A place where everybody knows your name – I am not referring to Cheers, the popular Boston bar made famous by the TV sitcom, but to a small university in the central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Washington & Lee University traces its name to two of our country’s greatest leaders. Founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy, the trustees filled with patriotism in 1776 changed the name to Liberty Hall. When fire destroyed the main building and financial trouble threatened the school, George Washington donated $20,000. This was one of the largest gifts to any educational institution at that time. In recognition of his generosity the school was renamed Washington College. Robert E. Lee believed that education was important to reunite a deeply divided nation. After the Civil War, Lee moved to Lexington, Virginia and was appointed president of Washington College. Lee established colleges of commerce, journalism, and arts. After his death, Washington College was renamed Washington & Lee University.
Lee and Grant saved the Nation from years of insurgent gorilla warfare. With great civility they negotiated the Confederate Army’s surrender at Appomattox and sent the soldiers home to farm their fields. Lee established traditions at Washington & Lee that are observed today. Honor, trust, and civility were beliefs held high by Lee. Students today can leave their books, cell phones, iPods, etc. anywhere on Campus and know that they will be there hours or days later. Anyone walking onto the W&L campus will be spoken to with a friendly greeting and with an offer of help if necessary. This respect for others has been called the culture of civility.
From this culture has grown great leaders of my life time,governors, senators, Supreme Court justices, authors, journalists, and many others who have served their county with distinction and without great publicity. With civility comes humility.
As I watched my daughter graduate this June from W&L with her 430 classmates, I knew I was in the presence of some of the future great leaders of the 21st Century. Of course there is no doubt in my mind that she will be one.
Glen Caroline, the newly elected chairman of the Loudoun County Republican Committee, recently held a meeting of a small group of Republican activists to discuss his and their goals for the Republican Party in Loudon County. A few years ago I lost interest in the LCRC when the meetings I attended turned into the equivalent of a food fight. This recent meeting was not a formal LCRC meeting but rather Glen’s opportunity to repeat his views, which he expressed in his acceptance speech, on the newly organized Committee, and to get a feeling about how best to help Republican candidates.
Glen impressed me as someone who could chair an efficient meeting of many strong willed individuals who are not reticent about expressing their views. He focused on the common beliefs of most Republican. “Respect” was a word I heard him use often. Glen quoted Abraham Lincoln and clearly espoused Ronald Reagan’s “Big Tent” philosophy of welcoming all who share the core beliefs of Republicans such as limited government, fiscal responsibility, free markets, and a strong national defense. Social issues were not discussed, for which I am glad, as these are the issues that are the most divisive.
As word spreads about Glen’s leadership, I predict membership in the LCRC and the Republican Party will grow, and in time, so will the success of Republican candidates. With new leadership, and a strong positive message, the Republican Party and the Loudoun County Committee will have a message that will inspire and attract liberal, moderate, and conservative Republican to the big tent. If you want to be inspired, play this Video put together for the new LCRC website by my good friend Dave D'Onofrio.
While working out at my gym recently and listening and watching the news on an overhead TV, a short segment on CNN caught my attention - maybe because it was a very different story than the usual pieces on politics, the war in Afghanistan and Iraq. It was an interview with a young marathon runner in Philadelphia who is helping the homeless get back on their feet.
I must admit I have never been one pursue the challenges of working with the homeless. However, I do admire those that help anyone who is down on their luck and struggling to put their lives back together. For some reason this story really struck a chord with me.
Anne Mahlum, the Philadelphia marathoner and the founder of Back on My Feet, hands out running shoes, hats, and other running gear to homeless individuals who are clean, sober and live in a shelter. Moving everyone’s life forward, homeless or not, is their goal.
Last year there was a lot of NIMBY angst in the press and elsewhere about Good Shepherd Alliances' Center of Hope homeless facility in Ashburn. Perhaps running in the morning with doctors, lawyers, merchants, chiefs, and the homeless as happens in Philly, might benefit everyone in Loudoun County.
Our daughter Inslee is a talented artist. Since she was five years old, she has been sketching and drawing pictures that have amazed her mother and me. Every year for the last sixteen years she has designed our Christmas cards. 
Many friends have saved every one. It was no surprise when many of her college classmates asked her to create sketches for special events, invitations, etc. This sparked the idea of designing note cards for a web-based business. The note cards she designed were in color. Finding a printer that could print high quality cards in high quality color in a relatively low volume at a price we could afford proved challenging - until we discovered Colorcraft in Sterling, Virginia. Their staff was as intrigued with Inslee’s work as we were. They were able to take her drawings, convert them into digital images, and print them on a digital press.
On March 26th the President visited Colorcraft and saw a postcard printed especially for him on their digital press - the same one that produces Inslee’s cards. The next day I jokingly asked our account executive, Bryan Koons who lives in Purcellville, if he shook the President’s hand. The answer was, “yes.” The President shook the hand of every Colorcraft employee, answered questions and told personal stories like why his father, Bush I, decided to make a parachute jump after he left The White House.
The President’s visit was front page news in the local papers. He told Jim Mayes, the president of Colorcraft, that the economic stimulus bill he had just signed would help companies like Colorcraft that are capital intensive. Accelerating depreciation on expensive presses and software the company needs to grow and maintain their competitive position will help the local economy and create more jobs. The President was pleased to hear that Colorcraft is sensitive to the environment using soy based ink, recycled paper and other green processes when ever possible.
My family had already discovered Colorcraft and had experienced first hand the fine work they do. (Pardon the commercial – you can too, by going to Inslee’s website) If you go to Colorcraft’s website, you will see examples of the work they do. Look carefully and you will also see several of Inslee’s images on their website.
Health care is one of the top issues for the presidential candidates this year. But in Loudoun County we have our own health care issues. Not who pays but where we get the hospital and emergency room service all of us will require at sometime.
Loudoun County has a first class hospital, INOVA’s Loudoun Hospital at Lansdowne, with an ER both at the Lansdowne facility and in downtown Leesburg where the original hospital was located before it moved to Lansdowne. INOVA Health Systems is a large hospital and medical facility holding company based in Northern Virginia. In addition to Loudoun, INOVA owns and operates, Alexandria Hospital, Fairfax Hospital, Fairfax Hospital for Children, Fair Oaks Hospital, and Mt. Vernon Hospital.
Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), based in Nashville, Tennessee owns and operates 170 hospitals in the United States. Reston Hospital is owned by HCA.
Several years ago, HCA sought to build a second hospital in Broadlands at the intersection of the Greenway and Belmont Ridge Road. This proposed hospital, known as the Broadlands Regional Medical Center (BRMC) would have a full ER service and a number of other medical facilities associated with major hospitals. The State of Virginia Department of Health granted BRMC the required “certificate of public need” expressly stating that Loudoun County needed a 2nd hospital. HCA, now armed with the COPN turned to the Loudoun Board of Supervisors and INOVA pulled out all the stops and persuaded the Board to deny HCA’s application in August 2005.
With the growth of Loudoun certainly the need is even greater today. Nevertheless INOVA is doing everything to see that the BRMC is never built. The land use decision by the BOS is now the subject of a law suite by HCA.
As readers will remember I am a believer in “free markets” be it toll roads, hospitals, or most private businesses, and a few government businesses that should be private like air traffic control (Of Vacuum Tubes and Sealing Wax). In fact I am a bit puzzled as to why the State of Virginia even has a say in this.
Some say that the last BOS turned down the HCA application purely for political reasons. Now we have a new BOS, the majority of which represents a different party. Let’s hope this time reason prevails and not politics. It is time to compromise, drop the law suite, and build this critically needed medical center – in fact, it is probably easy to argue that the County needs a third hospital once this is approved. HCA has the ability to do this and bring not only first class medical service to our community, but also high paying jobs that will have a very significant economic impact. With the loss of AOL and other high-tech companies, BRMC would bring a lot to the table and the County’s vital signs would improve.
I thought of Yogi Berra, the king of the malaprop, when I heard about the goings-on during this week’s Town Council meeting. Frank Holtz, who has been a law enforcement professional for 23 years, was nominated by Ken Reid for the Town’s Standing Residential Traffic Committee. It would seem to Yogi and any other clear thinking individual that the Town would be lucky to have such a professional advising the Council on traffic and public safety. Then politics got in the way of reason.
Kelly Burk suddenly announced that she had several other, presumably, more qualified candidates. Mayor Umstattd, at Burk’s request, asked the Council to table the appointment. The night before, when Reid discussed this appointment at the Town Council work session, there was no objection. What happened between late Monday and Tuesday night? Frank Holtz announced that he would run for the Town Council next May, and Burk discovered that Holtz was helping Jim Clem in his reelection bid for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors. Clem’s opponent? Kelly Burk of course. A three-year-old can connect these dots.
I remember well three years ago when Katie Hammler tried to appoint yours truly to the Airport Commission. A long line of speakers, including former Council members, Town managers, and prominent citizens spoke to support my nomination. There were no negative comments. Yet, Umstattd, Burk, Martinez and Kramer, the Democratic gang of four, voted no and the nomination failed. Was there any connection to the fact that a year earlier I had worked on Bob Zoldos’s campaign to unseat Umstattd? You connect those dots.
Umstattd and Burk do not need Halloween costumes. We are tasting the witch’s brew, and watching the cauldron bubble.
In 2004 a rezoning application for a mixed used development, The Village at Leesburg, with Wegmans as an anchor tenant, was presented to the Town of Leesburg. After another year, in November of 2005, the rezoning was approved. This summer, almost two years later, grading finally began for the project. But unbelievably the site plan for the project has still not been approved. Will Wegmans be patient, or will they find another site that can be approved more efficiently? Think One Loudoun.
A loss of Wegmans would be a loss for Leesburg. I remember another very similar project that like The Village of Leesburg that was compelled to build a very expensive grade-separated flyover interchange. The project was forced to file for bankruptcy. It was then was taken over by the lender. Eventually the development was completed after millions had been lost by all parties. The project was Cascades.
We can blame the Town planning department for this delay but there is a higher authority to which the planners report - the Town Council. The Town Council is led by the Mayor who has great influence. For years she was a member of the Planning Commission.
Mayor Kristen Umstattd and her close allies, Kelly Burk and Marty Martinez, tend to vote in lock-step and believe Leesburg is just the downtown Historic District. To this group Economic Development means brick sidewalks, way finding signs, and traffic calming medians filled with weeds. (Drive into Leesburg via South King Street to see this “garden” of weeds.)
This Wegmans mess is only one example of the difficulty of doing business in Leesburg, opportunities lost, revenues lost and unnecessary expenditures. It is systemic of our Town government. Stay tuned as I will be writing about other perhaps more dramatic examples.
Garrison Keillor had some words today that all Republican and Democrats should think about.
It was on this day in 1912 that Teddy Roosevelt was nominated by the Progressive Party to run for President, an election that went on to define the Republican Party for the rest of the 20th Century.
Republicans had dominated politics ever since the Civil War. A Republican had been in the White House for 44 of the previous 52 years. They were the party of civil rights and, under the presidency of
Teddy Roosevelt, the Republican Party became the party of environmental conservation, antitrust laws, and consumer protection.
Teddy Roosevelt was one of the most popular presidents in history, the youngest too. He was 42 when he took office. He was the first president to ride in an automobile and in an airplane, and the first to visit a foreign country while in office. He was a naturalist. He was an author of history. He published almost 50 books.
After he'd served two terms, he announced that he would not seek a third term. He handpicked his successor, William Howard Taft, and then went off on an African safari. But when he got back, Teddy Roosevelt found that Taft had moved away from progressive principles and aligned himself with the conservative wing of the Republican Party.
Teddy Roosevelt ran against Taft in the primaries, won the primary in Taft's home state of Ohio, but eventually it was party insiders who picked the nominee, and they gave it to Taft. And so Roosevelt called for the creation of a new progressive party and accepted its nomination on this day in 1912. It was nicknamed the Bull Moose Party because Roosevelt said, "I am as strong as a bull moose, and you can use me to the limit."
He was in a three-way race with Taft and Woodrow Wilson, campaigning on a platform that called for income taxes, inheritance taxes, the eight-hour workday, and voting rights for women. He drew huge crowds wherever he went. In Milwaukee, October 14, 1912, on the way to give his speech, he was shot by a man six feet away, the bullet deflected by the speech in his pocket, along with a metal eyeglasses case. Roosevelt went on to give the speech, but Woodrow Wilson won the election. Despite Roosevelt making the best showing of any third party candidate in American history. He came in second.
And one of the results of his Progressive Party campaign was splitting the Republican Party between conservatives and progressives, and the progressives have never been in charge since.
July 17, 2007 will be remembered as the day that Crosstrail was defeated. Meaning Loudoun County and the Town of Leesburg said “no thank you” to over $42 million of badly needed road improvements. The County also said no thank you to over $200 million in tax revenue over the next 20 years. The community lost an elementary school site. Residents of Leesburg and near by Loudoun lost a proven Town Center concept where they could shop, eat and be entertained in style. The Leesburg Airport lost the opportunity to acquire 40 acres of land for expansion, and the opportunity to finally make this airport financially self-sufficient. (See Train Wreck). The Town of Leesburg lost an opportunity to sell sewer and water service from their new $15 million plant. But most of all, the opportunity to have two million square feet of Class A office space occupied by Fortune 500 companies in our community is gone.
Congratulation to Kelly Burk who made it her sole purpose for the last year to defeat the Crosstrail rezoning. Congratulations to traitor Ken Reid who reneged on his pledge to his Party, and in an even more bazaar move joined with his Democratic opponent, Burk, to defeat Crosstrail. Finally, congratulations to Dennis Boykin, Chairman of the Leesburg Airport Commission, for finally getting his wish for a hobbyist airport filled with little airplanes to match his own toy.
The Mikado, a very popular Gilbert and Sullivan opera, is the story of the “crime” of flirting, for which the punishment in this Japanese city is beheading. When the audience learns that Ko-Ko, who has committed this flirtatious act with Yum-Yum, has been promoted to the position of Lord High Executioner, the cast sings, Let the Punishment Fit the Crime. A ridiculous story? Maybe. But here in our country, in modern times, strange thing are also happening.
Today in the United States we seem to be seeing an ever increasing need on the part of prosecutors, judges, legislators, and the public to “imprison not only those we fear, but those we hate”. Our jails and prisons are filled with non-violent criminals. We release both the violent and non-violent into society, many because our prisons are overcrowded, to make way for those more recently sentenced. Most of those released are not prepared to return to a non-prison environment. Seventy percent will commit another crime and return to jail. Others like John Rigas, CEO of Adelphia, and Bernie Ebbers, CEO of WorldCom, will never have a chance to commit another crime, but will most likely die in prison having received the equivalent of a death sentence. Regas, 80 and ill, is serving 20 years. Ebbers, 63, is serving 25 years.
I recently met a man who lives in Leesburg and is doing something about this American embarrassment. Pat Nolan is the president of the Justice Fellowship, a non-profit foundation that works to reform the criminal justice system. Over breakfast Pat discussed with me and two other friends his mission and his experience. Pat has been there done that. If you don’t click on any other link, please read his amazing story as reported in a recent LA Times article, He found a calling in prison. In the opinion of many Pat was framed, but found guilty and sent to prison. (After considerable research, you can consider me among those that share this belief.) Pat emerged from prison, not bitter and revengeful, but determined to make a difference in our prison system. One of my favorite quotes from Pat in the Times article was, “If hospitals were failing to heal two out of three patients, would we continue to pour money into them?”
Here in Leesburg we have just opened a new jail, which was over crowded on opening day. Plans are underway to spend millions on an expansion. How many of the prisoners are returning “guests” of Loudoun County at prices that would make a stay at the Lansdowne resort seem a bargain? How many are locked up for non-violent crimes of drug possession, perjury, etc.? I don’t know but I am going to ask – and maybe you should too.
I was elected as a volunteer to serve on the Board of Trustees (BOT) of my homeowner’s association (HOA). I love my community and want to maintain the very high standards that were set years ago by those that first developed the homes and the community where I live. I have the same feelings about the Town of Leesburg and Loudoun County. For that reason I write the articles you read here, sharing my opinions with anyone interested in reading them, and more importantly hoping to get a larger percentage of our community, both large and small, interested in local politics.
At our last BOT meeting, one member of our HOA community raised an objection to a link on our community website that pointed to outside.in. This website consolidates news of what is happening in communities all over America. (Click on the link, enter the zip code or neighborhood name, and you will see what is happening and being talked about.) The news comes from local bloggers and newspaper articles. Our resident’s concern was that a summary of the articles I publish here appear and are linked to on Outside.in. She wants the link on the HOA website removed. Unless I missed something, I am not aware of any restriction for anyone linking to any site or page on the Web. Freedom of Speech is still part the Bill of Rights, the first amendment to our Constitution.
The morning after this BOT meeting I watched a report about a segment on the MSNBC program Hardball where Ann Coulter was engaged in a telephone debate with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards. Chris Matthews called Coulter a very bright provocateur. I am sure Coulter would be the first to agree. Getting the wife of a presidential candidate to call a TV talk-show and engage her, to me and millions of others, was amazing. Whether you agree with Edwards or Coulter, it was interesting to watch and probably either garnered votes for either John Edwards or his opponents in the race. It might even get a few more voters out to vote in the primaries. If you click here, you can read a transcript of the debate as well as the many comments. One comment that I related to read: This is the liberal mind at work. They can say anything they want to say, they can do anything they want to do. But if something is said or done to offend them and their agenda, they start to scream and want the government to legislate what is said. This country was founded on the principle of the freedom of speech. No matter if you agree or disagree with Ann C, IT IS HER RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN!
I do not agree with Coulter's style in this debate, but I do think she and MSNBC have the right to publish it. I do not consider myself a provocateur in the style of Ann Coulter. You will not find any personal attacks on this website, but you will find opinion. I am free to write mine, and you are free to express yours. In fact I look forward to hearing from you. If you disagree with me, fine. That’s what makes our nation and our community, large and small, great.
This was the headline that appeared in a recent editorial in The Purcellville Gazette. The writer poses some very interesting thoughts that should be considered carefully by the Loudoun County Republican party leadership. On May 19th the Republican Party held a “firehouse” primary to pick the Republican candidate to oppose Senator Mark Herring for the 33rd State Senate district. A firehouse primary is a traditional election with ballots and voting machines at precincts in the district. Any registered voter can go to the polls at their convenience on Primary Election Day and vote for the candidate of their choice. A similar primary was held for the 27th Senate district on June 12th to pick a Republican candidate for this district. These were the first of the “Two Elections”
Instead of a Firehouse Primary that was held in the 27th and 33rd districts, the leadership of the Loudoun County Republican Committee (LCRC) chose to hold a convention on June 9th to elect candidates to run for the Board of Supervisors, Clerk of the Court, and Sherriff. A convention is a closed process as prospective delegates must register in advance, sign a pledge to support the candidates elected by the convention, and spend four to six hours at the convention before voting. At the June 9th Convention only 1,497 (50%) of the registered delegates showed up on a beautiful spring day.
In the Firehouse primaries 7,923 (4.5%) voted in the 27th district, and 1,469 (1%) voted in the 33rd district. (These were embarrassingly low percentages.) I voted in both - the 27th district primary and at the LCRC convention. It took me less than five minutes to vote on the 12th, but I spent five hours at the convention on the 9th before I voted and there were many delegates still there when I left.
Conventions can have benefits for a political party. Inspirational speeches can inspire the party’s faithful, provide a forum for open debate on the issues, and give the candidates an opportunity to explain why they are the best choice for the nomination. (I regret that this does not happen at National conventions, which have morphed into giant pep rallies.)
I have heard from many who feel the LCRC convention was exclusive, and that the process was controlled by a very few with an agenda that may not be in sync with the majority. Once the convention votes were tallied, the losers should have congratulated the winners and pledged their support. Instead two delegates who lost and one who was not even a candidate, in a shameful act, broke their pledges and declared they would run as Independents – decisions celebrated with champagne and fireworks by the Democrats. (Chick here for an example.) Would a Firehouse primary have been better and a more democratic (note the small “d”) option?
The LCRC leadership should look in the mirror and talk to the problem.
(Click here to read The Purcellville Gazette editorial.)
About 20 years ago Bob Sevila, who was a five term mayor of Leesburg, called the Leesburg Airport the “Engine of Leesburg’s economic development program”. (I still have this on tape.) This train was fast moving and within a year there were over 12 business jets based at Leesburg. Unfortunately sometime after the early 1990s, the train got derailed. Today there is only one business jet based at Leesburg, and the airport is well on its way, by Town staff estimates, toward losing $1 million dollars a year. Over the last five years the airport has cost the Leesburg taxpayers over $2 million.
Economic impact is measured by the wages, and the purchase of goods and services at the airport. Airport supporters, small plane pilots, many of whom do not live in Leesburg or even Loudoun County, have justified these airport losses by touting a study made several years ago, which claims that the airport has an economic impact of over $40 million. The highest paid employees at the airport worked for the FAA Flight Service Station. That facility has just closed. Today’s economic impact is a fraction of $40 million.
Leasing land for new jet hangars has stalled. Not one new hangar of any kind has been constructed in over five years, while 13 jet hangars have been built at the Manassas Airport in this same period.
For reasons that have nothing to do with business, economic development, or plain common sense, the one bright hope for turning this bleak airport picture around has been turned into a terror campaign that says, “If it happens the airport will close”. It is Crosstrail.
For the last three decades I have made my living in aviation. Some of my work takes me to general aviation airports not unlike Leesburg. I know what the drivers are for success. Two words – Business Jets. I am not opposed to small aircraft, flight schools, flying clubs, experimental aircraft, etc., but these operations, mostly recreational, will never make the Leesburg Airport or any airport viable.
Crosstrail with thousands of square feet of class A office space, aircraft ramps and hangars adjoining the airport, high-end retail and entertainment, and yes, housing, will make this airport and Crosstrail a highly desirable location for Fortune 500 companies (the most profitable own business jets), and their employees. The economic development number will skyrocket as well as tax revenue for the County and the Town.
Why this is not crystal clear to everyone is a mystery to me. But then it is the silly season – an election year.
For Republicans I would recommend for summer reading two oldies but goodies, It’s My Party Too, by Christine Todd Whitman, and A National Party No More, by Senator Zell Miller. The former author is a Republican and the latter a Democrat. Both are conservatives. The party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan seems to have lost its way.
Open any Loudoun County newspaper and you will find many articles about Republicans. Democrats are hardly ever mentioned. Normally Republicans would be delighted with this attention, except this news is almost totally negative. Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment was, “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican”. But every meeting of Republicans in Northern Virginia is filled with hate, not directed toward liberal Democrats, but at fellow Republicans.
It is evident to me that much of this animosity is over social issues. Gay marriage and abortion leads the list. These are issues about which strong feelings exist universally. Trying to legislate morality or even defining what is moral is a tall order.
Our county’s founders declared "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." They did not declare who this Creator was or how he created anything. Why, because it is irrelevant to democracy.
The religious right takes credit for George W. Bush’s win in the 2004 election. But as Whitman points out, it was the smallest margin of victory of any incumbent president ever, just 3%. Social conservatives are driving away moderates who believe in what used to be core Republican values – lower taxes, less government, and strong national security. Without this moderate base, the advantage shifts to the liberal Democrats. Their best strategy, which they seem to be implementing, is to just to standby and watch the Republicans implode both locally and on the national stage. Remember when Ronald Regean was asked why he left the Democratic Party, he replied, “I did not leave the Party, the Party left me.” Could the reverse occur where moderate Republicans become moderate Democrats?
Perhaps, as an astute political analyst friend for whom I have great respect said, "Maybe this is the year the Republicans need to take a walk in the wilderness." I hope the big bad wolf leaves the moderates intact to take back the Party and focus on those core values – national security, lower taxes, free markets, and less government.
For the last couple of weeks I have been hearing rumors about a proposal by Leesburg Mayor Umstattd to require that advisory commission members report their real estate holdings. The Town’s advisory commissions are made up of volunteers who presumably have some expertise in a certain area and can add their knowledge to a particular commission, which in turn advises the Town Council. Advisory commissions have no power to award contracts, spend Town money, or set policy. All this rests with the Town Council.
What started as a small irritant of an idea was expanded with the help of the Town Attorney to include full financial disclosure. The stuff hit the fan last night when commission member after commission member protested. I understand that at least one entire commission privately threatened to resign.
Vice Mayor Susan Horne objected when this idea was originally surfaced but apparently everyone else was either asleep or absent. Last night, thank God, the majority woke up. And the motion was tabled. This example of government run amok should have been killed not tabled to raise its ugly head again. (Leesburg Today reported the details.)
The Sacramento Union is a newspaper much like Leesburg Today, free on newsstands and published weekly, but a paper with a much longer history. It was founded in 1851. One of the early staff writers was Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The paper went through some hard times, but recently was acquired by an innovative publisher who designed the new business model, and attracted some modern day “Mark Twain’s”
What caught my eye was the editorial page, a favorite of mine in most newspapers. One very perceptive editorial, A Wake-Up Call for College Administrators, discusses the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. As the parent of a college junior, at a university not far from Blacksburg, I keep asking myself what early warning signals can prevent this from happening. The “Wake-up Call” editorial answers this question. The early warning signals were all there, but were ignored. Thankfully my daughter attends, what the writer describes as a “smaller less liberal campus” where personal interviews by an admissions officer are required and the administration follow the doctrine of loco parentis. Social education goes hand-in-hand with academics at this school, deeply loved by parents and students.
So where did this publisher of a paper in the land of liberal thought, home of the ACLU, and hippie culture, find such writers. After a little detective work, I deduced that answer might be Leesburg, Virginia. The writers share the talent of Mark Twain, witty and wise.
After reading “Wake-up Call” and thirsting for more, check out two of my personal favorites, Today San Francisco, Tomorrow the World, and How to Handle College Protestors.
Randy Shoemaker, the director of Leesburg's water and sewer department recently recommended to the Leesburg Town Council a cost-sharing concept of a dual-service sewer line. The idea received luke-warm reception from the Council. To me this sounded like a great first step to my "Water Balloon" article. I respect Randy’s opinions, even though he did not leap on my “balloon”, the suggestion of merging the Leesburg utility department with Loudoun County Sanitation Authority. LCSA provides identical services to Loudoun County, but Randy and I have not had an opportunity to sit down and discuss the idea fully.
Randy told the Council, "It would allow the town to recapture some of the $15 million it has already invested in building plant components to handle an eventual expansion to 10 mgd."
Part of this $15 million investment was to allow the Town to service the proposed Meadowbrook development. After a nasty battle three years ago, that rezoning application was been withdrawn. So now the Town has nowhere to go with its expanded sewer - except Crosstrail and Ridgewater Park. But wait! These developments are not in the Town but in the County. They could have been within the Town, but Mayor Umstattd and her supporters on the Council killed the annexation plan several years ago. Now Umstattd wants Leesburg to have exclusive rights to provide water and sewer to Crosstrail. Kelly Burke led the fight for the Council last summer to stall Crosstrail until the Town could annex the property.
Leesburg Today reports Umstattd saying, "I've had concerns about this since the very beginning, I just cannot imagine that this is a good use of our capacity."
Where in the world does she think she is going to use it? After Meadowbrook there is not a single large piece of land in the Town to develop, and the Council has killed this opportunity.
This debate should prove interesting to the homeowners who recently saw a 100% rate increase in their bills from the Town for water and sewer because they live across the Town line in the County. These homeowners are suing the Town. One of the Town’s defenses is that rates must be increased because of increasing costs, and the majority of these costs must be passed on to non-residents.
I recently returned from a vacation in Italy. The most enjoyable part of the trip was being with my daughter, who has been studying art history in Rome this spring. Standing in the middle of a piazza and listening to her tell me stories of ancient Rome and pointing out why we know what we do from the art and architecture of this ancient city, which was the cradle of democracy, is something I will never forget. I could relate some of what I learned to Loudoun County.
As we walked though the ruins of Pompeii, I noticed something that looked modern and familiar, and asked our guide if what I was seeing in the mist of the rubble and excavation could be conduit for fiber optic cable? He just smiled in reply. Maybe it was to connect the sensors recently installed in Vesuvius, one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, to warn the 800,000 living in the “red” zone of an impending eruption.
Italy seemed more connected than the US. During my two days in Rome, two days on the Amalfi coast 
in relatively small towns like Ravello, Positano, and the two days on the island of Capri, I never felt disconnected from the ROW (rest of the world). There seemed to always be 4 bars on my cell phone, and every one of our hotels had HSIA (high speed Internet access). This connectivity allowed me to beam images of the breathtaking beauty home to family and friends.
Italians drive like they speak, with great emotion and flair. In the city Smart Cars,
picture a Mini Cooper cut in half, were everywhere. They park perpendicular to the curb, but intrude into the street no more than a normal car. It’s the darnedest Mercedes I have ever seen. Yes, the Smart Car is made by Mercedes-Benz.
We traveled south from Rome with a hired car and driver. (Do not think about doing this yourself.) Our driver held to the speed limit 130 km (about 81 mph) on the Autostrada, but cars flew past us with a whoosh. My guess was at well over 100 mph.
This round trip on the Autostrada was the closest connection I made to Loudoun County. The high speed highway from Rome to Naples rivaled our Dulles Greenway in design - a limited access 6 lane toll road. From Rome to Naples the toll amounted to $0.34 per mile. The Greenway’s $0.18 per mile toll would be a bargain to Italians. Doing a little research after I returned home, I discovered why this highway felt familiar. It is operated by Autostrade Group, the same company that operates the Dulles Greenway!
Earlier this year I wrote about the debate at the public hearing over the proposed toll increase on the Greenway, see Free Markets. All the TV lights and the spots on the evening news, including the NBC and ABC national news shows that same night, focused mainly the politicians, who in my opinion were way off the mark on this issue. Frank Wolf was one. I have been a friend and admirer of Franks for many years. My wife was his transportation aide during his freshman years in Congress. Frank has also been a great friend of Loudoun County and Leesburg so I am surprised by his position. The Greenway would not exist if private entrepreneurs had not financed, built, and managed this road. The Greenway is to the economic development of the Leesburg area as Dulles Airport is to the western Fairfax County and far eastern Loudoun County.
Recently National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi show featured a discussion on Private Highways. Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation discussed private toll roads and HOT lanes, which is another "hot" subject in Northern Virginia and Richmond as the Commonwealth tries to unjam our roads. Frank Wolf put in an appearance on the show, but did not stay on the air long enough to hear Poole’s very logical explanation of why Wolf is mistaken. For example, the Greenway is not the most expensive toll road per mile in the US. The Greenway can not be compared to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which was built over 60 years ago; and it is impractical to think that Virginia could buy the Greenway. (Why not use those dollars to fix the state roads and interchanges?)
You can listen to the Private Highways show, and at the same time learn why there is a solution to some of our traffic problems that has proven to work elsewhere.
Click here to listen with 
Windows Media
Chick here to listen with 
Real Audio.
The Leesburg Town Council was recently trying to get a grip on the Leesburg Airport financials as they went through the budget process. Leesburg Today reported on the struggle, Airports Financials Grab Councils Attention. It was about time. For the last five years the airport has lost a total of $2,259,734. That is an average of over $450,000 a year. Last year the loss was $525,286. The trend is not good. Taking a page from Enron’s play book, some on the Council, egged on by the airport manager and the leaders of the airport commission, are blaming the accounting system. This group, rather than trying to fix the problem, apparently would like to rewrite the book on GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principals. Another suggestion was to move the airport from being an Enterprise Fund to some other form of accounting in the Town’s financial report. I call this a cover up. By definition an Enterprise Fund should at least breakeven. The Town has two Enterprise Funds – The Airport Fund, and the Water & Sewer Fund. (I wrote earlier about the Water & Sewer Fund which has also been mismanaged – see Water Balloon.)
Instead of trying to juggle the books, the Town should do what any money losing business does – cut costs and increase revenues. Like the utilities department, which had not increased rates since 1992 the airport has not increased rates for three years. When I looked into the tie-down rates, I discovered the Town charges $100 a month and that they were 100% occupied with a waiting list. This means that sometime after 1993 the tie-down rate was decreased, because in 1993 it was $100. I managed the airport from 1981 until 1993 under a contract with the Town. The Town paid me nothing for management or anything else. I leased land and buildings from the Town. The lease terms were determined by the Town in a public RFP process. I never negotiated the rate or term. Today the cost to the Town to manage the airport is over $400,000 for both personal and contractual services.
In the last 15 years the airport has managed to chase off all but one business jet, and build a $4 million Taj Mahal terminal that caters to small recreational pilots and airplanes. Business jets visit on occasion, but seldom stay. As I write this, the Town Council, on the recommendation of the Airport Commission and the staff, is about to reject the two bids for the hangar pad that had gone vacant for over three years. One of these bids was from a very successful high tech company, EIT, founded by State Senator Joe May, and the other bid was from a large Washington DC real estate company, Advantis. Two years ago the Town accepted a bid for the adjacent hangar pad, but to date not one spade of dirt has been turned on this site and it remains vacant.
In May the last of the FAA flight service employees, once numbering over 150, will leave. With them goes the majority of the economic impact of the airport. It’s time for change.
