The Observer Newspapers | Council Deserves Voters' Support

April 10, 2008

Council Deserves Voters' Support

To the editor:

Chris Moore's recent editorial ("Same Ol' Tune for Town Council," Close to Home, March 28) urges the Council to "stop focusing on immigration as the source of all the town's problems and move to other important town business." Oddly enough, the article itself focused primarily on immigration-related items and offered no information on what these other important items facing the Town might be.

A much better use of the space would be to outline some of the areas where this mayor and Town Council have excelled over the past two years and to talk about some of the town's challenges looming on the horizon. This could actually serve to provide a framework for topics to be debated during the next month rather than to rehash old, worn-out opinions.

Examples of this council's accomplishments would be that there was no increase in tax rates or in the town's operating budget. Others would be the improvements at Alabama Drive and Runnymede Park. Or the marked decrease in the active caseload of residential overcrowding cases. Also, the town's Web site has been updated to include on-line registrations and bill-paying features. And yes, the town police force has been empowered by the 287(g) program to enforce federal immigration law.

The current council has also been hard at work planning for the future. They are working with other local groups to prepare for the advent of Metro rail coming to the Dulles corridor and all the associated transportation-related issues it will drag with it. They haveÊengaged with developers and solicited input from the town's citizens regarding how the downtown area should be transformed. And they have been working to reduce the effects of illegal immigrants on the town's citizens and resources.

Herndon's current mayor and Town Council have indeed been working hard and working cooperatively the past two years to protect the best interests of the Herndon's citizens. We owe them our support.

Philip Brooks

Herndon