►
Description
from the Arlington County Board Organizational Meeting, held on January 3, 2023.
A
B
You
Mr,
chair
and
I
want
to
thank
my
colleagues
for
the
honor
of
serving
as
your
Vice
chair
this
year,
a
big
thank
you
to
Katie
Crystal
for
her
fine
leadership
last
year.
It's
not
easy
being
chair
case.
Anybody
wonders
it's
not,
and
congratulations
and
thank
you
to
our
new
chair,
Christian
Dorsey.
Clearly
2023
is
going
to
be
a
transition
year
with
both
of
you
leaving
us
at
the
end,
but
at
least
this
outstanding
board
team
has
one
more
year
together
and
it's
going
to
be
a
good
one.
B
I
think
you
know
this
year.
We
continue
to
be
blessed
with
great
staff
without
whom
nothing
would
get
done,
and
we
are
blessed
with
a
great
Community
to
work
with,
despite
divisions
and
disagreements
at
times,
Christian
I'm,
so
glad
you're,
continuing
to
emphasize
Equity,
and
that
began
with
your
last
chairmanship
and
four
years
of
persistent
focus
is
really
paying
off.
It's
so
rewarding
to
see
the
strides
that
we
have
been
making
the
community
oversight
board
is
up
and
running.
We
have
a
new,
less
subjective
way
to
support
our
non-profits.
B
We
have
begun
a
long
needed
whole
of
government
approach
to
address
the
many
effects
of
discrimination
in
the
Arlington
view.
Neighborhood
and
more.
Our
Equity
work
is
not
done,
of
course,
but
we
are
starting
to
see
real
change,
and
that
bodes
very
well
for
the
future.
As
always,
we
Face
challenges
this
year.
A
new
one
I
think,
is
the
changing
nature
of
work.
B
The
move
away
from
office
to
Virtual
work
is
big,
but
I
think
the
bigger
change
may
be
reassessing
the
value
of
essential
jobs,
work
like
that
of
nurses,
teachers,
child
care,
workers,
Public,
Safety,
mental
health
workers,
Water
and
Sewer
workers,
just
to
name
some
of
them.
These
jobs
provide
essential
services,
but
they
usually
don't
pay
all
that
well
and
they're
difficult
and
can
even
be
dangerous.
I
think
employers
everywhere
will
need
to
better
reward
essential
work
if
we
are
going
to
have
people
to
take
the
jobs
that
create
and
maintain
our
quality
of
life.
B
I
think
this
changing
nature
of
work
will
play
out
in
our
budget
this
year
and
for
years
to
come.
Our
major
local
challenge
at
the
moment
is
missing.
Middle,
of
course,
I
suspect.
We're
all
going
to
talk
about
missing
metal.
It
has
divided
Arlington
and
upset
more
people
than
any
other
issue.
That
I've
worked
on
and
I've
worked
on
some
pretty
divisive
issues.
I
see
a
number
of
reasons
for
this,
for
one
Arlington
is
rather
schizophrenic.
We
have
both
suburban
and
urban
personalities.
B
Now,
marriages
of
opposites
can
do
quite
well,
but
they're
not
easy,
and
they
do
require
good
communication.
I
appreciate
our
chairs
call
for
a
more
respectful
dialogue
and
real
listening
in
my
26
years
in
elected
office.
The
need
for
better
communication
and
engaging
all
stakeholders
has
been
a
constant.
We
keep
trying
and
we
keep
using
more
new
methods
while
keeping
the
old
ones
we
get
better,
but
it
is
just
hard
think
about
the
simple
phrase:
I
love
Arlington.
B
One
person
says
that,
and
is
thinking
of
our
quiet,
leafy
neighborhoods
with
houses.
Far
apart,
another
person
says
the
same
thing
but
means
the
Lively,
vibrant
and
noisy
Urban
corridors.
They
use
the
same
words,
but
they
mean
very
different
things
to
those
differing
views
expressed
with
the
exact
same
words,
throw
in
the
nature
of
people
to
hear
not
what
what
they
expect
to
hear.
B
Not
what
they
actually
heard
add
to
that
our
own
government
tendency
to
respond
with
more
and
more
information,
which
makes
it
harder
and
harder
for
a
clear
message
to
come
through
top
it
all
off.
With
the
current
climate,
where
opponents
like
to
demonize
each
other
and
catastrophize
outcomes,
then
bake
it
in
a
social
media
stew,
where
misinformation,
rumors
and
fears
fly
through
a
community,
you
have
a
recipe
for
real
communication
trouble.
B
A
silver
lining
to
all
this.
That
I've
seen
is
that
we
have
turned
more
to
personal
conversations
and
meetings,
often
with
smaller
groups
of
people
during
2022.
That's
been
a
pleasure
for
me
personally,
I've
been
able
to
connect
and
reconnect
with
so
many
people
in
these
discussions
where
we
could
talk
more
with
each
other
than
at
each
other.
B
Often,
however,
I
found
the
discussions
were
not
really
about
whether
missing
middle
zoning
is
a
good
as
a
strategy,
but
were
actually
about
whether
the
goal
of
missing
middle
is
good,
and
there
were
lots
of
arguments
about
what
that
goal
actually
is,
and
once
assumptions
were
made
about
that,
and
often
the
assumptions
were
different.
If
that
was
a
good
goal
with
missing
middle,
we
have
been
wrestling
with
what
our
vision
is
for
the
future
of
Arlington
by
arguing
about
how
to
get
there
as
I
see
it
missing.
B
Middle
has
forced
us
to
begin
the
Strategic
plan
discussion
that
has
been
avoided
for
years
with
missing
middle
we've
begun
to
talk
more
explicitly
about
the
kind
of
Arlington
we
want.
Many
say
they
want
what
they
have
now
and
that's
understandable.
Overall
Arlington
is
a
great
place
to
live,
work
and
play,
but
staying
the
same,
of
course
is
not
an
option.
B
It's
been
said.
If
you
want
to
go
fast,
you
go
by
yourself.
If
you
want
to
go
far,
you
go
with
a
lot
of
people.
We
want
Arlington
to
go
far
to
always
be
an
attractive
place
to
live
work
and
play
for
many
different
kinds
of
people
to
do
that.
I
think
we
need
to
build
more
of
a
consensus
on
what
that
actually
means
and
then
on
how
to
get
there.
That
will
take
time
and
some
resources,
but
it
is
an
investment.
B
I
think
we
need
to
make
as
Yogi
Berra
said,
if
you
don't
know
where
you're
going
you're
not
going
to
get
there
now
I'm,
not
suggesting,
we
have
no
idea
where
we
are
going.
We
do.
We
have
lots
of
Master
plans
and
policies,
but
probably
too
many
to
provide
our
residents
a
Clear
Vision
for
Arlington's
future.
We
certainly
do
not
have
Community
consensus
on
what
that
future
should
be
missing.
Middle
is
making
our
lack
of
consensus
about
that.
Quite
clear.
B
I
also
am
not
suggesting
that
we
stop
everything
and
do
a
strategic
Plan
before
adopting
missing
middle
zoning,
we
need
to
get
started
on
more
flexible
zoning,
but
we
need
to
do
it
in
a
way
that
relieves
the
fear
of
dire
consequences
that
concern
so
many
over
time.
Many
adjustments
can
be
made
course,
adjustments
as
Christian
call
them,
as
we
clarify
our
vision
for
Arlington's
future
and
use
zoning
changes
to
help
us
get
there.
B
I
am
suggesting
we
spend
some
time
in
2023.
Looking
at
the
big
challenges
we
likely
will
face
over
the
next
several
decades
discussing
where
we
want
to
be
after
those
decades
and
how
we
will
get
there.
Discussions
will
probably
be
difficult
as
different
visions
and
their
trade-offs
become
explicit,
and
there
will
never
be
consensus.
B
I
think
our
discussions
would
be
more
productive
if
we
can
be
more
clear
about
what
are
the
goals
and
what
are
the
strategies?
Of
course.
This
is
just
my
view
and
I
do
not
set
the
board
agenda
I'm
well
aware,
but
if
my
colleagues
and
our
residents
think
this
is
a
worthwhile
endeavor,
we
might
at
least
start
to
think
about
a
process
for
these
more
explicit
discussions
about
what
we
want
Arlington
to
be
in
a
few
decades
and
how
we
will
get
there.