Tag Archives: Scott York

May 31 2012
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Metro Derangement Disorder strikes Loudoun GOP

Up until now, being a Republican Loudoun County supervisor has been a remarkably undemanding job. Short hours, no acrimonious debates, no need to listen to constituents and their annoying problems, thinking strictly optional (especially so in Ken Reid’s case).

All you have to do is vote along with your eight fellow Republican supervisors 9–0 on whatever prearranged goodies come up from the local GOP machine (getting rid of annoying regulations on developers; allowing big box stores without a special exception; appointing prepicked slates of campaign contributors and commercial real estate reps to the water, zoning review, and government “reform” boards; killing off programs to protect Loudoun’s scenic and cultural heritage; approving electronic billboards for your friends).

But the upcoming vote on whether to back out of Loudoun’s previous commitments to fund the Metrorail extension to Dulles and Loudoun has put them in an uncomfortably tight spot. Continue reading →

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May 24 2012
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Your tax dollars at work

Welcome to Loudoun

While they were busily killing off programs that actually make Loudoun County an attractive place for businesses and residents the past few months (cutting the school budget, killing cultural and arts programs, killing the volunteer illegal-sign cleanup program), the newly ensconced all-Republican Board of Supervisors was making lots of noise about how they were going to invest in promoting the county with all sorts of very business friendly initiatives.

They certainly have the noise down pat: you can read all sorts of stuff on the very exciting new county website about “branding” and turning the Economic Development department into a “sales force.”

Pardon us for mentioning that it sounds an awful like old-fashioned government pork, goodies for friends and campaign contributors, and just plain old bureaucratic and political empire building. Continue reading →

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May 16 2012
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Our far flung supervisors

Yes, the payoffs to Loudoun County from the extremely efficient business friendly trip by Chairman Scott York (R-At Large) and friends to our German “sister county” (partnerdistrict) Main-Taunus-Kries just keep pouring in.

First there was the major development of a press release published in no fewer than two local German newspapers declaring “new friendship on the baseball field” between the two districts. And not only friendship, but the promise of “exploring” further cooperation in this rich area.

This cooperation is to take some unspecified form between the Main-Taunus amateur baseball team der Redwings and the extremely minor league, if as yet nonexistent, Loudoun Hounds. The nonexistence of the Hounds is however no reflection on the very real existence of the Hounds’ owner Bob Farren or of the very real $19,219 that he so generously provided York and his fellow all-Republican supervisors to help them get elected last fall, which may have explained his presence on the German junket.

Now we can barely contain our excitement at the news of yet another major accomplishment of York’s far-flung travels: a “live video simulcast” set up last week that allowed Loudoun-based artists and their counterparts in M-T-K to do something or other to mark the opening of an art show, featuring exciting speeches by Loudoun County officials, the high point of which was apparently the chance for Loudoun artists sitting at the certified tick-free Franklin Park Arts Center in Purcellville to hear Loudoun County participating artist and sometime politico Priscilla Godfrey speak to them from the other end of the hookup in Germany, where she had flown just for the occasion.

Of course, maybe she could have stayed home and spoken to Loudoun artists without all this trouble. But never mind. It was very important.

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May 03 2012
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An Outer Beltway by another name . . . still stinks

“Ce n’est pas un Beltway”

Loudoun Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York (R-When It’s Convenient) is absolutely indignant that critics of his new all-Republican Board’s efforts to do the bidding of the developer and road-building industry and pave the way (as it were) for their long-cherished Outer Beltway would have the temerity to actually say out loud that it’s the Outer Beltway.

“It is not a frickin’ beltway,” the eloquent chairman said.

The Board as one of its first acts in January hastened to order up an amendment to the Countywide Transportation Plan widening Belmont Ridge Road/Rt 659; with dazzling speed the amendment sailed through the Planning Commission and was put on a fast track for the Supervisors’ final approval, duly voted yesterday. Although last-minute neighborhood opposition succeeded in keeping Belmont Ridge Road designated as an eventual 4-lane (though still within a 150-foot right of way  . . . hmmmm), the Board approved expanding the rest of the road to 6 lanes. Continue reading →

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Apr 24 2012
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Spraying our parks for fun and profit

This just in: The CEO of Blake Landscapes, Inc., which (weather permitting) will this week be spending thousands of your taxpayer dollars to carry out the Board of Supervisors’ public relations stunt in which hundreds of gallons of toxic chemicals are sprayed on 9 county parks in order to pretend to be doing something, however ineffective, against Lyme disease, would like readers of realloudoun to know that no politics was involved in awarding the spraying contract to his firm.

Although (a) the CEO of Blake Landscapes donated to the election campaigns of Supervisor Janet Clarke (R-Blue Ridge) and Chairman Scott York (R); and (b) his firm promotes on its website the identical fear-mongering about Lyme disease that the Board has found so politically useful; and (c) he quotes local GOP poohbah–Christian homeschooling/creationism guru–and Lyme nut extraordinaire Michael Farris declaring that Lyme disease is (this is a real quote, folks) “the greatest threat of our time,” he would like to make clear that everything was strictly kosher. He writes:

The spraying contract was awarded after a competitive bidding process conducted under state and local purchasing regulations by professionals in the Loudoun County division of procurement.  No one in our company had any contact whatsoever with any elected officials regarding the request for proposals or award.

John Niccolls, Chief Executive
Blake Landscapes, Inc.

In other words, whipping up hysteria over Lyme disease is just business, not politics, as far as his company is concerned. Which we never doubted for a second.

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