Quote of the day

(I spent much of today in Arlington at the launch of their Car Free Diet program, and then stopping at various points between Rosslyn and Brookland taking photos or talking to people such as at Rosslyn Renaissance/Rosslyn BID. Because I am going to a farmers conference tomorrow--in relation to foodways and farmers markets and recruiting farmers--in Pennsylvania, I am not likely to blog for a couple days. I have a lot to blog about in terms of my experiences in Arlington, but I don't know when I'll get around to having that much time to write...)

"Unless you tackle the whole of the problem, rather than part of the problem, ultimately you're not going to get anywhere."
-- Ewan Hunter, Hunter Foundation (he is not related to the namesake of the organization) from the Chronicle of Philanthropy, 1/10/2008

This quote is relevant to Arlington. I mentioned before Charles Landry's point that world class cities don't just take from the world, they give back too. I mentioned Paris' Velib bikesharing program as an example of this. Paris wasn't the first city to do bike sharing, but the scale of their launch and the publicity it garnered has accelerated take up of the idea in many other places in the world. That's an example of giving back as part of being world class, what maybe could be called "generativity" based on Erikson's Life Cycle Theory.

In the DC region, Arlington might be the only true world class municipal jurisdiction. They don't just beat on their chest and say they're great, like DC does. They have vision, they have values, they execute programs in high quality best practice fashion (more about that later) in concert with their values and they get results.

Now, DC actually has more walkers, bicyclists, and transit users than does Arlington. I'm not saying that Arlington just gets better press. DC has a better urban design that is more conducive to mode shift. My joke though is just think if DC marketed mode shift and incorporated transportation demand management into planning, how much better we could do.

Arlington isn't perfect. Super-sized buildings along Wilson Blvd. and in Rosslyn make the quality of the pedestrian experience somewhat hit or miss. Urban design on the first and second floors still needs some work.

But the way Arlington executes programs for transit, walking, biking, fitness, and the environment are best in class. They are comprehensive, deep, and outcomes-oriented, and capable of being evaluated.

The thing today featured talks by the Arlington County Board Chair, Walter Tejada, as well as County Councilmember Jay Fisette, and the County Manager, Ron Carlee, stopped by for awhile too (he didn't speak). Maybe it just rang true to me because I don't hear these particular elected officials speak that often (I have heard CM Fisette before, we shared a dais at a presentation once), but I was impressed with the content--I repeat--the content. Too often we don't have elected officials in the city with that level not just of knowledge, but concern from the heart, and values, not just political calculations. (And speaking of great Arlington County elected officials, I didn't even see Chris Zimmerman, who is probably the best elected official in the region when it comes to transportation and mobility issues.)