Whereas, honest and open government is necessary to retain the moral right to govern; and

Whereas, Arlington has a tradition of citizen participation in county government, based on public access to accurate information; and

Whereas, the current owners of the Gates of Arlington, a 465-unit rental community in the Ballston area, recently announced their intent to sell that property; and

Whereas, in the recent contested race for the Democratic nomination for County Board, incumbent Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman repeatedly asserted his intent to expand public funding for subsidized rental housing; and

Whereas, on May 14, the day of the Democratic canvass, the County Manager (who reports to the Board) sent a letter to the current owners of the Gates, threatening to use the County's power of eminent domain to acquire the property unless they agreed to sell to the County Board's preferred purchaser, which owns and operates subsidized rental housing units; and

Whereas, on May 18, Mr. Zimmerman refused to answer questions during the Board's public comment period as to whether the County had threatened to use its eminent domain power in connection with the Gates of Arlington project; and

Whereas, on May 18, the County Board added a last-minute item to the agenda regarding the Gates of Arlington project, without any advance notice the public or review through normal channels, and then proceeded to vote that day to advance $500,000 to the County Board's preferred purchaser to assist in its offer to acquire the property; and

Whereas, on May 23, the County's letter threatening use of eminent domain was confirmed by published news report; and

Whereas, when confronted with that evidence, Mr. Zimmerman dismissed the concern as unimportant, stating that “This is not fundamentally different from things that the county has done in the past”; and

Whereas, Arlington residents are still reeling from the impact of the substantial increase in County taxes this year resulting from drastically higher property assessments and the County Board's refusal to provide substantial tax relief as recommended by many community organizations;

Now therefore, the Arlington County Republican Committee resolves:

We call on the Chairman of the County Board to provide a prompt, public and complete explanation of all circumstances relating to the County's involvement in the Gates of Arlington property sale.

We further call on Mr. Zimmerman to substantiate his claim that this was not different from past practice, by disclosing any other occasions in which the County threatened eminent domain and advanced public funds to a preferred purchaser.

Finally, we call on the Board to withdraw both the funding advance and the eminent domain threat, and to provide adequate notice and review of the proposed actions to be reviewed by citizens and community groups, before any decisions are made on commitment of public funds or potential use of public eminent domain powers.

Considered and adopted by the Arlington County Republican Committee
at its monthly meeting on May 23, 2002, in Arlington, Virginia

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