Say what you will about our all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors, you can’t fault them when it comes to loyalty.
Having received a cool 70 gees for their election campaigns from the investors behind the non-existent extremely minor league Loudoun Hounds baseball venture, Our Board has shown it intends to defend the Hounds to the death. Death being the only clear direction the Hounds have been heading in.
Nevertheless, this has never dampened the enthusiasm of the Board, which not only rammed through a very business-friendly package of special zoning changes and master-plan exemptions for the team’s bait and switch stadium, but greets every new disaster from the Hounds “organization” as just an occasion to issue pronouncements about how “excited” they are about baseball “coming to Loudoun.”
The latest twist in the saga is the sudden unexplained return of Hounds CEO Bob Farren to the helm after his abrupt dismissal last fall owing to the unhidable fiasco of the stadium construction project. Ramming through on (literal) top priority the package of goodies for the Hounds last year, the Board insisted that not a second’s delay could be permitted if the stadium was to be ready for opening day 2014.
Since receiving this very swift action from our very obliging elected representatives, however, the Hounds’ construction work has consisted of a few concrete pipes appearing on a patch of bare ground.
The “team” then announced last fall that owing to unforeseen delays, they just might miss opening day, which was probably just as well since they not only had no stadium but no players and no franchise from the league.
This week Farren, back at the wheel after steering the venture so ably into a ditch, “explained” that “We’ve had to make adjustments as far as financing, politics and cooperation from the league” — but that they will really, really be ready for opening day . . . 2015.
Part of the league’s concern is that the stadium is too big, which was exactly the concerns that the Board brushed aside from nearby residents.
But as we say, the Board is still the Hounds No.1 cheerleaders! Supervisor Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) gushed, “I’m looking forward to having baseball in Loudoun County as soon as possible. It looks like the Hounds are making progress.”
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