By Cord Sterling
Rock Hill District

A proposal to significantly expand and extend the operations of the Vulcan quarry despite its encroachment (with explosives and crushing operations) on the people of Stafford who live in those neighborhoods now goes to the Board of Supervisors.

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My daughter is a rising 5th grader going into Mayfield Intermediate School in Manassas.

I’ve spent some time reviewing the proposed policies to be added to Manassas City’s Foundations and Commitments. Code ACC [the city school division’s newly proposed anti-racism policy] and DAB [newly proposed diversity, equity, and inclusion policy].

I want to begin by saying I believe the majority of this Board to be committed to improving the lives of Manassas’ kids, and there is no doubt energy in America for rethinking certain systems.

ACC and DAB use a lot of empty corporate language which obscure a massive overhaul to the mission of Manassas Schools.

The central claim of DAB is that inequity exists in Manassas student outcomes on the basis of race. It should be noted that studying performance by race instead of other metrics like class or zip code is a choice. And a revealing one.

It’d be a lot harder to determine if the students struggling the most were clustered in low-income zip codes, or are impacted by high crime or family dysfunction. That would be difficult, it would also be more illuminating for guiding policy & tax dollars.

Tying success to equity in outcomes says little about if the ideal is to raise everyone up or simply handicap top performers. A lower district average for test scores is obviously not a greater good than a higher district average on the net, even if it features disparity amongst groups. These distinctions matter to parents.

What this policy aims to fix is bigger than Manassas City Schools.

Systemic racism in certain areas of life is real. But using it as a catch-all excuse to explain away classroom challenges is dishonest and burdens kids with a perception of struggle that has real consequences on their performance.

Code DAB correctly recognizes the fast track to special ed and the principal’s office for black and brown kids, as well as any child — white, blue, or purple who might just be shy or learn at a different pace. In my time doing criminal justice reform advocacy, I’ve seen the same things.

The disciplinary school to prison pipeline & how the criminalization of difference sets people up for failure in the classroom, and a lifetime of harm.

But what this policy does is wrong. It looks at the historical struggle and places Manassas City schools in the position of being responsible for eliminating social ills beyond its purview.

It calls for hiring waves of “culturally responsive personnel” as if we live in a society or a city with cultural cohesion within racial groups. What is the culture of mixed-race households?

• What is the culture of a Latino student?
• Does a Venezuelan have the same culture as a Guatemalan?

You can’t teach based on culture. We can teach with attention to language barriers and helping everyone keep up.

DAB empowers this Board to funnel money toward consultants, politically charged staff training, and administrative glut — so long as any inequity in outcomes exists.

It’s a blank check.

What it does not do is say that Manassas City Schools is responsible for teaching kids to read. It does not say that illiteracy is directly linked to incarceration, and incarceration to broken families, and broken families, to poor performance in classrooms, and poor performance back to crime.

In a vicious cycle that doesn’t stop.

The board should re-evaluate the scope and motive of Codes DAB and ACC, and reassert its commitment to teaching reading, math, and science as the key to opportunity in life.

As long as your commitments are to “the continuous work to dismantle systemic oppression” our schools are absolved of responsibility for the things they are for — which is literacy and knowledge.

Some may be afraid to say it, but every parent watching this cares primarily about their individual child flourishing, not group dynamics.

I ask the Board to consider the gravity of these proposals, and how they radically shift responsibility for performance away from our educators.

And to practice patience and prudence by not passing these policies in their current form. They are too broad. Too sweeping and ideological. They are not scientific. They’re not focused.

And if more time is given to the public in the post-COVID 19 and post-ZOOM call world to get familiar with the proposals, I’d argue they’ll be deeply unpopular.

Stephen Kent
Manassas, Va.

Pickleball was a smash hit at the 2021 Taste of Woodbridge event in Stonebridge Town Center.

On June 12, the Woodbridge Pickleball Club booth buzzed with excitement as volunteers introduced the sport to many enthusiastic new players. The streets lined with a temporary court held a steady flow of participants who experienced firsthand why pickleball is the fastest growing sport in the nation.

The sport in popularity during the pandemic.

Players with a variety of racquet sports backgrounds have been getting in on the fun. It is a beautiful thing to witness a smile overtake a player’s face as they lay down their first overhead smash. At that moment, you know they’ll be back for more.

While power drives are regularly seen in pickleball, finesse is equally as important. The sport attracts people of all ages and abilities and has many different styles of play. Pickleball is easy to learn and described as a combination between tennis, badminton, and ping-pong. Matches may be played as doubles or singles and players do not need to purchase a lot of expensive equipment to get started.

Well-known as a friendly sport, pickleball is celebrated for the many mental and physical health benefits it provides. Opportunities to play are springing up all over Prince William County as more and more underutilized tennis courts are being converted into pickleball courts.

Woodbridge Pickleball Club members fill the courts at the Dr. AJ Ferlazzo Building and Veterans Memorial Park seven days a week, mornings and evenings.

If you are looking to try something new, connect with other local players, or just curious what all the fuss is about reach out to the Woodbridge Pickleball Club. Players guarantee once you get started, you’ll be itching to get out and play every day.

For more information, email the Woodbridge Pickleball Club at [email protected].

Jennifer Judy
WPC Board Secretary

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and Prince William County(PWC) just completed the widening of Route 1, between Mount Pleasant Drive and Annapolis Way just south of the Occoquan River in late 2020.

A massively over-designed interchange at Routes 1 and 123 was also included as part of the project to provide better network connectivity between the Belmont Bay community and Interstate 95. But, due to the high cost of the interchange, only the Right of Way (ROW) was obtained and the construction was shifted to a future Phase 2.

Just recently, VDOT and Prince William County initiated a Strategically Targeted Affordable RoadwaySolutions (STARS) study for the interchange to attempt the scale back the scope and cost of the interchange. Unfortunately, the initial alternatives presented as part of the STARS study did not include any concepts outside of the existing interchange footprint was approved over 10 years ago and before the I-95 E-ZPass Express Lanes Comprehensive Agreement was signed, the North Woodbridge Small Area/Town CenterPlan was finalized and the Transforming Rail in Virginia was initiated.

The current interchange design and STARS variants should be scrapped.  All the alternatives presented restrict vehicle turn movements and include circuitous bike/ped movements that only serve to increase vehicle speeds, reduce safety, and induce additional vehicle trips.

Route 1 already creates a massive barrier between the Virginia Railway Express and the planned town center and constructing the massive interchange will only further separate the “planned” transit-oriented community.
The whole concept of transit-oriented smart growth development is for the residents to access transit service and other adjacent amenities without needing to use a vehicle.

The focus should be on creating a transit-oriented smart-growth development community for Prince William County.  The movement of transit/pedestrian/bike should be prioritized with Route 1 and Route 123 is designated as urban boulevards, which have lower vehicle design speeds compared to their current principal arterial designation.

If an interchange is still a priority for the county, a single loop/quadrant interchange is the best option for this location. It will require additional ROW, but could allow for a significantly shorter/smaller bridge structure compared to the alternatives presented.

The Route 28/Wellington Rd/Norfolk Southern Interchange at Route 28 and Wellington Road in Manassas is an example of this type of configuration. Additional ROW could be acquired through the rezoning process.  Excess ROW should be used to support affordable housing opportunities.

North Woodbridge is an important activity center for Prince William County and the proposed interchange designs will make it difficult to realize the area’s potential.

Mark Scheufler
Prince William County

By Anand Desai
Bristow

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request, the Prince William County government reported paying its 100 highest-paid employees a total of $18.3 million in 2020: that’s 5.4% more than 2019’s figure for that year’s top 100, on top of another 5.4% over 2018’s. (The previous two years’ raises were 1% and 3.8%.)

The increases were even bigger at the top. And these figures don’t include the School Board’s, whose earlier FOIA response showed a similar set of high-end salaries and a few teachers receiving up to $133,000.

Compare that to senior federal employee salaries generally maxing out a little under the $174,000 for members of Congress, and local teachers’ starting pay about $50,000.

While the coronavirus pandemic has forced an “austerity budget” on many Prince William County taxpayers facing a 7% higher property-tax bill – whether directly or eventually through rents – and the School Board continues to foist austere trailers on many students, folks with secure desk jobs, avoiding long commutes.

Overbroad percentage raises can soak up the most tax dollars for those who need them least, do little to attract or assist struggling newer employees, and distort public-interest incentives for professionals where there is a risk of insiders’ favor, rather than free-market alternatives, driving negotiations and advancement.

Even if our county needs a budget increase exceeding inflation, population growth, and coronavirus-specific projects (which seems far from certain, given hundreds of millions of federal dollars at its March 9 “COVID-19 Operational Update” suggests may be forthcoming), I urge our supervisors and School Board to limit management pay and direct our hard-earned dollars to specific, pressing needs.

Here are some of the highest-paid government positions in Prince William County for 2020:

COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$373,873.16

ATTORNEY
$311,815.30

MEDICAL DIRECTOR
$311,635.49

POLICE CHIEF
$272,101.37

PSYCHIATRIST
$266,045.23

PSYCHIATRIST
$253,261.76

PSYCHIATRIST
$238,307.08

COMMONWEALTH ATTORNEY
$225,160.10

DFR CHIEF
$224,011.44

DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC DEVELOP
$214,249.32

FIRE DEPT DEPUTY CHIEF
$213,344.01

FIRE DEPARTMENT LIEUTENANT
$210,917.42

POLICE CAPTAIN
$210,486.05

FIRE DEPT CAPTAIN
$210,075.00

DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$208,811.25

DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE $206,220.42
BOARD MEMBER – PR. WM. /MANASSAS REGIONAL JAIL BOARD
$204,708.96

JAIL SUPERINTENDENT
$201,429.15

DIRECTOR OF FINANCE/CFO
$200,718.00

CHIEF DEPUTY ATTORNEY
$199,147.69

DFR CAPTAIN
$198,536.35

DEPUTY COUNTY EXECUTIVE
$195,366.14

By Cord A. Sterling
Former member of Stafford Board of County Supervisors

It is well known that some politicians will spin fabricated tales to advance their goals. We in Stafford are not immune to this behavior.

But Cindy Shelton’s recent work of fiction may serve as a shining example that college professors of the 22nd Century will use in their classrooms as they outline the decline and fall of democratic integrity.

In her recent article, she claims that since 2006, the county delayed investments in roads, new buildings, and maintenance instead of raising taxes. Perhaps someone should take her around our county so that she can see the improved Route 17, the dramatically improved Falmouth intersection, the expansions of Routes 610 and 630, the new Courthouse Road interchange at Interstate 95.

While taking this tour, she could see the five elementary schools that were rebuilt and renovated, a new Stafford High School, a new office building for the Commonwealth Attorney’s office, new athletic fields, and the Jeff Rouse Aquatic Center — all built since 2006.

When I was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2008, I was presented a budget that was out of balance, deteriorating infrastructure, tax rate increases that had grown significantly year over year—and threats from the bond rating agencies to downgrade Stafford to junk status.

When I left eight years later, the infrastructure projects mentioned above were either finished or ongoing, taxes on homeowners were held in check, and we had achieved a AAA bond rating.

It didn’t require taxes. It required fiscal management.

She cleverly talks about “tax rate” reductions as if to imply that these were tax cuts. However, she conveniently forgets to mention that the tax rate is one component of taxes.

The other is the assessed value of the property, and the rates were reduced to offset the increase in property values.

In a similar attempt at obfuscation, she talks about the water treatment facility and reservoirs as if they are not being maintained because of tax revenues, conveniently forgetting that these are utility projects funded through the utility fees and ignoring the fact that an entirely new reservoir, dramatically increasing the water supply, was added just a few years ago.

What are we to make out of her claim that without a tax increase, services will be cut by $25 million but neglecting to inform the public that the county will be receiving over $40 million in relief grants from the Federal Government?

Why hide such an important fact? Because it doesn’t serve her narrative that she “needs” more of our money.

She accurately captures the fact a new courthouse was delayed but fails to acknowledge that this was because we prioritized the replacement of older schools over giving criminals a more comfortable courthouse in which to be convicted.

She is also correct that the development projects, including the apartments she supported by the courthouse, will drive demand for increased services.

In fact, between her support for new residential developments and her support for new taxes, one is left to wonder if it is the interests of the county residents or the interests of the developers who support her, that drives her zeal to raise our taxes.

Since Cindy Shelton was elected, she has pursued residential development and tax increases to fund it, all at the expense of county residents. Last year she voted to increase taxes, despite the economic suffering that households and small businesses were suffering.

Now this year, she is the chief engineer of one of the largest tax hikes in Stafford history at the very time when small businesses are hoping to emerge and start to pay down the debt they incurred staying afloat. Others have already closed.

Governing is hard. Choices have to be made.

This year, I have to choose between replacing my aging air conditioner or my old carpet. Or maybe now neither, as I may have to pay the Cindy Shelton tax.

Other Stafford residents face similar choices. So do our small businesses.

Shouldn’t the Board of Supervisors face the same instead of looking to us as a bottomless well from which to draw revenues?

Today, many businesses and individuals are making the decision to leave states and localities where taxes are too high to move to Texas, Florida, and Wyoming.

It isn’t the weather that is driving them away, but the taxes. As tax increase after tax increase has been piled upon them, they are voting with their feet and moving to states and localities that value them as individuals rather than nameless sources of revenue.

As Benjamin Franklin stated, “nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Little did he realize that more than 200 years later, Cindy Shelton’s latest tax increase could be the death of Stafford’s small business community by taxation.

Cord A. Sterling represented the Rock Hill District on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors and was Chair of the Finance and Budget Committee from 2008-2016.

By Cindy Shelton
Stafford County Aquia District Supervisor

Did you know that since 2006, Stafford County’s growth provided the county an opportunity to invest in itself? But it chose differently.

When you look at the congested roads and a lack of places to shop and dine, do you wonder why?

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has voted year after year to delay the investments in roads, new buildings, and maintenance in the interest of lowering taxes at the very time when we should have been slowly raising them to fund the future.

Stafford County provides a budget to actual data to the Board during the annual budget meetings. Analyzing that data, coupled with our financial reports, clearly show a capacity to fund such improvements as well as a reluctance to do so.

For example, if the Board had adopted the needed tax rate since 2006 based upon the Board’s priorities, we would have collected enough revenue to fund the items in the current Capital Improvement plan without the need to resort to credit.

In 2016, the Board decreased the tax rate from $1.07 to $1.01, fully aware of the future capital needs and the mounting debt service. Just since 2016, had we maintained the rate at $1.01, we would have gained $20 million in additional revenue.

This needed agility would have allowed us to take on other transportation projects, decrease our dependence on debt, or even tackle other projects proactively instead of waiting until the situation was critical.

Just as recently as last year, when other counties voted to stay the course with their budgets to fund a response to the pandemic, Stafford County voted for tax relief for its citizens knowing full well the long-term impact it would have on the county.

Our staff was apparent in their budget reports that if we didn’t increase taxes in 2021, we would need to cut services by $25 million.

For years, we underfunded maintenance projects, and our water treatment facilities were in horrible shape. We had only one maintenance person between the two water plants. Equipment was in disrepair in the county and the schools.

I’ll never forget the day I visited Smith Lake Reservior in North Stafford and stood in shock at the condition of one of our critical water sources. Simultaneously, the schools were screaming for funding, and the attrition rate for our first responders was abysmal. Meeting after meeting, we were begged to increase salaries.

People left Stafford for much higher wages, from county staff, teachers, to firemen, deputies, and even the Rappahannock Area Community Services Board. We wasted money training new people to start over again when they left for higher-paying jobs in other counties. The churn from this well-meaning but miserly approach to funding is well documented.

We also underfunded big-ticket items such as a courthouse or school. As Stafford grew, we gained more capacity to fund these large items. Let’s analyze the Board’s actions since 2006. One perspective is that we didn’t maximize our debt capacity by taking on more debt to invest in the future. Another view is that we should have been paying off that “credit card” to pay cash for our needed assets in the future. Both are valid points of view, but sadly the Board did neither of these and instead lowered taxes.

In plain terms, we voluntarily lowered our “paycheck” (tax revenue) because our employer (residents) would not have to pay us as much. If we delayed building roads and schools, we didn’t need the money immediately, so we agreed to work for less. Who thinks that way?

Stafford still needed schools, roads, and a courthouse, and delaying it will lead to higher costs in the future. It’s like knowing you have a leaking roof but putting off the repair. Any homeowner knows that the cost to repair can cause catastrophic damage if you don’t fix it immediately.

As we delayed needed Stafford County projects, the costs of those projects continued to increase naturally.
A $65 million high school that we needed to plan for years ago now costs $154 million. Even worse, the delay in building it pushes up against the need to build another high school, the county’s seventh and the county’s 18th elementary school. Enrollment projections also indicate a need for another middle school.

The Early Childhood Education program is projected to expand beyond its classroom capacity within the next few years, requiring these students to be put back in elementary schools – creating more capacity pressures in elementary schools.

Good planning would have had these projects due at different times, not all at the same time.

I get that it is easy to criticize the past, and hindsight is 2020. But I submit it isn’t hindsight but the value or fresh eyes. Hindsight, or retrospectives, as I like to think of them, are only valuable if you use them to change behaviors by learning from them.

I suggest we draw a line in the sand as we can’t do anything about the past. A sunk cost is a sunk cost. Our compassion and tunnel vision to keep taxes low put us where we are now: a wealthy county that spends its money elsewhere and doesn’t invest at home.

There is good news. In 2018, 2019, and 2020, we changed our course, and the Board increased its investments in schools and infrastructure.

Smith Lake Water Treatment facility looks completely different and reflects the new heart the county has. We have invested in employees, including public safety, to ensure they are paid living wages. We have protected our retirees from ensuring they have health plans.

But we still haven’t built our needed schools, paid teachers what they deserve, provided a safe place for disabled individuals in our courtrooms, or rebuilt our crumbling roads and fire stations. All of those projects were pushed out into the future because we simply did not have the money to do them.

We made up a lot of ground in the past three years. Now, in its fear of raising taxes, the Board is backing down yet again on investing in Stafford. In our last budget meeting, a set of slides showed how much we would need to cut out of our budget and the impact on future taxes if we did.

The need to raise taxes to $1.09 soon to make up for not raising taxes in the past is sobering. Our citizens deserve a correction. We need to invest in our future.

We need to correct the underfunding of the past, close the gap needed to build our infrastructure, maintain what we have as efficiently as possible, and provide amenities that keep residents and workers here in Stafford. In other words, we need to invest in building our community.

For an average increase of $130 a year to Stafford property owners, we can stay the course and make up for bad but well-meaning decisions.

Most board members don’t like where we are, but the facts speak for themselves, and I promised to not sugarcoat the truth, no matter how distasteful. Keeping the tax rates at the recommended amounts is fiscally and socially responsible. Ironically, increasing taxes can decrease the rate of growth in Stafford County, a priority set by the Board.

By Ralph & Kathy Stephenson
Prince William Citizens for Balanced Growth

While endlessly preaching unity, Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler and her allies have been working to:

• Suppress opposition political speech and west county interests and concerns;
• Weaponize and force their extremist political dogma on those who disagree;
• Stoke division and backlash to increase their power, doing it mostly in the name of under-served minority communities; and
• See fault and sinfulness everywhere except within themselves.

And where does it all end?  Unsurprisingly, as smoke screen and justification for another developer land grab — this time involving breaking open the Rural Crescent to thousands of new houses and shoving down the throats of west county residents more residential development, more overcrowded roads and increasingly dysfunctional schools, higher taxes (during the biggest economic downturn in almost 100 years), and more environmental destruction.

A closer look at the county’s self-appointed judges of political morality — Many of us who frequently disagree with Wheeler and the lockstep Board of County Supervisors Democratic majority have spent many years of our lives serving ethnic minority communities in church, local, professional, and private business settings.

Many of us have also worked to make the county a better place for all by opposing uncontrolled plunder-and-pillage land use policies.  We do so because we’re all brothers and sisters, children of God, and everyone deserves love, truth, and sometimes a hand up in their lives, and serving that way helps us, too.

Now, Prince William Citizens for Balanced Growth (PWCBG) believes it’s time to take another look, a more critical look at Wheeler and the Democratic majority’s claims to represent the best interests of under-served minorities, as well as Wheeler’s holier-than-thou, anti-democratic assault on all who disagree with her methods and apparent aims.

Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic over a year ago, Wheeler has been extremely quick to take credit for expansive business and other private shutdowns and enforcement thereof, as well as an abundance of coronavirus testing.

• But now that the chips are down and it’s time to actually vaccinate, Prince William Health District (PWHD) has lagged; its mobilization and contact efforts and record databases have been and remain a disorganized and duplicative jumble, “a hot mess” as one PWHD employee/acquaintance told us, an observation repeatedly confirmed by our own experience.
• Furthermore, per reports from family and media in states as diverse as Colorado, Utah, and Connectict, all, particularly the last two, are way ahead of Virginia in making vaccinations available to all.  Under-served minorities and the poor frequently have less access to and are not as well informed about vaccines and availability, and thus will suffer the most from PWHD’s lagging processes.
• Note:  Either Chair Wheeler can honestly take credit for both the good and the bad Covid governance above, or she can take credit for neither; she is either ultimately responsible for both or ultimately responsible for neither.  She can’t have it both ways.

It seems that there are those who care only rhetorically about under-served minorities and the downtrodden — in a highly objectified way — to:  get votes, accomplish their personal political ambitions, exercise power and control over others, and increase taxes, spending, and the size of government.

• So, speaking of under-served minorities and Covid vaccinations, note the following indifference from Wheeler’s allies on her new county Racial and Social Justice Commission to … well, real injustice and inequality.  (See:  https://potomaclocal.com/2021/02/16/social-justice-commission-refused-to-hear-plea-for-equitable-vaccine-distribution-to-minorities/ )

The Democratic majority continues to make stealthy attempts to undermine and defund the county’s highly-regarded police department, not due to any documented patterns of police misbehavior in the county, but instead apparently simply due to their hostility toward police in general.

• The absence of police most hurts under-served minorities and the poor in high-crime areas.

Chair Wheeler’s autocratic contempt for county citizens and the spirit and letter of the rule of law, including 1st Amendment and related  rights, is a threat to democracy and the civil rights of all.

• For example, “A” sets the precedent of violating political minority “B’s” rights today, which makes it easier for some future, stronger antagonist to violate “A’s” rights tomorrow.
• It’s called “tyranny of the majority” and is why the French Revolution and even ancient Greek democracy ultimately failed and why civil rights for ethnic and some religious minorities took so long to take hold even in the U.S., with all its unprecedented checks and balances on power.
• Wheeler’s mentality is a throwback to very dark periods in history, although she clearly sees herself as politically enlightened.

Wheeler has suppressed and demeaned participative democracy and county citizens’ 1st Amendment rights by virtually always ensuring that controversial west county and other issues on which she doesn’t want opposition are placed last on crowded Board of County Supervisors agendas.

She’s also asked for citizen feedback only after the matter is already settled, such as recent county attempts to get more feedback on the Route 28 Bypass — after the Democratic majority had already decided all major aspects of the matter.

• Undemocratically and slanderously dismissing any widespread opposition to her policies as “manufactured outrage” or some other self-serving epithet, no matter how many hundreds or thousands of emails are received, including many from minorities, or how many petitioners sign petitions, or how many speakers speak against her polices.

Her oft-repeated lie that all or most residential development is in the east end of the county.

• It is a matter of objective demographic fact that over the last couple 10-year census periods at least, the geographic size of the three western magisterial districts, taken together, has slowly shrunk, while their population relative to east county has risen, as the population center of the county has gradually shifted toward west county.  (All district boundaries are determined, according to law, by proportional population.)
• Even dogma-driven, always-pro-residential developer Chair Wheeler should be able to grasp the objective reality that for a very long time residential development has been at least as heavy in the county’s west as in the east.

The Democratic majority continues to refuse to define the terms “affordable dwellings, equity in housing, or environmental justice,” despite using these undefined terms as standards of policy.

• This kind of deliberately fuzzy thinking, leading inevitably to lack of precision and accountability, is one of the key enablers of corruption in government and particularly in county land use policy.
• Such corruption benefits only elites and their cronies at the top and siphons most money away from any true public good such as constructive aid to minorities before it reaches them.
• In current political language, “equity” is a particularly abused and poorly-understood term which at best means little or nothing other than what the user or hearer loosely wishes it to mean at the moment, but which has real negative consequences for minorities.
• Supervisor Andrea Bailey (Potomac District) rarely speaks in political discourse without using the term authoritatively as the last word on virtually any topic, yet appears incapable of defining it.

The Democratic majority approved large tax increases on businesses and homeowners in both 2020 and 2021 during the worst economic downturn in almost 100 years.

• As always, the most economically vulnerable parts of society, including disproportionately large numbers of minorities, suffer the most in economic downturns due to layoffs and/or reduced work/wages.

Wheeler and the complete reversal on its decision to kill the Route 28 Bypass project, only to bring it back weeks later, was a a sellout to developers and their allies and a stunning injustice threatening irreplaceable existing low-cost homes for minorities, followed by Wheeler and the Dems’ refusal to even meet with their victims.

The Rural Crescent has extremely limited school, road, police, and fire infrastructure and effectively no public water, sewage, and transit infrastructure.

• The Board of County Supervisors  plans and initial decisions to develop the RC will channel county money away from under-served areas, which could be developed much more cost-effectively instead, including with low-cost housing where needed.

The Democratic majority approved with no serious discussion or debate county mandates that the county switch to non-fossil fuels over the next several years, with Kenny Boddye (Occoquan District), the sponsor of the resolution, refusing to answer any of our very simple and rightful questions, as taxpayers and county citizens.

• Under-served minority communities and the poor can least afford more expensive, only-semi-reliable alternative fuels and will be the least able to simply move out of the county if these mandates are enforced, causing already-high and rapidly-rising county taxes to rise even more, while services — such as schools, roads, police, fire, preservation, etc. — continue to decline.

Our thanks to Groucho Marx for once again perfectly describing exemplars of political absurdity, in this case Wheeler and the BOCS Dem majority:  “Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedies.”

In conclusion, perhaps the best solution to Wheeler & friends’ dictatorial suppression of the western half of the county — treating its people as if they were a subjugated colony who must be assimilated by their overlords, their superiors — comes from Al Alborn, who suggests that maybe it’s time for PWC to become two counties:  eastern and western Prince William County.

 

On Tuesday, March 23rd, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed a much debated zoning modernization (zMOD) change in a 7-3 vote. The 700 page omnibus zMOD can be described as nothing less than a boondoggle, including changes to accessory-living units, home-based businesses, freestanding accessory structures, food trucks, and much more. These changes will affect traffic, housing density, schools, and parking for years to come.

One particularly contentious provision restricts the freedom of citizens to fly American flags outside their homes. Under the new ordinance, homeowners are restricted to 3 flags, which includes state, military, or college flags. They must also apply for a special permit if they wish to have flagpoles over 25 feet in height. This in effect limits the size of flags that can be flown. Chairman McKay made it clear that he, “[does] not support regulating the American flag.” He then proceeded to do precisely that.

The new changes passed despite an overwhelmingly negative reaction from the community. Homeowners associations throughout the county were strongly opposed to zMOD. Citizens sent thousands of emails to their local supervisors. A petition opposing the flag ordinance was signed by 1750 people. Over 100 people attended a rally outside the county government center to voice their concerns. The opposition to the measure was unprecedented. Springfield District Supervisor Pat Herrity, who opposed the changes, had the following to say:

Tonight, I listened to 5 hours of testimony on proposed changes to the County zoning ordinance (zMOD). In my 13 years on the board, I have never heard such opposition to proposed changes from civic associations and individuals across the County. (1/3)

— Supervisor Pat Herrity (@PatHerrity) March 10, 2021

Let’s discuss a little bit about this flag situation. The county government has now made an unconscionable decree which they know they cannot enforce. Imagine the controversy that will ensue the moment an American flag is pulled down because it is being flown too high. Worse than the ordinance being unenforceable, though, is the cost paid by the county board. Financially, it costs them nothing. Morally, it costs them everything; the county board simply cannot afford the cost.

Freedom isn’t free. Our freedoms were bought with a steep price. American soldiers die every day defending the very same flag that has now been relegated in Fairfax County. Is the county board willing to carry that burden; are they willing to pay that price?

It is a truly sickening display of irony that our government will accept the sacrifice of our young men and women, but will not accept the manner in which we choose to honor that sacrifice unless it falls under their 25 foot limit.

Over the past year, I have seen families struggling to survive in the midst of this pandemic. I have witnessed unspeakable misery on account of our predicament. I have experienced the pain caused by suicide and mental illness.

There is an epidemic in our community; like COVID, it is insidious because it is impossible to see. We have a growing mental health crisis on our hands. One would think the county board would be inclined to do something about it.

You know what we don’t have in Fairfax County, or anywhere in Northern Virginia for that matter: an epidemic of flags in our communities. Perhaps the size of flags isn’t the problem. Perhaps the real problem is the size of the county supervisors’ inflated egos. The zMOD changes are just the latest display of hubris: a chronic inability to admit, just for once, that they are in the wrong on this issue. To the county board I say: your arrogance blinds you. Can you not see how your policies are morally offensive, not to mention undesirable, to a large swath of citizens who you purport to represent?

Rather than admit that, they have declared bankruptcy and defaulted on their promise to fairly represent the concerns of the community.

Sean T. Rastatter
Centreville