Prince William Times: Letter to Editor: There’s something we can do about corporate influence in land-use decisions: VOTE

Posted onAuthorKaren

LETTER: There’s something we can do about corporate influence in land-use decisions: VOTE | Opinion | princewilliamtimes.com

In Prince William County, the influence brought to bear by developers, data centers, and their law firms on all aspects of this county and its operations is pervasive, overwhelming and deep.

Over the past few years, observers of the supervisors’ meetings have watched as data center developers slipped in last-minute changes before important votes and have witnessed landowners and developers influence county staff reports to emphasize projects’ few strengths over their many weaknesses.

We’ve also seen the county planning commission and board of supervisors ignore regulations and grant developers’ waivers, allowing themselves to be strong-armed by developers’ law firms while ignoring citizens’ input.

The well-heeled corporate and legal entities are so entrenched with county processes – and they work to control the board’s decisions to such an extent – that we are getting rubber-stamp approvals of whatever the development and data center industries want. Board Chair Ann Wheeler appears to be dedicated to ensuring these project approvals succeed. This is affecting our entire county. 

The land-use votes by the board of supervisors are farcical. The developers and lawyers are dictating the course this county will take. We are all held hostage by these damaging practices, which are embraced and enabled by our own elected officials.

Everywhere we turn, every aspect of our lives is tarnished and affected by this kind of pervasive corporate influence in our county. However, as citizens throughout history have proven, WE can do something about it. WE CAN VOTE.  

All of us in every district across the county can fire Wheeler on June 20 by voting for Deshundra Jefferson in the Democratic primary for chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

With one simple but powerful vote, we can return integrity to our leadership by ensuring voters have better options for chair of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors on Election Day this November.

Karen Sheehan

Gainesville District