Growth issues in Northern Virginia are shaping up to have a huge impact in the home stretch of the gubernatorial race here. While such issues have been stewing for quite awhile in Loudoun and Prince William Counties, a Washington Post
front page article last week about a new citizens' movement questioning the pace of growth and its consequences in Fairfax County seems to have had a catalyzing effect. The history of this grass-roots movement, spurred in part by environmental concerns over the effects of runaway development in Fairfax on the Chesapeake Bay, is documented in a four-part series posted previously here (
I,
II,
III, and
IV) and also featured on the
front-page of ePluribus Media's community site. We like to think we had some influence in prompting the Post's
front-page article today, probing the huge amounts of money that developers are feeding into all the campaigns, particularly that of Republican contender Jerry Kilgore, and how this issue may affect the outcome of this extremely close race.
The Post's front-page article about our citizens' uprising followed upon the heels of a meeting between the Post's editorial staff and thirteen Fairfax community leaders, which the Post responded to with an entry in its new and experimental
Fairfax Blog, asking if the Fairfax Board of Supervisors was "vulnerable" on development. A week after the Post's print article came out on our group, it followed up with another
Fairfax Blog about the article, and a week later published another
front-page article on Democratic gubernatorial candidate (and current Lieutenant Governor) Tim Kaine's proposals to give local government more power to protect infrastructure in connection with new development. Another
Fairfax Blog generated considerable commentary on this proposal.
Today, as mentioned above, the Post published another front-page article probing the huge amounts of money that developers are feeding into all the campaigns, particularly that of Republican contender Jerry Kilgore. A prior prior article confirmed the primacy of the candidates' focus on Fairfax.
Meanwhile, even our federal law-makers are weighing in on how transit-oriented development should take advantage of - or exploit - federally funded Metro. The "activists" mentioned in the article are all of us who collaborated to inundate Metro with emails, insisting on having a public hearing before public land was sold. The Post is fast delving into blogdom with another Fairfax Blog on this article, and another one to debate "transit-oriented" development in general.
On another controversial local development matter, we mustered over 400 people at a public meeting last week, covered brilliantly by one of our local reporters and also addressed in the Post's Fairfax Blog. Post coumnist Marc Fisher also devoted today's column to that event. Advertising tactics by these developers are generating a fascinating parallel story, also addressed in a Fairfax Blog.
Local reporters have also been hot on the trail of another abuse of power by our County government, and its potential consequence for our quality of life.
With just over two weeks to go in a neck-and-neck gubernatorial race that just got injected with this red-hot issue, it will be extremely interesting to see how the politics plays out. Keep in mind that the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, which is widely viewed as having a completely dysfunctional relationship with citizens, consists almost exclusively of Democrats.
More later.... definitely more later....