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Description
County Board vice-chair Katie Cristol's New Year's address delivered at the Arlington County Board's Organizational Meeting of Jan. 3 2017.
A
One.
I
am
NOT
complacently
optimistic
about
the
future.
Pinker
went
on
to
say,
I
am
conditionally
optimistic
and
I
myself
am
not
starting
2017
with
the
complacent
optimism
with
which
we
might
greet
a
needy
easy
year.
This
will
not
be
an
easy
year
ahead.
Are
the
budget
pressures
and
needs
of
Juan
Mata
and
of
student
population
growth,
difficult
and
sometimes
unpopular,
citing
decisions
to
be
made
to
ensure
continued
delivery?
A
Of
course,
services
throughout
the
county
and
a
federal
policy
context
that
will
make
the
work
of
County
government
and
the
lives
of
our
residents
more
complicated
in
ways.
We
do
not
yet
fully
anticipate,
but
conditional
optimism
that's
possible,
yet
that
Arlington
can
and
will
be
better
than
the
national
currents
of
pessimism
or
insularity.
So
here
are
my
commitments
as
a
board
member
and
my
call
to
action.
If
you
will
for
my
fellow
Arlington
Ian's
in
the
year
ahead,
we
will
work
to
ensure
that
Arlington
is
still
a
place
and
a
home
for
all
economic
classes.
A
We
will
work
to
demonstrate
that
we
are
still
a
place
that
is
capable
of
empathy,
even
in
the
face
of
great
resource
pressures,
and
we
will
still
be
a
county
that
models,
pluralism
and
democracy
during
decades
of
rising
inequality.
Arlington
has
put
a
stake
in
the
ground
for
economic
diversity,
for
the
idea
that
the
best
of
civic
society,
access
to
recreation,
excellent
education
to
access
to
fulfilling
professional
work
and
entrepreneurial
purpose
that
all
of
those
things
are
not
just
for
the
wealthiest,
that's
a
lofty
promise
and
to
bring
it
into
the
next
generation.
A
That
requires
a
relentless
focus
on
a
single
and,
some
might
say,
overused
word
around
here:
affordability
with
market
forces,
all
trending,
the
opposite
way:
affordability
and
the
economic
integration
that
it
enables
takes
consistent
work
and
clear
vision.
2016
was
a
year
of
hard
work,
including,
for
example,
the
first
test
of
a
couple
of
principals
at
our
affordable
housing,
master
plan,
distribution
and
preservation.
Quick
action
happened
for
nonprofit
acquisition
and
preservation
of
affordable
rental
housing
in
westover.
We
are
not
done
with
affordable
rental
housing.
A
We
are,
in
fact,
not
even
done
with
affordable
rental
housing
in
westover,
but
as
we
keep
those
efforts
humming
this
year,
I
am
aiming
to
term
some
of
our
public
focus
to
the
issue
of
child
care
affordability.
For
me,
2016
was
a
year
of
gathering
information
and
perspectives
from
providers,
experts,
property
owners
and
parents.
2017
is
a
year
to
act.
A
We
have
a
range
of
policy
options
before
us,
including
building
on
the
permitting
and
economic
development
support
to
new
providers,
reducing
a
regulatory
burden,
particularly
with
regard
to
physical
spaces,
in
light
of
higher
state
standards
for
childcare,
centers
and
exploring
ways
to
incentive,
affordable
spaces
for
childcare
uses
in
our
planning
policies
working
with
our
staff
and
the
county
manager.
My
goal
is
to
have
some
initial
guidance
for
consideration
by
my
colleagues
and
our
community
as
part
of
the
fiscal
18
budget
process.
A
Similarly,
on
affordability,
thanks
to
efforts
of
community
leaders
like
affordable
housing
solutions,
the
idea
of
me
sing
middle
housing,
the
forms
like
duplexes
small
cottages,
multiplexes
that
can
add
more
affordable
ownership
options
in
lower
density
neighborhoods.
That
idea
is
now
growing
in
popularity
around
the
county,
including
in
an
excellent
display
in
the
lobby
of
this
building,
as
our
staff
works
this
year
on
amendments
to
the
accessory
dwelling
category
of
the
zoning
ordinance,
I
am
and
I
know.
A
I
do
so,
along
with
my
colleagues
to
use
those
community
conversations
as
a
springboard
to
a
larger
discussion
about
how
diverse
housing
forms
can
enable
more
ownership
and
socioeconomically
diverse
neighborhoods
with
respect
to
resource
pressure
and
facilities.
Our
land
use
needs
are
great
in
this
small
County
I
will
say
what
keeps
me
up
at
night,
however,
is
not
whether
we
can
find
homes
for
growing
bus
bus
fleet
storage
for
snow
vehicles,
more
seats
for
more
students,
recreational
spaces
that
meet
a
wealth
of
needs.
I
am
conditionally
optimistic
that
this
is
not
easy
but
possible.
A
Instead,
what
keeps
me
up
is
whether
we
can
do
that,
while
maintaining
our
sense
of
arlington
as
a
whole,
rather
than
just
a
balkanized
collection
of
neighborhoods
lobby
groups
causes
it's
our
job
as
County
Board
members
to
set
the
tone
and
to
create
the
structures
for
community
mindedness
I'm.
Very
proud
of
the
joint
subcommittee
of
the
school
and
county
boards
that
mr.
fuzzy
and
I
stood
up
this
past
year
with
Barbara
cannon
and
James
lander
who's
joined
us
today
of
the
school
board
and
the
countless
I
know
mr.
A
Lander
can
attest
the
countless
hours
we
spent
on
our
very
first
job,
which
was
painstakingly
reviewing
dozens
of
overly
qualified
resumes
and
applications
to
create
a
joint
facilities.
Advisory
Commission
with
members
that
were
truly
at
large
in
the
best
sense
of
the
word
and
representative
of
our
diverse
committee.
It
was
a
pleasure
to
appoint
them
tonight
and
if
those
things
were
the
tentpole
initiatives.
The
joint
subcommittee,
the
joint
facilities,
Advisory
Commission
I,
think
this
past
year
was
one
where
we
tried
to
live
those
values
of
collaboration
and
transparency
and
in
small
and
occasionally
painful
ways.
A
There
is
much
more
to
come
from
us
as
county
board
members
in
2017,
as
we
engage
with
the
advice
and
support
the
new
jay
faq
and
as
we
make
what
I
think
is
really
an
unprecedented
number
of
facility
siting
and
land
acquisitions
ahead
for
just
one
year.
But
this
is
not
just
about
government
and
elected
leaders,
and
so
I
hope
that
our
advocates
and
residents
will
join
me
in
my
new
year's
resolution.
They
be
more
empathetic
in
these
debates
and
2017.
A
This
empathy
does
not
mean
that
we
will
agree
on
the
best
used
for
parcels
or
even
that
we
won't
fight
to
mitigate
the
impacts
that
we
see
on
our
neighborhoods,
but
I
hope
we
can
strive
to
create
the
kind
of
trust
and
mutual
understanding
that
really
will
allow
us
to
meet
our
citing
needs
more
creatively
and,
above
all,
together
speaking
of
trust
in
2017,
I
am
especially
committed
to
keeping
Arlington
a
community
that
models,
the
ideas
of
democratic
participation
where
diversity
is
not
decorative
but
truly
informs
policy
and
governance.
Over
the
last
year.
A
Our
personal
conversations
I
think
in
particular,
with
Arlington's
new
American
communities,
have
led
to
action
to
partnership
for
children,
youth
and
families,
forums
on
SROs.
Excuse
me,
school
resource
officers,
conversations
I
hosted
with
our
public
safety
leadership
on
the
distinction
between
immigration
enforcement
and
local
law
enforcement,
or
to
the
access
to
driver's
licenses
Lucien
that
mr.
Dorsey
so
capably
led
our
board
on
in
2016.
We
also
saw
new
ways
of
outreach,
including,
and
particularly
on
social
media,
which
were
rewarded
with
new
voices.
A
I
think
there
is
no
issue
that
reflected
that
better
than
our
short-term
rental
or
Airbnb
deliberations,
which
brought
renters
in
particular
and
do
the
fold
in
a
way
they
haven't
been
historically
and
allowed
us
to
re-advertise
and
shape
a
policy
that
address
the
concerns
they
raised
to
us
in
the
year
ahead.
I
am
committed
to
creating
more
fora
for
those
who
feel
concern
and
worry
about
the
rising
national
tides
of
discrimination,
of
threats
of
deportation
or
of
religious
registries.
A
Working
with
our
new
director
of
communications
and
public
engagement.
I
am
looking
forward
to
launching
a
series
of
coffees
focused
on
those
big
picture
issues
targeting
young
Arlington
Ian's
in
particular,
as
well
as
exploring
other
models
to
tap
the
brainpower
of
Arlington
Ian's
across
different
walks
of
life.
A
There
is
no
easy
road
ahead,
but
here
we
find
ourselves
not
just
with
the
ability
but
the
imperative
to
aim
higher
in
2017
to
not
just
protect
what
we
value
but
to
advance
it.
A
naming
require
requires
us
to
see
higher
to
look
what
is
possible
yet,
despite
our
challenges,
I'm
looking
forward
to
working
and
looking
on
the
conditionally
bright
side
of
2017
with
you.