Candidates from left to right: Kathy Smith, Carey Chet Campbell, and James Walkinshaw. Images from the candidates' Facebook pages.

Four of Fairfax County’s nine Supervisor districts, plus the board chairman, were open seats in this June’s primaries, and our Elections Committee showed you candidates’ views and made endorsements in those races. What about the other five, and which ones are contested this November?

In the Sully District, Democrat Kathy Smith has a Republican challenger, Srilekha Palle. In Springfield, the incumbent is Republican Pat Herrity, and Democrat Linda Sperling hopes to unseat him. In Dranesville, Ed Martin (R) is challenging Supervisor John Foust (D).

Primary winner James Walkinshaw (D) faces two other contenders in November, Independent Carey Chet Campbell and Republican Jason Remer. (Republican Paul Bolon was running in Providence District, but died during the campaign.) For chairman, the Republicans are fielding Joe Galdo against Democratic primary winner and current Lee District supervisor Jeff McKay.

Fairfax Supervisor Districts by Fairfax Democrats.

The Greater Greater Washington Elections Committee sent our 2019 questionnaire to all of these candidates, except those who’d filled it out during the primary (from the above list, Walkinshaw in Braddock and McKay for chairman). Incumbent Daniel Storck (D) has no challengers this cycle

Smith, the Sully Democratic incumbent; Sperling, the Springfield Democratic challenger; and Campbell, the Braddock Independent candidate, all responded. Here are the responses from Smith in Sully, and in Braddock, Campbell’s as well as Walkinshaw’s from June. We will post Sperling’s responses in an upcoming post.

October 15 is the deadline to register for the November 5 election. Virginians can get more information about voter registration and absentee balloting here. Our Elections Committee will be deciding whether to make endorsements in this and other contested races this fall.

Who do you think has the hardest time finding housing that’s affordable to them in Fairfax County, and what steps do you plan to take to address that need?

Kathy Smith (Sully): Affordable housing is a crisis for hourly employees, people entering the workforce, and senior citizens in Fairfax County. The Board of Supervisors must support and fund the recommendations by the Affordable Housing Resources Panel as soon as possible. The lack of affordable housing hurts our opportunity to attract businesses and will soon be increased by Amazon HQ2 moving to Arlington. The Board should support policies that create housing opportunities in the County for people across the income spectrum; affordable housing and housing that is affordable.

I support funding the “Penny for Affordable Housing” Fund, and we are studying improvements to our Workforce Dwelling Unit policy. As Chair of the Development Process Committee, I will continue to champion changes to our zoning that would encourage innovative uses of vacant retail and commercial parks.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): Poor people.
I support existing affordable housing initiatives in the county budget.
There are many positive proposals from various county groups, and nonprofits.
As Braddock Supervisor, I would work to find agreement on the board to house everyone on Fairfax County. We should uphold the Golden Rule of treating others as we would like to be treated.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): 70,000 Fairfax residents have a disability and we know that people with disabilities are more likely to have low incomes. They are searching for what can too often be a needle in a haystack — housing that is both affordable and has the accessibility they need to live comfortably and with dignity. Those 70,000 residents are having the hardest time finding affordable housing. Elderly Fairfax residents also face real challenges finding affordable housing in Fairfax County. They are more likely to live on fixed incomes and are disproportionately impacted by increases in housing costs. Finally, working class and lower income households earning less than the median income are struggling to find affordable housing. In Braddock District, you need to earn $64,000 to comfortably afford the average market rate one-bedroom apartment. Yet thousands of families are earning less, oftentimes far less. In our region, like the nation, these families are more likely to Black and Hispanic. These challenges are, of course, intersectional. People of color dealing with a disability or who are elderly face layered barriers in accessing affordable housing and our solutions must recognize that.

I support the recommendations of the Affordable Housing Resources Panel, including restoring and expanding the Penny for Affordable Housing fund started under Gerry Connolly from the current $.005 to $.015 with one penny dedicated to constructing new affordable housing and a half penny dedicated to preserving existing housing. We also need to continue efforts to increase density and build more housing units in parts of Fairfax that are served by Metro.

Would you champion increasing housing diversity in parts of the county which have fewer lower-income residents than the entire county and Washington region as a whole? Why or why not?

Kathy Smith (Sully): Yes, I would champion increasing housing diversity in all parts of Fairfax County. Our county government employees, county first responders, caregivers in the healthcare and education industries cannot live in the communities that they serve, protect, help, and educate. Our workers should have the opportunity to live in the area that they spend the most time in. I champion projects that I believe will benefit the Sully District and Fairfax County overall.

Community input can often result in a better outcome. As with any development proposal, my approach is to work collaboratively with the neighboring community to dispel misinformation about a proposal, understand and address concerns, and build consensus. I believe strongly that it is important to collaborate closely with local groups as we work to reverse the legacy of exclusionary housing practices. Strategies that support homeownership are especially important to me as homeownership supports stable neighborhoods, improves the educational outcomes of children, and builds intergenerational wealth.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): Yes.
It is the moral, and ethical thing to do.
I have spent my professional, political, and private life in service to our community, county, and country. We have duty to build what Green Party founder Petra Kelly, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called our beloved community.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): Yes. At Braddock Elementary School in Annandale, more than 80% of the children are receiving free or reduced lunch. At an elementary school just a few miles away, also located in the Braddock District, only 9% of children are receiving free or reduced lunch. Despite the heroic efforts of administrators, teachers, parents, and students at a school like Braddock Elementary, that level of socio-economic inequality has an impact on student performance and life outcomes. I’m pleased that there are two multi-family development projects currently being considered in Braddock District that will each include an affordable component, increasing housing socio-economic diversity, and racial diversity.

How do you reconcile the need to provide housing affordability in the parts of your district with good transit with some other people’s stated desire to slow development?

Kathy Smith (Sully): As supervisor, I have pushed to make mixed-use, livable, walkable activity centers an absolute priority. In 2017, we added mixed-use, livable, and walkable activity centers as an overall goal for new development. We need to find space for not only drivers on our roads but have a safe environment for bicyclists, and walkers in Fairfax County. We have a growing public transportation system in Fairfax County that serves seniors and workers, and should be more accessible to all of the county, not just those closest to D.C. Our community must be able to support all the different income levels that live here.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): Cut subsidies for big oil, big auto, big asphalt. Require all new development be car-free, car-Less, 100% renewable energy now. Create walkable, bikeable, pedestrian, rail friendly communities. With road diets create new, separate (protected) bike lanes. All of this saves tax dollars, saves lives, grows tax revenue and provides added resources for housing affordability.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): Each development application needs to be considered on its own merits, but with an understanding that our region faces a severe housing shortage. There will never be a perfect location in Fairfax County to build affordable housing, but we must work to address neighborhood concerns and build neighborhood support on a project-by-project basis.

Fairfax County has been pushing for walkable, transit-accessible communities to meet demand and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation. Would you continue this trend, and where in your district would you emphasize this? If not, why not?

Kathy Smith (Sully): Yes, we absolutely need to continue this trend. In 2017, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors made it a priority to have a commitment to grow in mixed-use, livable, walkable activity centers to help minimize our environmental impact. I believe that mixed-use and transit-accessible communities that enable workers to live near jobs can help reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality. We were unable to update the transportation priorities plan this year because we lost $100 million in funding from the State. I support multi-modal transportation projects including new forms of transportation (bikesharing, scooter sharing, moped sharing, ridesharing, and opening of Metro stations). The Board is working on new ordinances to allow for scooters.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): Yes.
Bring Bikeshare to Braddock.
Bikeshare to every middle school, and high school in Braddock.
Bikeshare to Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale. Bring Bikeshare to George Mason University and Fairfax City.
Add dedicated passenger rail track to Virginia Rail Express (VRE). Install electronic signs near every VRE stop.
Bring Boring Company Tunneling technology to Braddock to install new rail tunnels. Two excellent books describe Independent Green Party Green New Deal positive Solutions. Green Growth, Smart Growth by Ralf Fuecks, and planner Jeff Specks 101 rules for walkable cities. These positive green Solutions could be used across Braddock District to grow the value of our homes, and businesses.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): Yes, we’ve seen incredible success through the work of Gerry Connolly, Chairman Bulova, Supervisor Jeff Mckay, and others in creating successful transit-oriented communities in Tysons, Merrifield, and Springfield. We should continue to lead the region in pursuing that model.

My efforts will focus on making the Fairfax Center area near the Fairfax County Government Center and Fair Oaks mall a true suburban center that is walkable and served by transit. A key catalyst will be progress on transit in the I-66 median, a corridor that is planned for eventual Metrorail extension. I would like to study the feasibility of Bus Rapid Transit as a short or medium-term solution providing connection to the Vienna Metro station.

While most of central Annandale is in the Mason district, thousands of Braddock District residents live there. I will work with Mason Distrist Supervisor Penny Gross to create a more pedestrian-friendly environment and establish a public gathering space to build community, host festivals, and give opportunities to showcase the incredible cultural diversity of the Annandale community. We also must pursue a south-north transit option connecting Springfield, Annandale, and Tysons. As commuting patterns continue to shift from West-East to South-North, we need to ensure that driving is not the only choice people have.

What are the top three transportation priorities you have for your district? Tell us why and the revenue source (including any new revenue sources you’d champion).

Kathy Smith (Sully): My first priority is to work with our local legislators to ask for more money in the legislative package. We must find funding to update the transportation priorities plan because we have so many new forms of transportation that should be included. In the last state budget, we lost $100 million in funding which cannot happen again. I urge our local legislators to find more funding for our county while we grow.

Second, passing new ordinances for all our new multi-modal transportation projects. I support multi-modal transportation projects including new forms of transportation (bikesharing, scooter sharing, moped sharing, ridesharing, and opening of Metro stations). With these new ordinances, I would like to start updating and maintaining our walkways and trails so that people can use these new forms of transportation safely. For example, we have several trails that should be connecting to the metro stations. We need to review some of our zoning as well because walkable communities should not be just near metro stations. There is too much emphasis on D.C. in our public transportation projects when we have large work activities centers within Fairfax County and other Virginia counties.

Third, we need more regional cooperation to increase and improve bus service with other counties. For example, bus service in Fairfax County is either Fairfax County Connector or Metrobus. One of the biggest changes that must be done is to improve bus routes within Fairfax County and to other counties in Virginia. For example, commuters from Prince William drive to the Stone Road Park and Ride to catch the bus, we need more options for them. Our public transportation system should serve lower-income areas and that we provide more public transportation and walkable communities near Fairfax County work activity centers.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): Cut taxpayer subsidies for big oil, big auto, big asphalt. That saves lives and tax dollars. It creates a virtuous cycle of increasing value of our homes and businesses. Grow revenue for our schools, police, fire departments. Walkable, bikeable, pedestrian, rail friendly communities are the modern day cash cow. This Green Party Green New Deal is a money maker, planet saver.

Make people the priority, not cars. I have lived in Braddock District 30 years. Across the decades as a candidate for local office, I‘ve said we need more Trains, Less traffic. We need light rail on the beltway, light rail along Braddock, and Little River Turnpike. Rail saves lives. The data is even more comprehensive, and conclusive than when I started working on these issues 40 years ago. Walkable, bikeable, pedestrian, and rail friendly communities are not only money makers.

They build fiscal, physical, psychological health. Those engaging communities take us from isolation to integration.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): 1. Invest in VRE capital improvements to go from the current 19,000 passenger trips per day to 25,000 passenger trips per day in the relative short term. VRE is funded by a mix of federal, state, and local funds. Given the arrival of Amazon HQ2 near the Crystal City VRE station, I will advocate for increased state funding to accommodate the new VRE riders it will bring.

2. Fund the Braddock Road Improvement project to improve traffic flow without widening and add pedestrian/bike paths with pedestrian overpasses at key locations. The total project cost is expected to by nearly $70 million. This project will require state funds, likely through a combination of NVTA funding and VDOT Smartscale funding.

3. Make progress on a transit option in the median of I-66 from Vienna Metro to Fairfax Center and beyond. Funding sources would be a combination of local, state, and federal money.

Fairfax County is one of the few area jurisdictions that has not adopted Vision Zero. Given the high number of people who die or are seriously injured while moving around in Fairfax, what would you advocate to ensure safety for everyone even though Fairfax DOT has to work with VDOT to make changes in Fairfax’s transportation network?

Kathy Smith (Sully): The board should work with some of the localities that have adopted Vision Zero and advocate for VDOT to employ Vision Zero as part of the regional transportation network. To do this, we need the state to fund these projects.

Vision Zero implementation will also need to be addressed by working with our police department to locate hot spot areas where there are high occurrence of pedestrian and bicyclist accidents. We can consider steps to reduce problem areas with reduction in speed, rerouting drivers, adding signage or caution lights, and blocking off heavy pedestrian areas.

Carey Chet Campbell (Braddock): I will paraphrase Planner Jeff Speck.
Cycling is an unmitigated good. The larger the biking population, the better off the community. The biking population is primarily a function of biking investment. Communities that prioritize biking- and whose finances reflect that priority- will become biking communities.

Convincing leadership to invest in cycling means getting non cyclists to make the case in non cycling terms. The best allies are those that care about public health, social equity, and economic competitiveness. All can be equipped with powerful arguments in support of cycling investments.

Public health is the most powerful argument for a larger cycling population.
Abundant, astounding studies are proof positive. The most recent one followed 263,450 people over five years. It found that those who biked to work had a 41% lower risk of dying prematurely. This included a 46% lower risk of developing heart disease, and a 45% lower risk of developing cancer.

Any study of health benefits must also consider the risk of injury and death cyclists face, especially in the US, where a cycling is roughly twice as likely to die as in Europe. The best study in this was British and found that the health benefits of cycling outweigh risks by twenty to one. Cut that in half, and it’s still impressive. Even better, in community after community, a strength in numbers prevails. In New York, Washington, Chicago, Minneapolis, Portland, and Seattle, increases in cycling over the past fifteen years have lowered the rate of serious injury by an average of more than 64%.

A study found that a $10 million biking investment in 2005 provided New Yorkers with approximately $230 million in net societal benefit. This figure included the improved health of nonbikers as well, from cleaner air.

In terms of public health investment, it is hard to imagine a more efficient wonder drug than bike lanes. The average person will lose 15 pounds during the first year biking to work. A University of Northern Iowa study found that cycling saves the states riders about $87 million dollars in health care costs.

Most people, when they think of cyclists, assume them to be affluent. This impression is statistically false, Poor people are almost twice as likely to bike to work. The lowest earning quartile of Americans make up almost 40% of the bike commuting population. Investment in bike facilities disproportionately improve the safety of community‘s construction laborers and restaurant workers, and help to free them from the high financial burdening car ownership.

In 30 years of living in North Springfield in Braddock District, I have never owned an auto.

Whether it comes to talent attraction and retention, job creation, household expenditures, home value, retail performance, or limiting costly externalities, bike lanes mean business. Young creative tech workers often cite bike infrastructure as a high priority in deciding where to live and work. A study shows that public dollars spent on bike infrastructure generate roughly twice the jobs as money spent on driving infrastructure. In Indianapolis, proximity to bike paths was demonstrated to add 11% to the value of a house. In Brooklyn it was 16%. Retail sales to business along new bike lanes in Manhattan were seen to increase as much as 49%. Finally, unlike cars, bikes do not exacerbate the costly impacts of climate chaos, oil addiction, and 40,000 American car traffic deaths a year.

The data is clear. It would be difficult for a community to find an investment that pays off better than bike lanes.

James Walkinshaw (Braddock): In January of this year, 93-year old Pericles Apostolou was killed by a hit-and-run driver on Route 50 in Falls Church. This kind of tragedy should be unacceptable in Fairfax County. A goal of eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries should be seen as part of our One Fairfax policy. As walking is the most accessible form of transportation and low-income communities and communities of color are more likely to be the victims of pedestrian fatalities, we need to meet this issue with urgency.

In Fairfax, and other counties in Northern Virginia, we would need to partner with VDOT to adopt a Vision Zero goal or Vision Zero principles. But we can and must immediately begin to incorporate Vision Zero design and engineering standards into our Fairfax County Department of Transportation planning processes.

What do you think? Give us your feedback in the comments.

Correction: Due to an error, we did not have Gary Aiken, challenger to Penelope Gross in the Mason District on the list. We have sent the questionnaire and will follow up if we receive responses.