As we walked by the front of the building, the door was open to China King as well as the stairs to the apartments upstairs and they both had large fans blowing into them. So it was difficult to tell which part of the building was affected.

Pics and more details shortly.

Having watched (and participated in) this frenzy of local democracy for the past 6 election cycles, this one is shaping up to be epic. We have a mayoral race pitting an entrenched (impacted even) incumbent with 2 or 3 interested parties lining up in the wings. Council seats so far only have a couple of people nibbling at running. As things start to shape up, we’ll have a lot more news and opinion here.

In the meantime, if you have any inside scoop, rumors, or interesting news, please don’t hesitate to pass it along!

http://www.leesburgfirstfriday.com/

And from August 24 -31 there’s a sale going on in the Oatlands gift shop:  30% to 70% off current merchandise.
For information about these and other upcoming events, visit the website at www.oatlands.org.

It would have been much more effective, in my opinion, if Reid and Dunn had not sided with the mayor in voting against the rate ordinance. I understand their rationale for opposing it, and agree more with them than those in support of the resolution, and it is quite different from Umstattd’s fantasy world. But months from now the vote is going to read 4-3-0 and they are all together as the “3″ with not a lot of public recollection as to why, even though they were interested in seeing more expense cuts before rate increases.

It was gratifying to hear the number of citizens that called for a return to allowing the URAC to study and recommend rates. I don’t believe the town is particularly well-served by out-of-town consultants who swoop in and toss off the answer that the town staff has already aimed them at. A great quote last night that I overheard, “Consultants are people who take your watch and tell you what time it is.” How true in this case.

Anyway, back to the news and events of town!

Our second suggestion this week is Moe’s Southwest Grill situated at 667 Potomac Station Dr NE. For being part of a chain, the food was surprisingly good. After being greeted by the traditional “Welcome to Moe’s” yelled by all employees when someone comes in, we picked a ground beef taco meal and a pork salad from the menu. Both portions were huge and the taste and spices were excellent. The taco was so full of meat, guacamole, salad and pico de gallo that I had a hard time not getting any all over my shirt. The pork salad is made with pulled pork meat and was dressed with our choices of ingredients : cheese, pico de gallo, beans and cilantro. Of course it did not replace a trip to New Mexico or South Texas, but it was good southwest food for Northern Virginia.

Finally, we made a nice discovery during our First Friday outing. We sampled some of the products (apple cobbler, beignets, hushpuppies and cornbread) from Woodpecker Farm Foods. This Virginia company was founded in the early ’90s by the great grandson of Betty Washington, George’s sister. The gourmet batter and dough mixes are made with simple, natural ingredients.  You add a little water to the mix, stir, bake or deep fry and voilà! Their products, very affordable (between $3.50 and $4.50 a bag) can be found at The Pink Shop or online.

For the record, tax payer dollars are not used in the operation or maintenance of the town’s water and sewer plants. Apparently many people have been misled into believing that is the case and that it justifies the mayor’s drum-pounding call for up to 225% of punitive surcharges on out of town customers. Not so.