Sensing rising public ire, Arlington candidates seek referendum on streetcar plan
http://www.insidenova.com/news/arlington/sensing-rising-public-ire-arlington-candidates-seek-referendum-on-streetcar/article_c228b3c0-d1ee-11e3-bdd1-001a4bcf887a.html

Two prominent Democrats locked in tough election campaigns – one for Arlington County Board, one for Congress – on May 1 came out in favor of a countywide referendum before moving forward on construction of the Columbia Pike streetcar.

The joint statement by Alan Howze and Patrick Hope once again reshuffles the political dynamics of what for the past few years has been Arlington’s political hot-potato. And it’s likely to exacerbate intra-Democratic feuding that has erupted on the issue.

Howze and Hope said they continue to support the proposed streetcar line as the best option for Columbia Pike redevelopment and for retention of affordable housing. But they said the public should be allowed to weigh in.

“As we have done with Metro, schools, the Water Pollution Control Plant and other important community investments, we should give voters the final decision,” said Howze, whose support of the streetcar during the recent County Board special election seemed to have hurt him with the electorate and contributed to the worst election defeat for a Democratic County Board candidate in three decades.

In the May 1 statement, Howze suggested he got the message.

“I heard the concerns expressed by voters in the recent special election, and we can put the streetcar debate to rest and ensure public confidence by allowing a referendum vote,” he said in a statement.

The inevitable, seminal question: Can and will Arlington County Board members place such a referendum on the ballot?

In terms of a merely advisory referendum – “Should Arlington construct a streetcar line down Columbia Pike?” or similar language – the answer appears to be no. While Virginia’s cities have the power to place advisory questions on the ballot, Arlington apparently does not, Clerk of the Circuit Court Paul Ferguson long has maintained.

The Arlington County Republican Committee late last year asked local members of the General Assembly delegation to work for a change in state law to allow for, or even require, a referendum on the matter. None of the local delegation, Hope included, supported the measure at the time, and no legislator from outside Arlington pressed the issue on the GOP’s behalf during the 2014 legislative session.

In the May 1 statement, Hope acknowledged that General Assembly action might be needed to provide for an advisory referendum. Since the legislature is in special session wrangling over the budget and Medicaid, lawmakers conceivably could move such a measure through in coming weeks, although such action would be highly improbable and likely would be put off until the 2015 session, when it could be too late to have an impact.

While an advisory referendum could be off the table, county officials would be able to put funding for a streetcar line on the ballot, which would serve as a de facto referendum. Officials currently are drafting financing plans for the project; depending on how they are crafted, obtaining the money may or may not require a public vote.

Pro-streetcar forces have been critical of the idea of a referendum, saying Arlington voters long have supported expansion of the Metro system through the Rosslyn-Ballston and Route 1 corridors, and the broader community should not now be given a veto over upgraded transit in the Columbia Pike area based on rising anger over county-government spending priorities.

But those in favor of a referendum say the history of Metro supports their position: Since the 1960s, Arlington voters have been sent a significant number of bond-referendum packages that included Metro funding. In all but one case, those bonds have been approved.

Howze supported the streetcar project both in the Democratic caucus and special election called to fill the seat of County Board member Chris Zimmerman. It was one of a litany of issues on which he toed the line of local Democratic orthodoxy; sources have speculated that Howze wanted to pick at least one issue (perhaps the Artisphere) where he could break with the existing County Board, but never did so.

His (nuanced) change of thinking on the streetcar is reminiscent of the conversion of the Apostle Paul on the road to Damascus and – in a switcheroo of more recent vintage – the 2012 conversion of County Board contender Libby Garvey from streetcar agnostic to its most vehement, public opponent.

Garvey ran in a 2012 special election (for a County Board seat vacated by Barbara Favola) without a clear position on the streetcar project. She said at the time she needed more study on the issue.

By the time the 2012 general election rolled around – having escaped the fate of Howze by narrowly winning the special election over Republican Mark Kelly – Garvey had moved into the anti-streetcar camp, where she held a lonely vigil on the County Board until anti-streetcar independent John Vihstadt trounced Howze in the April 8 special election.

Vihstadt and Howze are expected to meet again on the Nov. 4 general election. In a statement released May 1, Vihstadt suggested that the special-election result had been in itself a streetcar referendum, and suggested Howze’s change of heart would be seen as a mere “gimmick or a political tactic” unless the Democratic candidate also called for a stop to planning and funding for the project until voters rendered a decision. Vihstadt and Garvey attempted such a maneuver in April, but were turned down by their three board colleagues.

Vihstadt said any referendum to fund the streetcar would have to be a standalone item, not combined with other issues in a single referendum.

Hope, who represents the 47th District in the House of Delegates, is one of 10 candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for the 8th District U.S. House of Representatives seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Jim Moran. Democrats will choose their nominee in a June 10 primary.

Hope is not the first congressional contender to support a referendum; Mark Levine came out in favor of one a week before.

Hope said a referendum was the best way to settle the issue, once and for all.

“The time has come for a full public debate on this issue, and we need to respect whatever the public decides,” he said.

(Hope and Howze have a history; in 2009, each competed for the Democratic nomination for the 47th House District. Hope finished first and Howze second in a five-candidate field.)

Eyes will now turn to the three members of the County Board – Mary Hynes, Walter Tejada and chairman Jay Fisette – who so far have been united in their support of moving forward with the streetcar project, despite mounting community discontent.

The five-mile streetcar line is designed to connect the Pentagon City Metro station to Skyline, running through the heart of the Columbia Pike corridor. The total cost of the project could be upward of $350 million, with a combination of state, local and possibly federal funds used.

Arlington officials have agreed to fund 80 percent of the local share of construction costs, with Fairfax County picking up the remainder.
Attachments:

Dorx.

Liberals have never met a tax they didn't like, as no one has yet called for a tax on parasitic leeching - the one tax that would actually hit libs.

Sharon Bulova will have more money to waste on turf fields if Arlington abandons this project.

The Fairfax BoS would rather be boiled in oil than put referenda on the ballot, they want to tax and spend until the end of time.