It took too long and got way too lost in the weeds, but the Arlington County Civic Federation last week endorsed a resolution that, while toned down from its rather incendiary origins, makes clear that civic leaders are not happy with the current state of county governance.
One would need a doctorate in the Arlington Way (such as it is these days) to understand the intricacies of the concerns being raised. And the Arlington government’s elected and staff leaders may well just dismiss it as a group of gripes and grievances from those who don’t always get their way in the community conversation.
Savvy county leaders, however, would be wise to take the concerns expressed in the resolution seriously and approach them analytically, without being dismissive or personalizing the matter.
It’s clear that those who engage most often in civic intercourse in Arlington have concerns about the drift of governance and leadership. Last time that happened (circa 2014), it created a revolution in local politics, if lamentably a rather short-lived one.
Smart leaders will work to address the concerns raised, not ignore them. Because discontent is indeed real.
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One of the bright spots in the often excruciating, multi-month debate at the Arlington County Civic Federation was the performance of Bryan Coleman, a vice president of the Arlington NAACP and, to borrow a sports analogy, its designated hitter promoting the civil-rights group’s alternate resolution on the matter.
Particularly at the fractious February meeting, Coleman was calm, cool, collected and on point while advocates of the main resolution seemed to be haphazard, flustered and at times irate in presenting their own case.
Having had its representative do such a good job, it’s sad that the NAACP leadership decided, continuing the sports theme here, to take its bat and ball and go home. Just hours after coming out on the losing end of the resolution battle, the NAACP announced it was pulling out of the Civic Federation ranks.
It’s too bad the group didn’t opt to stay engaged and work to advance its agenda from within the bigger tent that is the Civic Federation. Quitting the organization is an action sure to leave a bad taste in the mouths of many, especially those – approximately 30 percent of the delegates voting on the competing resolutions – who sided with the NAACP’s option.
