Tuesday June 14th is the Democratic Primary for Arlington County Board. Incumbent Libby Garvey is facing a challenge from within her party by Erik Gutshall as she runs for re-election. The top vote-getter will go on to face at least one other candidate in the November General Election. Resources on voting in the primary:
Voting in the primary is from 6am-7pm at your normal polling location. Where do I vote?
Virginia primaries are open primaries. Any registered voter can vote in them.
Out of town on June 14th? Vote absentee in-person:
In-person absentee voting runs through Sat June 11 at
Courthouse Plaza
2100 Clarendon Blvd., Suite 320
Arlington, VA 22201
M-F, 8am-5pm + Sat June 11th 8:30am-5pm; closed Memorial Day
How do these candidates stand on cycling issues? Glad you asked. Read and find out:
LIBBY GARVEY
http://www.libbygarvey.com/
1) Do you ride a bike? If so, tell us about your riding.
I do. My husband commuted by bike almost daily in sun, rain and even light snow from about 1984 until his death in 2008. His bike was our “second car” for over a decade. When we cycled together, I was unable to keep up with him very easily, so we purchased a tandem in 2002. This allowed us to cycle together, and as I improved my cycling strength we went faster and faster. We would train on the route around Arlington doing the approximately 19 miles in little over an hour on good days. We rode in several Bike Virginia rides, never doing a century, but doing about 86 miles one very long day involving detours. The most wonderful ride was on the carriage trails on Mt. Desert Island where we climbed Cadillac Mountain. The coast down was great until we realized we could pop our tires with the heat of the brakes if we were not careful. All together we rode 5,742 miles (Kennan kept careful track of miles and speeds.)
I loved the tandem. We could talk easily and I could enjoy the scenery and get exercise while Kennan worried about the steering, braking and gear shifting. He was a natural at it. It helped me improve my physical condition. When he died suddenly, I started a fund in his memory for Phoenix Bikes and have been a member of their Board since 2009. I also bought my own bike on what would have been our 35th wedding anniversary. I continued to ride the circuit of Arlington on occasion and in 2010 did the 5 Boro Ride in NYC on a very chilly and rainy day. I rode in a variety of Arlington Fun Rides. I stopped riding during my chemotherapy treatments in 2011 and stopped again in 2013 while my broken collarbone healed (yes, I broke it riding my bike). I managed to be back on my bike to do 45 miles to Purcellville for the Kennan Garvey Memorial Ride for Phoenix Bikes last August. Over the years I have on occasion used my bike to get around for errands. Cycling clears my head. I look forward to the 3rd Kennan Garvey Memorial Ride on August 6 this year. I encourage all who are reading this to join me on the ride and/or support a rider.
2) What do you see as the role of cycling in Arlington?
Cycling is part of my vision for Arlington’s future. We want to be a community where it is easy to get around by bicycle for fun or your commute. Cycling is good for the environment, good for people’s health and is, I believe, an important mode of transportation for the future in our urban areas.
3) What should the county do, if anything, to get more people to bike?
The more easy and safe we make cycling, the more people will do it. As we move forward with our transportation plans and street improvements, we need to separate cars and bicycles as much as possible. During my first year or so on the Board, we were looking at the Crystal City area and I suggested a cycle track. Staff had not thought of that. It is there today.
Phoenix Bikes and other programs to encourage young people to bike are crucial to creating a cycling culture in Arlington.
Having taken a bad fall due to poor road conditions in my neighborhood, I am acutely award that we also need to make sure our streets are in good condition. I expect we will continue to increase our funding for pothole repair. This helps everyone: those with cars and those on bicycles. Capital Bike Share is another great way to encourage cycling and we just added 3 more stations in our last County Board meeting.
4) How would you approach the decision making process on a project which puts two Arlington priorities at odds? For instance, a proposal to build an important trail connection which would require cutting down a large number of trees.
Just about every decision comes down to three questions for me: what good, for whom, at what cost? In a decision like this, there would be a number of “goods” to weigh including how much improved the connection would be and what kind of trees would need to be cut down. Recently, we faced that issue along Washington Blvd., and after a lot of work, we improved the connection and needed to cut down far fewer trees than originally thought. In a situation like this, I am also quite aware that trees will be replaced and grow again. That is part of the “what cost” part of the question.
5) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support installing traffic calming measures (e.g. speed humps, narrower lanes, etc.) that would reduce speeding in order to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety?
I support traffic calming measures in just about any circumstances if speeding is the issue. Speeding is illegal.
We need to be thoughtful and work with the businesses or people living along the street when we install traffic calming. Sometimes people feel they have little control over what is happening on the street where they live and they do not think the measures will help. Sometimes I think we’ve not been as thoughtful as we should be about such measures. I’ve heard from people who say the measures have not worked as intended, but I’ve found just about everyone opposes speeding on their neighborhood street and wants to work to curb it.
6) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support removing parking to install bike infrastructure?
I’m willing to consider this whenever we could improve cycling. Again, the same three questions I mentioned in #4 would apply. Parking is a serious issue, especially in neighborhoods where people only have street parking for their cars. If we take away parking spaces, we need to be able to provide alternative parking that is fairly convenient. We cannot take away parking on which people depend. Eventually, I expect there will be quite a few cycle tracks and a need for far fewer parking spaces. However, we are not there now and we must balance everyone’s needs as we transition to a time when fewer people need cars.
7) Do you support "road diets" as Arlington has done in the past on Shirlington Drive, Walter Reed Drive and Wilson Blvd which remove travel lanes on streets to provide accommodations for other modes of travel?
Yes, although I want to see how Wilson Blvd is working out before proceeding with others. There was a lot of concern in the neighborhoods along Wilson Blvd. and people were told it would work out well once everyone was accustomed to the reduced road space. I’ve not seen a report yet on how that has worked out. Road diets can make sense when the conditions are correct, but do not make sense everywhere.
8) What work have you done in the past - as an elected official, member of an advisory body, or as an advocate – to promote or support cycling as a mobility option?
As a School Board member, I supported bike racks in our new school buildings and biking in our phys ed curriculum. As a County Board member, I have voted to create cycle tracks and bike lanes, to plow our bike trails in the winter, and to put in place Capital Bike Share. I’ve supported Bike to Work Day and Arlington Fun Rides.
As a private citizen, I have supported Phoenix Bikes with my personal time and money. I’ve participated in Bike to Work Day and various Fun Rides. I am a WABA member and have been for years. And I’ve bought a lot of bikes for my children and grandchildren. I’m known in our community as someone who bikes and supports biking, so I have served as a role model as well, and continue to do so.
9) If elected, what do you hope to have accomplished to make Arlington a better place for cycling by the end of your term?
I hope, and expect, that our follow-through on improving and expanding bike infrastructure will continue to increase the number of people cycling in Arlington. I hope Phoenix Bikes will finally have a good building and become more of a magnet for young people and families interested in cycling or just having a good time learning how to repair and ride bikes.
10) Is there anything else you would like to share with the Arlington cycling community?
As I mentioned in #1 above, my husband was commuting by bike long before it was popular or even much recognized as a way to get around. My friends used to wonder how I tolerated his leaving his bike in our living room by the front door. We’d move it out when entertaining, but, basically, our living room was his bike storage locker.
In sum, if you look at my personal and public record, it is quite clear that I have long supported cycling and will continue to do so. It is also clear that I understand why many people do not cycle and may never do so. These are both important as bike advocates need to be aware of the needs and views of people who do and who do not cycle if we are to be effective advocates.
ERIK GUTSHALL
http://www.erik4arlington.com/
1) Do you ride a bike? If so, tell us about your riding.
Yes. I ride for fun and to get places. I live in Lyon Park, which is a great place to ride. My office is so close that I usually walk, but sometimes I’ll ride to meetings. I ride for pleasure with my elementary school-age kids.
2) What do you see as the role of cycling in Arlington?
Cycling is an important part of the transportation network. We need cycling to be seen as a safe, viable transportation option for many people as our population grows. Cycling is the cheapest form of mid-distance transportation available! In these times of competing priorities for the County, bicycle network investments have the lowest costs, but deliver the biggest returns. Making cycling safer makes our transportation system more equitable.
Improved bicycle accessibility improves the transportation network for everyone: for people in cars, each person on a bike is a person not sitting in a car in front of them. Each bike parked at a rack frees a parking space for someone in a car to use. When cycling is accessible, people have options when Metro is not serving their needs.
Bicyclists are eyes on the street - building community, supporting local business, and providing deterrent to crime. Getting people to use bicycles improves public health, further decreasing costs to the County.
Cycling is an important catalyst for economic development. A strong cycling culture attracts the creative class of workers whom developers and employers are seeking. In this highly competitive region, our bike network in itself is an economic development incentive. A transportation network that works smoothly attracts businesses. In fact, research shows that people on bikes shop and spend more locally than automobile commuters do.
Cycling also plays an important role in our discussion of affordability in Arlington. The two largest costs for many households are housing and transportation. Because riding a bike does not involve the costs of car insurance, car repairs, car storage and gas, biking reduces household costs. When families in Arlington can get where they need to go without a car, Arlington becomes a more affordable place to live.
3) What should the county do, if anything, to get more people to bike?
Arlington should focus on making cycling safe and comfortable for everyone, and should become part of the Vision Zero movement, a commitment to end all deaths and serious injuries on our streets. We should aim to become a League of American Bicyclists Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community. Arlington County should adopt and incorporate the Bicycle Access & Networks Standards of the National Association of City Transportation Officials into the Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan and ensure that all Arlington engineers receive the appropriate training to implement these Standards.
From an infrastructure perspective, we should start with an explicit commitment to “8-80 design”. When we think about whether a streetscape works for biking, we shouldn’t think about people like me, who are cycling. We should think about whether an 8-year-old can safely bike to school. We should think about whether an 80-year-old neighbor feels comfortable cruising to the library on a bike. We already have a popular, robust, and comfortable trail network, but we must make trail maintenance a priority; and, we need to make the trails easier to use. We also need to look at adding more protected bikes lanes and more neighborhood bikeways or bike boulevards. In the long run, our bike network investments should ensure that there is a network of safe, comfortable well-signed routes that take people where they want to go throughout the entire County.
But these programs and investments are not all about asphalt. Education and encouragement are important tools to make cycling a transportation option for more people. We should continue our support for BikeArlington, Arlington Transportation Partners and Capital Bikeshare. The County should work with APS to expand and develop the Safe Routes to Schools program - getting students to bike to school is especially important as our student population grows. And in order to allow everyone to enjoy the public spaces that are our streets, Arlington should host an Open Streets event or Cyclovia.
Arlington County Police play an important role in making cycling safer and more comfortable for everyone. We need to train all ACPD officers to ensure they know the laws that keep cyclists safe, and to work with ACPD to get officers on bikes; we could, for example, have one FTE-equivalent on bike patrol in the next fiscal year.
We must include cycling in our long-term planning and in our budget. To do this we must start with a full, robust update of the Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan. We must update our signals policy to make sure people can move efficiently through our intersections-- whether on bike, on foot, in a bus or in a car. We also need to include a budget that would implement the long-term vision of the Bicycle Element, and enable quick fixes that will make biking better (e.g. improved signage or curb cutouts).
We must work with our neighbors and the Federal agencies and reservations in Arlington to improve the network of destinations accessible by bike. We must find a solution for biking through or around Fort Myer, the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery. And we must continue working with the GW Memorial Parkway administration to improve the Mount Vernon Trail and other areas under their jurisdiction. We need to work with DC to improve bike access to all the Potomac River bridges, and with VDOT and NOVAParks to ensure that they maintain the trails under their purviews.
And we must find and build a solution for the intersection of Lynn Street, Lee Highway and the Custis Trail. We cannot tolerate an “Intersection of Doom” on our trail network.
4) How would you approach the decision-making process on a project which puts two Arlington priorities at odds? For instance, a proposal to build an important trail connection which would require cutting down a large number of trees.
I believe County government must see itself as a transparent and active learning organization, one that is not afraid to recognize error and pursue constant improvement. Arlington County must have an understanding up front about who might be impacted by a proposal and seek those folks out, instead of waiting for them to notice that a conversation is occurring, or a plan is moving forward.
We must subject our decision-making processes to an open dialogue, recognizing the role that is played by each priority within our larger community plan. After we bring all those concerned together, we need to conduct a fair, open, respectful process in which questions are fully explored and resolved to the greatest extent possible, resulting in thoughtful, balanced advice that can be presented to the County Board. While the opinions of any minority must be treated respectfully, the County Board must ultimately exercise its authority to resolve competing priorities. In a complex society like Arlington, it is not possible for these tough choices to be decided in advance; each decision must be weighed and evaluated in its context and it's time.
5) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support installing traffic calming measures (e.g. speed humps, narrower lanes, etc.) that would reduce speeding in order to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety?
We need to respect public space for public use, and balance the safety of all, whether in cars, on bikes or on foot as, safely supporting the need to efficiently get around our County. We need a plan to get around that takes travel efficiency and safety into account; safety should have high priority. The updated NACTO standards are helpful in this regard. For cars, we should look at opportunities to allow traffic to flow at a steady, safe speed, while reducing the maximum speed. We must prioritize safe access to schools: as APS grows, we need to a way to get students to the school buildings without congesting our neighborhoods with traffic.
6) Under what circumstances, if any, would you support removing parking to install bike infrastructure?
Similar to my answer in 4, we need an open discussion, and should look at the entire situation. It’s not possible to make these sort of trade-offs generically-- context matters tremendously.
7) Do you support "road diets" as Arlington has done in the past on Shirlington Drive, Walter Reed Drive and Wilson Blvd which remove travel lanes on streets to provide accommodations for other modes of travel?
Yes. When done with full education for the affected nearby communities as well as those who regularly commute on those routes, road diets make a lot of sense. I am interested in hearing from communities who might like to be considered; I understand that some have expressed interest in looking at South George Mason Drive near Wakefield High School.
8) What work have you done in the past - as an elected official, member of an advisory body, or as an advocate – to promote or support cycling as a mobility option?
I have advocated for a safer, more inclusive cycling network through my work on the Planning Commission and the Transportation Commission. In every site plan, I have advocated for cycling accommodated by providing bike parking, bike lanes on nearby streets, Capital Bikeshare, and safe ingress and egress for bikes.
As the Lyon Park Civic Association president, I advocated strongly for better accommodation of biking when the Clarendon Sector Plan was updated in the early 2000s.
9) If elected, what do you hope to have accomplished to make Arlington a better place for cycling by the end of your term?
By the end of my term on County Board, I would hope to have: updated the Bicycle Element of the Master Transportation Plan; have a program for maintenance and further development of our trail network; have a program for implementing both low cost, quick improvements the cycling network as well as longer term Capital Improvement Program funding to make the Bicycle Element goals a reality; and have Arlington designated as a League of American Bicyclists Gold Level Bicycle Friendly Community.
10) Is there anything else you would like to share with the Arlington cycling community?
Arlington has been a leader in this region at making cycling a transportation option for so many, but our neighbors are catching up. We have picked most of the “low-hanging fruit”, and it is time to show real commitment and investment in cycling.
Encouraging cycling can help Arlington face many of its current challenges--Metro closures, growing population without additional space for roads, growing school population, need to attract business, and constrained County budgets. It is time for Arlington to make this investment.
Who do folks like more? Libby has proven herself as a bike advocate. Erik sounds impressive too.
Posted by: Bayley | May 27, 2016 at 01:04 PM
damn this blog is boring...and pointless. bicyclists are so lame -- esp when it comes to moral and practical imagination and a historical sense. then again theyre almost all white men with boring techincal college degrees, and suburban dreams...
Posted by: Robin H. | June 03, 2016 at 07:17 PM