Deborah Brehony Article Is A Positive Step
Sun Gazette Photo
The Sun Gazette just put out an article about Council candidate Deborah Brehony. While Brehony's statements have been disjointed over the last year, this article lists very positive positions:
1. She calls for term limits.
2. She calls for the video taping of meetings.
3. She calls for a modified height limit in commercial sector.
4. She calls for a mixed use development in commercial sector.
5. She calls for new traffic solutions.
It is safe to say that NONE of these planks will be part of Maud Robinson's view of the future.
The article in full...
Challenger Enters Vienna Council Race
by BRIAN TROMPETER, Staff Writer
Deborah Brehony is the first challenger to announce plans to run for Vienna Town Council.
“I feel I've reached the stage in my life where I feel it's time to give something back to the community,” said Brehony, a Fayetteville, N.C., native who moved to Vienna in 1979.
Brehony is the only declared challenger so far in this year's election. Incumbents Maud Robinson, Dan Dellinger and George Lovelace are up for re-election, and thus far only Robinson has announced that she will run.
Brehony, 50, is campaigning for transportation improvements, mixed-use development, a broader diversity of housing and more resident interest and participation in town affairs.
While Vienna officials have done as well as they could to expedite traffic on Maple Avenue, Brehony said she would like to see traffic lights synchronized better to make it easier for Vienna residents to drive across town.
Although the project is not within the town limits, Brehony said she favors building a tunnel under Tysons Corner during the upcoming Metrorail extension project.
Brehony also would like to see town meetings videotaped and televised, which she said would produce more accurate minutes and inform residents who cannot attend the meetings.
Brehony said the town's 35-foot limit on commercial building heights is too low and she favors limited mixed-use development in the Church Street and Maple Avenue corridors. An example of this would be a building with retail uses on the first floor, office space on the second and condominiums on the third and fourth stories, she said.
Brehony also is asking how town residents feel about term limits - possibly three or four consecutive terms - for Vienna Town Council members.
Council members would be free to run again after letting one two-year term pass, she said. The object is to prevent “dynasties” from taking over the council and to inject more fresh perspectives, she said.
Last summer, Brehony was among Fairfax County residents and builders who opposed new county rules regarding building heights. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors later overturned the policy, which would have required lower roofs on houses that had received permits or were already built.
Brehony graduated in 1976 from East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C., with a degree in theater arts, public relations and public speaking.
From 1984 to 1994, Brehony owned Gourley & Associates, a firm that did advertising, marketing and public relations for residential builders. She now is an officer and co-owner of Commonwealth Housing Corp., a custom-home-building company.
Brehony has been active in Vienna Presbyterian Church for more than a quarter of a century and has worked with the Vienna-Tysons Regional Chamber of Commerce since 1981.
She was appointed to the Vienna Architectural Review Board in 2005 and last year received a distinguished-service certificate from the town.
Brehony has served on the Vienna Arts Society's board of directors for three years and belongs to the Vienna (Host) Lions Club and American Legion Post 180.
On Jan. 25, Brehony will attend the political-candidate program at the University of Virginia's Sorensen Institute.
Brehony and her husband, J.P. Brehony, have two children: Matthew, 30, and Katelyn, 24, both of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Brehony enjoys creative writing and reading biographies and history books. She also has been involved in rescuing Eastern box turtles displaced from construction sites.
“We've released about 37 turtles at Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and the Potomac watershed,” she said.
The Brehonys also held a pancake breakfast at their house that raised $17,000 for victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Vienna resident Mary Ellen Larkins said Brehony studies issues thoroughly and wants to help the Town Council better communicate with Vienna residents.
“She's charming, delightful, entertaining and energized,” Larkins said. “She's a very caring person and would like to see some changes in the town.”
Comments
We would like to see her position on hysterical historic politics too. While it is a niche issue in Vienna, that niche issue occupies a good deal of Council time. Not to mention the money to defend a nonsensical law.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | January 18, 2007 10:28 PM
The fact that DB seems to be stating that the Town produces inaccurate minutes, should be alarming. On a base level, regardless of how small Vienna government might be in the grand scheme of things, accurate minutes should be a given. Clearly a 2007 Council candidate knows they are not accurate. It's black or white. They are either accurate or not. No shades of gray on this debate. DB's candor on that is refreshing.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | January 19, 2007 08:31 AM
This article is clearly a step in the right direction. We need fresh blood & new ideas in this Town. Subjects need/must be addressed that Maud & her cronies continually ignore.
Posted by: vienna mommy | January 19, 2007 10:00 AM
Agreed! Once you discover how the dynasty operates, how history is mishandled, how the minutes (and the press) manicure the facts for public consumption, all confidence is lost. The steps in DB's platform are the only way to recover from this. Smart first step!
Here's an example of how the Town operates unevenly. A new four-way stop was installed at Park and Tapawingo. Months later, the Town has posted an announcement of a meeting to gather public opinion regarding a request made to install a CROSSWALK at this intersection. Frankly, I don't understand why a meeting is required to install a crosswalk at a four-way stop, but it can't do any harm to discuss it... unless somebody is looking for an excuse to deny the request. My point? I don't recall the Town announcing a public meeting to discuss spending $7 million dollars to build a front lawn for Vienna Presbytarian Church, aka the Town Green. The dynasty operates in obvious ways!
Posted by: Town Green | January 19, 2007 12:27 PM
Ohhhh - We Have INDEED stuck a chord here - I have to personally (just for me) say that I HATE the term "McMansion". I do not beleive that Maud coined it - It has been a "clever term" that took root about a decade ago...I AGREE - A "McMasion" was originally meant to apply to those large subdivisions of tract houses, that were all"stamped out the same".
Not really ANYTHING that I see in Vienna....There are a number of careful builders (((insert Bukont, Brehony?))) that are doing a GREAT JOB of making a BETTER TOWN...
That being said, there are others (((insert any other Vienna builder except Bukont, Brehony?))) who are building "inappropriate houses" for In Town Lots ---Berry and East Streets----You KNOW who you are....
Still- A "McMasion" is a coined term for large tract homes, following the same or similar elevation.
This is not happening in Vienna.
Posted by: Deborah B | September 5, 2006 08:38 PM
Posted by: vienna resident | January 19, 2007 05:00 PM
Vienna residents need to do their homework, open up their eyes and ears, and understand the real motivation for Debbie's run for town office. A builder's wife and nothing more. Read the article and wake up Vienna. Lip service -- it is written between the lines in who Debbie says she is and what Debbie says she is going to do for town residents if she gets elected. Who are the losers when her campaign promises don't come full circle? We deserve the right council member not a faux.
Posted by: Read Between the Lines | January 20, 2007 08:23 PM
This site has not been afraid to hold DB's feet to the fire, but 'Read Between the Lines' doesn't sound like an average Vienna citizen. You sound like a big time supporter of incumbents.
All politicians are prone to not delivering, but in a community as politically warped and backward as Vienna, DB's statements and that article were very positive. What are we supposed to do? Sit there and accept the idiocy Maud has put on Vienna until she decides to pass on to the other side?
Further, how can you argue that DB has only financial motivations to get elected? If you want to go down that road why not focus on the money that Laurie Cole has actually made through her Council & Bukont association.
Additionally, considering the quality of the homes that DB has built in Vienna and considering the many eyesores that still populate Vienna's housing stock, we are not about to question her desire to make money when they deliver a product that benefits all of Vienna.
And before someone calls us a homer for DB, read all the posts we have about her on this site. She might not be perfect and we are not endorsing any candidate yet, but we would like to understand more clearly the logic that DB is a "builder's wife and that's it." Educate us all - the floor is yours 'Read Between the Lines'.
Posted by: Historic Vienna | January 20, 2007 09:12 PM
'Read between the lines'
Maud I know that is you. I know that bash the developer routine. Remember Maud you and I perfected it. You would abuse any "Developer" or any one who was for progress publicly. You would always refer to them as rich. Ha Ha little did they know it was you who had all the money. I would then finish them off with a crying jag saying they had made enough money in town. Boy were we a pair. It was great fun delaying them. We would really enjoy it if we felt we cost them money.
Posted by: Annie Cockrill | January 21, 2007 12:06 PM
First, let me say upfront that all incumbents for Vienna Town Council need to be voted out of office.
Secondly, I'm more than a little disappointed and disturbed that you would seemingly endorse yet another developer to sweep into office, populate the various councils, and approve and enforce rules and regulations to their advantage, and to the benefit of their friends and family.
Hello?! Have you forgotten Steve Bukont and the mess Maud and Steve and all their cronies have made out of Vienna?
You may look down your nose at those in Vienna who are living in older homes, but we are still members of this community; we pay our taxes and we deserve to have our wants and needs attended to.
We're tired of these builders and their huge homes on tiny lots causing flooding and long-term damage to our homes.
We're tired of the zoning work-arounds, traffic blockages, and the decimation of wooded areas.
We're tired of builders hiring illegal aliens to build these homes in the middle of the night.
We're tired of the increased crime, drug, and gang activity that has come with these illegal aliens - crime that builders like Bukont and Brehony are ultimately responsible for because they provide jobs to illegal aliens.
Deborah Brehony is motivated to run by pure greed; she wants to make more money.
Quite simply, Deborah Brehony doesn't have the morals or ethics we need from members of the Vienna Town Council.
Vienna Mom
Posted by: Vienna Mom | January 21, 2007 04:48 PM
Honestly, DB appears to have other motivations other than money. She will continue to make a nice living whether or not she is on Town Council.
I refuse to jump on the smear campaign. But, gee, it's just so nice to see that the Vienna campaign season is up and running. Let the "official" whisper campaigns begin. We all feel better about ourselves when we gossip to death the opponent.
Posted by: vienna mommy | January 21, 2007 06:42 PM
Believe it or not Vienna Mom... There are builders out there that do build "smartly" and most people nowadays prefer not to live in caves.
Last time I checked Brehony wasn't jamming 7 townhouses on a 14,000SF lot on Locust Street or sharing the profits of development projects with Laurie Cole.
Lets stop focusing on what a person does for a living, but judge them by their actions, moral compass, and spine! Wouldn't that be a great start for a TC candidate?
Posted by: Meadowlark Botanical Gardens Turtle | January 26, 2007 08:16 PM