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Election 2011: Sterling District puts community first - As the election heats up for Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in the Sterling District, three candidates are vying for the seat.
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Loudoun County Politics
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Date: October 06, 2011 11:47AM
Election 2011: Sterling District puts community first
Thursday, Oct. 6 by Laura Peters
http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/election_2011_sterling_district_puts_community_first123/
As the election heats up for Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in the Sterling District, three candidates are vying for the seat.
Eugene Delgaudio, a Republican who has served on the board for 12 years, is hoping to serve his community for another four. Challengers Democrat Al Nevarez and Independent Ali Shahriari, newcomers to the Loudoun political scene, say they plan to serve the community to the best of their abilities by putting residents’ concerns first.
Brenda Sheridan, who was appointed to the Loudoun County School Board’s Sterling seat in June after the passing of J. Warren Geurin, is running unopposed. Although new to the board, she is eager to learn as much as possible and increase family involvement within the Sterling school system.
Eugene Delgaudio
Serving the area of Sterling for 12 years, Delgaudio stands behind his experience, accessibility, accountability and performance. Vowing to not raise taxes, he has voted down tax increases for the past 12 years. He also reaches out to his constituents by standing by his promise to be there for any emergency they have.
“Taxes are too high and there is too much spending in Leesburg. The board spends too much money, too much taxes [and] too much time on wasteful programs,” Delgaudio said. “An example on that is the millions on the retrofitting old buildings with energy efficiency when Sterling needs a renovation on the old Sterling Fire and Rescue station.”
Delgaudio also said he will to remain vigilant in keeping the streets of Sterling safe, especially with the new Sterling station for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. He stands behind getting the most for what Sterling residents pay for, including fixing roads, providing transportation, schools and recreation centers.
“I have promised that I will be continuing to be vigilant to prevent any opportunity for the criminal element to take advantage of anything,” Delgaudio said. “I am constantly on the look out on any relaxation of the excellent improvements that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Delgaudio also hopes to privatize public transit so residents can get it “cheaply, efficiently and quickly.”
When it comes to Dulles Rail, he continues to oppose it.
“As far as Metro is concerned, I think Metro is similarly a waste of money. If my focus is to go after waste and abuse and to be defending efficiency and government, I think that the whole topic of Dulles Rail is a boondoggle in the sense that look at the return,” Delgaudio said. “They are just told to pay for services they don’t get because they’re driving a car.”
When it comes to water issues in Loudoun, Delgaudio said he feels they are not a big problem.
“Does Loudoun have a water problem? The short answer is no, or nothing that we can’t plan for and address,” Delgaudio said. “The entire storm water management system can be funded in a similar, methodical, mathematical known to any college grad.”
In regards to business, he feels that revamping storefronts will help in raising rental value and vacancy problems and bring in more business. Delgaudio said that he feels with partnerships, improvements to businesses and roads will be the best fix.
Delgaudio lives in Sterling with his wife Sheila and has six children. To learn more about his campaign go to JoinEugene.com.
Al Nevarez
Nevarez said he believes in bringing the community feel back to Sterling Park. Taking a strong stance on breaking down barriers and stereotypes that have been donned on Sterling, Nevarez also wants to end all gang presence and negative connotation with Sterling.
“The crime rate in Sterling Park is a lot better than say, Fairfax, and a lot of other places we would not consider to be crime ridden,” Nevarez said. “So much of it is perception. I think a lot of it is small crime that adds to that perception. As far as big crime it’s not that,; however I think that there’s evidence of some gang elements and that’s something that needs to be addressed and nipped in the bud. Especially with gangs, there should be very little tolerance.”
An updated community center, schools, maintaining properties and cleaning up neighborhoods to make it a more family friendly environment are big issues in Nevarez’s campaign. He also wants to create a more business-friendly environment for Sterling, especially for the Dulles International Airport area, and one way he sees that happening is with the extension of Metro.
“Dulles Rail is our future. I think that we need to make sure it gets out here as soon as possible and it’s implemented in its full state,” he said. “I think once we get Dulles Rail out here we’re going to start finding the kind of economic opportunities that we’ve been looking for to balance out the way the tax burden is distributed at this time. I don’t understand how people who consider themselves friends of business would not want to have that critical piece of infrastructure here.”
Change in Sterling also strikes Nevarez as a big issue. He feels that Sterling is reaching a turning point and change is happening quickly, especially with half-populated neighborhoods and a demographic shift.
“I think that what I would consider the negative manifestation of that is this racial divide or this cultural divide that that negative manifestation gets a lot of attention,” Nevarez said. “I think just as much as I hear that there are a lot of other folks seeing the change and saying it’s not that it’s all negative, it’s that we don’t have the resources to manage what this change means for us. I think dealing with that change in an honest way is going to be a big issue.”
Nevarez lives with his wife, Jeane and two daughters in Sterling Park. He currently works as an economic and policy analyst. For more information about his campaign go to Al4Sterling.com.
Ali Shahriari
Shahriari, a lifelong Loudoun resident was born in Leesburg, raised in Sterling and attended Loudoun County Public Schools. Receiving a degree from Strayer University in economics, Shahriari said he feels his training as an economist will allow for an initiative for sustainable changes in Loudoun.
“One of the aspects of my campaign is to really bring the political power back to the people,” Shahriari said. “I think it’s time to move past the partisan debate and ideologies that this is liberal and that’s conservative and really go to the heart of what people want. My stance would be the stance of the people.”
Making a stand as “the people’s candidate,” Shahriari said he believes that small businesses are the backbone of the community and there should be a minimum wage increase based on the living wage to create stable employment throughout Loudoun.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our community. To bring small businesses back to Loudoun County and to help small businesses survive in a harsh economic environment we need to provide incentives to businesses,” Shahriari said. “We need to provide ways for businesses to be economically efficient and sustainable, whether it’s tax benefits or waiver of fees.”
He also said he feels that there should be a bus service seven days a week and a complete overhaul should be done on public transportation so it is more accessible for residents. Shahriari also wants Dulles Rail to extend as far as possible provided that costs are reasonable and that the building, construction and planning processes are transparent.
When it comes to public safety, Shahriari is content with the new eastern Loudoun Sheriff’s Office station, but believes law enforcement needs better funding.
“I think we need to better fund our law enforcement personnel and have a way to properly staff the Sheriff’s Office and for that matter any public safety or public servant position,” Shahriari said. “They need to be staffed to their needs. To do that we need to increase funding for the Sheriff’s Office and at the same time we need to be cautious of how we spend that money and we need to be fiscally responsible. We really need to put the money where it’s needed, take out the wasteful spending, wasteful habits.”
Shahriari is currently attending University of Maryland University College for his masters in environmental management. To learn more about his campaign go to ElectAli.com.
Brenda Sheridan
Sheridan was appointed to the Loudoun County School Board in June after the death of J. Warren Geurin, who held the Sterling seat. Sheridan was Geurin’s personal choice as his successor and is running unopposed for the Sterling seat.
Sheridan became involved in the school system by participating in the Parent Teacher Association in her children’s schools and numerous and by volunteering for numerous efforts.
Sheridan’s concerns for the upcoming year are the budget, the anticipation of building new schools to prevent overcrowding and creating a sense of community in Sterling schools.
“I have learned over the years there is a negative attitude towards the Sterling schools and I would love to put an end to that,” Sheridan said. “I don’t want to use the word hate … but I do hate the fact that Sterling Park is referred to as the ‘ghetto’ and the ghetto school and I would love to bring a sense of pride to Sterling Park so people are proud of the school they go to so people want to invest in that school and parents will get involved.”
Sheridan also said she feels that the increase of technology in schools serves as a good tool for students, especially if English isn’t their first language.
“The dynamic of being able to walk into the classroom and watch the kids participate and be comfortable with the technology, that’s huge,” Sheridan said. “Technology moves so fast and to be able to put that in a 5-year-old’s hands and have them go up and manipulate a white board, it’s fantastic.
“And for a child who’s 5 and doesn’t speak English it’s unbelievable because they’re able to interact because it can be pictures and they can watch one child do it who understands the directions and then go up and do it and be successful. It’s all about the child being successful because then they want to keep going.”
As for the budget Sheridan said she believes that cuts need to be made, but on things that can handle cuts.
“I think we need to take a step back to and see how important it is to fund education because that’s our future,” Sheridan said. “We have to be competitive in the world and if we don’t educate the children we’re not going to stay competitive globally or locally.”
Sheridan has two children, one who attends Sterling Middle School and another who goes to Park View High School. She has been living in Sterling for 13 years but was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y. For more information on Sheridan and her campaign go to BrendaSheridan.org.
Thursday, Oct. 6 by Laura Peters
http://www.loudountimes.com/index.php/news/article/election_2011_sterling_district_puts_community_first123/
As the election heats up for Loudoun County Board of Supervisors in the Sterling District, three candidates are vying for the seat.
Eugene Delgaudio, a Republican who has served on the board for 12 years, is hoping to serve his community for another four. Challengers Democrat Al Nevarez and Independent Ali Shahriari, newcomers to the Loudoun political scene, say they plan to serve the community to the best of their abilities by putting residents’ concerns first.
Brenda Sheridan, who was appointed to the Loudoun County School Board’s Sterling seat in June after the passing of J. Warren Geurin, is running unopposed. Although new to the board, she is eager to learn as much as possible and increase family involvement within the Sterling school system.
Eugene Delgaudio
Serving the area of Sterling for 12 years, Delgaudio stands behind his experience, accessibility, accountability and performance. Vowing to not raise taxes, he has voted down tax increases for the past 12 years. He also reaches out to his constituents by standing by his promise to be there for any emergency they have.
“Taxes are too high and there is too much spending in Leesburg. The board spends too much money, too much taxes [and] too much time on wasteful programs,” Delgaudio said. “An example on that is the millions on the retrofitting old buildings with energy efficiency when Sterling needs a renovation on the old Sterling Fire and Rescue station.”
Delgaudio also said he will to remain vigilant in keeping the streets of Sterling safe, especially with the new Sterling station for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office. He stands behind getting the most for what Sterling residents pay for, including fixing roads, providing transportation, schools and recreation centers.
“I have promised that I will be continuing to be vigilant to prevent any opportunity for the criminal element to take advantage of anything,” Delgaudio said. “I am constantly on the look out on any relaxation of the excellent improvements that we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Delgaudio also hopes to privatize public transit so residents can get it “cheaply, efficiently and quickly.”
When it comes to Dulles Rail, he continues to oppose it.
“As far as Metro is concerned, I think Metro is similarly a waste of money. If my focus is to go after waste and abuse and to be defending efficiency and government, I think that the whole topic of Dulles Rail is a boondoggle in the sense that look at the return,” Delgaudio said. “They are just told to pay for services they don’t get because they’re driving a car.”
When it comes to water issues in Loudoun, Delgaudio said he feels they are not a big problem.
“Does Loudoun have a water problem? The short answer is no, or nothing that we can’t plan for and address,” Delgaudio said. “The entire storm water management system can be funded in a similar, methodical, mathematical known to any college grad.”
In regards to business, he feels that revamping storefronts will help in raising rental value and vacancy problems and bring in more business. Delgaudio said that he feels with partnerships, improvements to businesses and roads will be the best fix.
Delgaudio lives in Sterling with his wife Sheila and has six children. To learn more about his campaign go to JoinEugene.com.
Al Nevarez
Nevarez said he believes in bringing the community feel back to Sterling Park. Taking a strong stance on breaking down barriers and stereotypes that have been donned on Sterling, Nevarez also wants to end all gang presence and negative connotation with Sterling.
“The crime rate in Sterling Park is a lot better than say, Fairfax, and a lot of other places we would not consider to be crime ridden,” Nevarez said. “So much of it is perception. I think a lot of it is small crime that adds to that perception. As far as big crime it’s not that,; however I think that there’s evidence of some gang elements and that’s something that needs to be addressed and nipped in the bud. Especially with gangs, there should be very little tolerance.”
An updated community center, schools, maintaining properties and cleaning up neighborhoods to make it a more family friendly environment are big issues in Nevarez’s campaign. He also wants to create a more business-friendly environment for Sterling, especially for the Dulles International Airport area, and one way he sees that happening is with the extension of Metro.
“Dulles Rail is our future. I think that we need to make sure it gets out here as soon as possible and it’s implemented in its full state,” he said. “I think once we get Dulles Rail out here we’re going to start finding the kind of economic opportunities that we’ve been looking for to balance out the way the tax burden is distributed at this time. I don’t understand how people who consider themselves friends of business would not want to have that critical piece of infrastructure here.”
Change in Sterling also strikes Nevarez as a big issue. He feels that Sterling is reaching a turning point and change is happening quickly, especially with half-populated neighborhoods and a demographic shift.
“I think that what I would consider the negative manifestation of that is this racial divide or this cultural divide that that negative manifestation gets a lot of attention,” Nevarez said. “I think just as much as I hear that there are a lot of other folks seeing the change and saying it’s not that it’s all negative, it’s that we don’t have the resources to manage what this change means for us. I think dealing with that change in an honest way is going to be a big issue.”
Nevarez lives with his wife, Jeane and two daughters in Sterling Park. He currently works as an economic and policy analyst. For more information about his campaign go to Al4Sterling.com.
Ali Shahriari
Shahriari, a lifelong Loudoun resident was born in Leesburg, raised in Sterling and attended Loudoun County Public Schools. Receiving a degree from Strayer University in economics, Shahriari said he feels his training as an economist will allow for an initiative for sustainable changes in Loudoun.
“One of the aspects of my campaign is to really bring the political power back to the people,” Shahriari said. “I think it’s time to move past the partisan debate and ideologies that this is liberal and that’s conservative and really go to the heart of what people want. My stance would be the stance of the people.”
Making a stand as “the people’s candidate,” Shahriari said he believes that small businesses are the backbone of the community and there should be a minimum wage increase based on the living wage to create stable employment throughout Loudoun.
“Small businesses are the backbone of our community. To bring small businesses back to Loudoun County and to help small businesses survive in a harsh economic environment we need to provide incentives to businesses,” Shahriari said. “We need to provide ways for businesses to be economically efficient and sustainable, whether it’s tax benefits or waiver of fees.”
He also said he feels that there should be a bus service seven days a week and a complete overhaul should be done on public transportation so it is more accessible for residents. Shahriari also wants Dulles Rail to extend as far as possible provided that costs are reasonable and that the building, construction and planning processes are transparent.
When it comes to public safety, Shahriari is content with the new eastern Loudoun Sheriff’s Office station, but believes law enforcement needs better funding.
“I think we need to better fund our law enforcement personnel and have a way to properly staff the Sheriff’s Office and for that matter any public safety or public servant position,” Shahriari said. “They need to be staffed to their needs. To do that we need to increase funding for the Sheriff’s Office and at the same time we need to be cautious of how we spend that money and we need to be fiscally responsible. We really need to put the money where it’s needed, take out the wasteful spending, wasteful habits.”
Shahriari is currently attending University of Maryland University College for his masters in environmental management. To learn more about his campaign go to ElectAli.com.
Brenda Sheridan
Sheridan was appointed to the Loudoun County School Board in June after the death of J. Warren Geurin, who held the Sterling seat. Sheridan was Geurin’s personal choice as his successor and is running unopposed for the Sterling seat.
Sheridan became involved in the school system by participating in the Parent Teacher Association in her children’s schools and numerous and by volunteering for numerous efforts.
Sheridan’s concerns for the upcoming year are the budget, the anticipation of building new schools to prevent overcrowding and creating a sense of community in Sterling schools.
“I have learned over the years there is a negative attitude towards the Sterling schools and I would love to put an end to that,” Sheridan said. “I don’t want to use the word hate … but I do hate the fact that Sterling Park is referred to as the ‘ghetto’ and the ghetto school and I would love to bring a sense of pride to Sterling Park so people are proud of the school they go to so people want to invest in that school and parents will get involved.”
Sheridan also said she feels that the increase of technology in schools serves as a good tool for students, especially if English isn’t their first language.
“The dynamic of being able to walk into the classroom and watch the kids participate and be comfortable with the technology, that’s huge,” Sheridan said. “Technology moves so fast and to be able to put that in a 5-year-old’s hands and have them go up and manipulate a white board, it’s fantastic.
“And for a child who’s 5 and doesn’t speak English it’s unbelievable because they’re able to interact because it can be pictures and they can watch one child do it who understands the directions and then go up and do it and be successful. It’s all about the child being successful because then they want to keep going.”
As for the budget Sheridan said she believes that cuts need to be made, but on things that can handle cuts.
“I think we need to take a step back to and see how important it is to fund education because that’s our future,” Sheridan said. “We have to be competitive in the world and if we don’t educate the children we’re not going to stay competitive globally or locally.”
Sheridan has two children, one who attends Sterling Middle School and another who goes to Park View High School. She has been living in Sterling for 13 years but was born and raised in Rochester, N.Y. For more information on Sheridan and her campaign go to BrendaSheridan.org.