THE PUBLIC SPACES MASTER PLAN WAS ADOPTED!
UPDATE April 29, 2019:
Dear Friends of P4E-
Take a pat on the back!
On April 25th the County Board adopted the Public Spaces Master Plan (PSMP) and our efforts have mattered in very big ways! We have a lot to be proud of both in the improvement of the PSMP and setting the stage for ongoing improvements to community engagement for future projects.
We’d like to recognize the many hundreds of hours of time contributed by residents advocating for the greater good through active engagement in open houses, meetings, correspondence with staff, an extensive FOIA request and the associated months of prodding to get all of the data released, as well as data review and extrapolation. We know many of you were key to presentations to County Board members, commission chairs, the Civic Federation, in addition to building a website for citizen-driven, fact-based education.
Two years of your tremendous effort, coupled with the formal process, has resulted in an approved PSMP that is more inclusive of basic core elements necessary to make Arlington parks welcoming and that have utility for everyone now and in the decades to come.
The PSMP now
- references and honors Arlington County’s statistically valid survey of residents’ priorities: “Ensure access to spaces that are intentionally designed to support casual, impromptu use and connection with nature.”
- acknowledges that the heavily advocated “population-based LOS” was misused and will not be relied on for major capital project and planning decisions like fields, “Utilize level of service as a planning tool to manage public space assets efficiently.”
- underscores that data must be part of all park decision-making processes. Prior to our efforts, the word “data” was missing from the PSMP drafts. “Analyze athletic field utilization to improve data on the current use and assess future athletic field needs.”
- ensures equitable access to open spaces is a priority action in the guidance to County Manager on implementation and follow-up,
This process demonstrates that a group of people can come together and make positive, incremental changes for stronger, long-term planning initiatives.
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.
Thank you.
ACCOUNTABILITY, CIVILITY AND TRANSPARENCY
Arlington parks should be places for everyone and should meet the needs of a growing community.
- Our Public Spaces Master Plan must be based on Sound Data and Methodology — so where is it?
- “each community determine its own LOS standard based on current supply/demand and future supply/demand projections.“ — PROS Consulting for Arlington’s POPS plan. This supply/demand data is NOT included in the POPS methodology nor anywhere in the public document.
- We have more fields than needed even beyond 2035.
- Our public, even APS spaces could be re-imagined to ensure that the growing needs of our population are met– for open space, other recreational needs, natural areas, community spaces, dogs parks, community gardens and much more! Without removing ANY fields which are identified as actually needed through accurate data.
- Analyses show poorly managed & scheduled of fields.
- This created a false public perception. Hundreds of teams have been over-scheduled by more than double what they actually used and needed. — this equals thousands of hours. While fields throughout Arlington sat unused, but reserved, teams compete to get time. Data and multiple internal reports document this issue and others.
- Open Space, trails and wildlife habitat are the highest priorities of Arlington residents for the County to invest in.
- However, the recommendations in this Master Plan mostly ignore these priorities expressed by the public while pursuing investments and expansion of recreational facilities without showing any data to support doing so.
Data and Processes in Arlington
UPDATE: MISINFORMATION CAMPAIGNS
“On January 28, County Manager Mark Schwartz released his statement on the Public Spaces Master Plan (PSMP). This widely published statement fails to address the widespread substantive criticism of the PSMP methodology and results. The Manager’s statement also contains numerous erroneous assertions which have prompted both Parks4everyone and the Arlington Civic Federation to issue responses. ”
Read the Parks 4 Everyone statement and corrections to the County Manager’s statement here.
STOP! If you’ve been directed here from a mass emailing or statement saying,“[Parks4everyone] have proposed to eliminate 11 sports fields in Arlington…” Then you should know….No one has asked that 11 fields be de-commissioned. You’ve been fed a false and misleading narrative. Please make sure to take a closer look at the actual content of this website and the petition.
Read more about the Misinformation Campaigns and how to stop it
ABOUT US:
Parks4everyone.org, a county-wide grassroots initiative to make our parks for everyone. Parks4everyone.org is supported by The Friends of Aurora Highlands Parks www.FriendsofAHparks.org , residents and park advocates throughout Arlington VA