Op-Ed

By Charles Houston (Disclaimer: Characters mentioned here are fictional and do not reference any real person.) Appenzell is Switzerland’s most rural and traditional canton. Its best tradition is the annual parade of dairy cows up to Alpine pastures in the spring and back down in the fall. Its second-most appealing tradition is pure democracy, which…

By Kwasi Fraser I would like to express my appreciation for the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors’ efforts in adopting the 2023 Loudoun County Energy Strategy, which undoubtedly holds great promise for our community. However, I find the recent decision by the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors to explore landfill gas (LFG) as an energy…

By Charles Houston At the end of 1996 I bought a tumble-down, hardscrabble farm near Waterford. It was to be just a weekend place, after some basic renovations: About $3,000 to rid the house of termites. A similar amount to remove trash and junk from the house and barns. More to change kitchen counters, and…

By Charles Houston So said architectural icon Frank Lloyd Wright. Let’s use his lens to examine design in Loudoun County. After all, our ballyhooed new General Plan has an entire chapter titled “Quality Development” which asks, “How does the development exhibit high quality design through shape, materials, finish … ?” Our new zoning ordinance is…

By Kwasi Fraser Western Loudoun County, with its stunning bucolic setting, rolling hills, vineyards, open skies, and farmlands, has been a key contributor to the overall economy of Loudoun. However, the region is currently facing a significant challenge with its electrical infrastructure. The root of the problem is inadequate transmission capacity, which is leading to…

By Charles Houston First Some Yogurt You’ve probably seen the yogurt brands Yoplait, Siggis and Chobani. French, Icelandic and Icelandic, right? Wrong. These labels were just invented as marketing constructs and the words mean nothing. Not so with my favorite yogurt, Oikos. Give credit to its producer, a huge French food products company, for using…

By Charles Houston Let’s roast some sacred cows, or if you prefer, tell the emperor that he has no clothes: Memo to: the Board of Supervisors – The recent draft of our new zoning ordinance does nothing to protect the historic and rural character of western Loudoun. It will lead to overcrowding, and to excessive…

By Charles Houston Start at the Beginning Western Loudoun is a special place, starting with its geography: rolling hills, forests, rivers and mountains. For almost three hundred years since it was first explored by European adventurers, the hand of man was gentle. Early settlers cleared land for crops and livestock and built attractive small homes…

By Charles Houston Years ago, I was a young project manager for a major Atlanta developer and one day was invited to join the partners’ meeting to report on my first big project. I kept it short: The infrastructure was almost finished, the first six-story building was halfway complete. That project is now UPS’s world…