I Submitted Public Comment to Arlington 2050. Would Appreciate a Conversation.

I’ve been an Arlington resident for decades and dad to student athletes. My family and our friends have lived the waitlists for years, the "no fields available," the crowded practice fields and late practice times because there's nowhere else to put them. We know what it's like to sit at the computer with a cup of coffee, or a glass of wine, depending on the week, waiting for sports registration to open, hoping we can click fast enough to grab a spot before it's gone.

We've watched Arlington's focus on sports and recreation access for our families and communities fall further and further down the list of priorities. Now, with the public comment window on the Arlington 2050 update closing, and the county's own teenagers raising this exact concern to planners directly, I felt it was worth adding my voice too.

I submitted a written comment to the Arlington 2050 project team and project manager Rana Abu Ghazaleh before the deadline closed, arguing that the draft guiding principles' omission of sports and recreation infrastructure is a significant gap.

Sports access is measurably documented to move youth mental health, economic mobility, and community belonging — the exact problems the plan is meant to address. It's what systems thinkers call a multi-solver: one investment generating returns across health, civic trust, economic vitality, and belonging.

I included proposed language additions across six sections of the guiding principles and two of Arlington's twelve Comprehensive Plan elements to name sports and recreation infrastructure as a documented behavioral health intervention, protect it as a land-use priority, and recognize it as a living cultural practice — not an optional amenity.

I haven't heard back yet. If anyone from the project team would like to discuss this further with me and other parents I've talked to, I'd welcome the conversation.
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Sam Myers Jr
Arlington resident for decades. Parent of student athletes.
sam@sammyersjr.com