Wednesday night, the Arlington County Democratic Committee (ACDC) held a candidates’ debate for the five people running for County Board (for the seat vacated due to Barbara Favola’s election to the State Senate) before a packed house (a couple hundred people?) at GMU’s Founders Hall. I posted most of the videos here, but due to very slooooooow YouTube loading, as well as one crash of my computer in the middle of the process, this has taken significantly longer than I’d expected. Anyway, here are the candidates’ closing statements. In order, they are: Peter Fallon, Melissa Bondi, Terron Sims, Kim Klingler, and Libby Garvey. You can also read the candidates’ extensive interviews at Blue Virginia (Fallon, Garvey, Sims, Bondi, Klingler). Finally, make sure you come out and vote on either January 19th (at Washington-Lee HS from 7 to 9 pm) or 21st (from 11 am to 7 pm at Kenmore Middle School).
P.S. What is the biggest challenge facing Arlington County? You can see the candidates’ answers to that question on the “flip.” In my opinion, it’s something none of them talked about directly — namely, the challenge Arlington will face in coming years as the government downsizes. given Arlington’s heavy dependence on government – military, civilian, contractor – employment, property taxes, etc., that’s going to be a huge challenge for the county, beginning soon if not immediately. Do we have a strategy to diversify our economy? I haven’t seen one yet, but I hope we’re busy working on this!
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