Opinion
Dear Editor: The forces arrayed against Vice Mayor Ben Nett and former-Mayor Kwasi Fraser have showed their hand; all along, they wanted to tip the political balance on the Town Council so that they could density-pack small town Purcellville. The charges against Ben and Kwasi were a nothing burger. What started with headline-grabbing indictments boiled…
By Susan Khalil Purcellville’s water and sewer systems face the same challenge confronting many established communities—aging infrastructure must be maintained and replaced while the town plans for future demand. But aging infrastructure is not the same thing as a system on the verge of failure. A comprehensive water study prepared by Jacobs Engineering identified improvements…
By Ken Falke America’s greatest problem isn’t just debt, politics, or division. It’s our mindset. We forget too quickly, demand too much too fast, and convince ourselves that real crises won’t touch us. These aren’t harmless cultural quirks. They are dangerous weaknesses. Weaknesses that threaten our economy, our democracy, and our national security. Short Memories…
By Charlie Houston Some issues spark countywide public outrage: Data centers and transmission lines are two of the rawest issues today. Other things trigger outrage among a smaller cohort of citizens. Two of these are the obscene proposal for a $200+ million Western Loudoun Recreation Center, and the plan for turning the George Washington University…
Dear Senator Perry, I was already on administrative leave when you advanced legislation requiring my suspension. That fact deserves a clear answer: what additional public protection did your bill provide by removing me from duties I was already on leave from performing? For my family and me, its most immediate consequence was to carry my…
By Frank McDonough
Alexis de Tocqueville noticed something different when he looked at American towns in the 1830s. The whole community could gather, argue, and vote. Those votes stuck. A handful of select-men were the council, but they couldn’t do much without the town’s approval. And they served only one year. The people, not a permanent council, kept the final say.
Dear Editor: In my two previous op-eds, I voiced my support for Suhas Subramanyam to represent our District 10 in Congress. I watched the two candidates debate at the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce on September 22 and studied each of their websites. We have a track record with Suhas, which I think is an important…
An Environmental Impact Study Could Have Prevented It—and Still Can By Phillip E. Thompson, Esq. For two decades, Loudoun County officials told us the data center boom was an accident of geography and timing—a happy convergence of fiber-optic cable and the internet’s insatiable appetite. The truth is simpler and far less flattering. It was a…
We have all become painfully aware that Loudoun County planners and decision makers made serious mistakes in allowing more “by right” data center development than the available resources or the public’s good will could sustain. There’s nothing to be gained by assigning blame. But it is important to avoid repeating the same mistakes. Sadly, the…