What You Can Do

Community participation doesn’t have to be this difficult

Going forward, residents must demand better processes. The notion that private citizens need to use a FOIA request to obtain relevant and requested data to support the recommendations being put forth, because staff refused to provide any explanation, is outrageous.

Residents’ ideas and calls for accuracy and substance should be applauded, not ignored or maligned. Arlington County staff and the County Board must drive citizen education to ensure accuracy and truth in the data- a notable gap in the PSMP process. Only after the P4E’s tremendous advocacy did the PSMP advisory group and staff become responsive. This signals that improvements to our engagement and outreach need to be systemic and comprehensively improved. With a $1.6 billion budget and 235,000 people, Arlington needs to make fundamental improvements to ensure engagement is easier and more inclusive in the future:

• Improving processes for the good of all Arlington residents, rejecting lobbying from organized groups or county staff who have discrete agendas
• Committing to data-informed decision making made possible by the County’s statistically valid information and by providing data transparency to the public through comprehensive, accurate websites
• Responding to all inquiries to participate in community conversations facilitated by both county and non-county sanctioned organizations addressing basic and broad concerns for more complete information and explanation both in meetings and on accessible public websites
• Role modeling civility through accurate, evidence based, non-coded language
• Creating a culture of civil discourse and inclusion
• Ensuring the integrity of commissions by ensuring a representative cross section of volunteers and limiting the leadership roles of any subset of individuals across multiple committees, commissions, working groups or task forces, as well as forming a process to address inappropriate or disrespectful behavior by [appointed] volunteers
• Cultivating the veracity of those who are serving the public through appointment or position and admonishing unethical and inaccurate information dissemination

Just as our suggestions for the PSMP were motivated by this commitment to the long-term sustainability of Arlington for the greater good, we recognize that these recommendations translate to many issues that Arlington still has today. There’s more work to be done. Your voice, your time, and your efforts all matter as we prepare for the next iteration of Arlington. What worked to get us where we are today, will not be what takes us forward. The use of data, technology, and new ways of engaging a time-strapped residential base will depend on new creative ways to appeal to residents to participate in processes and have their voices and finger prints on the future of Arlington.