It’s unfortunate but maybe not surprising that it must come to a referendum to hold the single party rulers accountable.

I think a sensible approach in this era of political turbulence would be to find small steps towards resolving the matter, like removing legislative red tape that doesn’t need to exist.

At the core of our democratic values is the will of the people to decide. Ultimately that means that the existing format does not get to decide the guardrails of the conversation around whether that existing format is sufficient for the needs of the governed.

Many locals that I know would chuckle, ARL money can always be found for critical needs. We have a yearly dance about difficult times ahead but always end up with lots of close out spending. We have an extraordinarily expensive lawsuit over procedural minutiae that could be fixed outside the courts.

We can both engage the heck out of this AND remove the legislative hurdles. We can still arrive at a “no change necessary” decision at the end.

First, sorry for your loss. Second, thank you for engaging on this in a public space. To clarify: are you concerned about 1) the legislation that would enable Arlington’s form of government to change, 2) the process by which a change would be explored, or 3) any actual government format change?

The lack of code enforcement and delays in clearing streets against the backdrop of a very public campaign and investment to name and track the plows comes across as ignoring what our residents actually need.

It’s great to have fun when the system works, but we’re not doing well with snow. There are countless examples of businesses not clearing the sidewalks and creating very dangerous conditions for residents. It is also often multiple days after snow falls where some streets remained untouched.

@maureencoffeyva.bsky.social @takiskarantonis.bsky.social @susanforarlington.bsky.social @jdspainsr.bsky.social @arlingtonva.us @arlnow.bsky.social
If you think bad things with mass surveillance can’t happen in Arlington just scroll down to see how this system has been used over in Fairfax.

I think we should put up signs next to all the flock cameras letting people know their faces and travel patterns will be forever traded as a digital commodity, in alignment with our community values.

“If your community adopts this technology, you need to know it’s doing more than just recording what car is driving where and at what time. It’s worth stepping back and looking at an overview of what’s going on.”

Our values in Arlington do not include running headlong into mass surveillance without appropriate public input. Time to do the right thing.

@maureencoffeyva.bsky.social @jdspainsr.bsky.social @takiskarantonis.bsky.social @susanforarlington.bsky.social Arlington is supposed to be a leader in government doing good with technology. How might a concerned citizen best bring this up for a healthy public debate and reconsideration?

Are there metrics collected against the key goals of this project? I am most interested to learn more about how we are measuring the goals and if they are being met.

Our street is still not plowed or treated. What is the value of phases if we move through them before they’re complete? We will report on the website but after the last snow fall it took many days to get any kind of treatment. How do we solve that?