Audrey Clement Is Giving Arlington Voters The Choice They Want: Letter

The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Jim Hurysz, a long-time independent voter and resident of Arlington's historic Fairlington community, about Tuesday's election for two seats on the Arlington County Board.

Independent candidates for County Board received more than 32,000 votes last November. Audrey Clement received more than 24,000 votes. Independents for CB received 39 percent of the total vote.

The Arlington Republican Party sat out the 2022 CB campaign. So did the Green Party and Libertarian Party.

This year, the Arlington Republican Party waited until June to put a candidate on the ballot for CB. The Green Party and Libertarian Party again sat out the 2023 campaign.

Audrey is again running for County Board in 2023. It's obvious voters want a choice.

Audrey is giving Arlington voters the choice they want, and have wanted in previous elections, as shown by the many thousand votes she receives every election.

I believe the two Democrats on the ballot for County Board would continue to be rubber stamps for the status quo, like their predecessors. If one peruses the County Board's agenda, almost everything is approved 5-0, meeting after meeting. Revenue and Expenditure items on the Consent Agenda remain off-limits for public discussion. The County Board was dismissive of the Civic Federation's recent Resolution critical of County Government.

The County faces serious fiscal and environmental issues. County Government/County Board continue their decades long agenda to urbanize and gentrify the entire County without considering environmental costs and consequences.

Fiscally, County Government/County Board spend lavishly and foolishly. Metrorail and Metrobus increasingly compete with other transit and transportation modalities for riders, and with telework. The County's funding a new $85 million ART Bus facility. Riding Alexandria's DASH connector buses is now free of charge to riders. Toll plazas have been removed from the Dulles Toll Road. Large parking garages continue to be constructed together with new buildings, e.g, VHC's Outpatient Pavilion.

APS also continues to spend lavishly. The Quincy Education Center renovation cost $37.7 million. The new Career Center will cost $182 million. It appears much, if not most, of the vocational education at the new Career Center will not be to educate and train students to be automotive techs and for similar high wage occupations, but to educate and train future food service workers, retail assistants, administrative workers, and similar workforce occupations.

The County Manager and most of the County Manager's Leadership Team are at or near retirement age. The County is going nowhere. Arlington has had one-party government for 40 years, committed to New Urbanism as its sole planning paradigm.

Finally, various media outlets support the status quo, to the extent that anyone who is for proactive change is a nuisance and worse.

Democracy is about the governed having choices about who govern us. Thanks to Audrey for giving us a choice this year and in past elections.