Transportation
First up is getting a long-term fix to I-66 underway in 2017. “I66 congestion impacts Braddock Road,” said Supervisor Pat Herrity (R-Springfield), “and it impacts congestion on 29 as people look to avoid and get around 66.” Then there is a quarter improvement study on the Fairfax County Parkway “so we can get the interchanges and widening that we need.” A final major transportation issue is getting secondary roads paved, such as Rolling Road.
School funding challenges
“We need to keep our schools the best in the nation,” said Herrity, “because they are the best in the nation, but we're going to have challenges, with the 30 percent free and reduced lunch.” In addition to the crippling budget issues facing the schools, “I think parents need to get involved with the schools,” Herrity said. “That's the key -- it's always been the key to Fairfax County -- is having involved parents, involved at home in education, and involved at the school.”
Taxes and regulation
To help with economic recovery, job growth and development, Herrity cites the need to “open Fairfax County to business again. Our tax rates crept up, our homeowners taxes are higher than they’ve been -- we need to get our taxes under control. But we also need to make sure that we are welcoming to business. We've got some work to do in that area as well.”
Aging community
According to Herrity, the population of his district aged 50 and older is on track to increase by 55 percent by 2030, and those 70 and older could shoot up as much as 88 percent in the same period. “That's a huge increase and we've got to be ready for it,” said Herrity. And though the Supervisor thinks his district is “pretty far ahead in terms of being age-friendly,” there is still a lot to do in terms of preparing to meet the challenges of this growing population. Namely facilitating people who want to stay at home and be near their support structure, and provide activities, mental health support and transportation. “I think a good needs assessment needs to be done,” Herrity said.
Affordable housing
“We need to do it right,” said Herrity. For him, that means not following in the footsteps of the Tyson’s Corner area, which is going the way of having 20 percent of housing be rent-controlled. “We take an awful lot of developer contributions and put it into affordable housing for the wrong kind of housing. We need to get away from that,” Herrity said. “And focus instead on the people that really need it: the disabled, the people in the woods, the people who can't help themselves.”