Garvey: 'This Is My Neighborhood'

Libby Garvey wants you to know she’s not just a school board chair from Arlington.

A Democratic candidate for the 30th district, Garvey, a resident of Fairlington, considers Alexandria to be her neighborhood.

“I live a block from Alexandria in two different directions. I do all my shopping in Bradlee Shopping Center,” Garvey said. “My kids went to Beverley Hills preschool. There’s a wooden playground there my husband and I helped build.”

The issues for the 30th district transcend boundaries, Garvey said, sitting in her campaign office on the second floor of an Old Town Alexandria townhouse.

“It’s not like we don’t breathe the air from the GenOn plant. I breathe that air in Fairlington too,” she said. “It’s not like the BRAC building—all that traffic—stops at the edge of the district.”

Garvey married the day after her college commencement in Massachusetts, and, within a month, lived in the Central African Republic for a Peace Corps mission with her husband. 

In 1977, they moved to Fairlington. Garvey has moved units once but remains in Fairlington. 

Garvey has  having recently battled breast cancer and experienced the loss off her husband Kennan.

She has two daughters and four grandchildren. With one of her daughters living in Ecuador, Garvey takes advantage of modern technology such as Skype to see her family and eagerly shared pictures of her beaming granddaughter. 

Transportation, Development, and BRAC

Transportation is at the top of the list for Garvey when it comes to the biggest issues facing the 30th district.

The Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, set to begin later this year, is expected to significantly ensnarl an already stressed transportation system.

For the 30th district, BRAC means traffic mayhem in the north at Alexandria’s Mark Center and in the south at Fort Belvoir.

“It straddles the district. There’s one [BRAC building] at either end of the district,” Garvey pointed out. “Any kind of solution needs to tie everything together.”

As  Garvey sees a silver lining in BRAC. With thousands of new jobs coming to the area, the region will inevitably see growth and development.

“They may not all live there now, but you go out 10, 15, 20 years, that’s where all the population growth is going to be,” she said.

“You need to be managing growth in a way so that we end up in 20 years from now in a place where we want to be,” Garvey said. “Right now I don’t see us heading in that direction at all, and you need everybody together to get there.”

Policymaking on the School Board

Chairing a school board has a lot in common with policymaking, Garvey said. Her 14 years of work on the Arlington School Board has brought a variety of challenges.

“Think about what a school system does. We run as large a transportation service as Arlington County with school buses,” Garvey said. “We’re working on transportation demand management—trying to get kids to ride their bikes, walk, [and] staff to carpool.”

In addition to working to green energy solutions, Garvey helped manage the school district’s food service program, which partnered with local farmers to teach kids healthy living through growing and eating their own food.

Garvey, a breast cancer survivor, says she knows the importance of good healthcare. As school board chair, she sought to establish a program that was both affordable for the school system, but also provided good coverage for the district’s employees both current and retired.

Following September 11, 2001, Garvey saw a great need for a regional emergency radio station to relay real time information to citizens.

After finding little support from the Arlington County board, Garvey found an unlikely alliance with a Republican member of the Marines. Garvey said the two saw eye to eye on the need for an emergency alert system.

"It took five years, but we have a new emergency alert station: AM 1700,” Garvey said.

The system has been successful in Arlington, Garvey said, with units installed in Crystal City, Courthouse, Ballston and a mobile unit.

Garvey also cut her teeth on capital and financial management as a school board member.

As the board went through the process of renovating its three high schools, it ran out of money for Wakefield High School. When her fellow board members wanted to scrap the renovation plans entirely, Garvey pushed the board to design the project, so they could move forward if they got the opportunity.

Garvey formed unlikely alliances again—allying with school board members from her rival high school and political party—to get the design finished.

When the economy dipped in 2008, Garvey and the board was ready to move forward.The building was completed on time for $30 million dollars under budget, according to Garvey.

She recalls the groundbreaking as "a great Kumbaya moment" with all sides taking credit for the success. 

But Garvey didn’t mind sharing the credit.

“For the most part, if you don’t care who takes the credit, you get a lot done,” she said.

"Whether it's emergency alert systems, whether it's getting a new high school built, I'm always looking down the road for my community and what we need to do," Garvey said. "Then I set about working with everybody to get it done, and it might take me five years, but I do it."

It’s her ability to solve problems that sets Garvey apart from the other Democratic primary candidates, Alexandria City Councilman Rob Krupicka and Del. Adam Ebbin (D-45), she said.

"In fact, ," she said. "He talks about solutions to problems, but look at that BRAC building. When you create a problem that big, you got to figure out how to solve it."

Ticer Endorsement

As the legislative liaison for the school board, Garvey worked with .

“She’s been encouraging me [to run] for a number years,” Garvey said. “The respect she has in this community is huge. I pick up on it when I call people."

Ticer, a former mayor of Alexandria, endorsed Garvey in March. According to the Virginia Public Access Project, Ticer donated $10,000 to Garvey's campaign on March 28.

Ticer was one of seven women in Virginia's state senate when she entered in 1996, and with the retirement of colleague Mary Margaret Whipple and Garvey, the Virginia senate may see even fewer women next year in the 40-member chamber. 

Ticer's "first and foremost" reason for endorsing Garvey is because the state senate needs more women, Ticer said in an interview with Patch.

"I don't mean for it to sound sexist," Ticer said. "Women have a different approach to problems."

Women have an acute sense of listening, she said. In a debate, good listening allows legislators to pay attention to what's being said so they're able to fully engage.

Beyond gender, Ticer praised the way Garvey "works quietly to get things done."

Garvey's work on the school board is a very good primer for how to do well in public office, Ticer said.

Despite her endorsement for Garvey, Ticer said each candidates is very strong.

"It's a really hard, hard race," Ticer said. "No question about that. People have a tough task."