Opinion
Learning Lessons
By Eileen Levandoski, Purcellville
[Jan. 29, 2005] About this time last year, Dick Black's six star pupils announced that they need not bother suggesting legislation to either support or oppose. "This Board is off to a very fine start," said Dick Black, for they had learned his lessons well: oppose impact fees and instead encourage developers to build anywhere, any way.
With that, Dick Black packed up his bag with personal agenda items and headed down to Richmond.
The freshman students, in the absence of their master, first reveled and then rejoiced. They struck down building restrictions with abandon, settled land-use lawsuits and allowed developers to range free. But, slowly but surely, their constituents protested, their e-mail in boxes filled, the Washington Post scolded and petitions were signed. Slowly but surely, as the year passed, it began to occur to them that there was something to these growth checks and controls that others endorsed. Perhaps these ideas are not all bad, they mused. Perhaps we should listen to our brothers May and Mims. Perhaps we should be supporting impact fee legislation.
And with a unanimous vote they this year proclaimed, "Impact fees are good! Our master was wrong!"
For their master chose not to tell them that Loudoun only receives 32 percent funding back from the state to pay for mandated Standards of Quality in our schools. He neglected to tell them that in the absence of state funding, they were left with few options but to increase property taxes. He spoke of the problems of congested roads yet offered no solutions. How could their tax-ophobic master put them in such a difficult situation?
In the end, good pupils learn to think for themselves. So we shall see.
- extreme. ineffective. dick black.