Mary Cheh did not vote for campaign finance reform when it was introduced in the council, but voted against it. Now that campaigns are underway, she will introduce this bill before the April primary and try to embarrass those CMs who are candidates. These same CMs did not vote for her last gasoline reform bill. Cheh the Council Bully, my way or the highway. Cheh does not represent her constituents but her own personal views. Of course Cheh took corporate money for her own campaign.

by John on Mar 8, 2012 9:39 am • link • report

DIdn't the county manager in Arlington do something similar last year? Recruited hard, then left after five months?

by charlie on Mar 8, 2012 9:39 am • link • report

"City folk pay less in transportation"

May I be the first to say: Duh!

by jh on Mar 8, 2012 9:45 am • link • report

Katz wasn't really qualified for the job as is. He carries the stick of "urbanism", but that doesn't make him qualifed for the job. He was ill suited for the daily nuts and bolts of planning on a County or City level. He had no interest in the grind of it. He sees himself as a "big picture" guy who writes white papers on the philosphy of "smart growth". He had no interest spending all of his time reviewing special use permits and zoning variences for day care facilities, or the variety of seemingly mundane tasks that comes with the job.

by Lutz on Mar 8, 2012 9:54 am • link • report

Although Monday's Metro public forum in Arlington again included riders speaking out about the sexual harassment issue (as recently chronicled at GGW), the Post's story again omits any mention. To be fair, the story at least manages to mention that Metro's problems are not just an issue of spending more money to improve reliability & frequency, noting complaints about "rude employees" (is that supposed to cover Stessel and his sexual harassment = flirting remark?) and "top-heavy management."

by Arl Fan on Mar 8, 2012 10:13 am • link • report

I don't know anything about Katz, but Lutz' assessment sounds plausible. The job requires managerial skills, political skills and a high degree of tolerance for what is mundane for a planner, but of vital import to the citizens and businesspeople who, frankly, could care less about urbanism.

by Crickey7 on Mar 8, 2012 10:13 am • link • report

Why did Arlington hire Katz in the first place? If he was that bad of a fit re: the day to day duties, that should have been seen during the interview process. He should have understood the job requirements and Arlington should have made those clear. If even people on the internet can figure out he was a bad fit, the people in the room during the interview surely saw it.

by mitch on Mar 8, 2012 10:30 am • link • report

Don't underestimate the power of vision. The great planners, like Edmund Bacon in Philadelphia, could weave a mesmerizing glimpse of the future city realized through planning. If you want your town to catch the urbanism wave, you may think you need an urbanist visionary.

by Crickey7 on Mar 8, 2012 10:43 am • link • report

Interesting that there was no mention of the City Paper's cover story this week on Harriet Tregoning.

http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/articles/42328/urbanista-inside-harriet-tregonings-push-to-reshape-dc/

by MDE on Mar 8, 2012 10:54 am • link • report

Katz was a "profile" hire. His name carries a lot of weight within the smart growth brand. Companies do it all the time, hire someone that brings panache to the organization.

The problem is a Planning Directors job isn't about "philosphy" or "big picture" as much as is its about making sure the wheel cogs keep turning. Standing 8:30 staff meetings, hours long conference calls discussing minute variations in the code that make size allowances for fast food retailers street signs aren't much fun for a guy who is used to being the one man show, or "decider in chief".

I see both the County and Katz at fault. Katz should have known better and the County should have done some more due diligence to determine that Katz was more of a "thinker" than a "doer".

by Lutz on Mar 8, 2012 10:55 am • link • report

MDE: The links editors don't see everything when they put the links together. If you see things that should be included, please use the tip submission form linked to at the bottom of every links post to submit it. I assure you that the links editors look at all of the submitted tips in the course of putting together the posts.

I have now submitted it to go in tomorrow, since it's a great piece that people should see. I hadn't seen it until about an hour ago, myself.

by David Alpert on Mar 8, 2012 10:58 am • link • report

Great profile, but, but cough, doesn't help doesn't help the case that certain demographics don't like driving becasue they are not very good at it.

I have plenty of friends who don't like to bike for the same reason.

Hell, I've seen friends who get flustered with city streets.

by charlie on Mar 8, 2012 11:07 am • link • report

Not surprised at all about Katz. While a very bright guy, Katz has a well-earned reputation in the planning community for "not working and playing well with others."

by Phil on Mar 8, 2012 11:43 am • link • report

@MDE
Count on it tomorrow.

by David Edmondson on Mar 8, 2012 12:12 pm • link • report

Have read Katz, know nothing about him personally. Upon news of his hiring, I thought it an odd choice. Would have made sense 25 or 30 years ago, but Arlington's smart-growth/new urbanism is engrained now. What good could he serve? Seems a person like him would be better suited to somewhere on the cusp of change or recent converts to the TOD/new urbanism religion that needs somebody to help them take the next leap. I also thought of him as an academic, didn't know if he had any real world municipal experience.

by spookiness on Mar 8, 2012 3:57 pm • link • report

Elin Haaga is one of about three people who are truly worth listening to when it comes to urban planning and landscaping. The article mischaracterizes some of what she advocates but then rights itself by listing key success points of an urban garden or park. She has never said pocket parks can't or don't work.

Truly Elin Haaga is a gem.

by Jazzy on Mar 8, 2012 8:04 pm • link • report

"City folk pay less in transportation"

And more for just about everything else.

I wonder if there was a sufficiently in-depth study to determine whether the additional transportation costs were offset by lower housing costs, taxes, etc.- or if it was another quick-on-the-draw "conclusion" that "living in the city is better".

This has about as much credibility as the "findings" that took the opinions of a handful of city dwellers as the "fact" that just about everyone prefered more rail transit to more road capacity.

by ceefer66 on Mar 9, 2012 8:35 am • link • report