July 9, 2008

Politicians and the Promises They Actually Keep

Loudoun County voters should be pretty pleased with the current Board of Supervisors (and with themselves, for voting them in). Not only are they following through with their campaign promises to curb the crazy growth the county has been subjected to for the past decade, they also just voted to refuse campaign contributions from any outfits (including developers) with proposals before the board. That’s right: Politicians are actually going to refuse money from the big guys in order to regain lost trust with the little guys. Hard to believe, but true. You can read all about it on WashingtonPost.com.  

While you’re at it, take a look at this article (also from the Post) about the backlash the Board is experiencing as it’s trying to build up services and infrastructure such as schools and a hospital. The Post article doesn’t do a great job of thoroughly explaining all sides of the hospital issue; it neglects to mention that the new hospital will be a mere 5 miles from INOVA Loudoun, which currently is the county’s only hospital. But the article does rightfully point out that anti-growth residents aren’t necessarily being terribly realistic, and that there has to be some middle ground between no-growth and the previous path the county was on. The fact is that we have some catching up to do in terms of services and infrastructure, and we need to start figuring out how to do that before the next wave of growth starts. We might be enjoying a nice little growth lull now, but once you add in the World Trade Center and the Dulles Rail, it’s going to be a whole new ballgame. Let’s not get caught unprepared again.

Images: Rural farmland and traffic in Loudoun; courtesy of www.smartergrowth.net.