Letter to the Editor: Cooperative Spirit Works

To the editor:

While campaigning for Town Council in Herndon a few years ago, people often said “we can see where our town taxes are going, but county taxes don’t benefit us directly—we’re just double-taxed.”

It was easy to clarify that Fairfax County taxes pay for schools, fire and emergency services. But few realized that Fortnightly Library, Harbor House, Senior Center and several parks in town were built and operated by the county, with the town providing some land and park maintenance.

These often-unrecognized services do not happen by accident. They ONLY HAPPEN WHEN THERE IS A GOOD RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COUNTY SUPERVISOR AND TOWN COUNCIL.

John Foust works well with the Town and civic groups. For example:
• State-of-the-art synthetic turf athletic fields at Herndon High illustrates how innovation and persistence yield results. Foust helped make this happen. The fields are public-private partnerships managed by the FCPA. Rotarian Arthur Nachman coordinated a lot and got support from Virginia Heritage Bank. Participants: FCPS, FCPA, HHS Boosters, Herndon Youth Soccer & Optimist Club, and Fairfax County Community Rec. Services. Foust also achieved a policy breakthrough by enabling FCPA to help fund a high school project.
• Fairfax County took full responsibility for operation of the Neighborhood Resource Center (NRC). This relieves the town of a recurring annual expense of about $200,000. The Herndon Police sub-station and town employees at NRC were retained.

Supervisor Foust is an effective champion for our Town and Dranesville District. He’s smart, with excellent people skills and experience in County policies, processes and practices. He’s a tenaciousally who works WITH all entities (unlike his challenger). Last but not least, Foust serves all of us in Dranesville without extreme, narrow, or hidden agendas

I am happy to endorse John Foust for reelection in 2011.

John M. De Noyer, Ph.D.
Herndon

Note: John is an Earth Scientist who served on the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Advisory Council for seven years, three as chairman. He has advocated throughout the region for “smart growth,” water quality, and community forestry. He served on the Herndon Town Council for eight terms (16 years), twice as vice mayor.