Fairfax County is in the News 9Again

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by BOS2IAD

I can't believe that the library agreed to her outrageous demands. First class plane tickets, security and staff? The taxpayers are the ones paying for all of this. From the article:

"As of 9:00 Monday morning, you could still watch Nikole Hannah-Jones’ $35,000 conversation with the diversity officer of Fairfax County, Virginia. The county library system, which covered $29,000 of that speaking fee, plus the cost of her first-class airfare, drivers, security, and staff for the event, has agreed to take down the video today, two weeks after the event."

SMH

Fairfax (and Arlington, Alexandria City, etc) don't seem to really care about how much taxpayers are on the hook for things anymore- none of them really ever decrease spending or if they lower the rate (a BIG 'IF') it's a mere fraction of what the increase in assessments are...always some new environmental, 'equity' or other SJW cause to fund, can never say no to the schools, collective bargaining now for county employees- the list goes on!

[webster]

I would think this would be available from the locality under FOIA. The only thing that might be excluded would be the security arrangements, but not the actual cost. For many programs, the county has to kick in $ to get matching funds, but for the library's speaking fees, it's doubtful. I'm surprised there hasn't been a FOIA request.

[SmartMoney]

Well, I guess if the USA can pay China twice to fund virus studies in Wuhan (several millions), anyone can pay anyone anything. We need to get tight-fisted with our tax dollars sooner than later. Not to derail thread, but the public entities getting fleeced is quite common.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-gove...ndicate-probe/

[JD984]

I'm just going to point out that, if things going on in Fairfax County seem crazy to you and you actually live in the county, there are a whole bunch of local elections this fall.

Fairfax was a purple county that became blue, and then in 2019 it became almost uniformly blue because there was such disdain for Trump, and voting for Democrats became a way to express that discomfort. But, even among those who generally vote for Democratic candidates, we've seen that complete one-party rule (we now have a 12-0 Democratic School Board and a 9-1 Democratic Board of Supervisors) can lead to an echo chamber.

Educate yourself on the candidates this fall rather than just vote a straight party-line ticket and encourage your neighbors to do likewise. In general, the county seems to do better when there are checks and balances, with people in elected positions who challenge each other rather than treat any type of dissent as disloyalty.

[NOVAmtneer82]

Originally Posted by JD984

I'm just going to point out that, if things going on in Fairfax County seem crazy to you and you actually live in the county, there are a whole bunch of local elections this fall.

Fairfax was a purple county that became blue, and then in 2019 it became almost uniformly blue because there was such disdain for Trump, and voting for Democrats became a way to express that discomfort. But, even among those who generally vote for Democratic candidates, we've seen that complete one-party rule (we now have a 12-0 Democratic School Board and a 9-1 Democratic Board of Supervisors) can lead to an echo chamber.

Educate yourself on the candidates this fall rather than just vote a straight party-line ticket and encourage your neighbors to do likewise. In general, the county seems to do better when there are checks and balances, with people in elected positions who challenge each other rather than treat any type of dissent as disloyalty.

I try to remind people in Arlington County of this as well - but I fear we are too far gone! Fairfax might have a chance. It's interesting though...I find no shortage of people who feel like the county is spending out of control and way too Democrat controlled but they clearly don't care to vote or don't show up in large enough numbers. I've considered myself a centrist for years but once they started shoving that collective bargaining for county employees (if you're not happy with your pay, find a new job like everyone else in the private sector) and all these other feel good causes everyone wants to check 'yes' on a ballot without understanding there is a cost to it down our throats without ever proposing spending cuts elsewhere, I was done.

[ersatz]

Our country has depended for 200 years on the system of checks and balances set up by our founders. I think most of us read the news and have been made vividly aware of what happens in places where checks and balances have been eliminated.