Letters To the Editor
Thursday, July 15, 2004; Page LZ02
Save Trees, Fight Towers
We live in a beautiful county. To our north is the majestic Potomac River, and running through the heart of Loudoun is the 30-year-old Washington & Old Dominion trail, a thriving tree-lined recreational oasis for walkers, runners, bikers, rollerbladers and many other species of wildlife.
But all is not well in Paradise. The health of our county, and the people who live here, is threatened by the constant degradation of our air and water quality, the loss of our tree cover, and the rise of impervious surfaces such as roads, rooftops and parking lots.
In fact, the EPA recently downgraded our air quality from a serious non-attainment area to a severe non-attainment area. This affects each of us with every breath we take. The EPA and the medical community have also said in no uncertain terms that the worsening of our air quality here will lead to more respiratory illnesses and, eventually, more deaths.
Cutting down 26,000 trees along the W&OD trail so that we can erect steel power towers will only throw gas on a fire that's already burning out of control. Loudoun is the fastest growing county in the country. We should be taking a leadership role in how a 21st century community lives, works, plays and governs. And that means we can't allow these 110-foot steel dinosaurs to roam our countryside.
There's a better way, and we all need to stand up for that better way. It may cost more in the short run, but the long-term benefits are priceless in comparison. We're talking about quality of life. How do you put a price on that? We're talking about the health of our families and our environment. How do you put a price on that? And we're talking about life itself. How do you put a price on that?
Bill Replogle
Leesburg
Chairman, Environmental
Advisory Commission
GOP Conflict of Interest?
As a resident of Loudoun County, I have great concern over the rapid development occurring in our county as a result of the six Republican members of the Board of Supervisors who seem to favor heavy development with no long-term plan in mind ("There They Grow Again," July 9).
Many others share my concern. It seems to me, however, that our voices are being muted by those who continue to whisper into the ears of the Republican Six. Just last week, the Republican Six voted to approve a 500-unit housing development on property owned by the family of the Republican former county board chairman, Dale Polen Meyers. This is three times the number of residences that would have been allowed if the board had not approved the rezoning.
Supervisor Bruce E. Tulloch (R-Potomac) is quoted as saying any suggestion of a conflict was "totally absurd." Is it really absurd, though, considering that Ms. Meyers was reported to have been a top strategist in last year's campaigns of Supervisors Tulloch and Stephen J. Snow (R-Dulles) and an integral part of last year's GOP takeover of the Board of Supervisors?
At a minimum, this amounts to an appearance of a conflict of interest. Labeling any such concern as "absurd" does not change how it looks to the rest of us.
Susan Klimek Buckley
© 2004 The Washington Post Company
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