March 2008 Krupicka Council News


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March 2008 Krupicka Council News
Krupicka Council News -- March 2008
 
 
Hello Friends,
 
Recently, my wife, Lisa, and our two girls had the privilege to participate in the re-opening of the Old Town Safeway.  This Safeway has a particular soft spot in our hearts -- it is where I met Lisa about 15 years ago.  That's right, the Old Town Safeway, at least for me, is Alexandria's social Safeway.  We met somewhere near the produce aisle and I was carrying a basket that included dish-washing soap.  Why we remember the soap, I can't say.  Actually, it is Lisa who remembers the soap.  Perhaps she saw it as a good sign that I knew how to do dishes.  I gave her my business card but she didn't call.  The dish-washing soap must not have made that big an impact. She moved away from Old Town so I had to track down a mutual friend -- she and I both graduated from UVA the same year -- to get her number.  He wouldn't give me her number without asking her first; I must have sounded too anxious.  Eventually, I got her number and talked her into a night at the Ben and Jerry's in Old Town.  And, as they say, the rest is history.  It isn't an exaggeration to say that without that store, I likely wouldn't have married Lisa.  The new store is really nice too.  You should check it out. 
 
The budget came out last month.  High inflation and a slow down in the economy means that we have a number of issues to review. I will write more about this below; we are looking at a number of significant service cuts and other challenges.  Fortunately, we started streamlining and belt-tightening a few years ago.  We have audited a number of city departments to find savings and to make sure programs are being run efficiently.  We also have new budget procedures that give the community greater insight into our spending. 
 
In this issue:
1) A Top 50 Green City And Eco-City Update
2) Budget
3) Credit Cards and Online Enrollment Begins
4) Arlandria Neighborhood Health Services Celebrates 10 Years
5) Freedman's Cemetery Design Competition is Open
6) Jackson 20:  Great New Restaurant
 
See you soon,
 
Rob
 
P.S. Congratulations to the TC Williams Titans for winning the state basketball championship.  They make all of us proud!
 
  
A Top 50 Green City And Eco-City Update

The City of Alexandria was named by Popular Science as one of “America’s 50 Greenest Cities,” localities that were cited as leaders in implementing successful and rapid environmental action. The City, which ranked number 30 on the list, scored 15.7 out of a possible 30 points. The city ranked number 1 was Portland, Oregon; Greensboro, North Carolina ranked 50. To read the article, visit www.popsci.com/environment/article/2008-02/americas-50-greenest-cities?page=1 

Eco-City Alexandria is our effort to create a 10-year Environmental Action Plan along with a city-wide environmental policy called the Eco-City Charter.  We are off to a great start.  A week or so ago, over 100 residents gathered for about four hours to start work on the key elements of our action plan and charter.  City staff, the environmental policy commission, and Virginia Tech did a great job coordinating the event.  And the input from the participants was excellent.  The first draft of the charter will be unveiled at Earth Day. On May 10th, everyone is invited to participate in the Eco-City Summit at TC Williams High School to comment on the charter and continue work on the action plan. The hope is that the Council will adopt the charter in June and the action plan this fall. 
 
 
You can read about current city environmental initiatives here:  http://www.alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/tes/info/tes_ecocityalexandria.pdf
 
Budget
 
After a few years working at our new budget process, I can happily report that our budget documents are as transparent and accessible as they have ever been.  We keep pushing to make sure everybody in the City can access, read and ask questions about our city budget. 
 
 
It is clear, after looking at the budgets of surrounding counties, that Alexandria will likely end this year with one of the lowest, if not the lowest, property tax rate in the region.  Every jurisdiction is looking at increases to the property tax rate and cuts to services to offset the drop in property values and the rapid rise in inflation.  Our regional inflation rate is now at 5%. 
 
The average home value in Alexandria is down almost 2% this year. The average condo is down 4% and the average single family home is down a little less than 1%.  The City Manager has suggested the Council consider a two-cent increase in the property tax rate which keeps the average tax bill flat compared to last year or a three-cent increase which would increase the average tax bill by about 1% over last year (about $1.30 per week per resident on average).  In either scenario, the budget would grow more slowly than inflation.  It is hard to predict where we will end up this year as every day we get worse economic news.  And a few weeks ago new state funding for transportation was eliminated because the General Assembly program was found to be unconstitutional.  This is a $22 million hit to Alexandria transportation projects. This money is lost unless the legislature finds a solution.  Right now, it isn't clear that they will. 
 
Without new revenues, a number of services will see cuts or eliminations.  A few examples include child-care support for low income working families, gridlock reduction programs, police support in city schools, summer programs for kids, rent relief programs for low income residents, red light cameras and more.  There are also many transportation projects, including some important road repair projects, our DASH bus system and a regional mass transit system between Alexandria and Arlington that are in jeopardy due to our state transportation funding problems.
 
A few budget highlights:
 
  1. As part of this budget, the city staff has put together over $4.7 million in reductions or changes to city programs. There are also a few million additional items that may be cut that the city manager has suggested the council raise revenues to pay for.
  2. The draft budget suggests a number of fee increases to cover rising costs caused by inflation.  We are closely evaluating all of those. 
  3. The draft budget includes new fees for developers so that they cover more of the costs in our planning department.
  4. The draft budget holds the line on staffing and includes a slight reduction in staff compared to last year.  This is the third year in a row of staff reductions.
  5. The draft budget includes some new improvements to city services to simplify the bureaucracy for small businesses.
  6. For the first time in a long while, no government in the region is proposing cost of living adjustments for city employees.  With a high 5% inflation rate, what this really means is that the real income of city employees could fall this year.  We are going to have to take a close look at this, but it will be a challenge given the constraint on revenues.
  7. Our schools have asked for 5.9% more money than last year.  That is $1.5 million over the budget guidance we asked them to work towards last fall and unrealistic given our worsening fiscal challenges.  Yet the school board deserves credit for their work to pare back the original budget proposed by the school administration.  And they also deserve credit for their initiatives to make language instruction in our schools competitive with the rest of the region.  I know the school board appreciates the growing challenges of this budget year.   I have been assured by the school administration that they are looking closely at their budget for additional reduction options.  And I have been assured by the school board that they will work with us in making ends meet.
  8. The budget doesn't fill the large multi-million dollar gap in our capital infrastructure budget.  This fall the council and community are going to have to come together to talk through our infrastructure needs.  I for one, am not inclined to put off repair and maintenance work in order to save a dime now, as the long term costs will be far worse.  I also understand that we have a number of infrastructure projects that the community has asked for over the years.  All of these things will need to be talked through in the fall.
  9. The biggest issue we are dealing with now is the loss of almost $22 million in state transportation funding as we can't just put off all of the affected projects. The City staff is taking a new look at our transportation priorities in light of the reduced money.
  10. On the plus side, we know that we will not lose $1 million dollars in federal money used to run our jail, which supports the federal courts. An effort to take that from us failed in the final state budget. 
  11. And we will will get more money for pre-school for low-income children next year.  The state has agreed to change the way it distributes pre-school money and the new formula will greatly benefit Alexandria children.  While this won't affect us until the next budget, this is nevertheless great news for Alexandria children and families.  Pre-school is a great investment for our schools, for our economy and most importantly for our children.
We have a lot of work sessions and reviews to go through yet.  We will get new economic information soon and we expect it will mean lower revenues. We are still evaluating the final budget numbers from the State and have to figure out what to do about the lost transportation funding and our need to re-prioritize transportation projects. We have cut millions from our budgets over the last few years through audits and re-prioritizing.  That is going to continue this year as we work to make ends-meet. If you have questions or thoughts about the budget, please share them with me.
  
Credit Cards and Online Enrollment Begins 
  

I have been pushing for this for years.  We now have online registration for city park programs. This will be a great convenience for city residents. The City of Alexandria’s Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities will pilot the use of Visa and MasterCard credit card payments for Web registration of classes and camps. Effective March 1, patrons with a current household ID may make credit card payments for classes offered during the winter session.   Individuals wishing to register for spring and summer classes and camps may also make credit card payments when registration opens for the spring session at 9 a.m. on Monday, March 17. A household ID is required for individuals to register for recreation classes and camps; those without a current household ID may request one by calling Chinquapin Park Recreation Center Program Office at 703.519.2160.  

 

 
To request further assistance with the City’s online registration and payments process for recreation classes and camps, please call 703.519.2166 or visit alexandriava.gov/recreation

 

 

 
Arlandria Neighborhood Health Services Celebrates 10 Years
 
Alexandria Neighborhood Health Services, Inc. (ANHSI), a unique community service of which Alexandria citizens may be justly proud, celebrated its 10th anniversary – “A Decade of Champions” - on Friday evening, February 22, with a lively reception at the Old Town Alexandria Hilton. 
 
ANHSI manages the Arlandria Health Center located in the Arlandria neighborhood in Alexandria; it is Northern Virginia first Federally Qualified Health Center.  The Health Center provides culturally competent, and often bilingual pediatric, adult medicine and women’s health services to a vibrantly diverse community. ANHSI places a strong emphasis on illness prevention, providing health education and nutrition counseling.  A full-time registered dietitian and mental health counselors complement the skilled provider and nursing staff. Two dental clinics provide 16 hours a week of oral health services. 
 
The Arlandria Health Center is a vital resource for some of Alexandria’s most vulnerable residents and in 2007, provided medical services to 7,120 men, women and children, most of them without health insurance and nowhere else to turn for medical care. In fact, 93 percent of adult patients receiving care do not have health insurance; 22, 831 health care visits were held in 2007.  
 
After ten full years of operation, the Arlandria Health Center has provided critically important health services to a total of 39, 403 children, women and men in our community through 135,500 health care visits. The Health Center continues to fill a large gap in the health care safety net in Alexandria and surrounding communities, providing a fully accessible program without eligibility restrictions for low-income, uninsured individuals in the area. 
  
For more information contact Kristin Langlykke, Executive Director, at (703) 778-0340 or Nyrma Hernandez, Development Director, at (703) 360-4387. 
 
Freedman's Cemetery Design Competition is Open

Here is an amazing chance to make a very unique impact on our community. The City of Alexandria is inviting design submissions from architects, landscape architects, artists, students, and the general public to memorialize and honor the 1,800 individuals—who escaped slavery by fleeing to Alexandria during the Civil War—that are buried in Contrabands and Freedmen’s Cemetery. The three-acre site is located at the southwest corner of Church and South Washington Streets in Alexandria. Design Competition guidelines were released on Wednesday, February 6 and the submissions are due Friday, April 25.

The deadline for submission of design applications is 5 p.m. on Friday, April 25, 2008. Submissions must be mailed to Lee Center, Attention:  Design Competition, 1108 Jefferson St., Alexandria, VA 22314. Entries must be submitted on one entry board, mounted on 30”x 42” foam or illustration board. Each entry board must be oriented vertically, and must include a site plan, a 250-word vision statement, additional images of the proposed design, and a completed entry form.
 
Acquisition of the cemetery site was made possible with funding from the Federal Highway Administration and the Virginia Department of Transportation through the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Project. Additional support for historical research and writing and for the design competition came from a Save America’s Treasures grant from the National Park Service.

For more information or to download the competition guidelines, visit www.alexandriava.gov/freedmens.
  
Jackson 20:  Great New Restaurant
 
 
Jackson 20 opened recently at 480 King Street.  I have been there a few times.  My wife and I had a fantastic time there recently.  The menu had some great choices.  The food was excellent and the neighborhood feel was great.  This is another fine addition to the growing and exciting Alexandria restaurant scene.  I encourage you to check it out.
 
 
 
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Thanks to the City staff for putting this together.

 

Paid for and Authorized by Friends of Rob Krupicka and Rob Krupicka