Dear Mark (and other willing or unwilling recipients of this message):

The proposal to which you refer in your footnote was not to disperse buses from Central Rosslyn, rather it was to consider moving some of the buses from North Moore Street in order to further the use of Moore Street as a central, pedestrian-friendly market street. The buses were not to have been removed from central Rosslyn, there was discussion of placing them on the Ft. Myer side of the station, in conjunction with other station improvements to improve access to and from that side of the station and the possible two-waying of Ft. Myer Drive. There was also discussion of making Ft. Myer Drive and its tunnel into a bus depot which would consolidate buses in one location on the West side of the station. Both of these proposals were long range plans, contingent on county studies and approval by WMATA and others. One could argue that buses on the Ft. Myer side of the station would be even closer to our community than they are now -- hence, more "convenient."

These long term bus placement issues are relatively independent of the more pressing issues associated with immanent developments at Central Place including the JBG development (county board consideration scheduled for February) and 1812 N. Moore Street (which is in Site Plan review now and which was widely criticized at the last SPRC meeting in December). Neither of these projects now proposes to move any bus locations more than a few feet South or North along Moore Street. Indeed, the current bus alley will cut a wide gash through JBG's proposed office tower, at the expense of floor area in that building that could have otherwise been used to benefit the community by, for example, increasing square footage for retail operations. This is one example of the complex interaction between transportation issues and other community issues. The proposed direction to NRCA reps would have us voting for the preservation of the bus alley, which seems like a monstrously flawed result. In this case, the county and WMATA stipulated the bus alley must be preserved in its present location over the vocal objection of nearly everyone else involved in reviewing the project.

Bus placement will also be dictating the number, width and location of crosswalks for North Moore Street. Rather than being located at the most logical crossing spots and being sufficiently wide to draw pedestrians safely across the street, the county and WMATA have virtually dictated crosswalk parameters to limit the need for buses to stop for pedestrians and "speed up" bus service. Here is another instance where the community might opt in favor of better pedestrian access across N. Moore Street (recognizing that if crosswalks are sub-optimal, people will jaywalk) over bus dominance, but your proposed prioritization would dictate otherwise.

I would really like to increase NRCA members' active participation in understanding the developments and their issues so that the community may make informed decisions about what it wants for central Rosslyn. This would give the greatest weight and meaning to participation of NRCA representatives in the debate. I will be bringing some of the recent documents I have compiled to Thursday's meeting, in case participants are interested in reviewing them, but I think it is important that, either through face to face meetings or web site discussions, some of the issues surrounding these developments are thoroughly vetted and all voices in our community are heard.

I think you are doing a marvelous job in raising community awareness and consolidating action on the Wilson School site. There, it seems obvious that the community speaks with one voice in wanting to preserve the open and public nature of the space. It would be disastrous for our community if this public land were turned into yet one more private office or residential development. The loss to North Rosslyn would be catastrophic indeed. The site has the potential to be the center of a cultural renaissance for Rosslyn.

The issues surrounding downtown Rosslyn are a whole lot murkier than they are for Wilson School and lobbying for community needs is complicated by the fact that the land involved is privately owned. Still, the community's position on certain aspects of downtown developments would seem to be clear. For example, in the case of 1812 N. Moore, the developers plan a 500-foot office tower that, because of its height and mass, would dominate the view East from Key Boulevard. Office workers would very likely be able to look into our windows or yards. Community impact would eclipse even that of Turnberry that will shortly loom over the Colonial Terrace neighborhood. Pictures are worth a thousand words and I will bring the drawing package with me. The proposal has the potential to alter the character of Rosslyn and NRCA needs to consider the pros and cons of endorsing such a development.

Sorry to go on so. This is important stuff. We are on the cusp of radical change in Rosslyn.

See you all tomorrow,
Jennifer
----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Antell, President North Rosslyn Civic Association
To: Jennifer Zeien
Cc: Cecilia Cassidy ; landis jones ; gtlivingstone@earthlink.net ; evelyn chervenic ; Anne Spiesman ; Paul Derby ; Dcstan@aol.com ; larrymayer@civfed.org ; Roger Brown ; Joe Famme ; Greg Soltis ; George Mueller ; Frank Cole ; Cliff Groen ; richard schwartzbard ; Sara Melendez ; mantell@northrosslyn.org
Sent: Wednesday, January 10, 2007 4:43 AM
Subject: Re: NRCA & development around Rosslyn Station


Hi Jennifer,

I've just read your very well written exposition favoring a ˜localist' perspective for NRCA. I, however, retain a ˜broad community' perspective. The good thing is that most of the time we still arrive at the same conclusions. Let me re-emphasize. Despite differences, more often than not the ˜localist' and ˜broad community' perspectives come to similar conclusions about what is good for our community.

I still think that the Rosslyn Metro Station (and its associated transportation hub infrastructure) is our community's second most valuable public asset (Wilson School and playfield is #1). I've seen some development proposals that would harm that asset*. If North Rosslyn as a community generally holds a shared perspective on the importance of the Rosslyn Metro Station, then I'd hope to set-out direction for NRCA representatives formalizing that perspective.
Specifically I've suggested the following direction to our representatives:
"NRCA's primary concern about downtown Rosslyn development is safe and efficient access to Metro."

I welcome your alternative proposal. I like your idea of setting up a committee to compile, discuss and prioritize the many things that we want for our neighborhood. I think this would be a long-term effort with a fairly substantial time investment. I'd support such an effort, but only if some activists volunteered to make it work. Further, till such an effort bears fruit, NRCA representatives involved with central Rosslyn development need direction and support; so I'll continue to call for a simple statement about the priority of access and convenience for Metro users.

Would my proposal ˜chain' our representatives (your word)? Or would it empower them to speak forcefully for the community? Two sides of the same coin. I know that I can speak strongly in public venues concerning Wilson School because NRCA has specifically and strongly endorsed preservation of Wilson School and playfield.

Please recognize that I'm not trying to write Metro support into our bylaws. In some rare circumstance when our community needs do not line up with Metro needs, I would hope that our representatives would bring such issues to NRCA for review and majority-vote decision.

Mark Antell

*An example of harmful development proposals is the current recommendation by some interests for 'dispersing buses' from central Rosslyn. I think this recommendation makes no sense absent a commitment to specific alternatives to the current flawed-but-functional bus usage patterns.


------------------------------
Jennifer Zeien wrote:
Dear Mark:

I would submit that, when speaking as the North Rosslyn Civic Association we need to recognize that we are bounded by our constituency, which is distinct from, say, that of the WMATA Riders' Group, some Arlington-wide organization or even some other area civic association such as the Radnor-Ft. Myer Heights Civic Association. It is clearly not within our jurisdiction to represent "all those users of the Rosslyn Station . . ." as you suggest even though we are, as a community, avid metro users.

I am not saying that issues to do with metro are not important, but we must balance these issues with others that directly affect North Rosslyn. We need to recognize that our constituency is local and our duty is to the residents of our community as defined by the geographic boundaries of our civic association. Thus, I would submit that the perspective of NRCA *should* by definition be a "localist" perspective.

No one else is going to lead the charge in some of the other areas I mention below. We owe it to our residents not to obscure or subordinate these other aspects of life in our community by indicating that our "top priority" is the "convenience and safety" of the transportation hub, when so much else hangs in the balance of the developments going on just down the street. These developments will affect life in our little community in ways that completely transcend the potential effect of any incidental modifications to metrobus and metrorail services.

I submit that, in certain instances that have come up already, the metro issues -- although important -- should appropriately stand in line with other community priorities such as open space, skywalks, parking, etc. My initial message (below) identifies some areas Highgate discussed in this regard, but the message is by no means comprehensive in this regard.

NRCA's representatives need the flexibility to address the community's priorities in the context in which they arise without being chained to "convenience and safety" of metro as the "top priority."

Going forward, I would propose that rather than adopt your resolution, we as NRCA develop a list of areas that need to be improved upon or preserved through the development of central Rosslyn, identifying those areas and issues that are central to our community's well-being. We should also develop a "community benefits package" -- that is, a list of improvements for the community that our representatives would lobby for developers to fund as a condition of obtaining the right to develop nearby. Such a list could include big items like parks or community centers (the Wilson School site comes to mind) and smaller items such as improved roads and sidewalks -- some of them are very uneven. Anyway, these should be NRCA's lists, developed by NRCA's membership, not yours or mine.

Jennifer
----- Original Message -----
From: mantell
To: Jennifer Zeien
Cc: Cliff Groen ; Frank Cole ; George Mueller ; Greg Soltis ; Joe Famme ; Roger Brown ; larrymayer@civfed.org ; Dcstan@aol.com ; Paul Derby ; Anne Spiesman ; evelyn chervenic ; gtlivingstone@earthlink.net ; landis jones
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 6:55 PM
Subject: NRCA & development around Rosslyn Station


Hi Jennifer,

This is in response to Highgate's recent vote on development around Rosslyn Station.

I think that NRCA's primary concern about downtown Rosslyn development should be safe and efficient access to Metro. I will raise this in motion form at our meeting on the 11th, probably just to get the discussion going for later decision. I guess that you'll likely want to propose a substitute motion indicating that we are not terribly concerned with intermodal transfers (bus-rail, bus-bus, auto-rail) near metro, but rather have several local concerns of at least equal import.

Principled disagreement is a good thing. I would characterize your position* as a localist perspective and mine as representing the broader community. In either case certainly we need to see that someone represents all those users of the Rosslyn Station who count on good intermodal transfer. I'm copying this note to Larry Mayer, head of the Arlington County Civic Federation, just to apprise him of the issue.

We do have major points of agreement; so I don't see this as a terribly bitter fight. Certainly we are in agreement that we should focus on assuring good, well-maintained, pedestrian access from our neighborhood to the metro. As you know, NRCA (majorly Paul Derby) has been working on this for years. The current plans to remove the skywalk do not give any of us a secure feeling about our easy access to metro in the future; I think we're going to have to work on this.

Mark

PS. See you on Jan 11 at the Atrium. Sure would be nice to get a good turnout from Highgate.

*Characterizing opposing positions is a time-tried method of partisan argumentation, so I recognize that you might very well wish a label different from "localist."

------------------------------------
Jennifer Zeien wrote:
Dear Mark:

Regarding your proposed resolution, as we discussed at our last Highgate Board meeting, while Highgate believes transit issues in and around Rosslyn to be important, our community sees other issues to be of comparable importance in the redevelopment of Rosslyn. Among them:

(1) Shadowing of our neighborhood, parking scarcity, and increased traffic from proposed developments within C-O Rosslyn.

(2) Maintenance of the paths and skywalk system connecting our community to the metro.

(3) Development of a vibrant downtown area having restaurant, retail and recreation opportunities.

We also note that while many in our community are avid users of metrorail and metro bus (as well as some of the shuttle services), we are not principally transferring between modes at Rosslyn -- Rosslyn is most often our point of origin or destination. Thus, as a community, we place less value on the transfer from rail to bus or bus to rail than we do on the availability of rail and bus services within easy reach of our community. This is an important distinction.

See you on the 11th!
Jennifer

----- Original Message -----
From: Mark Antell, President North Rosslyn Civic Association
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Sent: Wednesday, January 03, 2007 2:12 PM
Subject: NRCA general meeting Jan 11, The Atrium 7-8:30PM



Please mark your calendar for Jan 11, NRCA general meeting. 7-8:30PM at The Atrium (Key Blvd) Party Room.

The agenda includes:

- Organization status report and request 2007 membership dues - Derby

- Status reports on Metro maintenance - Derby

- Skywalk maintenance - Derby

- Major Developments in Rosslyn - Zeien, Jones, Antell
Proposed Resolution - NRCA's top priority in the development around Rosslyn Station is the convenience and safety of users of the area as a transit hub (Antell)

- Development plans for Washington Vista - Antell

- Wilson School
1. Status - Antell
2. Presentation by an arts coalition requesting our support for use of the Wilson School as an art production and education center.
Note: We're getting closer to showdown time on Wilson School; the School Administration has indicated a preference to sell the site.
The Arlington Public School (APS) Board will discuss sales of public properties at their normal board meeting on Jan 4. NRCA will join the Arlington New Directions Coalition in suggesting that the APS Board ˜disfavor' sales of public property. This discussion will occur around 8:15PM. It surely would be nice if a few citizens from our neighborhood attended and demonstrated concern about the possible loss of the Wilson site. Contact Mark Antell , 202/321627, if you are able to attend on Jan 4.

- Election for two positions on the board. Announced candidates include:
-Paul Derby,
-Joe Famme,
-Jennifer Zeien.
Additional nominations will be allowed from the floor. After a brief statement from candidates, we will hold an election with the top two vote-getters winning three year terms.

- Volunteers are solicited to represent NRCA on the Arlington County Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (NCAC).

Mark Antell

Hi,

I just wanted to chip in my two cents that I think "safe and efficient access" to the metro is a high concern for North Rosslyn. A bit about me: I'm a renter on North Kent St. plus a future office worker (in 2008) in the Waterview building, when my company moves in. My company, Corporate Executive Board, is projected to have over 4,000 employees by then, most of whom will be located in the Waterview headquarters. I look forward to introducing my co-workers to my neighborhood next year. Very few of them are familiar with Rosslyn and have negative and misguided impressions of it.

Anyway, safe metro access is important because that's how many residents (such as myself) access the surrounding communities and why we choose to continue living in Rosslyn. To me the most valuable feature of Rosslyn is its location and metro access.

But I think more importantly, for individuals outside of Rosslyn, the metro is their introduction to our neighborhood. The metro can contribute to this community's vibrancy because it brings the outside world to us. After all, we don't want to discourage "outsiders" from coming here and supporting local small business. The north Rosslyn residential community itself is fairly small, so to support a vibrant community will require the participation of "outsiders". Taking a very local perspective on the community can have negative consequences for the long-term health of this community.

I happen to think that the metro is the primary reason why Rosslyn has the potential, in the first place, to be a multi-faceted and thriving neighborhood. We should pay attention to making sure it remains top-of-mind, or at least close to it. This doesn't have to be at the expense of building park areas or developing Wilson School.

Gregg Tarter