Private Facebook Group should change name to Purcellville Matters Censored
Dear Editor:
The developer-backed private Facebook Group Purcellville Matters Uncensored should change their name to Purcellville Matters Censored! This group was started by Sam Chapman, one of the owners of Vineyard Square after he lost his run for Purcellville Town Council.
I was kicked off by the moderator just for asking questions and challenging Candidate for Town Council Caleb Stought. I asked questions and corrected his erroneous information. Well, that got me booted off. So much for transparency!
The moderator of that group censors opinions he doesn’t want his audience to hear. If you disagree with anything said by one of their top contributors, they eject you from the group. Among their top contributors are Beverly Chiasson (formerly Beverly MacDonald – no relation), a former Town Council member who lost to Kwasi Fraser in the race for Mayor in 2020, and current Council members Caleb Stought and Erin Rayner.
A few days ago, Caleb Stought appeared at my door while campaigning in my neighborhood. I told him not to waste his time and that I was irritated that I had been ejected from PMU for disagreeing with him over policy issues. He said I was harassing them. It’s clear to me that the political types who hang out on PMU deem any pushback for their opinions to be harassment. They just can’t cope with opinions other than their own.
Just two years ago then Council Member Stan Milan who ran for Mayor was kicked off just for asking a question. That was of course before he flipped from slow growth to the developers new “darling.” Milan is the only candidate for Mayor this year who has taken money from developers.
He is now promoting turning 21st Street into San Diego’s Gaslamp District—complete with hotels and multifamily housing. Oh, but first he has to change the zoning in that area to allow for higher stories and multifamily in that district. Most of the benefit from the changed zoning will go to one group of property owners. I’ll leave it to the readers to guess who they are.
Milan is also now championing annexations in the name of progress and business development for our town. All this focus for just one land owner and their investors. What about Citizens First?
Then there is the high double-digit water and sewer rate increases for the projected next five years. Oh, and new town debt—the first time in eight years.
Sean MacDonald
Purcellville
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