Membership Meeting Minutes-November 14, 2018

Posted onAuthorDRCA Secretary

  1. Welcome
  2. Alexandria Police Report
  3. Sheriff’s Office Report
  4. Alexandria Families for Safe Streets
  5. Special guests: Mark Jinks, City Administrator and Stephanie Landrum, Alexandria Economic Development Partnership
  6. Announcements
  7. Adjourn

  1. Welcome, Annie Ebbers, DRCA President
    1. Call to Order: 7:02pm
    2. Introduce DRCA Board: Ellen Patrick, VP; Seán Crumley, Secretary; Virginia Amos, Membership Director; Bea Robinson, Treasurer; Tom Ortiz, Activities Director
    3. Welcome to new members
  2. Alexandria Police Report, Capt. Dennis Andreas
    1. Crime
      1. 13 instances again this month. 
      2. Theme:  Most crimes are from Opportunity
      3. Felonious assault on Commonwealth (individuals already acquainted)
      4. Unlocked cars (one vehicle recovered in Fairfax)
      5. Yoga studio on MVA client had wallet stolen from automobile cubby
      6. Unattended backpack gone at construction site
      7. Items stored outside on porch under tarp: items worth several thousand dollars taken
      8. Exxon Rt 1 purse gone when customer went in to pay
    2. Traffic
      1. 64 incidents, down from 94 previous month
      2. “Speed is the enemy”
      3. Collisions 12 (last month also 12), only one injury at Glendale/MVA
    3. Questions?
      1. Floater found near Harris Teeter?—>Med Examiner matter
      2. Cars driving on trail? Call non-emergency number, but not a priority
  3. No Sheriff’s Office report 
  4. Land Use Committee Report, Kristine Hesse:
    1. Text amendment changes affecting front yard setbacks and height
    2. A sense that houses getting too big?
    3. Movement on old Anthony’s Auto garage at Hume & MVA: Ownership change. 
    4. Next meeting: 12/11 MVA Rec center
  5. Alex Families for Safe Streets, Mike Doyle
    1. Mike recounted his personal experience having been hit by auto
    2. Supporting City’s Vision Zero
    3. AFSS: 5-12 people, includes some survivors (like Mike), family members who lost people in crashes, 75 volunteers. 700 on mailing list
    4. Program: Tell impact stories. As a 501.3c they can educate can’t lobby. 1,300 signed petition.
    5. City’s Vision 0 plan for 2020. AFSS wants it started now. Complete streets program got a bump in budget to do more sooner.
    6. AFSS advocates Engineering, Enforcement, Education and is marketing partner of Alexandria Police and is now working with Alexandria City Public Schools.
    7. Speed kills: At 20  mph, 1 in 10 dies in crash. At 40 mph 1 in two services
    8. Left turns kill. Fast turns kill
    9. Stop-look-wave: Pedestrians should engage driver to be sure they’re engaged and not distracted.
    10. If we know of dangerous intersection, please report it on website (“Near Miss Survey”):
      https://www.alxffss.org/
    11. Safety conference in January 2019 in DC
    12. World Day of Remembrance: Procession along King St to Market Square (Sunday, 11/18, 2p)
    13. Call to Action: Seeking legislation changes (e.g., Speed cameras)
    14. Questions?
      1. Different from BPAC? They have Broader vision beyond safety
      2. COncern for oncoming “perfect storm” (i.e. e-scooters). City will need creative response
  6. Special Guest, Mark Jinks City Administrator, Stephanie Landrum, AEDP
    1. HQ2 News
    2. This effort required unprecedented cooperation by Alexandria, Arlington
    3. 3 NoVa proposals including National Landing proposal
    4. Proposal assets: Talent pool.  Dedicated funding for metro secured, also helped
    5. NDA for site finalists required discretion. 
    6. Two ALX proposals Eisenhower East and Nat/l Landing
      1. AEDP still needs to promote EE for other opportunities
      2. “Nat/l Landing” name signifies collaborative effort for proposal combining three identifies (Crystal City, Pentagon City, Potomac Yard).
        1. “It could die tomorrow” and we keeping talking about Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard now that decision is made.
      3. Crystal City lost thousands of employees, moved out with DOD, BRAC, Patent departures. CC 20% vacancy rate, but CC metro still moves lots of people.
      4. Incentive dollars from State, not city
      5. Impact issues:
        1. Transportation Infrastructure
        2. Affordable Housing
        3. K-12 Education
        4. Talent pipeline
      6. Public Investment in Transit
        1. Southern entrance for PY Metro-add-on after station opens ($ not immediately available)
        2. Metroway Expansion (no details)
        3. Won’t repeat Seattle’s mistakes (We’ll make our own)
        4. Expect a more balanced supply and demand
      7. Housing:
        1. “Land banking”
        2. What’s in it for ALX? Hotels?
        3. Office vacancy rate in ALX high too
          1. Convert offices to residential? Better to have offices
          2. CC Metro is down 30% from peak
      8. Big deal for ALX: VT Innovation Campus (second of its kind?)
        1. Oakville Triangle plan matched to a tee VTU needs (Blackstone is property owner)
        2. VTU wants to work with ACPS on STEM
        3. ALX/VTU MOU: work out details (exclusive to ALX)
        4. Next steps ID? Maybe some SUPs for minor facets of OT
      9. More info:
        1. hqnova.com (NoVa AHQ2 proposal website)
        2. growalx.com (AEDP’s website)
        3. alexandriava.gov/NationalLanding (City’s website)
      10. Questions:
        1. In future presentations, spend more time on impact (not what what was talked about behind closed doors) No more secrets!
        2. Transportation focus is on transit (BRT, Metro) not on road improvements
        3. What happened to Eads bridge? Expensive design will have to wait.
        4. Why summer shutdown for Blue/Yellow during tourist season? (Despite tourists, historically lowest ridership)
        5. Metro shutdown’s impact on Old Town’s economy?
        6. Potomac Ave Bike path to Crystal City? After theatre site is redeveloped a connection can be considered.
        7. When will Oakville development start? 2019 (accelerated onset on account of approved plan)
        8. ACPS/NVCC interface? Coming 
  7. Announcements
    1. Del Ray Business Association (Details at visitdelray.com)
      1. Holiday Tree Lighting. Sat., 12/1, 6;00pm
      2. Holiday Popup Market Sun., 12/2, 11-3
      3. Lady’s Shopping Night, Thurs., 12/6, 6pm
      4. Candy Cane Bar Crawl Sat. 12/8, 2-6pm, $15 in advance (fundraiser)
      5. Holiday windows painting on the Avenue coming soon
      6. Tree decorating contest and vote
      7. Volunteers needed: visitdelray.com
    2. Del Ray Artisans (details at delrayartisans.org)
      1. December: three weekends of holiday market with handcrafted work by local artists. Friday (Nov 30-Dec 2, Dec 7-9, and Dec 14-16.) Fridays 6-9pm, Saturdays & Sundays 11am-6pm)
      2. Theater Night Fundraiser at the Little Theatre of Alexandria: “A Christmas Carol”, Tues. 12/11 starting at 6:30. $45 tickets includes reception.
  8. Adjourned: 8:59