Words, music, images and more from Jim Barnes
Candidates seeking reelection to the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and other local offices have gotten off to a strong start raising campaign funds for the Nov. 3 election.
The board incumbents — all of whom are Republicans — had received more contributions than their opponents as of June 30, when the last reporting period ended. Some had gained an advantage by amassing sizable campaign funds during their years in office…
The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors voted last week to support a proposal to build a memorial on the county courthouse grounds in Leesburg to commemorate the slaves who were sold on the building’s steps and the soldiers who fought for the Union during the Civil War.
The board voted Wednesday to contribute $50,000 toward the memorial, which the local chapter of the NAACP has proposed as a way to present a more complete history of Loudoun’s involvement in the Civil War. The only commemoration of the war at the site is a statue of a Confederate soldier.
Washington Post, September 6, 2015
The Round Hill Aquatic Center at Woodgrove Park opened last week, almost 24 years after it was proffered to Loudoun County in a rezoning that allowed development of the Villages of Round Hill, Mountain Valley and Lake Point.
The opening was the culmination of a decades-long process that included public meetings, shifting plans for the facility, an appeal by the developer and rulings by the county’s zoning administrator.
The indoor facility has drawn criticism because of its size and operational costs. With four 25-yard lap lanes, it will provide space for swim team practices but is too small to host meets. The facility was built with private funds, but it will cost the county about $400,000 annually to operate. About one-third of the cost will be recovered by user fees in the first year, county officials said.
Read full story…
Washington Post, May 31, 2015
After receiving heavy pushback from mid-county residents, Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts backed down from a proposal to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its location in Woodbridge to a site known as the Ferlazzo property, at Spriggs and Minnieville roads.
Instead, the school system will proceed with its original plan to build a facility that will serve local residents at the Ferlazzo site, Walts said…
Washington Post, April 26, 2015
The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is using the power of persuasion and its control of purse strings to try to defuse a controversy that has erupted in recent weeks over plans for an elementary school that is scheduled to be built in the mid-county area.
The school board is considering a staff recommendation to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its current location in Woodbridge to a site at the intersection of Spriggs and Minnieville roads. That site, on land previously owned by the Ferlazzo family, had been planned for an elementary school for children who live in the mid-county area, scheduled to open in 2016.
Washington Post, April 19, 2015
HealthWorks for Northern Virginia, a Leesburg-based community health center, has returned to stable financial condition after a year of uncertainty, the organization’s top officials announced this month at a meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ finance committee.
Washington Post, February 22, 2015
Loudoun County officials say a strategic decision that the Board of Supervisors made two years ago has shaped the county’s financing of several major transportation projects and provided a means to help attract businesses to the county.
Washington Post, February 1, 2015
Pacific Boulevard construction
Less than eight months after approving a spending plan for the next five years that envisioned increasing residential property tax bills by an average of 4 percent annually, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors signaled that it might be changing course.
Washington Post, January 4, 2015
Prince William County is on track with plans to replace its aging, touch-screen voting machines with a new system that uses paper ballots, election officials said Tuesday in a presentation to the Board of County Supervisors.
Washington Post, December 7, 2014
A proposal to increase the salaries of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors apparently died with barely a whisper.
Washington Post, November 10, 2014
Tom Jackman of the Post weighs in.