Streetcar Cancelled

Posted November 18, 2014

The Arlington Board's decision to cancel the Arlington Streetcar System is deeply disappointing, as is the negative and frequently inaccurate smear campaign that led to it. The streetcar was the lynchpin in a carefully built up plan to preserve affordable housing in Arlington's most diverse neighborhood, to convert an aging auto-oriented corridor to the type of walkable, vibrant community that so many people want to live in, and to remake Crystal City from an aging office complex shaken to its core by BRAC into a "complete community" and revitalized economic engine for our tax base. Huge amounts of community time and energy went into the Columbia Pike Initiative, the Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan and the Crystal City Sector plan, and that time and energy has just been thrown away.

We advocated for a streetcar because we believe it to be the best solution for Columbia Pike and Crystal City's transit and development needs. We are Arlington citizens who care deeply about our community and we will not being going away simply because a streetcar is off the table, we will be there to fight for the best possible non-streetcar solution for Columbia Pike and Crystal City's needs. We hope those who fought the streetcar because they believed, for whatever reason, that it was not a good solution will join us in that fight for the best possible non-streetcar solution. Perhaps we need to lobby VDOT to allow dedicated transit lanes on Columbia Pike, perhaps we need to re-work the Pike Plans and Crystal City Sector Plans based on the new realities of our transit capacity, perhaps we need to ensure that we build large, high quality, attractive, comfortable, protected-from-the-elements bus shelters with off-vehicle fare collection and level boarding. In all setbacks there is an opportunity, let us seize this opportunity to work together for the best possible outcome for Columbia Pike and Crystal City.