New-for-2024 Arlington County Board member Susan Cunningham delivered the following remarks at the body’s Jan. 2, 2024, organizational meeting.
On this, my second day in office and first official meeting as your 75th County Board member, I am reflecting on what it means for Arlington to be a “World-class Community” in 2024 and beyond.
What is “community”?
One definition of community is “a place considered together with its inhabitants”. Another is “a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common goals.” We have nailed the first definition (people and places) and, like most communities, have more work to do on the second (connection).
We sure do have world-class people and places in Arlington today:
• Our people: 237,000 residents, 214,600 jobs, 27,000 public school students from 149 countries
• Our places: 120,000 homes, 42 million square feet of office space, 1,477 acres of parks, with 99% of homes within a 10-minute walk.
Yet, in 2024, we can and should build a more resilient, world-class community through connection. The U.S. Surgeon General has declared an epidemic of loneliness, calling for “strengthening social infrastructure” (e.g., parks and library programs) and building a “culture of connection." U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) recently proposed a “National Strategy on Social Connection”.
Why does connection matter?
1. Connection improves public health and is the best antidote to loneliness, hopelessness, and addiction. For elders, disconnection increases dementia risk by 50%.
2. Connection fosters shared vision. Planning is crucial to managing change – for both residents and businesses – from housing and office reinvention to transportation and stormwater. As Chair Garvey mentioned, our last community vision document was penned in 1986, before most Arlingtonians were born.
3. Connection strengthens long-term sustainability. Clear priorities, transparent tradeoffs, careful resource use – whether energy and land or tax revenues and time – help us connect and sustain a resilient, world-class community.
I look forward to working with my colleagues, regional leaders and our whole community this year to:
1. Connect our people. We will build on existing programs like sports, arts, Arlington Neighborhood Villages, and the Teen Network Board to enhance youth out-of-school programming, volunteerism, public safety investments, mental health delivery, and safety net.
2. Refine our housing investments and planning. We must closely monitor and refine the initial expanded housing options (EHO) program and explore other tools (i.e., property tax deferrals, community land trust, reuse) to better meet our broader housing needs; And, revisit our planning priorities (e.g. lot coverage, EFC, Special GLUP analysis, office property reuse), fees, and permit/inspection turnaround time.
3. Use resources efficiently. Our budget pressures can help us study priorities, return on investment, and tradeoffs to get the best value for our community (from energy efficiency to service levels).
World-class places and people are not enough. We also need sustained connection to be the world- class community we envision. That takes invitation, effort, and showing up from all corners of our community - that’s all of us. In 2024, we need to engage and re-engage with each other – to listen, question, deliberate, and compromise as we work to support our people and steward our resources. Connection begins with each of us.
On my desk, I keep a photo of Maya Angelou and a teenage student at the Maya Angelou School. It was near the end of Angelou’s life and just the start of the student’s journey. I can still feel the energy of that evening sitting next to them as they connected and inspired each other. We can all do that for each other as we
I’ll leave you with Angelou’s own words: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said,...” (perhaps you have already, that was a lot of speeches!) “...people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” As we celebrate the start of this year, let’s commit to investing in connection to strengthen our world-class community.
