ISSUES

The COVID-19 global pandemic laid bare inequities in healthcare, childcare, and more in our community. As the county began testing and vaccinating thousands, I ensured that these events were operating in Eastern Loudoun, some of the most densely populated areas. This resulted in testing events at Potomac Falls High School, vaccination operations at the Dulles Mall, and continued vaccination events at Sugarland Elementary School and the Cascades Library.

We also know that two-thirds of those who lost jobs during the pandemic were women. Hence I worked to have the county American Rescue Plan funds allocated for a countywide childcare needs assessment. This assessment will recommend programs and actions to help families get in, and stay in, the workforce.

National studies indicate Loudoun has several “childcare deserts” and is short 2,700 childcare slots for ages six and under. This means the county loses at least $1.3 million in annual revenue because parents cannot work.

One of my first actions on this Board was to make a motion to support the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in Richmond, so that women can finally be treated equally under the law. This passed and we were the 38th state to ratify the amendment, which now must be published by the National Archivist and codified in our Constitution. Additionally, after the reversal of Roe V. Wade, I initiated work in our state legislative agenda so that our county will oppose any further restrictions on reproductive rights and support expansion of access to the full spectrum of reproductive healthcare so that pregnant people can make decisions about their healthcare, timing and size of their families. This is a fundamental human right.

As a former journalist, I always want our government to operate with the utmost transparency. Loudoun has the most expansive policy in the region for public input. We revamped our public comment process to ensure that non-English speakers can have their voices heard and access their government. We stream our meetings live and keep recordings on the county website. This is not required by state law. I advocated for funding and hiring several positions in our public affairs office to ensure we meet residents where they are with important information, especially via social media.

One of the first things any Board works on at the beginning of their term is the rules of order and a vision statement. During those discussions in early 2020, I made sure the county vision statement includes the terms “inclusive, equitable and sustainable.” Since then, we have governed by that vision for every citizen regardless of gender, orientation, race, religion, or socio-economic status. We hired the county’s first equity officer during our term and recently adopted a social and racial equity resolution, which I co-sponsored.

We also accomplished several initiatives to address historical discriminatory practices, from removing the Confederate statue from our courthouse grounds to renaming infrastructure and studying the impact of illegally operating segregated schools for 14 years after it was deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court. The board funded my initiative to study this impact in late 2022.

We also supported the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment and recently added opposition to further restrictions of reproductive rights to our state legislative agenda

Our board is committed to passing the lowest possible real and personal property tax rates while maintaining critical county services and adequately funding the Loudoun County Public School System. While not artificially maintaining an “equalized” tax rate, this board has consistently funded the county budget and the schools with a lower tax rate than the previous year.

In addition, the board adopted an 80% valuation for vehicles subject to the car tax to ease residents’ hit due to the COVID-19 explosion in used car values. This board will oppose a repeal of the car tax unless the state can hold the county harmless in making up that lost revenue.

Finally, the board consistently opposes unfunded mandates from the state that would result in an additional burden on Loudoun taxpayers to provide critical and required county services, such as child protective services, public defenders and prosecutors, and public education. My roles on the Virginia Association of Counties’ (VACO) Board of Directors and Finance Steering Committee are key to holding that line. I recently testified on behalf of VACO in a Virginia Senate subcommittee against siphoning off public school funding and sending it to savings accounts for “private education.” This is a blatant attempt to undermine and defund public education and I will fight against such initiatives with every platform available.

This board is committed to increasing and preserving Loudoun's attainable housing stock while simultaneously providing the required infrastructure, such as roads, utilities, parks, public safety, and classrooms. Our board endorsed and funded the Unmet Housing Needs Strategic Plan and revamped our Housing Advisory Board to keep us accountable to that plan. We invested ½ cent of tax revenue for our Housing Trust Fund, which lends money to affordable housing developers.

We increased our expectations for the percentage of affordable dwelling units in each housing proposal in the county and intend to codify this in the new zoning ordinance. We participate in regional efforts to build housing around metro stations (High Capacity Transit Areas) and are writing zoning ordinances for the new “Urban Policy Area” where the most dense housing projects should be built.

This board continually asks developers to fund and build infrastructure to support their residential projects, such as multi-use paths, bridges, parks and fields (active recreation), and intersection signals. Algonkian residents can see my work in this area in the new weight room at Potomac Falls High School; new playgrounds for Sugarland, Meadowland, and Countryside Elementary schools; new turf fields at Algonkian Regional Park (accelerated in CIP), and multi-use paths and bike paths.

This board is committed to completing the zoning ordinance rewrite so that our policy matches the 2019 Countywide General Plan. In that plan, Algonkian District is identified as the “Suburban Policy Area,” where the county envisions infill development and areas for revitalization, such as Cascades Marketplace and Countryside shopping center. I’ve been working with developers so that any residential increase comes with tangible benefits to the community.

Loudoun is home to 130 data centers. That’s 26 million square feet on the ground and eight million in the pipeline. This has provided unprecedented revenue for the county helping us keep the real estate tax rate low. But this also is creating a severe imbalance in our revenue picture and overreliance on data center revenue. The best practice for any jurisdiction is to have 60% of revenue derived from real estate taxes and Loudoun is struggling to keep it at 50%. Additionally, data centers are Dominion Energy’s largest consumers and rely almost entirely on fossil fuels.

I have been fighting the development of data centers in the Algonkian District since the day I took office. This advocacy resulted in the countywide data center study that identified appropriate sites in the county for further development and identified where data centers would be inappropriate despite the fact that zoning would allow them. We are working on setting policy around the recommendations in the study and hope to have them complete by the end of 2023.

I am a strong believer in the dignity of work and that unions benefit the entire community. Unions help reduce wage gaps for women and people of color. Union members have better job safety protections and better non-wage benefits, such a paid leave, healthcare and retirement, than non-union workers, and are more secure in exercising their rights in the workplace because they have a seat at the table.

Our board proudly codified a collective bargaining ordinance and are in the process of negotiating a contract with the Firefighters union. We anxiously await the certification of the SEIU employees to start negotiations. We are disappointed that some of our transit workers went on strike because they were not able to come to agreeable terms with the county contractor, Keolis. But I support their right to use their voices to advocate for fair wages and none-wage benefits, such as leave, retirement and reasonable healthcare costs.

In this age of election denial, Loudoun County has not been immune from the fear-mongering and rumors around elections’ integrity. I can say unequivocally that Loudoun has experienced zero incidents of election fraud and continues to operate safe and secure elections that are the envy of the region and across the state.

However, our board has been concerned about threats, harassment and weaponizing of the Freedom of Information Act to intimidate our registrar, electoral board and elections volunteers.

We are concerned that the new Republican-controlled electoral board could force out our registrar without cause and all of her employees would also be let go in the process. She has more than 30 years of institutional knowledge and has operated safe and secure elections in Loudoun for decades without significant issues. Our board supports legislation that would create a higher bar for any attempt to remove a registrar, including evidentiary requirements and a Circuit Court review.

We strongly oppose the repeal of Sunday voting by the electoral board. Sunday voting, better known in most churches as "Souls to the Polls," has been a popular church event in the black community for decades in the south. In recent years it has become a nationwide event that brings the community together to participate in our democracy. Sunday voting in Loudoun has been an unmitigated success offering expanded access to the ballot box. But it was recently repealed in an obvious attempt to suppress the vote because the GOP knows they cannot win Loudoun on the issues. Lastly, after hearing concerns from the registrar’s office, I felt compelled to ask for additional security at the Leesburg office during elections & electoral board meetings. The board recently approved $50,000 from surplus funds to do so.

Connectivity and green space have been a top priority for my office and this board. I’ve worked with County Parks and Recreation to shepherd through the renovation plans for Bles Park, which will include additional parking and safety measures; new pickleball and soccer fields; an improved playground; off leash dog park; trails and a kayak launch. With all of that, more than 90 percent of the beautiful park remains passive.

In my role on the Joint School Board Committee, I advocated for LCPS to line high school tennis courts for pickleball when they are resurfaced during normal maintenance, adding facilities for those in our county who play the fastest growing sport in the nation. Working with VDOT, I advocated for bike paths on Whitewater Drive and Whitfield Drive.

Additionally, I successfully advocated to add a $2 million project to the Linear Parks and Trails signature project that will extend the Potomac Heritage Trail West through the Countryside easement along the river, with a bridge over Horsepen Run. We are always looking for ways to get residents out of their cars, walking, hiking, biking or scootering in the district and across the county. I continue to seek opportunities to expand connectivity and green space to improve the quality of life for Algonkian and county residents.