Jesse O'Connell
This spring, Alexandria Living Magazine sent the following questions to every person running for City Council as of May 2024. The answers from Jesse O’Connell are below. See links to all other candidate questionnaires here.
O’Connell’s campaign website is at www.jesseforalx.com.
Have the current efforts to improve affordable housing been sufficient? Why or why not?
Alexandria is facing a housing affordability crisis, and we need to treat it that way. To start, we have to continue to pursue policies that increase our overall market-rate housing supply. Revisiting zoning codes and updating them to ensure they’re in step with the current needs of the community is one such intervention, and so is investment and incentives for transit-oriented development. We should strive to create a variety of tools and incentives for builders across the full spectrum of housing type and location, so that any given project—from a single unit lot to a large multi-family building—has the flexibility to ensure success.
In addition to producing more market-rate housing, I’m also supportive of policies that create affordable housing at different levels of AMI; most especially workforce housing at the 75-100% of AMI level that supports teachers, firefighters, and other public servants. Alexandria has done compelling recent public housing projects that use direct investment of local government funds to catalyze projects of this type. I was encouraged to see the inclusion of an additional $3,000,000 investment in Alexandria’s Affordable Housing Fund in the recently passed FY25 budget.
Alexandria has been among the leaders nationally in office-to-residential conversions, and we should keep pursuing projects of this nature. Industrial zones often prohibit residential uses yet in some cases have evolved to be locations that are both compatible with and desirable for residential use; our recent zoning code updates made this type of project more feasible.
What can be done to make sure the increasing population density in Alexandria doesn’t hurt quality of life?
As a city our first charge is to be strategic and thoughtful about where and how we encourage development. Through that lens the question then isn’t one of too much or too little, but rather are we moving toward the outcomes we hope to achieve. Focusing on transit-oriented development and adding housing and retail capacity around our metro stops and eventual bus rapid transit hubs along the future West End Transitway is where our attention should be, and city incentives and project support should strategically push efforts to those places.
The city is facing a genuine budget crisis, driven by a lack of diversity in revenue sources–and that hurts quality of life too. We need to maintain services and amenities that people enjoy and rely on. I am of the belief that we cannot continue to primarily rely on the residential property tax as our primary lever of increased revenue growth, but must encourage more commercial development in the places where it’s intended to grow. We should provide incentives and support that encourage large private landowners to make choices which lead to development where we want it most, and where we have strategically planned for it to occur. In doing so, we shift pressure and attention off neighborhoods that have favored different historic development patterns.
How can the city make public transportation a more viable and attractive option for residents?
I believe deeply in the role that public transportation plays in Alexandria’s current and future thriving, and I’ve put that belief in action through my service on the board of the Alexandria Transit Company (DASH Bus). We need our public transportation options–Metrorail and Metrobus, VRE, DASH Bus, Capital Bikeshare–to not only serve those that are commuting to work but also those looking to run errands, get to school, and those visiting the city.
Bus stop location is a clear opportunity to continually make progress. We need stops that are both close to people’s neighborhoods, as well as convenient to the places they want to go. We need to make sure that these locations are accessible for residents with mobility challenges, and nearby to seniors that may not be able to walk a quarter mile to a stop. The redesigned DASH network was a fantastic first step toward that kind of responsive assessment of where our bus service needs to go–and we should always assess new opportunities to make transit access as convenient as possible. Similarly we need to look for opportunities to increase headways, as a bus or train that doesn’t come frequently enough is a bus or train that isn’t useful to many people.
Finally, bike infrastructure that is safe, convenient, and plentiful will make that a viable option for more people–particularly as expanded use of e-bikes makes the bikeshare option more useful to more riders.
What do you think is the most important factor in making the roads safer and more efficient for everyone?
The city should feel proud that we just marked a year with no traffic fatalities–to me that stands as evidence that our efforts around Vision Zero and other traffic initiatives are working. I have two young children that roam our neighborhood on foot and on bike, and I want them to be able to continue to do that safely.
If I had to point to one factor that I’m most focused on, it’s vehicle speed. More traffic calming measures that slow down cars going through neighborhoods will always be an important tool, as is getting vehicles to slow down through rigorous enforcement, which we should look to automate where possible.
We should also look to daylight intersections–move the last parking spot on any corner further back from the corner–throughout the city, as increased visibility for both pedestrians and drivers is a key safety resource.
Finally, continuing to look for places to do road reengineering that improves both traffic flow and safety, like the roundabout projects underway near Lynhaven and Arlandria.
What are the biggest challenges facing Alexandria’s smallest businesses and how can the city better support them?
It starts with access to financing and capital–the city should have programs to step in and help fund exciting and innovative businesses that meet a community need but can’t get support through banks or other traditional channels. We also have to be thoughtful about the permitting and regulatory process that often leaves too many new businesses jumping through hoops and navigating a process that favors the experienced and well-connected. Finally we should look to support, assist, and develop neighborhood level business associations and not expect that every community can undertake such efforts on a volunteer basis.
Do you think Alexandria should return to ward representation? Why or why not?
I don’t think ward representation would yield better constituent service outcomes. Currently every resident of the city has seven elected officials motivated to listen to their concerns and help solve their problems. Reducing that down to just one person would intuitively leave us each worse off. As we look in dismay at a national political environment shaped by polarization and factionalism–which often leaves the most straightforward and urgent tasks unaccomplished–I would be reticent to pursue any change locally that carried with it the kind of political maneuvering and self-interested competitiveness that is too often a hallmark of ward politics in jurisdictions that feature them.
What is something you don’t like about Alexandria that you want to change?
We need to figure out how to get projects done faster and on budget, as well as be more empowered to select the right contractors for a job and hold them accountable for the results they promise. When I see the Simpson dog park be closed for over a year and counting, when I see the Holmes Run trail go unrepaired for years on end, when I see baseball fields missing simple things like fences that prevent their safe use, when I see municipal utility contractors tearing up the same streets over and over again–I want to know why our system isn’t getting better results more consistently.
How do you feel about the fate of the Potomac Yard Arena development proposal and how do you think the city should go about developing that location?
I live about five blocks away from the proposed site of the entertainment district, and I both understood and shared many of the concerns my neighbors expressed about the impact of that proposal. I remained open-minded about the opportunity and was waiting to see the final form of whatever official deal emerged from Richmond; at which point I would have looked at whether it was the right deal for Alexandria. The vision for Potomac Yard should continue to be an entertainment district similar to the Mosaic District in Fairfax–this also happens to be the articulated goal for Potomac Yard in the existing small area plan for the neighborhood. Whether that district is anchored by a performance arts venue or a mix of maker and incubation spaces aligned with the innovation corridor goals of Virginia Tech and Amazon, the underlying goal must be a vibrant district where people live, work, and socialize. Potomac Yard is one of our most–if not our single most–compelling places to bring the kind of commercial activation that will help reduce our overreliance on residential property taxes to fund our revenue needs.
Do you think the current city staff is able to effectively serve all the development that is happening or do you think the city needs to hire more people?
I think the city does strong work to bring us business opportunities as well as to plan and review specific proposals. We have concerning vacancy rates in departments that serve the needs of residents–most especially our mental health workforce–and I’d prefer to see any investments in new hiring address those areas first.
What would you tell a resident who doesn’t feel safe living in Alexandria?
Everyone should feel safe in their neighborhood, no matter where in the city they live. I’ve watched with concern as a mounting number of incidents make clear this is not currently true for too many residents. To address this, we have to start by successfully managing the leadership transitions currently underway at APD and make sure that we hire the right police chief. Once in place, the new leadership should return an emphasis to community policing with a mindset that is grounded in real relationships with people in neighborhoods across the city. The new leadership must also manage the stability of our police workforce by ensuring competitive pay so we attract the best candidates possible, and reduce the rate at which we train officers in our academy that find better work in other departments in the region.
We need to be sure both APD and the commonwealth attorney's offices have sufficient resources and staff to fulfill their mission, including reviewing all of the body camera video that is being captured (my understanding is that managing the volume of review is becoming an accountability issue). We need to make sure every police officer is CIT (Crisis Intervention Team) trained, to ensure more capable and compassionate responses to residents experiencing a mental health issue. APD is getting close, but 100% should be the goal we’re striving for. Similarly, I’d want to work with APD to further expand the ACORP Program, and get more social workers partnered with trained police officers.
If you had to convince someone to vote for you in one sentence, what would that sentence be?
I’m a dad with kids in the public schools, I’m a youth sports coach, I’m a long-time city volunteer and I’m running for City Council because I take this work seriously–all my past efforts on city boards and commissions have left me deeply knowledgeable about how our city government functions and let me build relationships with community leaders and groups across the city, so I’ll be ready on day one to get things done for all of us.
