Alexandria contains the most beautiful and historic colonial community in the nation and early suburban neighborhoods of great beauty. In many cases, new development has been added with care, but bad designs from the 1970's and some recent developments have prompted concern. Traffic -- our own and cut-through from neighboring jurisdictions -- is a major problem. Protecting adequate green space is important.

Smart growth approaches for Alexandria should include:

• Work with neighboring jurisdictions to reduce cut-through traffic by increasing transit access for residents of Prince George's and Fairfax Counties.
  
• Connect rail across the new Wilson Bridge. This can be done even while narrowing the overland portion of the highway to 10 lanes to reduce impact on Alexandria.
  
• Extend bus rapid transit or light rail from Huntington Metro south along Route 1, while expanding other bus service in Fairfax.
  
• End free parking in the District of Columbia, Arlington and Alexandria to encourage commuters to use transit; and maximize the employers providing tax-free transit benefits like Metrocheck.
• Ensure all of Alexandria is pedestrian and transit friendly to reduce our own internal traffic.
  
• Incorporate a better grid of streets into proposed developments, especially in the Carlyle/Eisenhower Metro area.
• Fix Duke Street. Add bus rapid transit or light rail and bike lanes to reduce east-west auto trips and increase pedestrian crossing opportunities; including an at-grade crossing at the library (not an overpass).
  
• Add Metrorail stations and bus rapid transit/light rail through Potomac Yard between Braddock Metro and the Pentagon.

Develop according to the principles of New Urbanism (see www.cnu.org).

• Create well-designed mixed-use development near Braddock, King, Eisenhower, and Van Dorn Metro stations on a scale appropriate for each. Marching, misaligned apartment towers at Braddock or "superblock" office buildings proposed for Eisenhower don't fit the bill.
  
• Convert strip shopping centers into more traditional main street centers by placing cars in structures and building 2 to 6 story buildings mixing retail, office and residential. Reducing the size of surface lots will make pedestrian access safer and more common.
  
• Place public buildings in prominent places and with the correct orientation to the street. While architecturally distinctive, the new Charles Beatley Central Library on Duke Street should have been set on a town green or public square; not sideways facing parking and a CVS.
  
• Include adequate public parks in the form of formal town greens, neighborhood pocket parks and interconnected corridors.
• Identify and save key open space parcels and redevelop existing paved-over areas instead.

Ensure housing for a mix of income levels.

• Allow well designed, and appropriately regulated accessory apartments.
  
• Ensure replacement affordable housing for any displaced public housing residents.
• Require all new developments over a certain size to include at least 15% moderately priced dwelling units.
  
• Fully fund housing trust funds and maximize participation in federal housing programs.
  
• Approve well-designed multifamily condos and apartments at four and six stories to provide more housing than $500,000 to $1 million townhouses with two-car garages.

Finally, ensure full and fair public participation in the design and development process, while using "new urbanist," visually-based planning and design.

Let's use these smart growth approaches to make all of Alexandria as pedestrian friendly and as time honored as our historic Old Town.