On its face, several large HOA’s joining forces to influence policy sounds good right?  I am not so sure.  One of its leaders, Mac Haddow, was/is a huge supporter of Peter Candland.  From the article, it sounds like there are several leaders in this group, I hope that their voices are not overshadowed by Mac Haddow. Unlike Maddow, the other members are not political donors to any specific elected local official, that is good news.

What makes Haddow particularly noteworthy is that he has experience as a Republican state legislator in Utah and as a lobbyist, meaning he understands how politics works on an in-depth level.

He also donated $1,000 last year to newly elected Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland (R) and serves as an informal adviser of sorts to Candland.

This recent article in the Gainesville Times highlights these HOA’s and their representatives that will participate in this newly formed citizen advocay group.

Leaders of several local homeowners associations are preparing to ratify a charter on March 11 that will help the organization strengthen its political clout in the county.

The Western Prince William County Homeowners Alliance features five executive committee members among other interested parties who are focused on policy issues common to the area.

Perhaps the biggest issues the group is confronting are transportation and residential development.

 

Jim Hollis, also on the executive board sounds like a good guy. He has no attachments to any one policital official and sounds like he has a common sense head on his shoulders.

A 25-year resident of the Sudley part of Manassas who has lived in Bristow for the last seven years, Hollis is a leader at the Dunbarton Active Adult Community.

“I support smart growth,” said Hollis, explaining that infrastructure should be in place to “support” both commercial and residential developments before they’re built out.

Hollis spoke out against the Avendale subdivision built along the Rural Crescent near Bristow and Nokesville and mentioned that “there’s something about the rural area of Prince William County that makes Price William County what it is.”

 

Mac Haddow, along with Peter Candland, are probably not aware of the Gainesville Sector Plan that was passed over a decade ago. The Gainesville area has a long range use plan that will accommodate as much commercial space as two tysons corners and a Potomac Mills. So Mac Haddows comment, along with numerous statements that Peter Candland made while he was running for office, demonstrate a complete lack of land use understanding.

Even if the group members have basic agreements on issues, the way they discuss them and what they choose to emphasize can change person-to-person.

When asked about residential sprawl along the Rural Crescent, Haddow replied, “The first issue is, is the Rural Crescent some kind of a sacred, holy grail? It is not.”

He later added, “There needs to be some policy that allows for a reasonable growth.”

There is a “policy for reasonable growth”, its called the Comprehensive Plan.

http://www.gainesville-times.com/news/2012/feb/09/local-hoa-leaders-join-together-increase-political/

 

 

 

 

 

25 Thoughts to “Be-Aware Gainesville, Several HOA’s Hope To Influence the BOCS”

  1. Mac Haddow

    Yes, Elena, I am guilty.

    I have exercised my first amendment rights to (1) support a candidate of my choice both with my vote and, to borrow a popular phrase from my roots in Pittsburgh, I “put my money where my mouth is”; and (2) I have joined with a number of other HOA leaders to create a forum to express the views of HOA leaders on public policies that impact our communities.

    It is the same right expressed by those who organize and the participants of this blog. I believe you effectively influence the dialogue and ultimately the decisions of local and state elected officials.

    While I do not always agree with the views expressed on this blog, I enjoy the posts and comments, and I have personally been persuaded on some issues from a previous stance.

    While we have never met (and I would certainly like to do so), I respect the dedication you have to your viewpoint, the activist posture you have taken to influence policy in the County, and I believe we share the principle of engaging in discussions to persuade others of the merit of our positions.

    I agree that I do not know everything about the County policies, and I would very much like to learn more. I do not have the archives or the institutional memory that allows for instant recall of such actions.

    I am willing to be educated and to admit when I have been wrong.

    And I freely admit that I have been very impressed with the work that Pete Candland has done so far as our Supervisor. I think he is open, honest, and working hard to serve his constituents.

    I hope that does not ruin a chance for us to meet sometime.

  2. Elena

    Well then Mac, let’s set a time for you and I to meet for coffee, I am always interested in open dilaogue.

    my e-mail is not private, [email protected]

    I look forward to hearing from you.

  3. Mom

    Mr. Haddow, with all due respect, given your very public history in the Utah legislature, HHS and the Seniors Coalition you’ll have to pardon me if I’m skeptical of your forum and intent.

  4. Lafayette

    I went to school with Mr. Hollis. He’s a sharp guy! I hope his voice of reason doesn’t get drowned out. HOA’s already have influence as they are an organization of their neighborhoods. Those of us in non-HOA neighborhoods don’t have a neighborhood roll. Therefore rely on social media, email, blogs, and good ole fashion word of mouth. All citizens need to take an active roll in local politics.

  5. Mom

    Laf:

    Role = function or position

    Roll = something you do in the hay

    Which are you suggesting and based on what experiences?

  6. Lafayette

    @Mom
    Roll as in list or register!

    Drinks are on YOU, after that last post!! 👿

  7. Mom

    Geesh, I was just curious what “an active roll” meant in Westgate.

  8. Those are a lot of pages, Theseus. Want to give us a hint what I am looking for? Just get me on the right page.

    Mom, It depends on how long the grass gets. 🙄

    Back to topic–It sounds like we once again get to ask who is the puppet and who is the puppet master?

  9. Mac, I love your blog! http://stopthedumptrucks.blogspot.com/

    This is yours, isn’t it? Great gossip. Is that the farm that residents are talking about burning down in the middle of the night? I seriously heard someone over in the the city at an undisclosed location talking about it. They were drunk and loud.

    Anyone burying tires should be beaten, especially a business.

    Funny thing what you can find out at Blue Ridge. I have never come away empty handed.
    Is Jamie helping with the blog?

    I think I will add you to our blog roll. I don’t like your taxes blog however. It’s well done but I just disagree. Housing prices have to rise and so does the tax rate. I am sensitive to that because I have 3 gkids in PWC schools. This over crowded classroom situation is near critical mass. It will be hard for PWC to attrack quality teachers given the frozen steps and frozen salaries.

    No More Taxes is a popular slogan but impractical in actuality if we want to live in a full service community.

  10. Mac Haddow

    Yes, the http://stopthedumptrucks.blogspot.com/ is mine.

    I don’t know anything about burning down the farm, but they do a good bit of burning over there themselves that generate a lot of complaints. There is inevitably going to be issues with a legitimate farming operation near new housing developments, and that is not my issue with them.

    The dumping of excavation fill for profit is the big issue when it creates a traffic hazard on the roads that is out of control.

    The fatality on Rt. 29 on Nov. 25 involved a dump truck headed to the Smith Landfill.

    The No More Taxes blog is, as you point out, an area where folks can disagree. That is the nature of politics, and I appreciate your views on it.

    Jamie (I assume you mean Jamie Zeigler) is not involved in these blogs. I understand he has been having health issues and is in a recovery mode and so there hasn’t been anything from him for quite some time on his blog.

  11. Mac Haddow

    @Theseus

    My life is an open book, and you are free to cast your stones. While you are at it, perhaps you can look up the four nationally syndicated columns by Jack Anderson on my case.

    Things are not always as they seem.

    I don’t know you personally, so I have no idea how to “google” you, but I suspect we all have things in our past that we have learned from.

  12. @Mac Haddow

    I am sorry Jamie has been ill. I didn’t think he had been active.

    Dump trucks are a problem all over the county. I get them from the work being done down near the flatbranch project. That is a legitimate business however, so I suppose we have to put up with the annoyance. However, I wish they would finish!!!

    The dump trucks also make a mess of roads. No argument here. Too many of them don’t secure their load. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

    There are still dump trucks trashing up the Silver Lake area. That place has more secrets than Area 51.

    Great exchange of info there on your blog. I added you to the blog roll. I am assuming you will continue even though the problems seem to be getting solved?

  13. Mac Haddow

    I expect to continue.

    Thanks for including us on the blog roll.

  14. Ray Beverage

    It is hoped the Alliance, when addressing transportation, is including Public Transportation – not only extension of the VRE, but also expanding PRTC Omnilink to serve population centers in the non-urbanized area of Prince William.

    The Prince William Mobility Management Plan, a document produced under a grant received by the Prince William Area Agency on Aging in partnership with PRTC and a Transporation Options Group (of which I was part of), addresses the need for more Public Transportatin options in three specific needs: Non-emergency medical transportation, transportation to obtain groceries, and Job Access (to and from work). I personally see the first two interrelated as in order to stay healthy or take medication, you need food.

    The Prince William Area (County & Two Cities) is 150 sq miles urbanized; 230 sq miles of non-urbanized (aka “rural” in the assorted local government documents). That 150 sq miles has more public transportation options….the nonurbanized has the needs, just hardly any options. The high cost of taxis and disabled accessible vans is another issue within transportation, and a whole ‘nother chapter in itself.

    Proper planning should include ALL aspects of transportation and not just roads and rail. Happy to talk to anyone about it further.

  15. Mac Haddow

    By the way, the activity near Silver Lake is very interesting in that in the three years we have been meeting with and attempting to work with VDOT to solve the dump truck problem on Catharpin Road, they did not ever admit that they are the culprits doing exactly the same thing with dumping excavation dirt on a farm in the Silver Lake area.

    They apparently confessed to Delegate Hugo when they asked for some leeway in the language of his bill, but not until their backs were to the wall.

    It’s too bad people just won’t be honest in these discussions, and I can tell you there were lot’s of occasions where VDOT should have made the disclosure.

  16. Elena

    Mac,

    The dumping has been happening AT Silver Lake. I have complained many times to the county. Who was dumping the dirt? Where was it coming from? What materials were in the dirt?

    Additionally, the mud being tracked out onto the road was another county violation, including the lack of requied large rocks/gravel to prevent the tires from tracking the mud onto Antioch.

  17. Theseus

    @Mac Haddow

    It wouldn’t do you any good even if you knew. The best of the best tried to dig up dirt on me before I got the clearances I needed to frequent certain areas of the Pentagon and other parts of the government. I was working for the government during the Reagan years too but not in a cushy office doing things for which I would be convicted. I was overseas serving our nation and getting a lot less money than you did.

    Also, it’s no secret that you were largely behind the attacks on Elena and ARC. Candland did not come up with that stuff by himself. Now you are posting here playing the nice guy?

    Regarding what happened in the 80s, I’ll go with the version from the Reagan Justice Department rather than Jack Anderson. You know, a lot of good Democrats had a high regard for him too.

    1. As far as the blog goes, Theseus, the election is over. I don’t know Mac and neither does Elena. He isn’t who *I* had pegged for the vicious attack on Elena. Someone just left a message that they are still duking it out over the election over on the dark screen. We have moved on here.

      It sounds like we have some mutual goals as they pertain to the Rural Crescent.

  18. Theseus

    @Moon-howler

    OK Moon. I’ve had my final word on this matter. “Little Birds” tweeted a lot about what happened during that campaign and who was behind what. I’m off to the “Dark Side” to see what you are talking about.

    1. @Theseus

      And when birds tweet, we listen.

      I guess that was my last Republican vote–the primary. I am so mad over the reproductive rights stuff that is going on in the State and with all the candidates babbling about contraception in 2012, that I have taken a personal pledge to vote for Mickey Mouse before casting an R vote. Ooops, I cast at least 2 R votes during the general election too. However, I did not vote for any of those donkeys in Richmond.

      The Democrats and the Independents better have some candidates. Hrummmffpphhh! Contraception as a political issue in 2012. My grandmother who was born in 1890 was not THAT repressed.

  19. Theseus

    @Moon-howler

    Moon, I thought I was done blogging after the election, but . . .

    2012 is not 1980. Jimmy Carter was a bumbling fool who was dismantling our defenses at the height of the Cold War. Republicans offered us Reagan who inspired even a lot of Democrats, who stuck with him. He also fought for integrity in his administration but I won’t go there again in this thread.

    Democrats do not feel negatively about President Obama as they did Carter. In fact, under this President bin Laden is dead and the military is being restructured to face the challenges of the 21st century instead of the second half of the 20th. Most important, Republicans are not offering us a Reagan this time.

    1. @Theseus, I don’t think that Democrats were all that taken with Reagan. The problem was, the Democrats were..pathetic. I voted for Reagan. I didn’t particularly care for his policies. However, I didn’t like those who ran against him either. He was personable. Reagan is more popular now than he was at the time. So is Bill Clinton though, at least with Republicans.

  20. Elena

    You are absolutely right Theseus, there is no Ronald Reagan running.

  21. Elena

    @Theseus re Mac Haddow

    Here is what I do know, Peter Candland, through advice and outside influence, of one person I am sure of, created a completely unnessesary toxic narrative of me. Whether Mac Haddow was privy to this, I don’t know.

    However, I will say, the wonderful positive relationships that have grown because of my involvement in land use were never affected by my stance against hateful towards Latinos. The people who have and continue to show integrity within the PW Republican Party are still positive relationships in my life.

    There are Supervisors that chose not to sign the ARC pledge from its inception almost a decade ago. Not one attacked me personally, not one. If they chose not to sign the pledge, it was based on their land use perspective, not because they personally found my views offensive.

    Peter Candland has demonstrated through his very first contentious rezoning in Occoquan where he stands on development and it was no surprise to anyone.

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