Arlington Greens co-chair Marie Pellegrino spoke at the Arlington County Board public hearing on June 12 to consider whether to proceed to public consideration of a draft report and recommendations for affordable housing in Arlington.

Good morning Arlington County Board Members:

My name is Marie Pellegrino. I am Co-Chair of the Arlington Green Party, a long time resident of South Arlington and former Columbia Pike small business owner.

Thank you very much for addressing the lack of affordability in Arlington. I plead w you, however, to delay your vote on the Implementation Framework and Affordable Housing Plan for the following reasons:

1.Too many of your consultants are developers and it appears a conflict of interest as these individuals stand to make a great deal of money on new housing development; there has been insufficient community input on this document

2. Arlington has about 3,000 market rate affordable units left; they will not be be preserved under the current plan. These units currently provide affordability to families earning less than 60 thousand dollars a year

3. By adding a disproportionate amount of affordable housing density surrounding Columbia Pike, the county will NOT share in full social and ethnic diversity, and neither will Public schools

4. Lastly, the proposed document makes it too easy for investors to gobble up single family rental homes and permanently displace people who are a vibrant part of Arlington’s diversity

Thank you for listening; please hold off on voting on item 436, the draft affordable housing master plan and the affordable housing implementation framework.

Marie Pellegrino (above, left) with Sandra Herndez, AGP co-chairs