NARFE Members: Is Angry Maud Still Your Choice?

Maude knows nothing about economics, community development, urban planning, or architecture. If the town keeps replacing privately owned commercial property with parks, churches, and parking lots, how will there be any space left for ""economic development? And given that she consistently rails against any kind of development (except for Steve Bukont's projects), what's the point of creating what she thinks are incentives for development?

Maude,
there is no way that a parking garage can serve a long, sprawling strip like Maple Avenue. there has to be a certain density to enable people to park in one place and walk to their destinations. Well, I suppose a parking garage would be nice for all those patrons of the Freeman Store.

I was disgusted by Maud's behavior at today's NARFE debate.

Maud was inconsiderate about speaking time -- even to the point of the audience yelling for her to let the other candidates speak.

Maud bullied the other candidates -- even calling some names.

Maud verbally attacked an audience member who asked about crime in Vienna.

It was really, really ugly.

I left the debate feeling embarrassed and sad to be a citizen of Vienna.

Thanks, Maud.

Sit down Maud, it's not your turn anymore...

Mrs. R:

Nice try trying to pin this whole site on me. That would be quite a feat for anyone especially me.

Re: Maud, Laine Hyde and Seeman's daughter Linda Colbert all railed against this website.

That's right, shoot the messenger...

What it never ceases to amaze me is that, in a town where ordinary people have probably lived elsewhere (my family has lived in other small towns and large ones) and if not, consider your time spent at college, or the likes. Now think of those times. Can you ever remember a place where you have witnessed a small group of people so entrenched in dysfunctional and autocratic public display? I have not. Have you ever seen a town, whose elected officials are so rooted in dishonesty and nepotism, and cronyism in their dealings with official activities with homeowners and commercial ventures? And when people actually come forward to challenge this machine, they get vilified and assaulted with lies and rumors to the likes of which would make a good prime time movie plot?

You have to ask yourself, Why? Is it all about power? Greed? Are they trying to keep their skeletons hidden? What makes a small group of people behave this way?

They must soon realize that people do not care for this type of behavior and control over their lives. We want Vienna to be foremost, a safe and sound place to live and raise our families. We want to be able to walk around our neighborhoods without feeling like we have to play dodge-ball with all the cut-through traffic. We want good schools, and shops, and lastly we want a level of trust we can rely on in our elected officials and not have to be concerned about special favors, and back-room dealings, and out and out corruption, whether it concerns our roads, sidewalks, businesses, or taxes. For instance, why is there such a commotion regarding Maud Robinson's role in her Town Green? (Maud's Folly?)

We need elected officials that will be open to us, every step of the way. We do not elect officials who think they can drive Vienna into an idea of their own "sunset dream" without thinking of the consequences, especially when those millions of dollars of our taxes could have been spent to pay for more important issues that Vienna faces today. We are not saying we are against a nice park or meeting place in town that we can all enjoy. But these places already exist...

And, what amazes me the most, is the fact that these people have been getting away with so long without anybody challenging their machine, that this site and the challengers are portrayed to be the bad guys!
If you like this level of incompetence, then vote for Maud and Lovelace, otherwise, the choice is as clear as the clear blue sky!

If this site is the messenger, then it is also the light at the end of the tunnel! Vienna is about to exit its medieval times and enter the age of sincerity and goodwill.

VOTE

Okay, Vienna, rest assured, Maud gets away with this behavior when the cameras are off. This is the way she treats the other council people and appointed officials when she does not get her way, we have proof. She is an evil person, and does not deserve our trust, and does not need to be representing this town!

Cameras, take your starts.

WE NEED VIDEO IN THIS TOWN, and until then, this site is the only "eye" on Vienna that speaks the truth!

Maud needs to apologize to you.

I'll bet she won't.

See that green field over there? That is the economic focal point of Vienna! Seriously (stop laughing). Now, get our of your car and soak up all the economic vitality! This is NOT a negative cash flow - it's a positive "cultural" experience.

Do any services or goods exchange hands?! Naw. It's more of a state of mind. If you imagine it, they will come. I'm imagining a Borders bookstore. Will that appear on the green if I wish hard enough? Is that how this is supposed to work, Maud?!

I sure hope that the green makes 3-7M for the town pretty darn soon because those are the sunk costs at this point. Not to mention ALL the future BPOL taxes which are now lost.

The "talk" with businesses on Park Street regarding parking (VPC?) - will that mean more money sunk into a parking garage?

What green?!

Lets not forget the millions sunk into brick sidewalks & period lamp posts. what was that all about? most communities do such things in an effort to draw high quality new development. here it's done just because Maude likes bricks & lamp posts. amazing.

re-Do any services or goods exchange hands?! Naw. It's more of a state of mind. If you imagine it, they will come.

How much do you wanna bet, drugs, and abnormal behavior will be the goods and services that will "exchanging hands" at Maud's Folly!

I can't wait until the "unwashed masses" try to splash and bathe in the fountain on hot days. That will be special.

A comment was made during NARFE Candidate’s Forum on Tuesday that Fairfax County Board of Supervisors ignores Vienna. That the two massive undertakings at Tyson’s Corner and Metro West were done deals with the Board and Vienna was not given chance for input.

After witnessing Maud Robinson’s behavior, why would Cathy Hudgins or Gerry Connelly care what Vienna wants? Maud Robinson runs the town with an iron fist essentially saying, “I let you live here and if you don’t like what I give you, leave.” If Mike Polychrones, Dan Dellinger, and Edythe Kelleher could actually go beyond the grips of this woman, perhaps, they could establish themselves as important politicians in this county. Until Maud is removed from power, this town's economic and political strength is completely undermined by her inconsistent policies and left field whims.

All this talk about bloated expenditures is causing me to change my name.

Pass me the Tums.

DUMB AND DUMBER! IT'S TIME FOR MAUDE AND GEORGE TO GO!
VOTE!!!!

It was nice that NARFE held a candidate's debate. However, there was very little organization. Some of the candidates (like Maud) was allowed to talk and talk and wanted to even have lots more time to talk. It should be a fair debate/forum. No one candidate should be allowed to have more time than another candidate. Personal attack questions should not be allowed. Questions that concern the entire community should be asked. Candidates should not attack other candidates. Maud should know better than to act as child-like as she did. It was a shame that the MC at the debate did not stop Maud from taking so much time. Someone needed to put Maud in her place and it wasn't done at this debate.

If I remember correctly, NEVCA uses a timer and you must stay within your time limit.

For each question, no candidate should ever be allowed to answer twice. Especially, attempting to keep a fellow candidate from speaking.

Poor form - looks very unsportsmanlike (and desperate).

It's people like Maud Robinson, Laurie Cole, and George Lovelace who not only do not have the gravitas to be effective politicians and leaders, they are simply too unfriendly to deal with people so that Vienna can grow into the direction we would all like to see.

Whenever they deal with people whose ideas are new or different than their own, they bring out the guns and bam, bam, bam. We may as well be living in the old south, when people they disliked were taken out and buried in some swamp. Vienna, if this is who you want to see running this town, than Vote for Maud. She's no friend of Vienna, and she's no friend of mine.

Funny you should bring up Central Park. I was in NYC last week, and not only do they have a gigantic park occupying untold acres of buildable land in the heart of Manhattan (the lost taxes! the opportunity cost!), but I didn't see a single Panera the whole time I was there. There were plenty of Bank of America branches though. New York is controlled by Maudites!

I think the historicvienna.com crew is needed in New York much more than in Vienna. There are millions of people suffering from the presence of Central Park, without convenient Panera restaurants, afflicted by the presence of numerous banks. Ditch your real estate holdings in Vienna and speed to New York City where glory awaits you!

Town Green=Central Park?
Where do I begin? NY's beloved Central Park actually has been an economic driver for the city. Look at property values along the park, compared to away from the park. But property values in Vienna's commercial strip are stifled by backward zoning regulations that for years have prohibited most profitable development. Add in the punishment that developers must endure, doled out by the town council, and most have decided that it's just not worth it. Until the town understands that not all development is bad and that there are ways to work with the private sector to get it to provide what the town needs and wants, the Town Green will remain nothing more than a gap in the sprawling, outdated Maple Ave commercial corridor.

Some of the things on your site are a bit harsh and your point could be delivered a little more softly. But, I like the intent of your site which is to hold elected officials accountable and cause citizens to think, ask questions, and perhaps challenge practices or policies (and have those questions answered). I have lived in Vienna for only a year, I love the town, love the location, love the school, but honestly had I known about some of the unusual 'dynamics', I probably would have thought twice about moving my family here. From our observations, the town seems to directed by the wishes of a select few who all live in between Park St and Nutley St. While in the NE quadrant beyond Park St there is virtually no representation and our section of town seems to be the stepchild of Vienna. As an example, between the TSC Committee, the Town Council, the Town Manager, and the Town Attorney, and the town mayor there are 16 people. Only ONE person lives in the NE quadrant and that person lives just a block from the center of town. How can a town Government be structured in a way so that an entire quadrant has virtually no representation? And the practices in NE Vienna demonstrate the effects of this lack of representation. We need voices and ears here!

As a side note, we noticed that three members of the TSC committee live within 2 blocks of eash other in the SW and two of them (the chairman being one of them) live 2 doors away. If a town is supposed to have "diverse" and equal reprsentation in quadrants, can someone explain how this is allowed to exist. How can you have two next door neighbors out of 15,000 residents on the same committee!!! Does anyone have background on this, can anyone explain this.