Witch hunt

Last week, a white man wearing a white bandanna was spotted entertaining himself with, um, himself in his car outside Harris Teeter. Someone saw and called the police. They were too bewildered/disgusted to get the license plate, but they did note the color and type of car. Let the witch hunt commence!

I'm not going to say the real color and type of car here, because I don't want to add fuel to the fire.  It wasn't a silver Honda Odyssey or Toyota Sienna, so already it was a real freak show here in Brambleton.  It was a noticeable color of a slightly unusual sedan.  Let's say it was a red PT Cruiser.  Oh, and with a white stripe.  So, anyway, the police were called, and someone sounded the alarm on the B_Alert Facebook group...with unsurprising results:

"I will be more aware of [PT Cruisers] from now on"

"There was one of those in the Harris Teeter lot last night maybe around 7 pm or so"

"If anyone sees the [red PT Cruiser] with a white stripe again, please write down the license plate number. It might not be him, but it could be."

"[Original Poster], do you know if the car had a vertical white stripe on the right side? Back in March of this year, I took a picture of a license plate of a [PT Cruiser] in Harris Teeter because it shocked me that someone had a plate that said something sexual in Spanish. There was a man in the driver's seat. I still have the pic. I can send it to you."

"[Original Poster], do you know if any of the witnesses recall any part of the license plate? I pulled up behind a car matching this description on Loudoun County Parkway about 30 minutes ago and was able to snap a picture of his license plate. It's a little blurry because of the rain but you can still make out the numbers. I'm just a little reluctant to forward the photo because there may be more than one car in the neighborhood matching this description and I'd hate for an innocent person to be tagged for such a creepy offense. Unfortunately I was not able to get a look at the driver."

Cooler heads stepped in and suggested that any "helpful" information be submitted to the police and not forwarded around to random people. But already we have people taking pictures WHILE DRIVING IN THE RAIN of [red PT Cruisers]. And the stripe - the police only said it was a white stripe. Is it vertical? Horizontal?  WHO CAN SAY??!!

Wanna guess what the closest car dealership to our neighborhood is? And it's a stone's throw from a CarMax too.  There are more than a handful of [PT Cruisers] driving around here.

If the next perv to be spotted is driving a dark red Chrysler Town & Country, I'm in trouble. Will you be my alibi?

Back in action

Whoa...what year is this? Too much has happened since the 2011 election for me to do a catch-up post. I spent a lot of time potty-training my twins and dealing with their terrible 3's and traumatic 4's and I really just lost my sanity for a while. Then, during the biggest crisis to hit Brambleton since I've lived here ( article 1 | article 2 ), I was helping out on the research/strategy side and didn't really want to write about what was going on because it upset me too much. Instead, I unloaded verbally on anyone who would listen (or couldn't escape). I'm not going to write anything else specifically about it now because of the lawsuit mentioned in that second link; even though I am not one of the petitioners, I know things that probably shouldn't be shared and if I get worked up about it again who knows what I might write.

So, Brambleton is growing, and it has growing pains. This has never been a perfect place but some folks move here and seem to regret it immediately - if their rants on Facebook are to be believed. Brambleton is a magical place where children never egg houses; where teens never drag race down deserted streets; where packages never go missing from porches; where unlocked cars are never ransacked; where neighbors never show up at Harris Teeter in identical chevron maxi-dresses... right? No. Brambleton is a place with problems both real and imagined. And this summer's malaise has manifested itself in one issue: the pools.

Brambleton has two pools. Three if you count Summerfield, which is only open to Summerfield residents because they pay for it in their condo fees. Or four if you count Sport & Health, which you shouldn't because not all residents are members, even though Brambleton gives you one free membership per household for a year. Or six if you count the two (at last check) private residences that have inground pools. So really, two pools. One is closed a lot in the mornings because of swim team practice and meets; the other is smaller and hosts swim lessons, though it doesn't close for those. Both are managed, uh, inconsistently by the same company. I haven't been to the Community Center pool this year, but my kids did lessons at Beacon Crest so we've been there quite a bit, and in the evenings, it's not so crowded. But apparently if you go at peak times you could be turned away, or if the lifeguards don't show up to open on time, there are lines; if you do get in, the bathrooms might be dirty; there isn't enough shade; the lifeguards are lazy; etc. (These are not my complaints - I'm just summarizing.)

Pool #3 was supposed to be open this summer, and was designed with the swim team in mind (which would free up the larger and more kid-friendly Community Center pool). But it's not ready, and boy, did the villagers mount up their pitchforks. I can't even begin to relay the insanity that went on (mostly on Facebook, but it spilled over onto the Brambletonian a little bit) after people showed up at the Community Center pool on a hot Sunday morning and the pool opened one hour late. Brambleton transitioned right into Crazytown. People were fighting over the pool issues, over the multiple neighborhood Facebook groups where the fighting played out (the Brambleton Facebook ridiculousness merits its own separate post), and over the methods by which problems should be resolved here. I wondered if some residents were just going to show up at the third site with shovels and try to hand dig the pool themselves.  Meanwhile, there are people with real problems in the real world.

Over the weekend, things seems to have simmered down a bit (the epic Regal Wood / Cartier block party helped!) But it still feels like there are rifts in this community (some of which were exacerbated by the elementary and high school redistricting) that are going to keep coming to light every time there is a problem related to growth. New residents should embrace what we oldtimers already know - Brambleton isn't perfect, but it's the best place to be.

OCCUPY VOTING BOOTHS

Don't forget to vote tomorrow!

BrambleDirt's Voter Guide

The election is next week, so I figured I should probably come out of the shadows and make my endorsements. Because you care! Ha ha.

Some helpful info: General Election: November 8, 2011

Please note that Brambleton is all kinds of split up so check your status with the Virginia State Board of Elections (I will give the information as I best understand it, but don't count on me as the final word on your precinct/district/etc.) Also, Virginia doesn't show party affiliation for all races on the ballot, so if that is important to you, figure it out before you go.

My opinion is just that - my opinion. I do not belong to any one political party; I am extremely liberal on many issues but less liberal on others. I hold the local leadership of both parties in low esteem. They embarrass Loudoun time and time again.


Precinct 312 - Briar Woods
(all of Brambleton west of Belmont Ridge Rd.)
map

State Senate - 33rd District
->Mark Herring (D)
Patricia Phillips (R)

I don't want to be represented by Republicans at the state level.

(Note: One tiny chunk of Precinct 312 (near the Beacon Crest pool) is in the 13th District. See below under Precinct 118.)


House of Delegates - 10th District
->David Butler (D)
Randy Minchew (R)

Ditto.


BOS - Blue Ridge District
Jim Burton (I)
->Janet Clarke (R)

McGimseymandered! I think Janet Clarke will better represent our interests on the Board of Supervisors. I had a lot more written here but I checked myself before I wrecked myself.


School Board - Blue Ridge District
Priscilla Godfrey
->Jill Turgeon

Time for change! If I could vote out Hatrick, I would.



Precinct 314 - Legacy
(Brambleton east of Belmont Ridge Rd., south of Ryan Rd.)
map

Same as Precinct 312, except:

House of Delegates - 87th District
->David Ramadan (R)
Mike Kondratick (D)

As I mentioned, I don't go for conservatives at the state level. However, I think the BS anti-Muslim smear campaign against Ramadan would make me want to vote *for* him if I were in the 87th. I'm petty like that.



Precinct 118 - Moorefield
(Brambleton east of Belmont Ridge Rd., north of Ryan Rd.)
map

Consider yourself lucky, Precinct 118. You are the only Brambletonians in the Dulles District.


State Senate - 13th District
->Shawn Mitchell (D)
Dick Black (R)

Dick Black is terrible. Google him.


House of Delegates - 32nd District
-> Tag Greason (R)

Vote for Tag, or not, or write in someone else. We both worked at UUNET, and I helped him with some of his customers' technical problems a few times, but I don't really know him and I know he doesn't remember me.


BOS - Dulles District
Larry Roeder (D)
-> Matt Letourneau (R)

See my previous post. If elected, Matt will make finishing Loudoun County Parkway a priority. That way, he'll be able to get from one side of his district to the other without leaving it. (No, I'm not at all still bitter about redistricting.)




Countywide races:

BOS Chairman
->Scott York (R)
Tom Bellanca (D)


School Board At-Large
Jay Bose
->Bob Ohneiser
Tom Reed


Sheriff
->Mike Chapman (R)
Steve Simpson (I)
Ron Speakman (I)

Simpson has a sports drink problem and Speakman sends nude photos (not of himself!) to campaign volunteers' phones. More from the WaPo.


Commonwealth's Attorney
->Jennifer Wexton (D)
Jim Plowman (R)

[I accidentally omitted this race on my first pass.] Wexton's got my vote on this one, mainly because of how Plowman handled the Ting-Yi Oei case. Loudoun Insider summarizes it better than I can.



Other races of interest:

BOS - Broad Run District
-> Cliff Keirce (I)
Andrea McGimsey (D)
Shawn Williams (R)

Time to teach the Loudoun Dems a lesson. They screwed Brambleton over in the redistricting and created the "amoeba" so that McGimsey could get re-elected. McGimsey needs to go. Plus, I like Cliff.



BOS - Sterling District
-> Al Nevarez (D)
Eugene Delgaudio (R)
Ali Shahriari (I)

Al is a union man. That's my kind of people. But, more importantly, EUGENE MUST GO. If you live in the Sterling District, please educate yourself about his day job. Google him, and see if you want him representing you as an elected official. I wouldn't.


School Board - Broad Run District
Kevin Kuesters

Kuesters is running unopposed. He was recently arrested for assaulting his wife. Only one of his kids attends public school (the other two go to St. Theresa). He doesn't support full-day kindergarten. Write in Joy Maloney instead.


See you at the polls!