Tag Archives: Loudoun Hounds

Feb 18 2014
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If this is “progress,” I’d hate to see “failure”

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 Continue reading →

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Dec 10 2013
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All bark, no baseball

To the surprise of no one who has ever had a clue (this of course excludes the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors), the non-existent Loudoun Hounds extremely minor league baseball team announced yesterday that “due to stadium delays” the Hounds will  . . . continue to be non-existent throughout the 2014 season.

As we all fondly recall, the all-Republican Board of Supervisors, taking on the roll of cheerleaders extraordinaire, last year kept telling the public how wonderful it was that wholesome family entertainment in the form of baseball was coming to Loudoun, how it was absolutely essential to sweep aside all citizen concerns and rush through approval of a series of special zoning exceptions for the stadium on a fast track to meet the deadline of opening day 2014, and how anyone who did try to raise concerns was “against baseball.” (Supervisor Geary Higgins, R-Catoctin, was so enthusiastic he posted on his official county website an offer to send citizens their very own free Hounds bumper sticker. How’s that for constituent service?) Continue reading →

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Mar 18 2013
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First we’ll give em a fair trial, then we’ll hang em

The all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors, the beneficiaries of more than $67,000 in campaign contributions from the investors behind the proposed stadium at the One Loudoun development, were clearly caught off guard last fall by the groundswell of citizen opposition to the sweetheart deal for the stadium that they sprung on the public without warning last October.

From the outset it was blatantly obvious that the fix was in, though. The supervisors voted 9–0 with essentially no debate to give carte blanche top priority to the rezoning and special exemption request filed by the stadium developers. Chairman Scott York (R) and Supervisor Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) attended community meetings alongside stadium execs to promote the stadium proposal, with Williams in particular doing yeomen PR spin duty by reassuring nearby residents that it will be an “intimate” stadium that will really not bother them. This despite the Planning Commission staff report which noted that plans for the stadium filed by the developers called for up to 10,000 seats for special events, regularly scheduled fireworks displays, and loud concerts and other special functions having nothing whatever to do with baseball that is supposedly what the stadium is for.

Supervisor Geary Higgins (R-Catoctin), trying to get into the act, goofily offered his constituents free fan gear for the extremely minor league and to date non-existent Loudoun Hounds baseball team that will supposedly play at the stadium (“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,” said Geary, in no way prejudging the issue . . .)

Now with a final vote scheduled for March 25, the supervisors are trying very hard to act like they will judiciously consider the matter . . . before unanimously approving it, that is.

Geary in his latest newsletter Continue reading →

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Nov 17 2012
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For $67,569 I’d be a baseball fan, too

As previously reported here, the various shell companies behind developer Bob Farren’s proposed extraordinarily minor league baseball stadium (coming soon to an inconvenient location near you) contributed nearly $20,000 to the election campaigns of Chairman Scott York (R) and his fellow members of the all-Republican Loudoun Board of Supervisors.

But that, it turns out, was just the tip of the iceberg.

Going through the list of investors in Farren’s venture, it turns out that the stadium’s financial backers gave at least $67,569 to York & Co. for the 2011 election. Continue reading →

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Nov 16 2012
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York and Williams shill for major campaign donor

More details on the traveling road show by Chairman Scott York (R) and Supervisor Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) to try to sell very unhappy nearby residents on the wonders of “professional” baseball (i.e., a stadium for a team so minor it’s not even affiliated with any real baseball team):

Some 240 very unhappy local residents of age 55+ communities located as close as half a mile away from the suddenly new location of the proposed stadium showed up Wednesday night for a three-hour session at which they expressed their concerns to York and Williams. Continue reading →

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