Officials Aim to Establish Common Goals for the Region
To Measure Progress, Report Cards to Follow

By Michael Laris
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, October 11, 2009

So what can the region actually agree on?

Top officials at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments will formally take up that question next week.

It's more than a typical planning exercise by the group. The idea, which Executive Director David Robertson has been taking on tour to the District, Maryland and Virginia, is to get the three jurisdictions to sign on to a set of specific goals, not just loose principles, and then measure every couple of years to see what happens.

Issues such as developing near transit stations, reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving health care and parks would be evaluated for progress.

Robertson said the Washington region is like the student who says he's doing well in school. "But if you never see a report card . . . how would you know the kid was actually doing well?" Robertson asked. "It's a similar concept. We want to measure and hold jurisdictions collectively accountable for some of these overall regional goals."

The region faces particular challenges because of its jurisdictional lines. Communities within states can reach binding agreements on common goals, but the council's suggestions are voluntary.

Peer pressure, however, might keep communities from lagging, just as workout partners meeting up for a jog on a cold morning urge each other along. At least that's the theory behind the program, dubbed Greater Washington 2050. It's a joint effort by the Council of Governments and various environmental, business, planning and civic groups.

Proponents used survey data to try to find topics that appeal to a wide swath of the region's urban, suburban and rural residents. Even though they expected jobs, land use and transportation goals to be high on the list, they broadened their effort after finding far-reaching agreement in other areas, such as preserving open space.

One potential pitfall in such an effort, as in many regional endeavors, is a tendency to try to please everyone. Parts of an August draft, for example, read more like a wish list than a disciplined action plan. Some goals are contradictory, and many would require a massive political shift to pull off. But backers say the only way to reach goals is to lay them out clearly.

Among the draft targets:

-- Increase jobs by 3 to 4 percent, starting in 2012;

-- By 2020, cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent of 2005 levels;

-- Make at least 10 percent of all new housing affordable by 2012;

-- Maintain more than 450,000 acres of agriculture land in farming, beginning in 2012.

Cutting crime and bicycle deaths, saving the Chesapeake Bay and making people healthier are also goals.

"If we're moving in the right direction, everyone gets a pat on the back," Robertson said. "If we're not, what are the things we can do regionally and locally to turn that around?"

The council's board of directors, which includes D.C. Mayor Adrian M. Fenty (D), Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett (D), Fairfax County Board Chairman Sharon Bulova (D) and other top officials, is set to take up a draft of the 2050 report Wednesday. A final vote is expected by year's end, Robertson said.