To The Editor:
On Election Day, Nov. 3, 2015, the petition for permanent facility(ies) by the Burke/West Springfield Senior Center (BWSSCWoW) received strong support with 4,226 votes or 18.7 percent of total votes cast by Springfield District voters. Our petition was the major issue of the campaign that I waged as an Independent Candidate for Springfield Supervisor and I thank the many voters who support the cause of fairness for Springfield District seniors.
This level of electoral support translates to more than four-fold the 1,000+ petition signatures that we had received last year – and was ignored by the incumbent who does not want to do his job of improving the quality of life for all residents, including seniors.
The election result was achieved with less than $1,000 of my money versus the $511,737 in funds raised by the incumbent. This means a ratio of 1:512 in funds raised versus vote result of 1:4.
The election phase of our petition has done extremely well.
Our next step is to meet with Chairman Sharon Bulova to follow up on my testimony requesting full Board support to override the incumbent’s record of ignoring numerous phone calls and emails by seniors for a working group to implement solutions, particularly for our request for an annex to Pohick Regional Library.
We look forward to working with Chairman Bulova in redressing the unfairness toward Springfield senior taxpayers and families: other districts have 17 permanent senior centers, Springfield District, none. This issue is important for the longer a senior remains functional and healthy, the less the burden on the children, the grandchildren and our Springfield District community as a whole.
We welcome suggestions and support from more Springfield District residents as we pursue our goal of permanent facility(ies) for the Burke/West Springfield Senior Center. In particular, we are petitioning for an annex to the Pohick Regional Library renovation similar to what is done in Maryland, for example the Pikesville Library/Senior Center:
More information about the Springfield Senior Center petition is available on my website: www.facebook.com/Foley4SpringfieldSeniorCenter.
Corazon Sandoval Foley
Burke