Gerry Connolly has six items on his agenda. While these are not to the exclusion of other things, this is what he is focusing on during his tenure as chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
He relayed these issues to members of Mount Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce during their First Tuesday Business Lunch held at Cedar Knoll Inn.
First on Connolly’s agenda is gangs. While Fairfax County is one of the safest jurisdictions and the crime rate is falling, gangs continues to be a growing problem; more than 2000 youths in the county are members of gangs.
“If we do not get ahead of the curve, it will get out of control,” Connolly said. “We are focusing on suppression, enforcement, prevention and intervention. If you can prevent one kid from joining, you’re ahead of the game.”
Connolly said that it’s important to work with middle school children; many of them are latchkey and don’t have a lot of activities after school.
“We need to turn that around,” said Connolly, who is pleased that Cox Cable has committed $3 million to build at least three new Boys & Girls Clubs and that there is money in the county budget to expand the Club 78s — after-school programs — from one to four.
Second on Connolly’s agenda is affordable housing. Because of the double-digit increases in housing pricing, people of modest means can’t afford to live here. Connolly said that they are not giving up on building new affordable houses, but also said, “That won’t solve the problem because we are losing so many existing units. We need to stabilize the existing units by negotiating, competing and substituting. I’ve set as a goal to retain 1,000 units this year; I’m pleased to tell you that we have already saved 500. These units are all over the county, not just focused on Route One.”
Connolly said that the one cent set-aside will help, and when Cheri Zeman, executive director of UCM, later asked how that money was going to be used and Connolly responded by saying that an oversight committee will try to leverage those dollars with private sector money.
CONNOLLY’S THIRD FOCUS is the environment, and said, “Environmental practices have been implemented over that the years that would not be accepted now.”
He has proposed a 20-year plan that will concentrate on air quality, streambed erosion, land stewardship and other issues. Connolly is excited about the fact that the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) owns 9.2 percent of the land in Fairfax County; their goal is to own 10 percent.
“That’s a lot of open space,” Connolly said.
Education is Connolly’s fourth focus, saying, “Schools are critical to the quality of life.”
He believes that the school system has done a good job in handling the increasing diversity, and said, “We speak over a hundred languages, yet our test scores have gone up not down.”
Fifth on his agenda is transportation. Connolly cited a four-year plan that will work on intelligent transportation systems and spot improvements. He realizes that congestion will always be a way of life, and said, “Creating choices is the key to getting out of our conundrum.”
Some of those choices are Rail to Dulles, Richmond Highway Corridor improvements and expanded telework opportunities.
Connolly’s final point is tax diversification. Because Virginia is under Dillon’s Law, the only taxes that the county controls are from property taxes.
“Every source of revenue is controlled by Richmond. Most other municipalities have a basket of revenue sources,” Connolly said. “Relying on property taxes is not a good thing.”
There has been some relief with three new sources of revenue — cigarette taxes, recordation fees and hotel taxes, but Connolly would like to see more. He is pleased that the county was able to award the largest tax rate cut — 13 cents — and is hoping to reduce it even further next year.
“I pledge to continue to ratchet down the burden on homeowners,” Connolly said.