Letter to the Editor: True Danger Is Speed
I sympathize with Rocky and Julie Curtis’s account of their “frightful” experience rounding the southbound curve in Ft. Hunt Road just past the Martha Washington Library, but doubt that prohibiting turns into the newly-opened Westgrove Park (a local park meant to serve the residents within 1-2 miles) will solve the real problems confronting travelers along Ft. Hunt Road.
Letter to the Editor: Add Tax, Lower Other
Last week's Gazette reported on Supervisor Hyland's latest attempt to convince his Board of Supervisors’ colleagues to support his quest for a meals tax referendum.
Letter to the Editor: Lions Appreciate Community’s Support
The Mount Vernon Evening Lions thank the Belleview Safeway customers for their generous donations to our White Cane Drive held in April.
Editorial: Some Limits, More Disclosure
Virginia does not benefit from elected officials being awash in cash donations and gifts.
Virginia got a failing grade for vulnerability to corruption. Corruption in the commonwealth is probably not any more rampant than voter fraud, as we said last year. But in terms of practices that could undermine trust, Virginia has vast room for improvement.
Letter: Prepare for Park Meeting
To the Editor: The Westgrove Park Off-Leash Dog Area (OLDA) has been the subject of numerous articles and letters in the Gazette over the past two years. Last November, the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) agreed to establish the OLDA on an interim basis pending the outcome of the Master Planning process.
Editorial: Value-added Evaluation?
TJ admissions illustrate growing gap between “haves” and “have-nots.”
More than 181,000 students attend Fairfax County Public Schools. So why do the 480 students who were accepted for next year’s freshman class at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology seem so important? Fairfax County Public Schools have a single elite magnet school, Thomas Jefferson, and TJ is frequently referred to as the top high school in the country. Dramatic disparity in the makeup of admissions at TJ is an indicator of disparity in early identification of students as gifted and talented, of access to advanced classes and enrichment, and in the basic education that the Fairfax County Public school system offers to all of its students.
Editorial: Voting Again
Every year is election year in Virginia, and it’s a bit much.
The most hotly contested race for statewide office in Virginia, the Republican contest for lieutenant governor, will be decided at a statewide convention on May 18. That’s about a month from now.
Mixture of Victories and Disappointments in Legislature
Commentary
The General Assembly reconvened on Wednesday, April 3, to take up the Governor’s amendments and vetoes. HB 2313, the transportation bill, which caused so much debate during the session, came back with amendments which addressed concerns of constitutionality and reduced some of the burdensome fees that my constituents were displeased with.
Letter: Letters to the Editor-Who Is Responsible?
To the Editor: Congratulations to Walmart for its decision to put wheel locks on shopping carts, because they are expensive — nearly $100. But attempts to apply external pressure, and especially attempts at legislation to force Walmart to this action, is way out of line.
Editorial: More Obstacles to Transparency
General Assembly puts more information out of public reach, but other factors also limit access.
The first paragraph of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, passed by the General Assembly in 1968, states that all public records "shall be presumed open." It doesn’t add, “except when we don’t want to,” although that provision does seem to be available in many cases. Individual government entities have a variety of ways of making it hard for the public to access public information.
Column: 14.8 Percent
That is the percentage of diagnosed lung cancer patients who survive beyond five years, according to The National Cancer Institute’s SEER Cancer Statistics Review, 1975-2009, in a graph published in the Feb. 26, 2013 Washington Post’s weekly Health & Science section. As a non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) survivor beginning his fifth year post-diagnosis, charting my prospects in such a cold and impersonal manner is both chilling and arguable. “Chilling” in that facts speak for themselves and are hardly made up of whole cloth, to invoke one of the late Jack Kent Cooke’s more famous quotes. And “arguable” in that charts, statistics, etc., may very well measure the mean, but it sure doesn’t measure the man (this man, anyway). Meaning, from my perspective: sure, the chart is scary as hell, but I’m not sure I’m on it, if you know what I mean? (I know you know what I hope.)
Letter to the Editor: Add, Add? Why Not Cut?
Is it Groundhog Day again?
Letter to the Editor: Aerial Spraying Jeopardizes Birds
On behalf of the more than 4,000 members of the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia, we are writing to express our concerns about Fairfax County plans to spray for fall cankerworms in the Mount Vernon and Lee districts of the county.
Letter to the Editor: A Code of Silence
The Virginia Freedom of Information (FOIA) is a state law that gives you ready access and the right to obtain government information and public records in Virginia.
Letter: Letters to the Editor- All in All, A Failure
The recently passed Virginia transportation funding bill HB 2313 is not favorable to northern Virginia. It eliminates cents per gallon tax at the pump that is estimated to generate $4.5 billion during the 5 years ending 2018 and imposes new taxes that generate an estimated $5.9 billion during the same period.