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SunGazette
VOLUME 79 NO. 52
RE/MAX Distinctive
ARLINGTON’S SOURCE FOR HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1935
WAKEFIELD’S FIRST PLAYOFF VICTORY EVER!
NOVEMBER 20, 2014
2014 Was Rough; Will 2015 Be Worse for County Leaders? Battles Over Community Priorities, Spending Levels Loom on Agenda SCOTT McCAFFREY Staff Writer
Wakefield High School running back Leon Young extends the ball along the sidelines to pick up extra yards in the Warriors’ first-round 5A North Region Tournament win over Potomac Falls on Nov. 14 in Arlington. According to team officials, the playoff victory was the first in the 60-year history of the Wakefield football team. See full coverage in sports and find PHOTO BY DEB KOLT updates on this weekend’s action at www.insidenova.com/sports/arlington.
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If County Board members think 2014 has been a rough year, they may want to cling to the bedcovers as 2015 approaches – for it could be their annus horribilis. The five board members are likely to find themselves confronted with difficult choices both on spending priorities and where best to put community facilities, while facing an electorate that this year proved its willingness to elect a non-Democrat to a full four-year term for the first time in decades. Schools, open space, recreation facilities, affordable housing – all have their advocates, and finding common ground is becoming more and more challenging, despite pleas from the County Board dais. “In a 26-square-mile location, we need to solve our collective problems collectively,” said board Vice Chairman Mary Hynes, who is all but assured to succeed Jay Fisette as chairman in 2015. In her last turn as chairman, in 2012, Hynes pressed for broader community engagement in decision-making, finding some success. But in just a few short years, the stakes have gotten higher: Various interest groups have gal-
vanized around specific issues, tempers are getting short and consensus is elusive. Short-term battles and groupvs.-group squabbling “seem to be gobbling us up at the moment,” Hynes sighed at the Nov. 15 County Board meeting, where some residents “In a 26- d e m a n d e d action, or square-mile inaction, on location, we specific issues need to solve (no housing our collective on parkland, for one) while problems others pressed collectively.” a can’t-we– County Board all-get-along Vice Chairman approach to Mary Hynes finding common ground. It is the Public Land for Public Good affordable-housing initiative that seems to be most divisive at the moment, with advocates for open space still voicing fears about the county government’s intentions. County officials say their aim is not to diminish the amount of open space in the county, but privately, they, and advocates on all sides of the issue, will acknowledge the initiative did not roll out