Some Residents Fear Their Input Is Moot
By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 12, 2006
Christine Jung went to the meeting at Spring Hill Elementary School last week expecting to learn more from Fairfax County officials about the new buildings, new roads and other changes that would engulf her Tysons Corner condominium complex with the coming of Metro.
Instead, Jung and the other Tysons residents who had gathered in the cafeteria were welcomed by $1,500-per-session consultants, given a pen and paper and told to jot down their "values." The experience was so dissatisfying that Jung marched out before the consultants got around to posting the sheets of paper on a blue plastic sheet for all to see.
"They didn't make a good case that the [opinions] are going to reach anyone's ears," she said on her way out. "They say it's going to be put in a report, but who reads it?"
Jung learned what hundreds of other residents have been discovering at similar forums on Tysons and other major land-use issues: In Fairfax and across the region, the machinery of government increasingly comes wrapped in "public participation facilitators" and appointed task forces, rather than operating in clear view between elected leaders and their constituents.
In Fairfax, that has been particularly frustrating for residents as developers propose high-rise buildings that could fundamentally change the way people live. County officials say the consultant-led focus groups represent a genuine attempt to include public input in decisions about this transformation. But many residents say the sessions can be a jarring and confusing twist on representative government, leaving them feeling powerless and patronized when it comes to the issue that matters most to them.
Many have had little prior interaction with their local government and say they come to the meetings driven by worry and hoping to learn more about the changes to their community. Instead of meeting with their elected officials or county staff, though, residents are presented with consultants armed with PowerPoint, pretzels and butter cookies.
The consultants running the meetings immediately make it clear that they are there not to provide information, but simply to "capture" residents' input and then report it to a task force that will make recommendations to the county's elected leaders.
Or, as the consultant leading most of the Tysons sessions puts it: "What we're really here to do is talk about your values and concerns about the future."
Residents appreciate the chance to state their views, but many are doubtful that their opinions will matter after being filtered through both the consultants and a task force on their way to county officials.
Skeptics say the time-consuming outreach gives the appearance that the public has played a role in decisions that were in fact foretold from above. At Tysons, for instance, many major pieces are in place, such as the rail extension and construction planned around the two malls there.
"In my personal opinion, it's all been decided," said Mary Reistrup, who attended a Tysons outreach meeting for residents of the Lewinsville Road corridor last week but left early. "This is all to make people feel good."
Fairfax officials vigorously reject that notion, saying they aren't giving residents more information about what planning strategies are being considered at Tysons precisely because they don't want to give the impression that decisions have already been made. The outreach sessions are just the first stage of the planning process, officials said, and when there are actual recommendations on the table, they will be brought before the public again.
"We'll have more specificity and more information for citizens later in the process," said Katherine K. Hanley, the former Board of Supervisors chairman who is heading the Tysons task force. "We wanted to have the opportunity to hear from citizens before we got the specifics so that we wouldn't be presenting them with a fait accompli ."
With some exasperation, county leaders point out that some of the people who complain about the consultant-led sessions also complain when no forums for comment are provided.
"People always say, 'We never get input until everything's done.' Well, this is what we want to do to start people early," said Linda Q. Smyth (D-Providence), whose district includes Tysons.
Smyth said that employing task forces and consultants is not an attempt to filter public input but simply a realistic division of labor.
The use of consultants to handle public relations on contentious local issues dates at least to the early 1990s, but in recent years the reliance on consultants has increased greatly. In Fairfax in the past year, consultants have overseen public sessions regarding a 2,000-home project proposed near the Dulles Toll Road, an affordable housing complex in Reston and general redevelopment in Baileys Crossroads.
The Tysons outreach is by far the most extensive. Fairfax leaders decided last year that it was time to update the county's comprehensive plan for Tysons, which governs what type of development is approved and had last been revised in 1994. A Metrorail extension to Tysons is planned to be completed by 2011, and county leaders are hoping to create a mini-city in which people can live, work, eat and find entertainment, all near mass transit.
County leaders appointed a task force of 35 residents and business leaders to come up with plan revisions to take advantage of the arrival of rail and transform Tysons into a true urban center.
The task force hired the Perspectives Group, an Alexandria firm with experience mediating at nuclear waste sites, to conduct 20 "community dialogues" with groups in and around Tysons this winter at a cost of $30,000. Task force members say they decided to hire the firm because it would be difficult for members to get to all the meetings themselves and because they worried that their own views might color the outreach process.
Some of the Tysons sessions have drawn more than 80 people. Residents are grouped around tables covered with cheery red and white checked tablecloths reminiscent of a Fourth of July picnic. After the consultant's introduction, residents are instructed to discuss among themselves their values for Tysons. The consultant's PowerPoint slide urges each table to practice "group etiquette," which includes "respect each other" and "listen to understand."
Most of those attending have cooperated, but at a McLean meeting, residents refused to listen and took up their pens only after great coaxing.
Several residents there seized on consultant Doug Sarno's use of the word "value."
"I don't understand that word in this setting. Can we leave the word 'value' out, because it makes no sense. We have problems, not values," Rebecca Horahan said. "I know you're using it because it sounds nice, but it holds no value here."
Sarno replied that the word was meant to get residents thinking beyond their surface positions to the underpinning values. He switched to "issues" but by the end of the meeting had reverted to "values."
At another meeting, Reston resident David Keever, who led public outreach sessions for the Woodrow Wilson Bridge project years ago, asked why Tysons planning was happening as Metro construction was already about to begin.
"It seems like things are really out of sync. How are you going to have land use recommendations when they are already kicking dirt?" he asked. "This seems like it's about a year late."
The skepticism extends to one of the area's most prominent developers. At a meeting devoted to Tysons landowners, Peter M. Rosen, director of construction management for Lerner Enterprises, which owns Tysons Galleria and is planning to build high-rises near the mall, reminded those assembled that Tysons was built by a handful of developers and county leaders -- "three guys with a vision" -- and said he doubted that "design by committee" would produce any results.
Rosen waved dismissively at the consultants' blue sheet and declared: "All of this will fall away."
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