Alexandria city officials are taking aggressive action to attract and retain businesses large and small, the city’s mayor said at an Aug. 26 gathering of regional officials.
“We want to be a city where businesses feel their ideas are heard and implemented,” Mayor Alyia Gaskins said at the 11th annual Northern Virginia Regional Elected Leaders Summit.
Convened by the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce, the event drew several hundred business leaders to hear directly from the mayors and chairs of four major jurisdictions.
Economic development was among the top issues on the agenda, with leaders of all four communities saying they are working to lessen administrative and bureaucratic hurdles faced by businesses.
Gaskins touted ALX Forward, the city’s recently updated plan for economic growth. She said the city also has embarked on a review of existing taxes and fees impacting businesses and owners of commercial and retail properties.
“We recognize that impacts our competitiveness,” she said.
Gaskins was joined on the dais by:
- Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay
- Loudoun County Board of Supervisors Chair Phyllis Randall
- Arlington County Board Chair Matt de Ferranti
Each participant said local communities were becoming more nimble and responsive to concerns of the business community. That includes reducing overly burdensome regulations, they said.
“We need to not get in the way,” de Ferranti said at the summit, held at Mason Square, George Mason University’s Arlington campus.
As he had at previous events, de Ferranti gave a glass-half-full evaluation of the local economic conditions. He said the area was overcoming impacts of federal downsizing and its ripple effects across the broader economy.
“Arlington’s economy, and the region, is strong. We are adapting,” de Ferranti said.
Randall was among those on the panel saying governments need to get out of the way of business creation and retention.
Localities should “have as little regulation as you possibly need,” she said. “Only the absolutely required regulation.”
McKay, who leads Northern Virginia’s most populous locality, said area governments must acknowledge concerns of the business community.
“They’re real,” he said, preaching the need for governments that deliver “reliability and predictability and adaptability.”
That includes reevaluating current practices and “reducing and streamlining regulations,” McKay said.
“We need to get out of our old boxes,” he said. “It’s not always easy. People don’t like change.”
Despite economic headwinds owing in large part to federal government downsizing, the region as a whole was in a good position for future evolution, said Bill Murray, a senior vice president at Dominion Energy.
“Sometimes we all take for granted how great Northern Virginia is,” he said. “Growth is a challenge — there is no shirking this — but it’s a good challenge.”
Arlington Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Kate Bates said getting leaders of local governments in front of the business community once a year benefited both sides of the equation.
The discussion provided an opportunity to discuss “key issues shaping our region and our economy,” she said.
Cosponsors included the Alexandria and Loudoun chambers of commerce, Northern Virginia Regional Commission and Regional Elected Leaders Initiative, with George Mason University providing the venue.
Strengthening connections between local governments, the business community and educational institutions makes for a community that is “more innovative and more successful for everyone,” said Mason’s Cheryl Drew, an associate dean in the Costello College of Business.
De Ferranti said local governments have learned to adapt to changing conditions, and would continue to do so.
“We’re going to get there,” he said of improving interactions with the business community.
De Ferranti is running for reelection in November, with the positions of Gaskins, McKay and Randall on the ballot in their jurisdictions next year.
