BRAC Decision is Focus of Candidate Forum in West End
The 12 candidates for Alexandria City Council shared a stage for first time Wednesday night at Francis Hammond Middle School.
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The 12 candidates for Alexandria City Council shared a stage for the first time Wednesday night at Francis C. Hammond Middle School, tackling questions in a forum organized by members of several citizens associations from the city’s West End.
Sitting in the shadow of the new location for the Washington Headquarters Service called BRAC-133, discussion of how it was decided in 2008 that the massive office complex would be built away from transit just off Interstate 395 became the biggest point of contention in a forum that aimed to help voters decide who will represent the city in 2013.
First-time candidate Bob Wood (R) drew the earliest and one of the larger applauses of the evening when he called BRAC-133 “the biggest planning failure” in the history of Alexandria.
“The people responsible for that decision need to be held accountable,” Wood said later in the evening, calling it “an abdication of leadership.”
BRAC came up several times, but the lines were literally drawn when moderator Rebecca Cooper of ABC 7 asked the candidates who were not on council for the BRAC decision how such situations could be avoided and followed by asking the four Democratic candidates who were on council for the BRAC decision if they “didn’t understand” the implications of building “a terrorist target” in the West End that would clog the city’s roads. Cooper also asked why voters should re-elect them if they couldn’t stop it then (Cooper then reminded the sparse crowd she was reading questions provided to her by the organizers).
Incumbent Frank Fannon (R) blamed “a lack of leadership” on the 2008 city council for the BRAC outcome, saying the governing body was “asleep at the switch.”
“Two members of that council were transportation specialists,” he said, making a reference to Democratic opponents Tim Lovain and Justin Wilson.
Lovain, who stated his support for transit-oriented solutions earlier in the evening, said the city “advocated vociferously” to place BRAC in the Eisenhower Valley at the Victory Center. Incumbent Del Pepper (D) said the 2008 council had been told throughout the process that it would end up on Eisenhower Avenue and that ultimately the federal government simply didn’t want to negotiate.
“We thought we had it in the bag and then they opened the bids… and it came in at $200 million less at the Mark Center,” Lovain said. “In retrospect, I have a regret: Staff suggested to do everything in executive session and it should have been more transparent.”
Incumbent Paul Smedberg (D) agreed, adding: “If people heard our discussions in the open, we would have a different discussion here tonight.”
Smedberg said later he was frustrated with how the city communicates with residents and supported overhauling meeting formats and procedures and streamlining the city’s website.
Wilson was more defiant when faced with the BRAC question, saying that the Department of Defense Office of the Inspector General decided on the location of the Mark Center “on the wrong data” and added that he felt none of the candidates at the forum offered good answers on how to avoid similar situations in the future.
“I find it disappointing that the candidates most opposed to BRAC are also opposed to the transportation solutions” proposed to alleviate the congestion, Wilson said.
Incumbent Alicia Hughes (R), who was critical of the 2008 council, said earlier in the forum that she was opposed to converting the Bus Rapid Transit systems planned for the city’s high capacity corridors to streetcar, citing cost. She later shot back at Wilson, saying that she understood what’s decided between local and federal governments.
First-time candidate Allison Silberberg (D) called BRAC “a painful subject.”
“We need to know how it happened so it doesn’t happen again,” she said, citing lost tax revenue and a need for more transparency.
BRAC and transportation seemed to be the focus of many of the questions, but the forum did cover issues of affordable housing, open space and education.
Democrat John Chapman, an administrator with Fairfax County Public Schools, said Alexandria’s public school system needs to be assessed and pushed “from the dais of city council” when asked about lagging math scores on standardized tests.
“It’s an issue of leadership,” he said. “Our schools have a problem with that. … What we need is rigor in our school curriculum. … It’s not throwing money at the problem, it’s making our students learn.”
The forum also offered an introduction to independents Glenda Davis and Jermaine Mincey and Libertarian Robert Kraus.
Kraus repeatedly mentioned the city’s “addiction to spending” and said he wanted to scale it back to 2007 levels to save taxpayers $1,400 a year. He said developers should pay and construct infrastructure before new structures go up.
Davis, a retired accountant who does some substitute teaching at ACPS, said she would like to give teachers the tools they need to succeed. She said she believed improving the English language skills of Alexandria’s non-native speaking student population would lift performance in all subjects.
Mincey reiterated throughout the forum that he plans on “being where the people are” in helping inform his decisions. He promised to be the candidate citizens “can talk to.”
Voters can select up to six council candidates on their ballots on Nov. 6.
Mayoral candidates Bill Euille (D) and Andrew Macdonald (I) did not participate in Wednesday’s forum.
Sherry Henderson
1:09 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I'm a Democrat, and nationally, and even in statewide votes, I always vote Democratic, but I'm afraid to do it for the Alexandria City Council race because if we had a solid block of Democrats running everything it would be like the Soviet Politburo, with one-party rule, which just isn't good at the local level. I think that when it comes to making sure my trash gets picked up, that we have everyone in the mix, Democrats, Republicans, Independents, to make sure that all voices are heard. The past Alexandria City Council was made up of all Democrats and they got us BRAC-133. Now I hear all the excuses from Pepper, Lovain, Wilson and Smedberg, but they're laughable, because ultimately to blame it on staff or executive sessions is a joke. They lost control and they should just admit that they royally screwed up. At least if they were honest with us we could accept the fact that people screw up. It's a fact of life. Pepper, Lovain, Wilson and Smedberg , though, screwed up bad with BRAC-133. So now with other projects coming before the future Alexandria City Council, and with their bad judgment and lack of being in control in the past, do we really want these people around for the next three years? Let's bring in some new blood, like Chapman, Silberberg, and keep Fannon. At least with Fannon, even though he's a Republican, he's one of the most honest and nicest people on council. I also think that Silberberg would be a strong advocate for women's issues in Alexandria, too.
Gail G
2:29 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
I wish people realized that the BRAC decision was not up to city council. The Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) dictate how the federal government purchases land, services and items. When considering where to build, the law required the government evaluation team to consider price as one of the most important factors. There is a technical evaluation and a price evaluation whenever the government makes a major purchase. Assuming the technical specifications are met, the lowest price will be the winning bid. There is not one thing any city council member, past, present or future, can do about that. It's the law. Whether any previous council held more open meetings or not wouldn't have made a bit of difference. If people are angry about BRAC, they need to take that up with the people who wrote the specifications for the BRAC request for proposal, but what's done is done. Enough about it already. Efforts would be better spent on current and future issues that we can do something about.
Lee Hernly
2:29 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Too late for that Sherry. There's a reason Alexandria is known around the COmmonwealth as 'The People's Republic of Alexandria.'
Andrew Macdonald
3:45 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
The fact is that the City Council (at that time) ignored basic traffic data (that they had in their possession) and allowed the Deputy City Manager to send a letter saying that they had no problem if the project was located at the Mark Center site.
They (City, Council, Mayor) had ample opportunity later to say to the DOD that the project should not be located there, and they did not do so. There are plenty of cases where such objections have been made by local communities and decisions have been reversed. The Council and City appear to have been more interested in more development per se them they were in making sure that Alexandria got (gets) the right kind of development in the right places. That the benefits outweigh the costs.
For any member of Council then to now say that they were deceived is simply a weak excuse. Their answers last night indicate that the City's elected officials -- those who are elected to represent and protect the community - want someone else to take responsibility for a significant error. If it were just one closed door decision, one bad decision, one would be inclined to forgive them. But it isn't. It's business as usual, and the Mayor who is the leader of the Council wants no debate or minimal debate about such issues.
I'm running to provide Alexandria with a very different sort of leadership. I've offered to debate the Mayor any number of times. Unfortunately, the answer has always been: I'm too busy.
Isaac Smith
5:05 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
Mr. Macdonald - I would respectfully submit that of all people, your voice could have made a difference, but you chose to abdicate your seat on city council, by not serving out your term.
OT insider
8:44 pm on Thursday, September 13, 2012
You are totally right Isaac. In the unlikely event that Mr. Macdonald were to pull off an upset of historic proportions, we'd have a divisive city government that would get nothing done and I seriously believe that "Mayor" Macdonald would become frustrated and quit on us again, like he did the last time you and I voted for him.
Fortunately, we have an experienced leader in Bill Euille who will win this election in a landslide and this will never happen.
Lee Hernly
9:08 am on Friday, September 14, 2012
As Mayor Euille in 2008 told the Alexandria Gazette about the BRAC 133 decision -
“The Department of Defense’s decision to purchase this site and construct a major office building complex,within close proximity to Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon, affirms Alexandria as one of the top locations in the region,” he said. “Our quality of life is unmatched in the region, and the quality of our neighbor-hoods, vibrancy of our commercial areas, and low crime rate make the city a great place to live and work. We look forward to welcoming WHS’s employees in 2011,” Euille said.“It is satisfying to know that when DoD considered many sites in Northern Virginia, Alexandria had both of the top two private sector sites as finalists. This demonstrates our work in expanding Alexandria’s eco-nomic development opportunities and cre-ating a government responsive to those wishing to relocate their offices,”
They all knew it was likely to happen then spent three years bickering about instead of proposing solutions to the pending traffic nightmare (which frankly hasn't been as bad as advertised).
Jon Rosenbaum
2:58 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
I believe that the worst predictions have not conformed to reality, at least not yet. And that may be the reason the debate was poorly attended.
Haunches
5:45 pm on Saturday, September 15, 2012
It will be years before the impact is really known. Some tenants have fled Mark Center so we have a temporary reprieve, and the building is not at full occupancy yet. Right now, traffic is pretty bad at rush hour on Seminary. When it is at full occupancy , tenants return, and ramps are built, it will rival the worst congestion in the country.
Chip Carlin
5:09 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012
....The same was the case with the drastic predictions regarding the impact of the PTO. This has not materialized. Come to find that the PTO is number one in telecommuting and off site work performed.