Delgaudio rants about Kagan. Really. PLEASE CAN WE ELECT SOMEONE ELSE? PLEASE?

H/T Lowell

It’s clear from last night’s Monday’s Public Hearing on the RPA, and from the mail traffic I’ve been getting, that there’s been a lack of clarity on the RPA and especially on the RPA Screening Area (pictures of differences after the jump)

FACT: If you are in the RPA Screening Area and the PROJECT (deck, swingset, patio, vegetable garden) you want to complete is LESS THAN 2500 square feet in area, then you are cool.

You don’t have to ask permission beyond what the county (or your HOA) already requires or do water testing or anything.

FACT: This means that the only folks who have to worry about whether they are in the RPA Screening Area, are landowners with Huge Tracts of Land that are looking to subdivide or build homes or large shopping areas. In which case, the $3400 fee for doing the testing is a small percentage of the price and is a cost of doing business.

QUESTION: So, who has a vested interest in sending out panicky emails to homeowners in Broadlands, Brambleton, Sterling, and other well-built-out areas of the county where the average size of a project is 240 square feet? Couldn’t be builders and realtors? Could it?

FACT: The bulk of Eugene Delgaudio’s campaign money comes from realtors and builders

FACT: Donny Ferguson, who wrote that Western Traditions blog post, is a former Eugene Delgaudio aide.  Here is a picture of a map overlaid with the RPA

And here is a picture of the same map overlaid with the RPA Screening Area

How do you find out if you are either area?

1. GO HERE: http://gisinter1.loudoun.gov/weblogis/agree.htm.
2. Click on Yes, and then click on the tab marked “Search”.
3. Enter your address (it works best if you enter as little as possible – house number and first part of your street name).
4. Click Submit. Then click Map It on the linked list the site gives you.
5. Now click on the Map Layers tab in the new window.
6. Click on the drop-down box under “Layer Groups” and select “Environmental”.
7. Now select the select “Draft RPA Screening Tool” and scroll down to click apply. If there is no beige on your site, you’re not in that area.
8. Now, unselect that option and select “Draft Chesapeake Bay Area” and scroll down to click “apply” to see if you are in the RPA.
   
   If your site doesn’t have any green in it? You’re good.

If there is any brown on your site and you are doing a project that disturbs less than 2500 sq ft, this document says that you are okay.

If you are within the green area, then you’ll need permission to do your project.

As seen at Blue Virginia

As an FYI to all, the 10th District Democratic Committee is filling a vacancy to the State Central Committee due to Eileen Manning’s resignation and move to Florida.

Those that might be interested in serving on the Committee should seek an appointment. I believe the Committee will be seeking female applicants from Fairfax to maintain gender and geographic balance.

If anyone is interested, email some members of the 10th to seek a nomination. Committee members are listed here:

http://10thcdvadems.org/page7/…

I’m a long-time fan of Christine Lavin, and this song’s been bouncing around in my head the past couple of days. I should tell you that YouTube has flagged the video as being inappropriate for younger viewers, probably due to a quote by Ann Coulter and an old video from a western where a gun is shot toward the camera.

Unintended Consequences: Yeardly Love and Marshall-Newman.

I hate to say I told you so, but I ABSOLUTELY told you so. If you don’t want to click through, here’s what I said on Friday, November 3rd, 2006:

It’s that time again

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have less than a week until election day. This year, it’s more important than ever that you get out there and vote.

(A paragraph on Judy Feder).

(A paragraph on Jim Webb, ending in a comment about Gay Rights = Civil Rights)

Speaking of which, I’m voting “NO!!!!” on ballot question 1 which reads:

Question: Shall Article I (the Bill of Rights) of the Constitution of

Virginia be amended to state:

“That only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this Commonwealth and its political subdivisions.

This Commonwealth and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage. Nor shall this Commonwealth or its political subdivisions create or recognize another union, partnership, or other legal status to which is assigned the rights, benefits, obligations, qualities, or effects of

marriage.”?

Now, the first paragraph is foul on its own. Homophobia enshrined in a state constitution. It makes me sick.

The second paragraph is also quite worrisome. In Ohio, some courts have decided that similar language in their constitution bars unmarried women from getting protective orders against their abusive live-in boyfriends. It could invalidate living wills, roommate agreements, custody agreements between people who were never married.

Our lovely State’s Attorney (an elected Republican) {OH! He’s our GOVERNOR now!} sneers at our concerns and says that the legislature and he have written opinions and intent statements that they don’t mean this to apply to straight people. Or elderly aunts. Or abused girlfriends. But these are the same people who fought to get strict constructionist judges on benches all over our state. And if I remember correctly, strict constructionists are not known for giving a hoot about the legislative intent. They go by the words in the document.

Heck, even the extremely conservative Richmond Times Dispatch is against it.

Seriously, people. I’ve been angry about this for four years now. When civil rights don’t apply to EVERYBODY, we end up finding that they don’t apply to ANYBODY.

This is what it looks like when one-third of all trips are made by bicycle:

Also: Did you see those buses? WOW!Loudoun will host two pit stops along the W&OD trail, where folks who registered in advance can get swag!!! (Unfortunately, the register-by date was the 14th. Oops!!)

This week, I’ve been reading about Aiyana Stanley Jones, a 7-year-old girl killed by police while she was asleep in her living room.7-Year-Old Girl Killed By Detroit Police While Sleeping in Her Home The bare bones of the story.

There Is No Justice For Aiyana Adrienne talks about the vigil.

Aiyana Jones, 7-Year-Old Shot And Killed By Detroit Police, Was Sleeping According To Family HuffPost has more.

Silence Delia asks us to think about how and why this could happen.

Given that we have just sent a crew of R’s to the House of Delegates, I don’t see permission to switch to a county income tax from the property tax model coming anytime soon, but I do think that that is ultimately the answer to giving the county a reliable and fair taxing structure that doesn’t penalize low and fixed income property owners or those that have fallen on hard times.As I said in this comment on the roads thread:

Loudoun Interfaith Relief has seen a sharp increase in the number of people seeking food assistance.

More children than ever are qualifying for free lunch in our schools.

The number of people out of work for over a year is at a record high.

We have people in real distress.

Meanwhile, it is absolutely the case that we also have fabulous wealth in the county…And this is why an income tax is fair and a property tax isn’t.

I do feel that there are people who can afford to pay more, and an income tax would enable that.

I also feel that the (admittedly regressive) meals tax should have passed if as many people who are upset about the cut to schools had voted for that tax – which was clearly stated on the ballot as being reserved for school funding…but it failed by over 70%. So there is definitely a disconnect in people’s priorities.

Again, if you want to pay more in taxes than you are currently getting billed, you are absolutely allowed to do.

Bus routes I think would be popular and cost effective:

One that goes to the George Mason campuses. It’s perfectly ridiculous that there isn’t a reasonable way to get to that campus via public transportation, unless you go to West Falls Church and get on the bus there….a two-hour trip.

A local bus or buses that could take people from Leesburg, Sterling, and all the HOA centers to AOL, Verizon, Orbital, Dulles Town Center, and other major businesses.

A bus route to take people to Herndon and Reston (there’s already one to take people to Tysons!)The only way to accomodate more people on our roads is to try to get as many folks as possible out of their cars and onto mass transit. And the only way to do that is to have routes that are varied and useful.

We know who our major employers are. We know where our major residential centers are. It’s not too hard to map out what routes would be busy enough to warrent regular bus service.

Am I the only one who is puzzled by the Comprehensive Transportation Plan and its lack of comprehensiveness?

(Here’s a link to the Countywide Transportation Plan, for those who might want one. – P13)Where did they come up with the idea of all those 6-lane North/South roads? Where is the sense in that?

What we need are more and better East/West roads. The biggest jam-ups we get going North/South are from folks trying to avoid the Greenway and Rte 50 (one for the completely outrageous cost and the other for the completely outrageous volume.)

We need East/West arteries and, more specifically, we need mass transit. Not just the Metro – though I love me the Metro, New Yawkuh that I am. We need bus service. Lots and lots of bus service. We need to be able to get from our neighborhoods to our jobs without needing to get into a car. Buses can do that. Partnerships with HOAs and local businesses to get vanpools to bus-stations could be a start, but actually having a county-wide (or, dare I hope, region-wide) transportation system could be a cost-effective and environmentally-friendly alternative to the mess we’re currently in.

6-lane North/South roads? No thank you. Bus Service? Yes, please.