realloudoun

Loudoun Supervisor Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) has been attacking the public schools since he took office, repeatedly trying to justify his push to slash the school budget on the grounds that “there is top-heavy management.” He repeats this false claim again in his most recent “news”[sic]letter to constituents.

The reality, as Williams knows full well, is that Loudoun not only has the lowest per-pupil expenditure of any Washington-area district (about $11,000 per year, versus $13,000 for Fairfax and $18,000 for Arlington), but spends a miniscule amount on administration.

Here are the facts for Loudoun’s school budget for FY 13: Continue reading →

The Loudoun County Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on February 19 on the extremely urgent expedited series of rezoning amendments and exceptions requested by the Loudoun Hounds pseudo-baseball team . . . and the staff report on the proposals is a doozy.

Loudoun Board Chairman Scott York (right) and major campaign contributor/stadium developer Bob Farren (left) hard at work at “one business appointment after another” (to quote York’s staff, when pressed for an explanation of the trip) during the chairman’s taxpayer-funded junket to Germany last spring.

As we all recall, the very politically connected Hounds (its investors gave $67,000+ to the members of the current all-Republican Board of Supervisors to get them elected, and its owner Bob Farren was invited along on Board Chairman Scott York’s taxpayer-funded junket to Germany last spring) suddenly announced last fall that they wanted to build their stadium in a different location from the already approved location in the Kincora development.

Claiming that it had to have quick approval so they could begin playing ball in 2014, the Hounds investors got the ever so obliging Board of Supervisors to pass an instant unanimous deliberation-free motion for special expedited service for their new rezoning request (York said it was being placed “at the top of the hopper”).

Neighbors of the new stadium location, blindsided by all this, were furious, Continue reading →

Under the previous Board of Supervisors, Loudoun obtained from  VDOT the authority to enforce the longstanding state law banning the placement of signs in rights of way. Because some 100 volunteers signed up to carry out the job of cleaning up this trash from our roadways, the cost to the county was negligible.

Last year as one of its first official acts, the new all-Republican Board abolished the volunteer sign cleanup program without warning. (Supervisor “Ken” Reid (R-Leesburg) added to the civility of debate by calling these hard-working volunteers “Sign Nazis.”) The blight that has ensued with the end of the program is out there for all to see. Every weekend especially the county’s roadways are littered with crappy real estate, furniture liquidators, mattress discounters, and other advertising signs. The abolition of the cleanup program of course was a big fat political payoff to the developer industry that bankrolled the Loudoun GOP’s election campaign.

All sorts of bogus excuses have come from the Board and the Loudoun Republican machine about why Loudoun can’t enforce the law against littering the roadways. Interesting that Fairfax County is now moving to enforce the law and to do so at considerable expense using county staff resources (estimated at $150,000 a year). One Republican Fairfax supervisor said it well in explaining why this trashing of the roadways has to end:

“It’s a safety issue. It’s a blight issue. It is a pride in the community issue.”

Maybe our esteemed elected representatives might show a little pride in their community, too?

Loudoun Supervisor Eugene Delgaudo (R-Sterling) still of course holds the crown when it comes to turning local elected office into a full-time campaign fundraising operation, but some of his new GOP colleagues have shown that they find his example inspiring and worthy of emulation.

According to the folks at VPAP who track campaign contributions, Supervisor Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian) has already raised $27,816 for the 2015 election during the 12 months since she took office, Continue reading →

Loudoun Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin) wants his constituents to be assured he is a real red-blooded baseball fan. In his latest “news”letter he writes:

Free Loudoun Hounds Bumper Stickers

Loudoun County will soon be the home of the Loudoun Hounds, a minor league sports franchise. If you, like me, think it will be great to have a local ball club to root for, contact my office for a free Loudoun Hounds bumper sticker. They look just like the image below, scaled to around four inches across.

(Love the signature, Geary!) Actually, whether Loudoun will or will not be the home of the Hounds depends entirely on a highly controversial rezoning request that the Board has yet to vote on — a little point Geary just might have mentioned. Continue reading →