I will continue to speak to youth groups, students in adult education, those pursuing a GED, and our seniors, among others. 

I will continue to support programs that engage our diverse youth, such as Phoenix Bikes – a program that teaches bike repair and builds leadership skills.

In 2008, I also want us to develop better personal understandings across our richly diverse cultures.

I will ask the County Board to support the creation of a task force to explore ways that we can build bridges across cultures through three “Diversity Dialogues” – using as a model an approach called “world cafes.” 

This is an approach we have used before to reach out to the community on other issues.  It will offer an opportunity to get a wide range of input and to hear the distinct voices of the diverse population that we are so fortunate to have in Arlington.

Conclusion

I am extremely proud to be a part of our Arlington community.  As someone who comes from a humble background, a proud immigrant who has found a home in Arlington, I am deeply committed to the ideals and goals embodied in our vision statement. 

In 2008 we will renew our commitment to the basics that have made us a vibrant community.

Through our Agenda for Progress, we will focus on the big ideas of the future to define who we are and who we want to be. 

•        By promoting personal and environmental health,

•        By tackling the challenge of affordable housing,

•        By striving for inclusion and participation…

…We will continue building a truly world class Arlington community, OUR community:  a community where each person – like me and others here today, really can live the American Dream.

Thank you for the privilege and honor to serve as your Chairman in 2008. 

Feliz Año Nuevo.  Happy New Year.