Thank you for the coverage, although tourism in Fairfax and the Wedderburn development don't seem to share much in common other than being favorite projects of our Board of Supervisors.

The final outcome of the Wedderburn re-zoning has been plain since July 11th, when the Supervisors gutted the citizens' proposed amendment of the Comprehensive Plan so that it would accommodate this development, and refused to even consider whether DPWES should have such unilateral and unreviewed authority to interpret stream declassification rules in ways that negate the hard work of the County in 2003 to identify and protect Chesapeake tributaries. So, while we of course continued to hope that some reason could be injected into this process, and the development improved to protect the stream and the Trail and to honor past promises of tree-saves given to the public, no one held their breath while the Board barrelled forward to bless yet another "clump of brick mushrooms" -- the huge houses that seem to spring up overnight too close together.

The real news about last night, however (and which unfortunately was nowhere mentioned by the Post), was the fact that Wedderburn Neighbors did not stand alone before the Board in speaking for the value of protecting headwater streams and for using the same good science to strip away buffers as is used when such buffers are put in place. Representatives from McLean Citizens Association, Hunter Mill Defense League, Fairfax Citizens for Responsible Growth and Southwest Vienna Citizens Association all spoke in favor of this principle and against a re-zoning that allows a huge stormwater detention pond to inundate this fragile stream. All expressed their concern for what this precedent means for other streams feeding into Scott's Run in McLean or on the Bachman property which is part of the Hunter Mill Study Area, and called on the County to impose a moratorium on stream declassification, as called for by the Providence District Council and McLean Citizens Association as well as Wedderburn Neighbors. The Executive Director of the Prince William Conservation Alliance and the President of the National Capital Chapter of Surfriders, both organizations whose mission is Potomac watershed protection, also attended to support Wedderburn Neighbors (it would have been nice if the Post's coverage had mentioned that too).

While the County countered with more photographs showing the visually dry appearance of the stream surface, it failed to note -- until pointed out by stream biologist Dr. Charles Lydeard -- that our region is now officially in a drought (see 9/23 coverage of this in the Post). There has been no appreciable rain in this area since August 8th, and the photos were taken on 8/26. Last year when similar photos were taken in early September (which led to the stream's declassification), no rain had falled for 21 days previously, which again was pointed out by one of last night's expert speakers, Dr. Cate Jenkins. No one disputes that even perennial streams may appear dry in drought conditions. The County just doesn't seem to care that the ecological services provided by such streams continue under the stream-bed even when the surface may appear dry (seven scientist letters available at www.WedderburnNeighbors.org). Supervisor Gross even called the use of purely visual evidence "good science". She even said this twice, which is why it deserves mention. This sort of orchestration of Board hearings and distortion of the facts is precisely what is wrong with land-planning in Fairfax County. We hope that the Post's next article on such issues probes a little deeper.

Meanwhile, groups participating in www.FairGrowthNetwork.org, including Wedderburn Neighbors, will continue to share information and resources and will continue to work together to protect Fairfax streams and to link hands on issues of cross-county concerns. We are the citizenry. We will be heard.

I watched the hearing last night and was appalled at the behavior of the members of the board. I guess I didn't expect them to be so obvious in their disrespect of the County's citizens. Linda Smyth was arrogant, condescending, patronizing, self-congratulatory, and really, just a witch. Supervisors Gross and Hudgins weren't much better. Supervisor Elaine McConnell must be dim-witted. What a sorry bunch.
It appeared they used county staff to "cover" their decisions.
That Smyth piece at the end about "community divisions" was dripping with fake sensitivity. It was obvious that she didn't care; she so much as said so when she acknowledged that at a point in the process she was certain that there was no possibility of a compromise.
And, since when were rezonings the baseline, with a requirement for compromise?
I'll be more careful next time I vote.

Fairfax County voters need to keep these decisions in mind at the next (2007) election. The entire Board of Supervisors needs to be dumped, either in primaries or in the general election. Both Democrats and Republicans need to be willing to crossover to vote for the other party, if needed, to clean out the incumbents.

Also, the good Democrats of Fairfax County should reject Gerry Connolly as a potential challenger to Tom Davis. The most fitting reward for Mr. Connolly's efforts to secure a large political war, chest to challenge Davis, by cozying up to developers, would be to deny him his party's nomination for any future office.

I have always been suspicious of the expression "good science" and I noted one of the Supervisors saying that last night and had to cackle in wry amusement.

Science is about skilled observation, undertaken with an open mind as to where that exercise will take you. There is a neutrality to science. You have to be prepared to be surprised.

If a scientist allied with any interested party is making a key observation and claiming that observation proves a desired point, it casts some doubt upon the "goodness" of the observation. In my mind, if the observation is made by a paid consultant with an interest to have a happy client, the "goodness" of the science is even more doubtful.

Supervisor Smyth was caught in another new political lie last night, plus a new act of political hypocrisy.

New Political Lie - She said that she "doesn't use work groups," noting that she hasn't done that since [un]Fairlee - i.e., the monstrosity of MetroWest at Vienna metro.

So what does she call that group she set up to cut out neighborhood association inputs to examine some 20 Tysons Corner overdevelopment proposals? It might be called something else, but essentially it's another stacked, handpicked work group.

New Act of Political Hypocrisy - She downplayed a resolution, passed overwhelmingly by the Providence District Council (composed of the local neighborhood associations), that called for protections of the stream and W & OD trail. Her excuse was that the resolution was not seen by members of the Council until the day of the vote. That is true, but it was discussed thoroughly, and approved by a wide margin.

But critical as one may be about not giving more notice of that resolution, let's not forget that Supervisor Smyth's resolution on Metro West, calling for thousands of more residents without adequate impact studies, was itself released to the public only one business day before it was voted on by the Board. It has already been changed once at the Planning Commission, and promises that citizens would have two weeks to review the complex document were broken.

So while a three-page citizens' resolution was distributed a bit late, let's recall that Supervisor Smyth held back a highly complex binding document with major ramifications from citizens clamoring to examine it.

To quote John Kerry, "Which was worse?"

The transparently scripted "circle the wagons" comments by other supervisors just prior to the vote last night showed how scared they are really running.

Supervisor Goss's remark that the stream decision used "good science" clearly didn't even consider what county staff had just said - they did not rely on science but on an interpreation of procedural rules. They at least had the sense to not even attempt to invoke "science" in their defense, but Supervisor Goss was not paying attention. It was so clumsy I almost felt sorry for Penny.

Supervisor Smyth declared that "we cannot go on this way." That's true, Supervisor. We will no longer take it just because you tell us it's good for us. We will NOT go on this way. The continued insistence on voting contrary to the demonstrable interests and wishes of your constituents will not be forgotten.

I've lived in this area for 50 years and have seen what has happened to our beautiful county in that time. It is now clearly out of control and I think the entire board needs to be cleaned out.

Linda Smyth, indeed all the members of the Board of Supervisors, showed their true colors last night. She was condescending, arrogant and clearly could have cared less about balancing all the interests in the Wedderburn property controversy. What a sad sight to see--the BOS in lock step with the big land-use lawfirms. Sad, but not surprising.

What a farce Fairfax County public hearings are! The minds of the BOS are obviously made up even, before the first speaker testifies. Yes Ms. Smyth, the neighborhoods surrounding the Wedderburn property are hopelessly divided, and you can accept major reponsibility for that. You sided with the minority in support of the developers, and for that, the lives of those of us who live near that property are forever changed, for the worse. I can only hope that those that were responsible for this mess reap what they sowed.

We have the government we deserve in Fairfax County. As citizens, we do not become involved until something threatens us. We have fallen asleep at the switch. We have to be more vigilant and more proactive.

If you feel that you got a raw deal last night or on any night when the Board issued a decision, then go forth with a new purpose, get involved in the party of your choice and see to it that the Supervisors who you feel do not represent you have to go back to just being private citizens. If you crawl into a corner and lick your wounds and forget, then we all end up losing. Your voice will be lost in the noise.

Developers can deliver money, but only you and I can deliver raw votes. In the end, the politicians need us more.

The Virginia Public Access Project reports that Elm Street Development of McLean has made donations to the Chairman. So has the attorney who represented them before the Board. Their donations are public record -go see for yourself. These business people are not to blame for making donations, nor are politicians to blame who accepted them. It is good business to make donations. It is necessary to accept donations to run a campaign. Campaigns cost a lot of money. If anyone is to blame because the rustle of developer money is heard over the din of the crowd, it is clear that we citizens are to blame, because we LET these businessmen and their money get the upper hand. We are the ones who have the vote. We are the ones who have the raw power.

We need to harness the activist spirit and not let it die. We need to take control and refuse to take no for an answer. We need to go forth and change our own County before it changes into a place that we no longer want to live in.

The lecture at the end about how people just don't get involved was really the icing on the cake. As I have participated in all the meetings and hearings over the past 2+ years friends and relations would wonder why I was wasting my time -- why bother, the developers will get what they want. Of course they were right. Not that I'm surprised. Is it any wonder people don't get involved? Linda's behavior was reprehensible. She was so blatently working for the developer -- discrediting residents who were against the plan. Why should it matter if Vienna Woods has a storm water management pond -- what does that have to do with the matter at hand?

The citizens hired them. The citizens should fire them, ASAP, even if it takes two years.

Where was Chairman Gerald Connolly during the Wedderburn hearing last night? He seemed to be A-W-O-L. I was watching on television and tuned in late, so maybe I somehow missed him there, but I did not see him, and it seemed another Supervisor was chairing the hearing? A couple of Supervisors seemed to be missing.

I'm posting under my own name here, as is my practice when not posting for Wedderburn Neighbors, because I am proud to own my comments here and I will never be cowed by the "powers" that purport to tell me that I should not "cut my teeth" on issues as "difficult and complicated" as Wedderburn, as Supervisor Smyth said at the hearing last night, clearly referencing me.

We are all learning here. You too Ms. Smyth. The lesson here for you is that things are changing. Changing fast. For the better from my point of view.

Every time you exclude us, belittle us, condescend to us, ignore us, and think you have fooled us, think again. You can no longer divide the citizenry the way you pitted neighborhood against neighborhood around Wedderburn. We all see the patterns, the divide-and-conquer strategies, the witholding of information and dissemination of false information.

Case in point: You wait until the public hearing is closed and we can no longer respond and then you make speeches castigating us. In July you marveled that we dared to name ourselves "Wedderburn Neighbors" because you didn't think it very "neighborly" of us not to be talking to the Wedderburn property owners. But we did try. One neighbor tried several times to arrange a friendly coffee, and one wrote for our group formally to ask for a meeting to try to resolve things (this was affirmatively documented in testimony last night). You could have asked at the outset of the meeting for speakers to address your concerns about whether we had contacted the property owners, but you waited until we were muzzled after the close of public testimony to chastise us, not knowing the real facts.

Last night you did the same; you accused us of circulating a flyer on the W&OD Trail misleading people into believing that a 75-foot Trail buffer already existed. We did no such thing. The very first line of the flyer circulated on the Trail said that the County currently had NO established Trail buffer policy. A postcard we had previously mailed just after Labor Day to many Trail users had said that there had been a County-wide call for a 75-foot buffer (true) and that the Board was poised to approve a development that would lower this "proposed standard" (also true). When we were copied on a few (just a few) emails suggesting that people thought a 75-foot standard existed, we immediately changed the postcard for the second wave (which was the model for the later Trail flyer) to note in the very first line that there was no such standard. We did our absolute best to insure that there was no confusion. Did you ever ask us about this? No, you waited to make your televised unilateral speech at a time when we could not respond to correct you convenient spin.

And, Supervisor Smyth, why did we even have to send out our second wave of postcards? Because you would not commit to respond to incoming emails to tell commenters that the 9/12 hearing had been postponed to 9/26. The correspondence documenting this is at www.WedderburnNeighbors.org in the Archives under Government Correspondence. One fellow even emailed us to complain because he WENT to the Gov't Center on 9/12, after having emailed you that morning, and found that the hearing was adjourned.

We spent hundreds of dollars to reach out twice to Trail users, because you would not advise them of the changed date, and when we did that we made SURE there was no further confusion about the existence of a County standard.

But, there is STILL no County standard is there? Apparently there will never be.

F. N. got it right or as Pogo said: "We have met the enemy and it is us." How many of the "Wedderburn neighbors" know or care what happened at Lewinsville Park? How many of the Lewinsville Park neighbors voted for Joan DuBois? How can these people get angry at the Fairfax County supervisors for only paying attention to their own districts and ignoring the citizens in other districts, when their consituents only care about the land use zoning issues that affect them directly?
That is called myopia, or narcissim, or just being a Fairfax County NIMBY.
Will the Wedderburn Neighbors and Lewinsville Park and Hunter Mill defense league remember all this in two years when it is time to work hard in an election?
We will see. Democracy is like everything else. It works better when it is exercised.
You have to love a supervisor like Elaine McConnell who says with a straight face that "There's nothing sneaky about the Fairfax County government."
When nobody is paying attention, you don't have to be sneaky, Elaine. We know you'll be re-elected...again!

Actually, Wedderburn Neighbors, which is a founding member of www.FairGrowthNetwork.org, has affirmatively posted news about Lewinsville on the Network website. We were there (and appalled) at the hearing last night when the Board endorsed exploring procedures to administratively reverse the results of the Supreme Court decision. I have today asked for reporting from Network members to post on the site about that action, so that we can further our agenda to notify County residents of important development news and coordinatate a cross-county response. Network member groups -- and the individuals they are comprised of -- can't respond at the drop of a hat. Being "just" citizens, we aren't paid for our vigilance and reporting. But we will give you the straight dope given just a little time.

You say "consituents only care about the land use zoning issues that affect them directly" -- that is no longer true; we are now learning how all these zoning issues affect ALL of us. Last night's hearing was the first proof of that; there is more to come.

So, the Board yet again voted unanimously right after a public hearing....proof of the farcical nature of these hearings. Ever heard of a jury returning a verdict without even a discussion as to the merits of the case before them? That's what our Board does time and time again. It is clear that the motto of our Board is " You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours". We are all losers. We need some men and women of courage and integrity to serve the needs of the WHOLE county, who are willing to ask " How will this decision affect not only my small corner of the world, but our county as a whole for the next 100 years....not just to the next election". Is there anyone out there willing to do this? I don't think party affiliation matters one bit.

Yesterday after attending the hearing on Sept. 26th, I wrote letters to Supervisors Gross, Smyth, DuBois and Hudgins, urging them to support the resolution by the McLean Citizens Association calling for a moratorium on the re-classification of streams. I am a resident of Providence District. Also yesterday for the first time I read the "Fairfax Undercurrent" blog. If you haven't looked at the "Fairfax Undercurrent" blog, please do so.

Christine in Fairfax is right that party affiliations don't matter.
But if we do not become active in the party of our choice, and help determine who is nominated by EACH party, what do we expect? As F.N. stated, we get the government we deserve.
If we don't care about the political parties, the parties cannot be expected to care about us. The developers and their operatives are active in both parties' organizations.
Are you in either one?

If not, the parties will only hear from developers and think everything is fine. It's up to us to make sure BOTH of the parties see the problem, BEFORE candidates are nominated. If we wait until after nominations, or worse yet after elections, then as we've seen, it's too late.

Griping on the Post's or other message boards is one thing; really doing something concrete is another. If you really want to make a difference, join either the Fairfax County Democratic party - http://www.fairfaxdemocrats.org/joinup.htm
or the Republican party -
http://www.fairfaxgop.org/GetInvolved/JoinTheCommittee.asp

To: Tom. You might also want to check out the blog "Things that the Board of Supervisors Doesn't Want You to Know" on the fairgrowthnetwork.org web site. http://www.fairgrowthnetwork.org/Blog/tabid/1331/BlogID/2/Default.aspx I've just stumbled on it. The blog suggests that the rezoning issues are just the tip of the iceberg of problems with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

Our Supervisors need to be honest and not only talk about the merits of a rezoning application but also its demerits. Instead citizens receive condescending remarks on how they "just don't understand" the nuances of a rezoning issue. Certainly we do! We understand that infill development is granted that is greater than the densities than what is right next-door, houses are 50+% taller and greater in size than the neighbor's home, stormwater runoff will increase creating greater erosion and flooding problems, pedestrian safety concerns, empty tree preservation promises, inadequate buffers to protect the character of the W&OD Trail...essentially, the Goat Farming of our communities.

I participated in the passage of the Providence District Council Resolution on the Wedderburn property. The questions the Council raised seemed infinitely reasonable. The main "Resolve" of the Resolution was to have Supervisor Smyth meet with the Community and discuss reasonable planning and design concerns that they knowledgeably articulated.

Questions: Why did Supervisor Smyth refuse to meet with the community, as requested by the Council? Why does she continue to discredit and censure the integrity of the PDC membership for requesting a meeting? Is it because she couldn't justify the rezoning without hiding behind the pants of county staff and a controlled forum that gave her the last lecture? Shame on you Ms. Smyth. It's time you take pride in building consensus rather than orchestrating divisions.

Tom's reference was to the following link:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/fairfaxuc/

We feel the Fairfax Board has ignored us, too. They didn't once testify on the various toll increase proposals - they merely sent form emails to people saying "this was the state's decision." In contrast, the Loudoun Board of Supervisors - -by an 8-1 vote --condemned the toll increase and the fact the state gave just 2 weeks notice of the hearing (which was in Richmond). But then, in June, Gerry Connolly formally came out in defense of the toll increase to pay for Dulles Rail. I've never quite seen a local board so arrogant and removed from its residents. Some of you should submit your writings here to the Post as letters to the editor. I think the readers of the Post and other papers need to realize what a horrible bunch you have in office.

As far as I am concerned all of Fairfax County is my backyard and issues impacting McLean, or the Mount Vernon area are of importance to me as those in Providence. The Fairgrowth Network is not an organization that I am willing to see die out - as no doubt many of the BOS will fervently hope. Maybe Fairgrowth -being non partisan - should even seek to call for candidate debates to help make sure that these issues of accountability is up front and center.

I came in late so perhaps there was a legitimate excuse, but where was the Board of Supervisors? I was very insulted that the a good portion of the BOS supervisors did not even bother to come out from the anteroom to listen to the citizenry.
I am quite sure it was deliberate and intended as a message, that being: We don't care about you and what you have to say.

Such arrogance deserves a response: turn those pink stickers into pink slips !

I have a comment about housing styles, including the type of housing I anticipate for the Wedderburn property based upon materials I have seen at public meetings and in the Connection paper.

I actually tend to dislike the new styles of housing. By now, those of us who really dislike them have all been afflicted with them as in-fill development. I know there are several, crammed in, nearly identical houses in my community. To me, I hate any thing smacking of uniformity or of a gated community look. It's soulless and sterile and uninviting. (If you want to gate your own property, fine - but a good lot and just do that.) I like communities with housing from different eras, adequate greenery and trees and parks in them. They still exist, but you have to look hard for them.

My husband and I are both successful professional people, so, yes, we can well afford the ugly new behemoth houses popping up around us. I am surprised they sell so well, because most of them really strike me as unattractive. After looking at one too many, soulless, overly tall houses that offers a small lot and no privacy, in the end we chose to buy a better constructed, well cared for, all brick home from an earlier era, that actually fits its lot and has plaster walls and oak floors throughout and a good, level lot - the type of stuff our parents' generation demanded in housing and that I wish our own generation was more demanding about quality and craftsmanship. I hate to have my house looks like everyone else's - there is something almost unAmerican about that.

The neighborhood around the Wedderburn property is a nice neighborhood. It is pretty, it is bucollic, it has variety, it has character, it has nice houses on decent lots. I don't look forward to seeing it change and find it hard to believe very many people who live there would want it to so drastically. I do think the Wedderburn property was ripe for redevelopment and the owners clearly felt that it was, but I was hoping for something a little better.

I think I would have loved to buy a large, new, all-brick house on a decent lot and placed a decent distance from the next house, so that one cannot hear one's neighbor sneeeze, there. Being near the trail would have sweetened the deal. The Wedderburn property would have been an ideal places for such homes, but I understand the current owners might not have gotten as much money for lower density and that they have held the property for generations and have probably decided with at least somewhat heavy hearts to sell it. I just wish it had turned out to be a nicer plan.

I do not like the sound of what will be built there. I am not looking forward to staring at the type of houses I anticipate having to see along our trail when this development is built. I hope that my fears are off base, but I expect it to be unattractive in that area of the trail when the houses are built. I feel sorry for the neighbors, because I do not see this development as an enhancement to their community.

I am not so sold on the assertion that the people populating the neighborhoods around Wedderburn are deeply at odds with each other. Certainly there are several of our neighbors that are proponents of the development, but in all the 2+ years this has gone on, I have found the majority of people to have misgivings on the nature of the project. I haven't been aware of nastiness between neighbors.

And I am not so concerned that there IS some division - we are a democracy after all and differences of opinion is a vital component in our political system.

What I am concerned about is when politicians - like Linda - seek to give undue weight to differences of opinion, engaging in rhetoric designed to highlight differences instead of reaching for common ground. She was arrogant and dismissive in her remarks - saving them for a time when public comment could not come into play.

I think Ms. Smyth has been so allied with the developers on this project, so wedded to what they had to say - and the expanding tax base it will bring, so accepting of seriously flawed staff findings to the point of categorically dismissing expert testimony that did not fit her sense of things, that I believe she has come to actually believe that there was broader support for her position then was out there. She lost any perspective she had long, long ago.

Such thoughtful comments here today. I very much appreciate all the time and care that went into so many comments. I hope we can parallel this on the new blogs at www.FairGrowthNetwork.org (hopefully there will be more than two shortly), which also have comment threads.

Meanwhile, just to respond to a comment above, FairGrowth Network isn't itself an organization -- its a collaborative effort by several groups to sponsor a website that will allow community groups to better communicate among themselve, identify issues of common concern, and coordinate action when they so desire. It is not going away in the aftermath of the Wedderburn tragedy.

Nor is Wedderburn Neighbors going away -- our nearly 200 members deserve to know about how development decisions being made in other parts of the County will affect them in the future, as they most certainly will. Some of us, for example, are very concerned about what is now happening in the Hunter Mill Study Area (see http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=56034&paper=73&cat=104 for more information about that). If "transit-oriented" development within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of Metro morphs into "transit-friendly" development up to 2 miles away, that will have a huge impact on all of us who are currently near Dunn Loring, and will also affect the re-development of Tysons Corner down the road. A very big deal....

Trust me -- lots of letters have been sent to the Post. Very few are run, and those that are get relegated to the Fairfax Section. But we try. On a related matter, why does Fairfax County advertise public hearings in the Times rather than the Post? Interesting.

Will we have any choices in two years? Would the Dems run anyone against Linda if she chooses to run again. And would the Republican party put forward someone less pro-developer? I don't care what party the person is in, but generally it seems like chosing between two not very good choices.

I have been active in the Lewinsville battle since the beginning and in response to the post by "No name, no City" I would like to make it clear that we have received invaluable assistance and support from many residents throughout the county who have no ties to our immediate neighborhood. I know all too well how little free time most county residents enjoy, and how many battles there are to fight right now in this county - and continue to be grateful for the assistance that was offered. Also,it is possible that some Lewinsville residents voted for DuBois. After all, she didn't say "If elected, I'll make sure to sue my own constituents." What she actually said was "If I am elected, there will be a public hearing [on Lewinsville].
(Oct.21, 2003 at the AAUW - MCA election forum )

I THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT ROUND IN THIS SEEMINGLY ENDLESS FIGHT IS YET TO COME. The move by the Board of Supervisors to rush through changes to the Zoning Laws to defeat the Lewinsville homeowners is one of the scariest moves by local politicians that I have seen in a long time. If they succeed this time with that tactic, I feel sure their arrogance will lead them to use that manuever time and time again. We WILL need help with this round.

Well folks,
Here we go again! The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors agreed to add another nail in the coffin of the Chesapeake Bay. What a cynical group of elected officials. They claim to wear the cloak of environmental responsibility by upholding the Chesapeake Bay agreement and signing a proclamation for an environmental vision for the future of Fairfax County yet continue to vote affirmative for zoning issues and special exceptions that dismantle the very principles of their stated ecological goals. What a bunch of paternalistic sycophants saying that they know what is best for communities with respect to clean air, water and quality of life.
I am personally sickened by the tone of elected officials at all levels of government regardless of party affiliation. They have all shown that they are beholden to the influence of those with the biggest pockets contributing to their reelection campaigns. They are clearly putting the interest of their big buck doners ahead of the interest of the citizens. They are practicing tactics at the local level that we witnessed during the last national election cycle which is to try and divide citizens and pit communities and neighborhoods against one another. What's next, red Fairfax communities vs blue Fairfax communities? How has it come to this sad state of affairs that the only choice we end up with are lousy choices from either party at the voting booth? Special interests have hijacked the political processes and corrupted the souls of both parties. Graft is no longer envelopes of money handed over to elected officials and government workers or secret bank accounts. It has taken on a new form disguised as seemingly legitimate actions by elected officials to stack the hearing process in such a way that it subverts and suppresses a legitimate discourse between government, citizens and other stakeholders in order to fulfill a predetermined outcome favoring their major campaign contributors. The payoff to elected officials is bragging rights to say they brought this project or that project to the community as if the community really needed the additional traffic, bad air, watershed degredation, fewer trees, increased competition for county services, overcrowded classrooms, less affordable housing and self righteous, legends in their own mind, political hacks.

This decision to declassify a stream on an anecdotal, non-scientific protocol is a dangerous precedent setting action that threatens watersheds and resource protection areas throughout all of Fairfax County. Expect more of the same until this bogus leadership is voted out of office. I am fed up with this charade of pretend caring about the future of Fairfax County by lackluster unprincipled politicians. We can rid ourselves of this group. It has happened before in the mid-eighties when the members of the BOS wouldn't listen to citizen concerns over growth and it is time again for another purge in two years. It seems pointless to continue battling with those holding office. They have proven time and again that they favor their big pocket donors interest over the citizens interests. It is time put our energy into betting these bums out of here.

This section of the summary of the taxpayer paid retreat the BOS took awhile back would be funny if it wasn't so sad.

Themes Expressed Throughout the BOS Retreat

Most of all, the Board wants to work with members of the community and expects agencies to engage the residents of the County in their work.
Engagement and Communication: This engagement of the community is of particular importance to the Board...They wish to be systematic in their outreach to the many diverse communities of Fairfax County. They welcome the involvement of residents in addressing community issues...
In order to do its work well, the Board recognizes the critical importance of communication with the community, the staff, other local governments, and metro entities.

And one final irony:
The Center for Ethical Concerns (a department of Marymount University)

I finally read the print version of Tuesday's Post. The Post's Wedderburn hearing coverage was not very thorough. I think it was worse than that strange portrait of a developer published a week or so ago.

I am very disappointed in the Post's reporting of Fairfax issues in general. I do agree that there are two sides to every story. I expect papers to faithfully support both sides. I do not believe my own opinions are the only ones that matter - or that any one person's opinions are the only ones that matter. I care what the people I do not agree with think. If I understand their views, then maybe we have opportunity for dialogue and compromise, which have been sorely missed in local proceedings I have observed of late.

I recall someone on one of the discussion boards saying at some point that the articles in the Post seem very slanted toward showing developers like prophets proclaiming the way, but who are unwelcome in their own land. That is a good way to describe the articles I have read in the Post. A newspaper can come out so slanted one way, that you just stop reading. To me, the Post is getting that way.

I sincerely hope the Post starts doing a better job covering our news in Fairfax. We're a huge jurisdiction and we deserve better coverage. The local papers are doing a much better job.

Not to offend anyone, but the message posters on the Fairgrowth site are not journalists and please don't pretend to be. I applaud what you're doing and read regularly, but you're not the sole source and you don't have all of the info, either. Neither does the BOS, but this quote from a posting above just rubbed me the wrong way as a journalism graduate:

"I have today asked for reporting from Network members to post on the site about that action, so that we can further our agenda to notify County residents of important development news and coordinatate a cross-county response. Network member groups -- and the individuals they are comprised of -- can't respond at the drop of a hat. Being "just" citizens, we aren't paid for our vigilance and reporting."

Again, you're not journalists. Citizen action is great, but consider toning down the level of acrimony on that site. It's a bit over the top sometimes. There's a message board posting about Hunter Mill and a "rushed process." That's one person's view, but it's portrayed as accurate news. It might not be. Why only negative articles about growth in Fairfax? Surely, there's some balance you can find, too (unless that doesn't support your agenda). Blogs are great and dangerous. Perhaps I'm just too much of a traditionalist when it comes to reporting facts and balanced views. Both sides are never 100 percent right in anything.

People are negative about growth for a number of reasons. Here are some: taxpayers subsidize developers in the form of below-cost land development service and zoning fees (there's no two sides to that issue since the County provided data confirming both the existence and size of the subsidy -- almost $33 M over four years); Fairfax County does not have the public facilities to support today's population, much less more growth (e.g., Tony Griffin warned the Board of Supervisors that approving any growth beyond what is already in the Comprehensive Plan will require rebuilding the wastewater treatment plant -- again, there aren't two sides to that issue -- the County Executive has put it in writing); developers pay less in cash proffers to Fairfax County for public infrastructure than they do in Chesterfield, Loudoun & Prince William Counties -- Fairfax County taxpayers make up the difference (again, there is no other side to this issue as these are data taken from state government reports); developers have "persuaded" the Fairfax BoS to give them discounts on cash proffers for public school facilities because many children are taught in trailers (sorry, we can't debate this one either, since that information is contained in County documents); developers lobbied for higher state taxes for Fairfax County residents ($108 M net tax increase for 2005, according to the Senate Finance Committee), yet Fairfax Public Schools received only $13 M in new funding (source: FCPS); Tysons Corner developers have persuaded a state board to raise tolls on the Dulles Toll Road by almost 100% for the extension of Metrorail and the concomitant super-sizing of Tysons Corner even though the plan for rail shows that road congestion will not improve and the number of rush hour Orange Line trains will be halved. Again, the data is contained in government documents. Despite paying double-digit real estate tax increases for six years in a row in the Dranesville district, we have Cooper Middle School 7th graders eating lunch before 10 AM. There's no two sides to that question. Our esteemed Board of Supervisors simply failed to collect sufficient proffers to expand the facilities. The BoS gets campaign contributions and children eat lunch before 10 AM.
Slanted, provide facts that rebut any one of these statements. If anything, this blog understates the problems with development in Fairfax County and the BoS' level of disregard for the citizens of Fairfax County.

Fed Up notes the curious phenomenon of the Board of Supervisors publicizing their public hearings in the Times and not the Post. This is done by the BOS as the bare minimum in meeting their legal requirement to publicize their hearings. We saw the same thing last winter and spring during the county's budget and tax hearings.
In the former case, because the BOS wanted to drum up more agitation among interest groups for more spending, they augmented their Times' notice with a variety of press releases and events that were dutifully picked up by the Post and the rest of the yokel media. They also gave prominent notice on the county web site well ahead of the budget hearings.
But for the tax hearings, there was no mention on the county web site until the last minute, and no stories pushed to the local press. Why? Because they didn't want citizens calling them to task for their outrageous property tax hikes.
Such dishonesty is a hallmark of this board; the lies that Another Voter refers to above are just the latest example. They raise our property taxes year after year, but then brag about "tax rate cuts," apparently assuming that the average county voter doesn't have the luxury of time to notice that the rate "cuts" are more than offset by the rise in assessments, resulting in a higher tax bill for each property owner.
They also disguise their extravagant spending on new programs with claims to the effect of "this new program costs only 1 cent of the property tax rate," as if any of us actually pay just cents for our property taxes. (I've always wanted to use the reverse logic on them: "cutting the tax rate so our property taxes remain stable would be only 13 cents off the property tax rate--certainly no big deal for a well-off county with a $3 billion budget."
And perhaps the biggest lie of all: they claim to want more affordable housing in the county, yet when it comes to the property tax--the one area where they can have a direct influence on affordability--they make the monthly house payments less and less affordable for both current and prospective homeowners.

Dear "Slanted"

I'm not sure why you picked that name, but it cannot be a description of www.FairGrowthNetwork.org as you suggest.

In my comment above I noted very clearly that community residents who are members of community groups participating in the Network are not journalists, nor do we try to be. The Network is a great big "soap-box" for everyone -- real journalists are welcome too -- to report their first-person experiences at various events and hearing, and to state their opinions in the Forum or blog comments.

The one comment you mention, about "rushed" Hunter Mill Task Force meetings, is on a blog under my own name, and is only referenced on the front page as an "opinion" of one attendee. I'm no journalist, but I think that meets general journalistic standards, no?

The www.FairGrowthNetwork.org site is designed to foster communication and debate. There is nothing "over the top" at all on the main page (which is basically lacking in ANY rhetoric), and the blogs and comments are clearly referenced as individual opinions. Why don't you come participate in the debate there?

The Fairgrowth Network site is a healthy sign that the citizens are taking ownership of their government again after a long snooze. They have not been paying close attention and assume someone else is watching after things for them. And they're right, they are; the small universe of public officials who graduate into jobs at law firms and influence peddling firms whose ridiculous fees as "consultants" are paid by developers.
One very good thing about the citizen blogs is that they are teaching those new to the process -- the people Linda Smyth chided derisively for "cutting their teeth" on a case as difficult as Wedderburn" -- how government REALLY works. The people who go and testify at one of those public hearings, giving up their personal time and making the effort to drive to the inconvenient Taj Mahal only to wait several hours for a three-minute speaking slot and endure a scornful comment or put-down from one or more of the supervisors, then watch them as they vote 10-0 against what the common taxpayers want, soon come to understand that there is no public input in Fairfax County. Public hearings are a big joke and serve only to legitimize the action the board already knew they would take.
That's why people get mad. It's no wonder the level of acrimony is high. So is the level of disrespect for citizens from the Board of Supervisors.
Get a clue, Slanted. What that poster probably meant by "reporting" is that, as opposed to the developers who send paid informants to "open" citizen meetings to report back to them, citizen groups only have volunteers who must steal time from their churches, families, and selves in order to watch what government is doing.
As I recall, both Linda Smyth and Joan DuBois are in office by virtue of tiny vote margins which would almost certainly have gone the other way if more people had been "awake and aware" during the election in 2003. Most were focused on the race for president.
Perhaps Ms. Smyth discounts Fairgrowth because she suspects it harbors one or more of her erstwhile opponents, and perhaps she has concern about what would happen if they meet at the polls again in two years.
As we say in Maine, if there is honor in not catching fish, there is honor in not catching muskie.
I say, you go, Fairgrowth Neighbors. You kick butt.

P.S. It takes guts to write under your own name, Slanted. Give Deborah credit for that.

Dear Slanted,
There have been some success stories--examples of "good development" in the last few years. These successes preceded the fairgrowthnetwork site's "birth." Be assured, when we win one, significantly improving a development through citizen input, we will want to let everyone know.

I appreciate Slanted's comment, but I do not think the FairGrowth Network is meant to be a journalistic endeavor...is it? I think it is intended as more of a general information source.

I think the FairGrowth Network site links to real newspapers for actual "news" coverage. I guess I'll have to look at it again. I know the front page is very dynamic and changes a lot.

I know there were a couple guest articles that came out - but these were written by a PhD scientist and an environmental lawyer with several years of field enforcement experience. I don't think those were presented as journalistic pieces, though, as much as they were presented as scholarly, guest commentary by experts who have reached their own conclusion as to a situation that is clearly in controversy.

I am not knocking journalists, but like anyone who samples different areas and reports about them rather than delving into them as experts, they can only scratch the surface and sometimes they do a poor job of complex issue coverage. I become disappointed in newspapers when they seems to have leaned to favor one side - which I do believe is wrong outside of the boudnaries of editorial/opinion pages - or when they fail to ask obvious questions of the people they interview.

The local papers have done better with the local coverage than the Post in my opinion. Perhaps their reporters and editors are better connected to the communities they write about and therefore have more access to the parties involved?

Anne:
I think the people who write for the local newspapers care about you. They really do. When they start to lean, it's because they know more than they can write. Maybe they try to even things out a little. The good ones -- the vast majority of reporters -- try very hard to find out all they can about things you want or need to know, and they try to pass you information that might help you figure something out for yourself.
They are people with an overdeveloped sense of fair play. They get mad when they see good people mistreated. That is why someone said the role of a newspaper is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. Newspapers are just like democracy in that they are imperfect.
On the other hand, try to imagine what government would do if there were no reporters watching.

It was a good compromise. The trail users who don't even live in the neighborhood were nauseating. I'm sure many residents along the the old W&OD rail bed were equally opposed to the conversion to a recreational trail, but the county acted for the good of the trail users. They quietly put up with the noise and congestion from the trail because they accept the trail is for the common good of all residents.

The long-term owners of the Wedderburn property absolutely deserve to sell the property. Whining about the size of the houses and the supposed 75' buffer was purely a red herring. The trail crybabies would only be satisfied with no development. Again, compromise results in a larger buffer and more trees as opposed to the clear cutting on sites like the Goat Farm.

I'm particularly pleased with the decision to take the development traffic onto Cedar Lane. We have many children in the neighborhood and don't need more Range Rovers and Hummers flying down our neighborhood streets. Too bad some of you may be inconvenienced by the extension of the suicide lane. Another red herring from the Chicken Littles.

Mr Actual - I'm sure us Wedderburn neighbors heard you say that you don't even use the W&OD Trail and that children don't belong on it.

It's a bit disingenuous for you to support the suicide lane to 19 homes - as long as it didn't extend down to your street, which could have been dedicated Elm St and where it would have service over 300 homes in your community.

Endanger the lives of the users of the W&OD - but don't endanger the lives of your residents? This is not a red herring. The widening of Cedar for 19 homes is unnecessary and you know it.

The comments of trail users during the public hearing were not "nauseating". Even Gerry Connolly repeated states that the W&OD is the crown jewel of Fairfax. The Trail is important precisely because it is so well used and appreciated. The lives of the users should be so honored, too.

Adding 24 houses on 13 acreas doesn't bother me one bit.

It is funny how the environmental wackos have teamed up with condo & office developers top push for thousands of bodies in condos and offcies but they hate the idea of a couple dozens single family homes withing ccurrent zoning rules.

Adding 24 houses on 13 acreas doesn't bother me one bit.

It is funny how the environmental wackos have teamed up with condo & office developers top push for thousands of car on the road in condos and offices but they hate the idea of a couple dozens single family homes within current zoning rules. Lets face it there is no real wilderness in Fairfax county - dense development in FFX will just put more pressure on stafford/loudoun/PW counties.

It makes me sad that the 20 or so people who are pleased with this development still find the need to call the 200 of us who are not "Chicken Littles" and "wackos" whose comments are "nauseating" "red herrings."

To my knowledge, no one involved in Wedderburn Neighbors has ever personally castigated anyone who holds a different opinion; is it really necessary to do that to us?

Some seem to not be thrilled with our Boarde of Superviors.

Well now, don't blame them. Blame the voters who put them in office.

But there is a solution if you think changes are needed. Vote the Board out of office next election.

George Bernard Shaw said it best. He said that democracy "ensures that we shall be governed no better than we deserve".