Quality of Life In Washington, D.C., Area

Jay Fisette, Chair of the Board of Directors at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and member of the Arlington County Board (Courtesy of the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments)

Jay Fisette, Chair of the Board of Directors at the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and member of the Arlington County Board, was online Friday, April 28, at 11 a.m. ET to examine living in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. He will field questions and comments on topics that include regional growth and development, the Metrorail and Metrobus systems and a project called Envision Greater Washington, which he is working on with the business community.

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG) is an organization of elected officials from 20 local governments whose mission is to enhance the quality of life in the National Capital Region by responding to problems such as regional growth, traffic congestion, the environment and public safety. COG is working with its members, the business community and other organizations to establish a dedicated source of funding for the Metro transit system, one of our area's major assets. COG also works with its partners on emergency preparedness, affordable housing and air and water quality.

Fisette was elected to the Arlington County Board in November 1997. As a member of the Council of Governments, where he currently serves as Board Chair, he has served on the Metropolitan Development Policy Committee and the National Capital Region Emergency Preparedness Council. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Urban Land Institute Washington District Council, the Greater Washington Initiative Board of Trustees and the Virginia Housing Development Authority, where he was vice chair.

From The Post:

Community Guides

The transcript follows.

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Jay Fisette: Hello everyone. Glad to be with you on this beautiful spring day. Wouldn't it be nice to be outside?! I look forward to responding to some of your questions. Jay.

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South Arlingtonian, Va.: Arlington has done a fabulous job along the Wilson Blvd. corridor. The time has come to focus its attention on the Columbia Pike corridor. In doing to, we need to work with our neighbors in Fairfax County. Are the jurisdictions working together on a revitalization plan that incorporates Arlington's Columbia Pike corridor and Fairfax's Bailys Crossroads/Culmore area?

Jay Fisette: The Rosslyn-Ballston corridor has seen wonderful, positive growth - all generating from the METRO investment/decision. It has taken decades.
We adopted a CP Initiative plan in recent years and just this week adopted a preferred transit plan for the Pike - modified streetcar. Fairfax County Board will hopefully adopt the same next week. We are working together and I am very hopeful we'll see significant results over the coming years.

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The District: Can we close more streets to cars and turn them into parks or walking malls? And cut the bus stops in half, run smaller buses, and add more routes.

Jay Fisette: I think the era of the car, as we know it, is ending. With rising fuel costs and anger about expensive sprawl development - expanded transit options, including bus, and better, more compact, mixed use development patterns are the answer. Some roads in our more urban areas may go on a diet - as they say.

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Alexandria, Va.: Hello Jay! I'm a native of the area and I can't imagine living anywhere else! I LOVE IT! However, I one thing we should emphasize.

We need to place more emphasis in funding for public transit and making it easy to access in all of the DC metropolitan area. By doing this, we remove a majority of the vehicles that clog the roads and we reduce our pollution levels in the air. I know this won't come easy, but with high fuel costs now is a perfect time to do it!

Jay Fisette: I like the way you think! Please help us convince some of the intransigant delegates in Richmond. Our efforts to identify a dedicated funding sources for METRO are being held up. I am hopeful, but it should be a no brainer to simply grant Arl, Alex, FFX and Falls Church the authority to assess a 1/4 cent sales tax to raise the necessary $, and leverage $1.5 B from the feds.

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Haymarket, Va.: I think it is imperative to extend Metro to the western suburbs and I think it should be a priority. The population growth of the area has far outstripped the current road system. There are a lot of military and civil personnel out here who must leave before dawn in order to drive in. Having the metro extend to this and all outlying suburbs would save on gasoline and pay for itself. Thank you.

Jay Fisette: Hello Haymarket. While I love METRO, we can't overextend that system. We must also have a diversified rail and transit system. Virginia Railway Express (VRE) must be expanded to reach areas further out. Thanks for your comment.

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Falls Church, Va.: My husband and I would love to live in DC. We're both more of the city dweller type, but we can't justify living there if we'd have to pay to send our kids to private schools because the public ones are such a mess. What is the Council doing to encourage families like ours to move (back) into the city? It's especially aggravating that the city is to spend hundreds of millions on a new stadium, yet not renovate schools that are far beyond dilapidated.

Jay Fisette: You have raised an important issue. I participate in many regional meetings dealing with our region's growth and development challenges. Yet we all recognize that a strong school system is essential. I can't speak to actions DC is planning to take, but can say that in Arlington (which is an urban jurisdiction with just 15% of the adults having kids in the public schools) - we continue to prioritize public education and will always do so. We are proud of our schools - with all 4 high schools in the top 1% in the country.

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Bethesda, Md.: COG projections are driving the lion's share of developer sentiment regarding future growth and housing demand, and are basically taken for granted. But is it possible that as the region becomes more crowded, more expensive, and the quality of life deteriorates, that many of those jobs will either go elsewhere or be left unfilled?

Jay Fisette: COG's top priority for the past 3 years has been the region's growth, projected to add 2 mill more people and 1.5 m jobs by 2030. These projections come from the LOCAL jurisdictions, and are compiled by COG.
Unless we can better guide this growth, the region's quality of life WILL suffer, congestion and affordable housing challenges will become event worse, and jobs will go elsewhere. It's not always easy, to find a common, consensus plan - but we're working on it.

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Alexandria, Va.: I think Washington DC should be a model city for the country and mass transit. Lets get rid of the cars and put in place an extensive trolley system. This certainly would clean up the air and make this an even nicer city.

Jay Fisette: A visionary! Cars are an integral part of our world today. But an expanded transit system (I love the contemporary trolley/streetcar), removing the downtown highways (Whitehurst?!) and moving to smarter growth development patterns around transit nodes, with mixed uses is the future.

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Arlington, Va.: Dear Mr. Fisette,

I am writing to you from Chiang Mai, Thailand, though I grew up in Arlington in the 1960s, and I returned there to teach from 1998-2002. For the past four years I've lived and taught in Ecuador and Thailand, and the experiences and adventures I've had are priceless. Now I am preparing to return to Arlington again, to be near my family--my daughter,son-in-law, siblings, and mother. I am heartsick, however, that the average price of a house in Arlington was $800,000. last year (according to one source). Even a tiny condo is out of my price range. I feel that I have to choose between my family and a decent home. I have been a teacher in Virginia for almost thirty years, but when I step inside Arlington, I am destitute and homeless. When I lived in Arlington four years ago, I rented a room in a friend's basement. Is this what I have to look forward to? Of course, I represent many teachers and others whose salaries are modest, but who would like to continue to call Arlington "home". Thank you for listening. Sincerely, Susan L.

Jay Fisette: Affordable housing is Arlington's single greatest challenge - and is a huge issue around the region. It's a reflection of the value of the land/community. Local governments are working at this - and need to hear from you. In Arlington, we provide "Live Near you Work" grants to county employees - about $5500 to assist you to buy in Arl. We have an aggressive affordable housing preservation program. Call the county and speak to our housing coordinator.

This region will become more racially diverse in the future and needs to provide housing options for folks at all income levels. Good luck.

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Alexandria, Va.: What are you and your associates ACTIVELY doing to bring more affordable housing to this area? I not just talking about low income house but housing for the middle class as well. We are currently in a state where hard working blue collar and white collar workers can not afford to live close to the metro DC area.

Jay Fisette: The Washington Area Housing Partnership works thru COG - sharing best practices among the jurisdictions. Many jurisdictions require/obtain a % of affordable units in each housing development. Others provide rental assistance to persons with disabilities, the elderly and working poor.
Overall, we need a better jobs/housing balance throughout the region. The Core has many jobs, and not enough housing. Look at Tysons: 4.3 jobs for every housing unit. Thus virtually noone can leave there, adn most must drive there. On the other hand, there is ample affordable housing and less congestion in PG county - where the need is for more jobs.

Right now, demand for housing throughout the region is outstripping supply.

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Fair Oaks, Va.: As the entire area becomes more and more urbanized, what can we do to preserve some of the pastoral aspects of many parts of the area and avoid overly dense living space throughout? Is there any hope that we will become less "dog eat dog" in this environment and provide a semblance of courtesy to one another?

Jay Fisette: Yes. We can preserve and improve our quality of life through better land use planning - better connecting land use with transportation infrastructure.
Density is not always bad. It can enhance quality of life, if done properly - near transportation, mix uses, sidewalks, retail, etc. But we must simultaneously protect other areas FROM development to ensure the natural spaces and pastoral landscape. And we need to plan good parks and open spaces even in our urban areas.

BTW - I am very proud of ARlington's extensive park system.

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Arlington, Va.: I think one thing that Arlington has done that I would like to see all over our region is the ART buses. They have shorter routes and are therefore much more reliable, and go through areas where people actually live. The problem with the metrobuses is that the routes are so long you cannot rely on their timetables because they are inevitably delayed by traffic. Now if the ART buses would only get Smartrip readers that would be perfect.

Jay Fisette: thanks. I'll check on the Smartrip readers piece....

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Bike plan?: Has the area included any strategic, overall planning for increased bicycle use in its long-term outlook? We enjoy a good trail network west of the river, but that seems to stop at the DC border.

Jay Fisette: You're talking to a cyclist! COG actively works with the jursidictions individual bike coordinators. In fact, Bike to Work day is in May, as is the 2nd Annual Arlington COmmunity Bike Ride (May 27).

Certainly, bike commuting isn't for everyone - but it's a wonderful alternative for some and our trails and on-street bike lanes need to grow and be even better interconnected. That's the key.

BTW - DC does have some great trails.

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Arlington, Va.: Living in Arlington, the major quality of life issue is the lack of any ability to watch Nationals games on Comcast sports because of that company's fight with MASN, the group that produces the televised games. Unfortunately embroiled in a fight over future TV rights to baseball, Arlington residents are missing out. I would imagine that Comcast's charter requires it to do things for public benefit and televising baseball games, strange as it seems, is one of these benefits. Can anything be done at a local level to force Comcast to broadcast for the public good?

Jay Fisette: Don't get me started on cable issues! Bottom line - we have no authority or control.

You and other citizens/subscribers have more clout. Use it.

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Silver Spring, Md.: Can we encourage communities in NOVA to get sidewalks?

I do not own a car and recently trekked out to the Tysons area via public transit. When I got off the bus, I had to walk a good ways along a road with no protection for pedestrians.

Also, commuting between suburbs (e.g. Silver Spring to Bethesda) is a huge problem. Clearly, the bus and metro were designed to draw folks into the city center but very little thought was paid to other commuting patters.

Jay Fisette: COG has an active pedestrian safety campaign - as does Arlington. Our policy in Arl is to work to a sidewalk on at least one side of every street.

Pedestrian fatalities are numerous and avoidable. A sidewalk infrastructure and other design elements to enhance safe walking are essential. You'll hear more from COG on this this year. In fact, we'll be discussing the issue at our meeting next week.

Tyson was built for cars, not people. Fortunately, the Fairfax Board is working hard to change that in the future. THanks.

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Washington, DC: What is the fastest growing area, housing wise, in the metro area over the next decade?

Jay Fisette: I think Loudoun County.

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McLean, Va.: With the changes throughout Arlington over the last couple decades, it's hard to find any fault with those, such as yourself, who are running it. I do disagree with elected officials when it comes to the existence of
I-66 (which Arlington originally fought) and widening of the road. It seems a less drastic solution than widening the westbound to 3 lanes while leaving the eastbound at 2 would be to widen the whole interstate to 3 lanes between Lee Highway and Fairfax Drive (only 1 exit). This bottleneck is what causes backup in both directions throughout the day. It would be nice if the whole region was as pedestrian oriented as the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, but it's not, so I have to agree with the folks in Richmond on this one for the sake of the greater metropolitan area. I also find the potential of DC to dismantle the Whitehurst Freeway without any backup plan disturbing.

Jay Fisette: This will be my last response, folks. This question hits on many subjects.

When I took this job in 1998, I had no land use or transportation planning experience. I drove my car and that was that. Since, I've given lots of thought to these issues, both within Arlington adn the region.

I have become a strong smart growth advocate. While there are some basic principles of smart growth, it won't be applied the same everywhere.
With the proliferation of highways, existing transit lines in the US were dismantled and rights of way sold. Uses were separated, commercial vs. residential caul-de-sac neighborhoods, and retail shopping malls. THe European model of compact town centers with a vibrant core was lost to the Wal-Mart strip mall at the outskirts of town. Main street died. People were forced to drive. Sprawl happened.

I-66. The real solution to the congestion in the I-66 corridor is better housing/jobs balance in Tysons, better transit to tysons, etc. I don't oppose every road widening, I just get frustrated that the knee jerk reaction to solving congestion is usually - add lanes. WE actually find that often induces demand and doesn't sytemically solve the problem.

The solution is in better land use planning, and coordination with transportation.

This is less costly, more efficient and better for our environment. Some minor adjustments/widening of I-66 may well occur due to fed and state legislators efforts. I would rather focus attention on truly solving the problem in the long run, or at least see what problem remains once the transit is in place.
On the Whitehurst - its a dinosaur. Give me a hammer, and I'll help knock it down. Imagine how the Potomac coastline of G-town would change. I'm all for a back-up plan!

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Jay Fisette: Bye all. Thanks for your good questions and your interest in these issues.

Please check the Washington Metropolitan COuncil of Governments Web site for more information on the range of things that we work on. www.mwcog.org

I firmly believe that we must work across jurisdiction borders to have a chance of addressing these big issues. Not only can we learn from one another, but we can't solve many of these issues ourselves.

Enjoy your weekend!

Jay Fisette

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