Letter to the Editor: The Waterfront Vote Is a Sham

Dear Editor:

I want to thank the many Alexandria residents who spoke so eloquently on Saturday, Jan 21 against the City’s waterfront plan, and who believe that there are alternatives to the short-sighted development plan that the City Council .

I want to thank Alicia Hughes and Frank Fannon, the only members of council who put aside their personal views of the waterfront plan to listen to all the residents of Alexandria.

showed once again that City’s plan does not have broad community support. The vote also showed that Democrats on City Council were never really interested in listening to citizens who disagreed with the City’s waterfront plan—that they were never really interested in forging a compromise that would result in a plan that would be favored by a majority of Alexandria residents, not just the groups that share the views of the City Council majority.

The last-minute “we know what’s best for you” changes that were made by the Council on the dais, such as reducing the number of hotels from three to two, does not constitute a true compromise, a true willingness to work with the community to develop a better plan. We note that the Washington Post Co. has already questioned the financial feasibility of hotels on the waterfront, and that the plan gives developers the flexibility to decide what uses are ultimately acceptable, and a lot more density too. The City’s plan still cedes control of the waterfront to developers: ABSOLUTELY nothing has changed. 

The fix was in three years ago. Indeed, the basic framework for the rezoning was made back in 2009, when the City and the Washington Post Co. began to talk about how to rezone the waterfront in a way that was favorable to them both, but not necessarily to citizens. The entire public planning process has been a complete sham.

Saturday’s vote did not bring the community together, as it should have. It has further sharpened the differences. The partisan, misleading rhetoric in support of the plan (and against opponents) harms us all. As more than one speaker noted, the goal should be to create a waterfront plan that a majority of Alexandria residents can support. Not one that ignores the views of at least 50% of Alexandria residents. Resolving these differences and finding acceptable alternatives, has been our goal since day one. This was NOT the City’s goal.

The Jan. 21 hearing was a carefully orchestrated event designed to give the impression that the elected leaders of Alexandria were listening to opponents of the plan. Once again, the goal of City Council should have been to bring the community together.  This was Tammany Hall 2012. It’s called “The Alexandria Way or the Highway.” 

The outcome of the waterfront vote represents a fundamental failure of leadership by officials elected to represent ALL of Alexandria. 

But, this fight is not over. We believe that the and dismissed cavalierly on Saturday, a protest petition representing over 250 waterfront property owners, is valid, and that the vote taken Saturday SHOULD NOT HAVE OCCURRED.

Citizens for an Alternative Alexandria Waterfront Plan would like to thank all of the Alexandrians who took the time to speak out for a real compromise plan but were denied the opportunity to be heard because of an undemocratic process.

Andrew Macdonald