By Bill Rossello

What could be more insidious than big money from powerful external organizations increasingly dominating our local elections? Perhaps, it would be the now institutionalized City Council practice of approving the same people over and over again for important policy-making bodies. These select few can be found bouncing back and forth between the influential Planning, Transportation, Traffic & Parking and Waterfront boards and commissions.

The repeat appointees tend to be activists, fighting for increased development or, more broadly, urbanism, the ideology of dense living, bike lane networks, and eliminating neighborhood zoning protections. Unelected by – and unaccountable to – the general public, they appear to have made a second career of furthering their views of how all residents should live, packed in tightly in small residences without a car. For some, their own places of employment pose potential conflicts of interest. Together, these people are this city’s politicians-with-a-small ‘p.’

A few years ago, I was nominated to the Alexandria Mobility Plan Advisory Committee, an ad hoc group charged with developing the roadmap that would replace the city’s long standing Transportation Master Plan. The committee had already been meeting when I attended for the first time. An external consultant from an urban design firm facilitated that meeting, posing the question, “What are your most and least favorite streets in Alexandria?”

No fewer than five members said that Duke Street was their least favorite, since it was so unsafe and inconvenient for bicyclists.

Melissa McMahon was one of them, representing the Transportation Commission on the mobility committee. In addition to those positions, McMahon has been a long-time member of the Planning Commission and an appointee to the Traffic and Parking Board and the Duke Street in Motion Advisory Committee over the past 10 years. She often dominates conversation from her urbanist perspective in support of unpopular development and transportation projects.

Then there is Casey Kane. Kane has been appointed to multiple transportation bodies in recent years, always representing the tiny bicycling community. His small ‘p’ resume includes the Transportation Commission, the Traffic & Parking Board, the mobility plan committee, and the Duke Street in Motion Advisory Committee. In fact, Kane has weighed in on redesigning Duke Street in each of those four forums, the only city resident to have such influence.

Nate Macek is yet another example. Macek’s day job is in the civil engineering industry, central to development in the city. He has chaired or been part of the Transportation, Planning and Waterfront Commissions over the past 11 years. A critic of civic associations and others who question development projects, his views and votes often conflict with prevailing neighborhood sentiment.

There are several problems with the city’s approach to board and commission appointments. First, a few voices ring louder than any others on issues of great importance to the many. Board members don’t solicit input from, nor report out to, the general public. They only represent their own views. Yet some of their committee titles would indicate that should be their role. Some bodies have “West of Quaker” and “East of Quaker” representatives, but few ever seem to hear from them.

A planning or transportation policy formulated by one commission inevitably will be used to justify the proposed policy in front of another body. For the mobility plan, the committee justified its urbanist tenets referencing eight existing city policies formulated by other boards and commissions – with some of the very same members in some cases.

Finally, interestingly, some highly qualified and well-intentioned residents are denied the opportunity to participate in formulating city policy in a truly meaningful way.

With the local primary election just completed on Tuesday, you can be assured that the winning incumbent City Council members will perpetuate the politicians-with-a-small ‘p’ approach to policy formulation. Hopefully, some new members will promote an approach more consistent with the concept of representative democracy.

The writer is a civic advocate, management consultant and longtime Alexandria resident.