To the editor: A shooting, a brawl, and a stabbing – all events reported in Arlington recently. None occurred in Green Valley, yet our historically Black neighborhood is often pegged as the crime-ridden capital of the county.
Although police statistics prove this branding false, more needs to be done to fulfill our comprehensive public-safety initiative.
From 2020 to 2022, a joint task force of the Green Valley Civic Association (GVCA) and the Arlington County Police Department (ACPD) was established to seek solutions to public-safety concerns. Its unsung accomplishments served to improve the community environment.
For example, late one night, representatives of the police, county parks, engineering, public schoolsand I met in Green Valley to assess how to expose hidden spaces and discourage negative behaviors. After the evaluation, streetlights that hadn’t worked in eons suddenly made the neighborhood more welcoming. Basketball-court lights now were kept on every night; trees were trimmed to increase line-of-sight; and trash cans were placed in public areas.
Creating opportunities for community ownership was another part of the solution. A “Garden for the Community” was crafted on public land. Our rules made certain that the garden be tended only by Green Valley and that free produce be distributed to the neighborhood. A central area that was once an eyesore, filled with trash and debris, is now respected, clean and filled with harvest.
A career fair was held so that residents could be hired by the construction companies transforming Jennie Dean Park. Living and working in Green Valley would heighten pride and improve safety.
Green Valley also touted its support for community policing, where relationships are key. More resources are needed to bring this service back to full strength.
Yet policing is not the only solution. There are more complex issues involving mental health, drug addiction, job training and social programming that need greater attention by and resources from by the county government and its leaders.
The use of technology may be part of the public-safety toolkit, but it comes with red flags.
Surveillance cameras offer some solace to fearful communities, but who is watching whom, and for what purpose? The county government has no defined policy on the use of observation cameras. It should have one before implementation.
Not one of these solutions alone will definitively make a community safer. Attack them together, and our chance for success improves significantly.
Robin Stombler, Arlington
[Stombler, a Green Valley resident, was chair of the Joint GVCA-ACPD Public Safety Task Force from 2020 to 2022.]
