Last night I attended a meeting between local residents and Deputy County Executive Robert Stalzer concerning the issue of overcrowding and illegal boarding houses and the newly created Fairfax County Enhanced Code Enforcement Strike Teams Task Force created to address the problem within the county. I must say that a found the meeting to be very informative and well attended by local residents from all over Mason District in Fairfax County.
Deputy County Executive Stalzer spent the first part of the meeting outlining the structure and purpose of the new Enhanced Code Enforcement Strike Teams. Mr. Stalzer explained to those gathered at the meeting that the purpose of the new task force was to help relieve and remove the blight and illegal behavior within the county. Some of those in attendance expressed their concern that the Board of Supervisors, which is the overseer of this task force, was only taking this action because of the fact that this is an election year. Mr. Stalzer answered the question by explaining that the issue of overcrowding and code violations have been a concern of his office since 2002, but with the way things proceed in government, it often takes a long time and more public outrage to bring the issue to a boil before it results in effective action. For those of you within Fairfax County who would like to report a situation of overcrowding or an illegal boarding house, you can file a complaint here.
Towards the end of the meeting the Mason District Board of Supervisors member Penny Gross arrived at the Government Center building, where her office is located and proceeded to stroll right by the meeting without taking a moment to pop in and say hello to some of her local constituents. I did notice that Supervisor Gross lingered in her car as her local constituents left after the meeting. After all the residents had left the meeting, Supervisor Gross mustered up enough courage to enter the meeting room and probably asked to be debriefed by Deputy County Executive Stalzer. First, I find it somewhat disturbing that the district supervisor would not take the time to speech with her constituents and inquire as to what the meeting was about. But, I have a feeling that Ms. Gross were what that meeting was about and was to fearful of resident outrage to step into the room while the meeting was ending.
Today, Sen. Warner, R-VA announced that he will not seek re-election to his senate seat in 2008. With his decision the flood gates are now open to various candidates from both parties in Virginia to run for this seat. The early front runners are Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA and former Gov. Mark Warner, D-VA. Various other Virginia politicos will probably throw their names into the fray, but I suspect that if either or the two front runners enter the race, it will be theirs to lose in their party's nominating process. 
