Joblessness in N. Virginia could be more in line with rest of the country

"Virginia is more vulnerable to this kind of policy shift than any other state," said Stephen Fuller, director of the Center of Regional Analysis at George Mason University. "Defense spending was our strength during the downturn. It kept unemployment lower here than in most other states. It kept the economy from crashing as far as other states'. It's also our Achilles' heel."

- The Washington Post, August 9, 2010

The good times in Northern Virginia might take a significant hit if the business of defending the country goes the way of many other businesses in the last couple of years. The unemployment rate here is about half the national average. This is an area that employs hundreds of thousands of government workers and has numerous private-sector companies that do work for the Defense Department and related agencies. Many northern Virginians have simply been oblivious about the horrible job market outside of the area.

Of course, Northern Virginia hasn't been totally immune to the economic downturn. Even before the recession started, AOL (once the charm of the high-tech world) had several rounds of massive layoffs and relocated most of its remaining operations to New York. Gannett, a major newspaper and media company based in McLean, Va., laid off thousands (including me) throughout the entire company. Some restaurants have closed. Some offices remain vacant. But we have always had the government jobs. Those are good jobs that keep housing prices from crashing and continue to bring new and highly educated job-seekers to the area.

Defense and national security, in one way or another, drive most everything here -- from local coffee shops that cater to government employees to the technology corridor that does contract work for Uncle Sam. People who work for the government or related firms have been a fearless, confident group throughout the recession. But that is now in jeopardy here and down in the Norfolk region. The loss of a few thousand jobs might not send the state's economy crashing much further, but it won't help failing municipal budgets or the confidence of people already looking for jobs. Read more.

Lessons from Northern Virginia for Arizona

Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I was driving through a small town in Maryland. I was at a four-way stop in my brand new Ford Explorer. To my left was a police officer in his cruiser. The light turned green and I drove on. Within a half a mile, I was pulled over by the cop. He asked to see my license and registration, which I presented to him without question, and he let me go shortly afterward. I don't know why I was pulled over that day. Was it my new, black SUV with the tinted windows that somehow raised his suspicion? Was it that I looked like someone who might have stolen the vehicle? This wasn't a checkpoint where everyone was being stopped, nor did I commit any traffic violation. So was this some kind of errant ethnic profiling in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks? I can tell you that as an American citizen, it was a very unsettling feeling for me.

In essence, this is what is wrong with the new Arizona law that tries to curb illegal immigration based on how people look rather than how they actually behave. This was the same problem that Prince William County, Va., faced in 2007 with its push for tougher laws that eventually had to be curtailed. If you get a chance to see the film 9500 Liberty, you will see what these types of laws do to communities. In Prince William County and Manassas, Va., even the police chief was against the tougher laws for reasons he outlined to a county commission that didn't seem to listen. The chief made a strong case about how the law would make policing tougher and actually result in more crime.

Eventually, the county's economy began to collapse because so many people left the area. Hispanic kids, even the ones here legally, weren't going to school out of fear of being targeted by authorities. Community policing efforts became fractured because of a lack of trust. This is what Arizona will face on a state-wide basis.

I have included the 9500 Liberty trailer here, but it doesn't totally capture the complexities of what went wrong in Northern Virginia when misguided politicians tried to push the law to its limits. The documentary is currently being shown in various movie houses in Arizona. Perhaps it will provide some insights on why laws like this often make matters worse and why the authors of these bills sometimes have less than honest or honorable intentions.

There are functional and fair laws already on the books to address certain problems created by illegal aliens, or anyone else, who violate the law. Federal enforcement and immigration policies do need to be beefed up to curtail the flow of illegal immigrants from all countries, not just ones from south of the border. But Arizona, like Prince William County, should not take matters into its own hands by creating laws that go against common decency. Arizona has embarrassed itself enough in the past by doing things like not recognizing Martin Luther King Day. And it paid an economic and moral price for it.

Loudoun County is No.1 in wealth

I don't feel like I live in the wealthiest county in America. Yet, Forbes says households here have an income of about $110,000, making it the richest place in the U.S.

Loudoun County, Va., is a nice place. If you live in the populated eastern end, you're less than 30 miles from D.C. If you live farther west, you have views of mountains, wineries and horse farms. Scattered throughout the county are high-end stores, restaurants and major companies.

Two miles from where I live, in a more modest townhouse community, is the Donald Trump Golf Course. It winds its way along the Potomac River. However, two miles in the opposite direction are some low-income housing complexes. A little farther away, across Route 7, lies the community of Sterling Park (not part of Sterling) -- a place known as the home of illegal immigrants, lots of gang activity and rundown homes.

The weather here isn't as nice as La Jolla, Calif. There are no views of the ocean like in Palm Beach County, Fla. You might run into the occasional politician or Washington Redskin football player out and about in Loudoun, but you aren't likely to see any celebrities of note as I did when I lived in the suburbs of New York and occasionally would run into Al Pacino or other famous people.

The beautiful people do not live in Loudoun County, but that's not to say there isn't some old money to the west in horse country. Yes, there is plenty of grooming and lots of fitness gyms here, but no starlets fluttering about at any New Age spas or young guns cruising the boulevard. You will see a lot of luxury cars, but they are usually stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic or driven by people who should have never been granted a license. A vanity plate will on occasion indicate that someone has too big of an ego for these parts. But there are showoffs everywhere. Big fish in little ponds.

Life in Loudoun County is about making money and raising kids. That's its focus. It doesn't attempt to be the tourist capital of the world. It doesn't pretend to be enlightened or artsy like a Santa Fe or San Francisco. It is well educated, a bit arrogant and not the friendliest of places.

Crime is low in Loudoun but taxes are high. On the eastern end there are lots of Arabs and Indians, but few African-Americans. Like most places, there is a mix of Hispanic folks from various countries. It is more of a melting pot than many other affluent areas around the nation.

Dulles International Airport continues to grow, giving the county another boost. New terminals and airport transportation systems are being built. A Metro train rail will connect the airport to downtown D.C. by 2016. Already-high property values are expected to shoot up once that project is completed. Unlike Reagan Airport in D.C., Dulles has international flights. Because there are a lot of foreigners living in Loudoun, the airport is a major convenience when they want to travel. Businesses throughout Northern Virginia benefit from having an international airport. Dulles also has some of the longest security lines in the country.

Unemployment is low in Loudoun. Most of the jobs are in technology-related fields, but of course lots are jobs are tied to the federal government. There are also plenty of service-industry jobs. I am not sure how people working in lower-wage jobs can afford to live here. When I was working at USA Today (12 miles from here in Fairfax County), I needed every penny of my salary to maintain my home, pay my taxes, etc. Now that I've been unemployed for awhile, it's becoming less and less feasible to live in Loudoun. There isn't anywhere in Loudoun to go that would be safe and affordable.

Overall, I like living in Loudoun. After my 9 years here, I'd have to say it's one of the better places I've lived. I hate the traffic. Don't appreciate the rudeness. And I do get worn out by all the kids. But I figure most places have their drawbacks. I like feeling safe in Loudoun. I like living in a place without too much ignorance. I like mountains and rivers and eateries that aren't run by large corporations.

I wish Loudoun had more of a sense of Virginia about it. You're more likely to hear an Indian accent here than you are a southern accent. Of course, you are less likely to see a moonshine bust in Loudoun than you are in Danville, Va., 200 miles south of here. Dental health is generally pretty top-notch in Northern Virginia, too. Kids from Loudoun tend to go to college. That's not the case in say the southwest part of the state.

I don't think most Loudouners think of themselves as living in a highly exclusive area. Greenwich, Conn., has far more snob appeal than Leesburg, a historic town located near the center of Loudoun County. But Loudoun has a sense of livability and convenience that seems to attract folks of means -- folks who would not be as comfortable living in more rural or more urban places. We have our fair share of blue-bloods and residents who feel entitled to, well, everything, but I suspect Beverly Hills has more. As I mentioned, Loudoun is largely about families. And regardless of how much a person earns or how often they go to the tanning salons, you can only be so snobbish when immersed in raising kids. By the way, Loudoun has one of the highest rates of multiple-kid families in the country.

Unfortunately, growth has also made Loudoun less desirable to folks wanting more elbow room. Like the other D.C. suburbs, sprawl is becoming a problem here. The infrastructure is not in place to handle all the new subdivisions. Schools are constantly being built to keep up with the growth rate, therefore taxes go up each year. Some older people without kids are beginning to move away, tired of paying for schools that don't benefit them directly. County leaders can't seem to say no to any developer. As a result, some of the charm of Loudoun County has disappeared.

I like that I don't have to go far to get almost anything I need. Sure, if I want great crab cakes, I still need to drive the hour or so to Baltimore. If I want world-class museums, I need to go to Washington. But from Loudoun, those places are accessible. Loudoun has nice parks, a decent mall, good medical care and some of the best wineries on the East Coast. We even have not one, but two Wegman's food stores. Many universities have satellite campuses here. There are still quaint towns like Waterford and Middleburg that are nice to visit for the day. And parents rave about the public school system.

I am sure there are glitzier places that would appear to be wealthier than Loudoun. I know there are friendlier places and states and counties with nicer weather and lighter traffic. Loudoun County is very good at providing for the upper-middle class. And as long as you have a good job and can tolerate an area that seems to have more than its fair share of Type A personalities, life in Loudoun is very doable.

With that said, I think Loudoun needs to pay more attention to quality-of-life issues and not shut out the middle and lower-middle class folks who want to live here. School teachers, police and county government workers should be able to afford to live in the county they provide services to. This should not become a county just for members of the Trump country club. Too many businesses in Loudoun still underpay their employees. A lot of the money made by Loudoun residents comes from D.C. and surrounding counties in Virginia and Maryland. Salaries in a place like Leesburg are still relatively low compared to salaries in McLean, just 20 miles away in Fairfax County. One of the reasons why traffic is so bad in Loudoun -- and why people are so cranky here -- is because they have to commute to get the big bucks to afford homes and taxes.

If I have to leave Loudoun this year because of not being able to find a job, I will be disappointed but not entirely devastated. Loudoun isn't a warm and fuzzy place. It's a functional county but not one that creates a lot of sentimental feelings. I personally don't know of any adult who grew up here. Few people have roots in Loudoun. Most of Loudoun's growth happened in the last 15 years. So there are people from all over the world who now call this home, but they don't really have any serious attachments to the area.

Still, I would rather stay than be forced to leave. Living here is a mixed bag, but it's more good than bad.

Yeah, we're No. 1 in household income. We have lots of new buildings, some scenic vistas to the west, lots of college-educated people. Whether Loudoun has a soul remains to be seen. Whether or not people who want to stay or move here can afford to do so also remains to be seen. As I have mentioned in previous posts, I am wary of anything that gets too big or is ranked too high. There is only one place to go once you've reached the top.

Read more about Loudoun's No.1 ranking.

Blue skies return to the region

A view from my top-floor window of icicles hanging from my neighbor's roof. Ice is dangling from all of the roof tops here in Sterling, Va. The good news is that the sun is out and the storms are over. The bad news is that it's not going to get much above 30 degrees for the next several days.

We have gotten more snow than Madison, Wisc., in this unusual winter. Northern Virginia is still not out of the woods, with repairs from two blizzards ongoing and March looming as another snow-producing month for an area that has already set snowfall records.

Waking up to white-out conditions

Four days after one of the biggest snowstorms ever in the Washington D.C.-metro region, we have white-out conditions this morning as another foot or more of snow is being dumped on top of the 30 inches that fell last Saturday. Visibility has been zero much of the morning as winds are gusting around 40 mph. Drifts are reaching six feet. Power company crews have stopped working to get electricity back on in parts of Virginia and Maryland because conditions are too hazardous. Some folks have been without power for four days as night-time temperatures plunge into the lower teens. Suffice to say, many people are about to snap.

No one in these parts can recall anything like these two back-to-back storms. Trees and roofs continue to fall. Snow-removal budgets were exhausted weeks ago, shortly after the Dec. 19 mega-storm, which seems like a distant memory now. Hundreds of millions of dollars from the local economy have been lost as most businesses are closed. As of 9 a.m., the Virginia Department of Transportation said there were about 200 accidents working. Milk, bread and other basics have been gone from the store shelves during this stretch. A house burned down in Great Falls -- about 10 miles from where I live -- because the fire trucks couldn't get through the snow. Even local television meteorologists have a bewildered, grim look on their faces. And those guys usually live for this stuff.

It's an uneasy feeling waking up to pure white and winds that are shaking a house with thousands of pounds of snow already on the roof. Virginia wasn't built to withstand this sort of weather. People move to this state for its relatively moderate seasons. We have several more weeks where more snow could pound the region. It's scary to think what might happen if we get hit with another blizzard later this month or in March. One has to wonder where all the water will go when the snow begins melting and how businesses and municipal budgets, already crushed by the recession, will recover.

Digging out in the suburbs of D.C., again

After two feet of snow, I stopped counting and just kept shoveling. By the way, those are buried cars on the far right edge of this picture.

I think we got close to 30 inches in Sterling, Va., just outside of Washington, while Baltimore was up around 32 inches. In the mountains west of Loudoun County, inch totals were in the 40s.

To show how serious this storm was, malls closed all around Northern Virginia. I mean big, upscale malls in Tysons Corner and elsewhere. Malls never close on a Saturday -- not here in the materialistic capital of the world where there are more enclosed mega shopping centers and sprawling outlets in a 25-mile radius than anywhere else east of the Mississippi.

For this area, this weekend's storm brought twice as much snow as we usually get in an entire winter. And don't forget, back in December we were hit by a similar storm, not to mention several smaller storms in between. For a guy who can't stand winter, this hasn't been a good year.

This winter is adding insult to injury (it has not been a good year in any regard) and creating a few new aches and pains along the way. After hours of shoveling I have come to realize that driveways, even short ones, in cold climates are a young man's game. I'd be far better off swatting mosquitoes in Boca.

My house is still standing and I am not in traction. I am grateful for both of those things. But get this, the forecast for Tuesday calls for more snow.

Good news, bad news on home front

The good news is that existing home sales are up 9.2 percent from last September. The bad news is that average sale prices are down 8.5 percent. So it seems that if you're looking to sell your house you might have a better luck now in finding a buyer. But don't expect to get top dollar.

I think many potential sellers in an area like Northern Virginia are feeling some relief knowing they can unload their homes if they have to in this still-struggling economy. Home ownership has many benefits, but mobility isn't always one of them. If you lose your job or have to move out of state for personal or professional reasons, a mortgage can be like a ball and chain.

Homes don't always appreciate in value, regardless of the economy, and aren't always easy to sell. Mortgages can potentially create a nasty trap. I owned a modest townhouse in Florida for five years in the 1980s and didn't make a dime on the sale of it. Yet, I had to move before it was even sold. Talk about pressure.

We owned a condo in Manassas, Va., in the 1990s that took nearly seven years before it modestly increased in value. The second it went up, we sold for fear of never being able to get out of the tiny, apartment-like dwelling if we didn't strike while the market was hot.

Today's news of existing homes selling faster is good to hear. As the future appears more cloudy by the day, one needs options in order to simply survive. Being able to sell our house gives us an out, allowing us to move to cheaper digs if the job market continues to worsen. Perhaps it's not an ideal option, but at least it's not another impassable obstacle. Of course, if prices continue to fall, there will come a time when selling is no longer financially feasible. So as I mentioned in an earlier post, the pressure is on to figure out whether to stay or go.

It appears that this recession is creating a vicious vortex in many ways. Once you get caught in it - through job loss, real estate issues or other hardships - it's difficult to find your way back to a relatively sane existence. For the first time in my life, traditional methods of getting back on my feet aren't working. I find myself clinging to every piece of good news that I can find, including today's real estate report. Unfortunately, each tidbit of positive news seems to be followed by a wave of new disappointments. It gets tiring to say the least.

D.C. area has some of the worst drivers

The Washington D.C. metro area has the No. 2 worst traffic in the nation. Los Angeles is first. I would argue that traffic isn't caused only by volume of cars or insufficient highways. Where I live, on the boarder of Fairfax and Loudoun counties, there is an inordinate number of rich folks in fast, high-end cars. Many of these folks are hyper, "type A" people with cellphones glued to their ears. Because they can afford pricey vehicles that can outperform other vehicles, they tend to drive like lunatics, often causing accidents, which then leads to backups. At the very least, they can ruin your morning commute with their rude road habits. This is not to say others, with modest cars, aren't equally rude or dangerous. But in parts of Northern Virginia, it seems you are more likely to be tailgated by a BMW or Hummer than a 10-year-old Ford Focus.

In addition, we have an incredibly diverse population with people from all over the globe living or visiting here -- a good thing in many regards, but not so much when driving. I suspect the rules of the road in Pakistan don't match the customs of driving in America. I often see drivers just stop for no apparent reason. I mean totally stop dead in the middle of the highway where there is no stop sign or red light. And things like signaling or yielding are completely alien to these drivers. I never saw anything like this, not even when I was commuting from Connecticut to New York City every weekday.

This all leads me to wonder which metro area truly has the worst drivers?

Finding one's place

I have always gone to where jobs took me. I never moved to an area without a job. That has led to my residing in some places that were less than ideal. But that's where the jobs were, so that's where I moved. It seemed to be the responsible thing to do.

Some folks say they put greater importance on where they live and make employment secondary in their decision-making process. Because of their attachment to a place, they find ways to make it work financially. They find jobs, affordable housing, etc. And if they don't, they eat out of tuna cans and do what they have to in order to survive until they get on their feet. Many Californians will not move away despite raging fires and record-unemployment rates. They stay because they are in harmony with their surroundings.

The most fortunate of people have jobs where they work from home. They can live anywhere as long as they have a high-speed Internet connection. I know three people in this situation. All three are quite content. All three live in very different areas of the country.

I've known people who made a bundle on selling their homes during the real estate boom and rode off into the sunset to live where they felt more in balance. Or they received an inheritance which allowed them the freedom to roam around until they found that special place to settle down. Folks take different paths to finding their place.

We all have places that feel right, whether it's the desert, the mountains or along the coast. Some put a priority on being near family and friends more than on geography or culture. Sometimes we're conflicted. Our friends and family live in the country, but our hearts are in the city. I have known people who have moved to Florida for the warmth and for health reasons, but have had to return north because they couldn't stand not seeing their grandchildren grow up.

Life is short, and if one has a strong connection to a particular area on the globe for any reason, it almost seems sinful not to live there, at least for a period of time. Maybe it won't be ideal, and maybe you will move back, but I think there is value in trying. I did that in moving to Florida in the 1980s.

As I ponder life in an ever-changing Northern Virginia, I am beginning to feel out of place here. That could be in part from not having a job to go to each day. Jobs do help connect you to an area. But the culture of Northern Virginia is also changing rapidly. I don't recognize my neighbors because this is such a transient section of the country. I don't recognize languages. I don't recognize the ever-changing landscape because of massive development.

Perhaps a rewarding job would help me regain my footing here. However, that isn't happening. Job interviews have been few and far between. I am living in an area that feels less like home, without the rewards of a paycheck. And it takes a significant paycheck to live here, as I mentioned in an earlier post. When you reach a certain stage in life, any old job often won't suffice, not in an area like the D.C. suburbs.

The question I am pondering: Is it time to roll the dice and to move to an area, even without a job, that has other qualities about it that would make it feel more in sync with my values, desires and dwindling bank account? The more I sit here without a good job, without the friends and energy that often comes from employment, the more it seems like a mistake to stay much longer. I've had a good ride in Virgina. Went to college here in the 70s. Worked at USA Today, which I thought was a stable employer. But, as George Harrison sang, "All things must pass..." In this recession, those words are more true than ever.

Should I stay or should I go?

The Clash sang "Should I Stay or Should I Go," which in a recession takes on new meaning for many people. Unfortunately, this is no song. This is a profound question homeowners, and even renters, are asking themselves with greater frequency -- at least those who still have a choice.

Northern Virginia hasn't been hit quite as hard by the recession as other parts of the country. Unemployment figures are lower here. Housing prices haven't plummeted as steeply as they have in regions like South Florida or the Las Vegas area of Nevada. Northern Virginia benefits from being in the shadow of Washington D.C., where the federal government is a major employer and the private defense and technology industries keep humming along.

However, Northern Virginia has one major problem (besides traffic). The area is ridiculously expensive in terms of housing, and that is causing hardships for many more families than politicians and some business leaders around here care to admit to.

When I was laid off from USA Today last year, my immediate concern was how to pay the mortgage. My wife and I have pieced together a plan to keep us from losing our home for now, but there will come a time when we can only stretch our dollars so far and will have to move if I don't find a decent-paying, stable job. "Decent-paying" being the key phrase. The problem is, where do we move to if things do get worse?

There isn't an inexpensive town or county in this region. You can move out towards Manassas, Va., and probably pay a little less for a house or rental unit, but what you save by living that far out is wiped out by commuting costs. Most white-collar residents in Prince William County commute to D.C. or somewhere inside the beltway. The closest Metro train station to Manassas is in Vienna, Va., about 20 miles away, that often takes 90 minutes to get to because of traffic. Then it's another 45 minutes on the train to get into D.C. It doesn't make for a great quality of life.

We live close to Dulles Airport, on the border of Loudoun and Fairfax counties. There are plans to bring the Metro to this area, which will only drive up the cost of housing here.

If my wife and I are struggling to live here in recent months, in a modest townhouse, how does a young couple starting out afford a home in Northern Virginia? How do retires make ends meet in Northern Virginia? We would downsize even further, to a smaller townhouse, if we could save some money. But any townhouse or condo in this area would cost more than we currently owe on the home we bought in 2001. It doesn't make financial sense to downsize. Not here; not now.

There are good salaries to be made in Northern Virginia. That's probably why people keep coming to NoVa. Unfortunately, most of the jobs that are still paying well are in specialized fields. Lots of defense department contractors are hiring because of the now-constant threat of terrorism. Great if you have high-security clearance and a passion for that type of work. Not so great if you don't. The majority of other jobs, like school teachers, office workers, police officers and such, don't pay well enough to live comfortably in this area. Generally speaking, two incomes are required. And at least one of those incomes better be fairly high because two $30,000-a-year jobs isn't going to cut it in the Virginia suburbs.

Two doors down from us, a townhouse is in foreclosure. And another neighbor has taken in boarders to help pay the mortgage. A Realtor friend of ours has also informed us that there have been a lot of "short sales" in our area. That was news to us. Bad news. So even Northern Virginia isn't immune to this recession. And if these things are happening here, in an economically diverse area, I can only imagine how people must be suffering elsewhere.

During my job search, I have noticed a trend in which salaries seem to be going down. I have no scientific proof of this, but I believe more and more employers are paying entry-level wages to experienced people, or worse, not even hiring experienced folks. This might be OK in Detroit, where any jobs would be welcomed, but it won't suffice in Northern Virginia. In Detroit, you can buy a house for $10,000. No, I didn't leave off a zero. You can literally buy a house there for that price. In Northern Virginia, even in the worst areas, $10,000 wouldn't pay your rent for a year, let alone serve as down payment on a home.

The dilemma for anyone considering leaving Northern Virginia is that while they might be able to cut their housing costs by 75% by moving to Orlando, Fla., will they even be able to find a minimum-wage job once they get there? It seems staying or going have considerable risks, which is why many people are just trying to ride out the storm, hoping that clearer skies are approaching. I often wonder about that strategy and if it's delaying the inevitable. Just as people are leaving pricey areas in California, will Northern Virginians begin abandoning ship? Will the D.C. suburbs become nothing more than bedroom communities for federal workers?

A shoot-first mentality in the suburbs

PETA is trying to stop a planned bowhunt of deer in a Leesburg, Va., community. Read about it here:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/08/AR2009090803886.html

Granted, the deer population in Northern Virginia is out of control. I saw a fawn in a park near my home in Sterling recently. It was alone and calling out to its mother. I presumed the fawn was lost or perhaps the mother died on Algonkian Parkway like so many other deer. The parkway runs along a highly residential area that hugs the Potomac River. Drivers consistently speed along this stretch of road and kill deer almost daily. It was heartbreaking to see a tiny animal wondering around making such a distressed sound, knowing its mom had probably perished under the wheels of a BMW or Lexus in this affluent, self-absorbed area of the state.

I saw an adult deer once that must have been hit by a car before I passed by it on Route 7 near Reston. It was still alive and sitting up in an awkward position, twisted and totally stunned, and probably about to die. Again, a very distressing thing to see. I still remember the look in its eyes that reflected the glare from my headlights.

But shooting deer with arrows in a subdivision doesn't appear very smart or humane to me. I must agree with PETA's stance on this. There should be a better way to solve the problem.

It seems every time there is a wildlife issue anywhere in this country, man's first choice is to shoot it. Sometimes wildlife is an inconvenience to us, so we rather blast away than have our rose gardens disrupted. We don't like when those damn geese poop on our pristine walking paths, either. Often, we pretend that burying an arrow or bullet in the skull of an animal is somehow good for nature. Of course, it's not so good when the hunter misses and the animal runs off with a wounded leg and slowly bleeds out over 12 or 24 hours.

We like to pride ourselves on being the smartest creatures on the planet, but never seem to want to stretch our imaginations too much to solve problems (often ones which we created in the first place) in less violent manners.

Northern Virginia lacks a smart-growth plan

In 1993, Disney was planning a theme park in Northern Virginia. It was to be called, "Disney's America." The company never broke ground. By 1995, Disney abandoned the project under pressure from preservationists and a fair number of rich folks who live in that part of the state, about 20 miles west of Manassas, Va.

It was about 3 a.m. when I got word from a reporter that Disney was leaving. I was the managing editor of the Manassas daily newspaper. This was big news. David had defeated Goliath.

Manassas is about 35 miles west of Washington D.C. The town is mainly known for two major Civil War battles and, in more modern times, a woman who cut off her husband's penis for abusing her. The folks who wanted to protect sacred Civil War lands from commercialization were dead set against the theme park, as were some wealthy actors, entertainers and D.C. business leaders who lived in the peaceful rolling hills where the park was to be built. They didn't want the extra traffic and other perceived problems the park would bring. Disney promised new roads, jobs and a classy park, but it wasn't enough for some people to lay down their arms in Prince William County.

Bottom line, Disney got tired of dealing with the protests and bad press. Many Virginians felt they didn't need Disney's version of how America was formed. Many felt there was enough real history all around them. Construction wasn't only slowed down, it was stopped before the first tree was chopped down. The giant Disney corporation left town.

I thought about Disney's defeat the other day as I drove up Route 7 towards Leesburg. There is so much construction of enormous shopping centers and office/residential projects that many cars were caked in dirt that is kicked up 12-16 hours a day from bulldozers leveling everything in sight along a 10-mile stretch of road east of Dulles International Airport, not all that far from where Disney's America was to be built. The traffic crawled, as it does all around Northern Virginia on most days. It's becoming a very ugly part of Loudoun County.

Developers continue to pressure politicians to let them build. When the arm twisting isn't enough, legal action usually follows, and another Wal-Mart is built and another cookie-cutter townhouse community is erected. If given a choice between a Disney theme park and the constant ravaging of the land in Prince William and Loudoun counties by transient builders, I would have taken the theme park.

I can't help feeling that while a significant battle was won in 1995, a war is being lost in 2009. Not even the current recession is stopping developers from making a quick buck by scarring the land and clogging the roads. It's time, I believe, for Northern Virginians to organize, much the way they did when they stopped Disney's America over a decade ago. Mindless growth has to be contained.