DeVita | Democrat for County Board

The “Missing Middle” does not promote diversity and it will not create affordable housing.

The “Missing Middle” purports to be inclusive and it also purports to pave the way for “affordable housing” for “middle income” individuals but there is nothing in the legislation that would help minorities purchase the new units nor is there any ceiling on the amount that can be charged for the new units. Simply stated, there is nothing in the legislation that would prevent white people from buying the new units nor is there anything that would prevent real estate developers from charging $1,000,000.00 apiece for the new housing.

Arlington Already Has Affordable Housing.

Missing Middle is also based on faulty assumptions. The idea, as I understand it, is that middle-income people like teachers, policemen, and fireman cannot afford to buy real estate in Arlington and that we need to help them by providing them with more affordable housing options. This simply isn’t true. The starting salary for a schoolteacher in Arlington is $65,000.00 and for a police officer, it is $83,000.00 and for a firefighter, it is $91,000.00. If you do what real estate agents normally do and multiply these starting salaries by 3, each of these individuals could afford to buy housing with an average price range of between $180,000 and $300,000.00 and you can certainly find condominium units in Arlington in this price range. And if you assume that these individuals are married and double their incomes, they could afford to buy houses (including single family homes) in the price range of $390,000.00 to $546,000.00. You may not be able to afford a house in north Arlington in that price range but you could certainly find one in south Arlington. Believe me, there’s plenty of affordable housing in Arlington, if you’re willing to live south of Route 50 (like I do).

Arlington is Already Diverse and Inclusive.

The idea that Arlington needs “help” to become more diverse and inclusive is also simply not true. White people only account for 58.5 percent of the population in Arlington. Fifteen percent of the population is Latino, eleven percent of the population is Asian, and eight percent of the population is African-American. Arlington is also famously ultra-liberal. There is no need, therefore, for “Missing Middle” because Arlington is already diverse and inclusive.

What “Missing Middle” will do is increase population density and destroy Arlington’s suburbs. Although Arlington does have an urban core centered around the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor, one of Arlington’s great strengths, and, what many people find attractive about Arlington, are its leafy-green, single-family neighborhoods. Left unchecked, “Missing Middle” will destroy these suburban neighborhoods by increasing population density which change Arlington from a suburb into a city.

Right now, there are 34,600 single family homes in Arlington. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that one person lives in each of those single-family homes and let’s make the same assumption about a new condominium unit built under the new “Missing Middle” “six condos per lot” regime. Instead of one person per lot which is what you would have under the old regime, you would now have six people living on each lot. Instead of 34,600 people living in that amount of space, you would now have 207,600 people living in the same amount of space. Right now, there are 237,000 people living in Arlington. Left unchecked, therefore, under the scenario set out above, the “Missing Middle” would more than double Arlington’s population. Now, just imagine the same scenario, but assume that 5 people are living in each single-family home and five people are living each of the new “Missing Middle” condo units. You would now have 30 people living in the same space that five people once occupied. This would increase Arlington’s population by 1,038,000 people. Arlington’s population would go from 237,000 people to over one million people and our lovely little suburb would now be a city.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate cities. In fact, I love cities. I just don’t want to live in one. Cities have a host of problems that don’t exist in the suburbs due to the fact that people in cities are packed together like sardines. Cities are noisy. They have higher crime rates. It’s hard to find parking. There are traffic jams. There is a lack of green space. There is more air pollution.

I used to live in a city. I used to live on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. While I was living there, I was mugged three times. There was a crack epidemic. The neighborhood schools were among the worst in the nation.

Cities were fine when I was young and single, but when I got older, I didn’t want to live in a city anymore. After I got married and I wanted to start a family, I wanted to move someplace safe so my children would be safe. I wanted to live in a place with good public schools. I didn’t want to live in a city anymore. I wanted to live in the suburbs.

I was used to living in the suburbs. I grew up in the suburbs. We had backyard barbecues, and block parties, and Easter egg hunts for the kids. You had a chance to get to know your neighbors because there were 30 of them, not 180 of them.

Arlington is consistently rated as one of the best and safest places to live in America and its schools are consistently ranked number one. Why would anyone want to give this up? Why would anyone want to turn Arlington into a city?

Arlington schools are already overcrowded. In 2015, we had schoolchildren sitting in trailers rather than classrooms. Do you want to add another 30,000 school kids to the mix? I’m also willing to bet that increased density will lower property values. What many people find attractive about Arlington are its leafy-green, single-family neighborhoods not mismatched mixed use developments. Will people still be willing to pay $1,000,000 or more to live in a single-family home which is right next door to a six-unit condo building? I don’t think so. And if property values do go down, then Arlington will either have to stop funding public services (like aid to poor people who can’t afford market rent) or raise real estate taxes. I don’t find either option very attractive.

Arlington already has a Committed Affordable Unit (CAF) program which provides assistance to poor tenants who can’t afford market rent. I think an even better way to achieve the same goal with respect to the purchase of new homes would be to simply require real estate developers to set aside a certain percentage of units for lower income purchasers in new developments which are zoned for multi-unit buildings. And, if you do this, put some real teeth in it. Set out price caps for these units (to be reviewed annually) so that real estate developers can’t simply jack up the prices for these units.

Unfortunately, it has become fashionable to label as racist, anyone who doesn’t agree with new “liberal” ideas. I am not a racist. I simply disagree. As an attorney, I currently represent 7 Black Lives Matter protesters. Hopefully, we can have an intelligent debate about this issue without people engaging in race-baiting.

I would further note that “Missing Middle” was sold to the public based on the notion that single family zoning was allegedly used as a tactic to keep out minorities in the 1930’s. In response, I would simply note that there is nothing inherently racist about single family zoning. I personally think it’s racist to assume that African-American people and/or other minorities can’t afford to buy or own property in Arlington.

Arlingtonians never got a chance to vote on this issue. The County Board simply imposed it on the County. I want to change this dynamic and give the people of Arlington a chance to express their opinions on this issue. As I campaign for the County Board in Arlington, I am going to hold public forums and let each precinct vote on whether the people in that precinct want the Missing Middle. I will then release the results to the news media. And then we’ll find out whether Arlington truly wants to be a city or a suburb.

I oppose ranked choice voting for the following reasons:

1. RANKED CHOICE VOTING IS TRYING TO SOLVE A PROBLEM THAT DOES NOT EXIST

Who are these people who allegedly aren’t being represented? I’ve never once heard anybody name a specific person or party who is lacking representation. I don’t see why anybody with a concern can’t simply either run for office or call and express their concerns to someone who is already in office

2. RANKED CHOICE VOTING IS TOO COMPLICATED

Voters don’t understand it and this is unfair. People should not have to take courses to understand how to vote. If you really want to make the political process inclusive, keep it simple. Voting should not be complicated. It should be a simple process that the average individual can understand.

3. RANKED CHOICE VOTING WILL PENALIZE ANYONE WHO TAKES A STRONG STAND ON A CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE

Somebody who takes a strong stand on a controversial issue is not likely to get a lot of 2nd or third place votes, And that’s a real problem, because, there are times when, in order to make progress, you need people who are going to stick their necks out and advocate something controversial like the abolitionists did back before the civil war or people who were opposed to segregation did in the 1950’s and 1960’s. How many 2nd or 3rd place votes, do you think people like that would have gotten? There some issues that people are either just for or against and if someone is dead set against a candidate who takes a strong stand on a controversial issue, they are not going to give that person a second or third place vote. They’re going to vote for someone who soft peddles the issues Why should we muddle along with safe, conservative candidates? Why not make real progress?

WE NEED TO REVISE ARLINGTON COUNTY’S GRADING POLICIES

In an effort to make grading policies more “equitable”, the Arlington County Public School System has recently revised its grading policy in order to allow students to retake or revise tests after they have already been submitted and graded. The new policy also allows students who skip class or cheat on the day of a test or a quiz to simply retake the tests/quizzes. This new policy makes grades meaningless. This is, of course, completely unfair to the students who played by the rules and didn’t skip school and didn’t cheat. Students, parents, and colleges will also have no way to gauge how Arlington County students are really doing because adverse results can simply be erased. These policies will undoubtedly do an enormous disservice to Arlington students since what they will ultimately learn is that there are no consequences for bad behavior. Imagine their shock when they get out into the real world and find out there are consequences for bad behavior. You don’t do a child any favors by failing to discipline them.

WE NEED TO TEMPORARILY CUT BUSINESS TAXES TO BRING NEW BUSINESS TO ARLINGTON.

Arlington County’s commercial vacancy rate is 21.7 percent! That means that one out of every five offices/storefronts in Arlington is empty. This is a problem of epic proportions for several reasons. The first is that we need the tax revenue from businesses to fund local government and to pay for social programs. The second is that if business tax revenue is cut, the only way to make it up is to raise real estate taxes. And the third reason is that fewer businesses means that we will have fewer products and services for Arlington residents.

In order to solve this problem, I recommend that we:

Temporarily cut the business license tax and the business property tax for new businesses who are willing to commit to moving to Arlington and staying for five years;
Temporarily cut the real estate tax for the construction of new commercial buildings for three years to encourage the replacement of outdated buildings;
Change zoning laws to permit new uses in commercial areas; and
Encourage mixed use development- Offices above shops and restaurants to entice workers to stop working from home and return to the office.

BICYCLE LANES, ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS, NEW SUBWAY LINE.

We need to reduce the use of gasoline powered cars and fossil fuels in order to reduce carbon emissions and protect the environment. I would, therefore, advocate that we encourage people to ride bicycles for transportation by creating more bike lanes. I would also like to see the County create more charging stations for electric vehicles. We also need more rail service in this area, so, I will advocate that a new subway line be created to run underneath Columbia Pike.

BLACK LIVES MATTER

I have been a lawyer on both sides of police brutality cases. I represented the Metropolitan Police Department and its officers when I worked for the D.C. Attorney General's Office and I have also represented people who claim that they were falsely arrested and subjected to excessive force. There is no doubt that the police have a very difficult job. On the other hand, nobody should be subjected to excessive force. I think the problem is that neither side sees the other as people. We need to get the police involved in the communities they are sworn to protect and serve so that each side sees the other as people. We also need to develop new ways to apprehend criminals that are not dependent on excessive and/or lethal force.

WHAT I WILL DO: Get the police involved in and responsive to the communities they are policing. Develop new and non-lethal methods of apprehending criminals.

BOTH PARENTS SHOULD HAVE CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILDREN

Although there is no longer a presumption in the law that women will be awarded custody of children in divorce cases, current practice usually results in a court order which provides that one parent gets physical custody (usually the mother) and one parent visits every other weekend (usually the father). As a result, children suffer because they grow up without equal input from both of their parents. This practice also creates enormous resentment as it creates a situation in which one parent is a "winner" who gets to receive child support and spend more time with the parties’ children and the other parent is a “loser” who rarely sees the children and has to make payments to the other parent. There should not BE a winner or a loser when it comes to parents and their children. Studies have shown that children who don’t see their fathers are more likely to fail in school and in life. Children need BOTH of their parents. Although joining physical custody won’t work in all situations, each custody case should at least START with a presumption of 50/50 custody. This is already the law in the District of Columbia.

WHAT I WILL DO: Change the law so that there is a presumption that custody in divorce cases is 50/50..

More on the Issues

ARLINGTON COUNTY BOARD ISSUES

HOUSING

RANKED CHOICE VOTING

EDUCATION

WE NEED TO REVISE ARLINGTON COUNTY’S GRADING POLICIES

TAXES / COMMERICAL VACANCY RATES

WE NEED TO TEMPORARILY CUT BUSINESS TAXES TO BRING NEW BUSINESS TO ARLINGTON.

TRANSPORTATION / THE ENVIRONMENT

BICYCLE LANES, ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS, NEW SUBWAY LINE.

SAVE DEMOCRACY

DUMP TRUMP

BLACK LIVES MATTER

BOTH PARENTS SHOULD HAVE CUSTODY OF THEIR CHILDREN

IT’S WRONG TO HATE SOMEONE FOR BEING WHO THEY ARE

AMERICA IS A NATION OF IMMIGRANTS