To some it is ancient history, to others still fresh, but this week marks the 10th anniversary in what proved, somewhat unintentionally, as a turning point in Arlington governance – and, ultimately, the death knell for the proposed Columbia Pike streetcar project.
It was on Feb. 10, 2014, that longtime Arlington County Board member Chris Zimmerman, the board’s dominant force for the final years of his service, formally resigned to take a job with a smart-growth organization.
Zimmerman had telegraphed in late 2013 his plans to quit in February 2014, timing that set off warning bells for Democrats that ultimately rang true.
Follow the bouncing ball:
• Because Zimmerman resigned in February rather than in January as some had wished, the special election to fill his post was set for April rather than March.
• Running as an independent with help from both Republicans and the Green Party, John Vihstadt on April 8 trounced Democrat Alan Howze (57% to 41%), riding a wave of voter discontent with the gold-plated spending of the all-Democratic County Board and the seeming arrogance of what had been an entrenched group of local officials.
• Because the special election had to be scheduled in April rather than March, the filing deadline for the June Democratic primary for November’s general election (in which Zimmerman’s seat was on the ballot) had come and gone just before the special election took place. No Democrats besides Howze filed, which several might have done if the election had been held in March and the enormity of Howze’s electoral shortcoming had set in.
• While the larger turnout of November 2014 helped Arlington Democrats, Vihstadt still managed a victory in his rematch against Howze, who while deemed by most a capable guy had far less charisma than his opponent and proved unable to convince a cranky electorate that he would be an agent of change on the County Board.
• Within two weeks of Vihstadt’s general-election victory, County Board Democrats Jay Fisette and Mary Hynes switched sides on the contentious Columbia Pike streetcar project, siding with Vihstadt and Libby Garvey to kill off a project whose projected cost had ballooned to $350 million. Over the next two years, other high-cost capital projects – from the Artisphere arts center to what The Washington Post erroneously but perhaps fatally dubbed “million-dollar bus stops” along Columbia Pike to the proposed Long Bridge Park aquatics center – either were scaled back or killed outright.
By 2018, the electorate had resumed its more docile state, or perhaps the Arlington County Democratic Committee had used the 2016 victory of Donald Trump to further mobilize the local electorate in its favor. Either way, Vihstadt fell to Democrat Matt de Ferranti (who was virtually unknown outside party circles), as Democrats redeemed the seat and regained the monopoly they have held on the County Board ever since.
