The first City Council debate is tonight (Taylor Run). I took a few minutes and wrote up the questions I’d love to see City Council candidates answer. Council debates rarely give time for real thoughtful answers and often become just sound-bite shows. So, if you see a Council candidate, here are some thoughts of things you can talk about.
Economic Development, Affordable Housing and Fiscal Policy
1) The City has had constrained budgets for the last 5 years. State and Federal budget cuts have taken away city services for the most vulnerable. City staff has not had a cost of living adjustment for five years. Economic growth is much slower than the rise in costs. Many programs and needs have been cut back or eliminated. How will you prioritize city spending and tackle these issues?
2) Do you agree with the current city tax rate? How would you change it?
3) Do you agree with the amount being dedicated to transportation funding?
4) A number of people are suggesting the city should abandon its AAA bond rating. Do you agree? Why or why not?
5) Do you agree with the amount of funding being dedicated to storm water management?
6) Do you think more money should be dedicated to preserve affordable housing?
7) Do you think more money should be spent preserving open space and securing park-land?
8) What areas of tax and fiscal policy would you change?
9) What is your economic development vision for the city? Should development decisions by the Council take into consideration fiscal concerns?
10) It has been shown that town homes and residential development cost the taxpayers more in terms of services than commercial development which is a net producer of tax revenues. Should this be a factor in land use decisions?
11) Over the last 10 years the Council has updated most small area plans in the city. The Mirant site and Eisenhower West are the last areas to complete. What is your view of these two sites and are there other areas of the city you’d like to open up for zoning review and why?
12) Do you oppose or support the public-private partnership planned for the waterfront, what would you change? Do you support the by-right residential uses on the waterfront? Do you prefer the city buy the warehouse sites? Would you use eminent domain to buy them? If you want to buy the private land, how would you pay for it?
13) The Council has spent millions of dollars over the last few years preserving affordable housing. By most counts, Alexandria uses every tool available to it in order to preserve and protect a range of housing options in the city. And state law prohibits the city from mandating that developers provide a specific amount of affordable housing. What else, if anything, would you do to make Alexandria affordable to a range of income groups?
14) As part of a new affordable housing master plan, what changes to city zoning would you make to make the city more affordable? Do you support granny flats? Do you support transfer of development rights to help preserve affordable housing and if so, where would you transfer the density to?
15) Alexandria has grown slower than the rest of the region over the last ten years. Some have argued that the lack of rental options has created higher rents and fewer affordable housing options. Others have suggested growth is what causes rents to go up and we should restrict growth to keep rents down. What is your view of city growth? What would you do to change it?
Transportation, Education, Human Services and the Environment
1) With the region expected to add millions of jobs over the next few decades it is fair to assume congestion will get worse. What should Alexandria do to address the growth in the region and its impact on the City?
2) Alexandria is one of the slowest growing areas of Northern Virginia but the jurisdictions around the City are growing faster and creating more traffic. What would you do about this?
3) Do you support the city Transportation Master plan and its call for more transit, walking and biking? What would you change and how would you pay for it?
4) Over the last 10 years the number of people walking and biking to work has doubled in the city. Do you support this trend? What would you do to keep it going?
5) Do you support the new Metro in Potomac Yard and what would you do, if anything, to ensure it happens or to stop it? If you want to stop it, what would you put in its place?
6) The bad economy has caused the city to fall behind on replacement of city busses. Would you support tax increases to help pay for more frequent and reliable bus service?
7) Do you support the current Council policy of moving to hybrid busses instead of diesel?
8) Human service programs have been severely constrained due to the recession and state and federal cuts are impacting programs like pre-k, Healthy Families, mental health services, job programs and food stamps. What would you do to address the growing needs for these services?
9) What is the proper relationship between the city and schools in regard to the school budget?
10) With growing student populations in the city, building more classrooms is a growing need. Do you support this spending? Is enough planned for in the city capital budget? What would you do differently?
11) What should the City Council do with regard to early childhood services in the city? Do you support the efforts over the last few years to increase pre-k classes?
12) What should the City Council do with regard to senior services in the city?
13) What should the City Council do to prevent gang activity and to improve the city graduation rates for students?
14) What should the City Council do with regard to adult education programs where recent budget cuts have reduced service levels?
15) What is your top environmental priority for the City? How would you fund it?
16) Do you support the Eco-City plan? What would you change?
17) Alexandria’s combined sewer in Old Town is likely to require hundreds of millions of dollars to fix in order to come into compliance with federal and state water quality regulations. How will you plan for and address this costly environmental need?
18) What will the city need to do to clean up the Mirant site? How does the environmental cost of clean up factor into any redevelopment on that site?
19) Is the city doing enough to support its parks and recreation needs? What would you change?
20) What do you think of Alexandria’s policy of not using Police to enforce immigration issues?
21) Alexandria has a historically low crime rate. What, if anything, would you change about the city’s public safety strategy?
22) Do you agree the City needs new fire services on the West End to ensure the west gets the same level of response as the East? If so, how would you accomplish this?
23) What do you think of Alexandria’s human rights policies? What would you change?
24) How do you feel about community gardens and farmer’s markets? What would you do, if anything, to make locally grown food available in the city?
General Question (and likely the most important one — if you can’t answer this, you shouldn’t be running)
1) What is the one thing you want to accomplish on the Council and how do you intend to do it?