Historic Vienna: #1 Vienna Political Blog

In 1998 the Vienna Town Council voted to add a property to the Windover Heights Historic District. Then citizen George Lovelace stood up at the microphone to voice his support of adding a new house to the District without any review board approval. From the verbatim minutes of that meeting comes this Lovelace comment:

"What kind of a symbol would we set if we chose not to allow someone who WANTED to be in the District, to leave them out? I think we want to send a message that says we still are for historic preservation..."

Follow that logic? George Lovelace's logic to support adding a property to the Windover Heights Historic District was asinine. From that same Town Council meeting, then Town Council member Steve Briglia added more "logic":

"I also feel that once you are in [in the Windover Heights Historic District] you are going to have to come up with pretty compelling reasons to be let out. So if you are willing to be let in, I think that speaks highly. I think getting out may be a little harder the next time."

It is no longer 1950, it is 2006 and garden club style politics need to be retired once and for all. Vienna cannot afford to jeopardize its recent ranking as a great place to live.

Posted by Historic Vienna at 12:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This site first announced back on November 25, 2005 that George Lovelace would be running for Mayor in Spring 2006. He confirmed that intention Monday night.

All Vienna citizens should reach for their wallets because if Lovelace is elected he will lower the value of your home by restricting property rights.

Additionally, George Lovelace will fight to keep Vienna's commercial corridor in the "past". If you were thinking it might be nice for Vienna to have a Panera, a Banana Republic, a Palm Steak House, an Apple Store or a Barnes and Noble bookstore - forget it if you vote for Lovelace. George Lovelace as Mayor equals more gas stations and nail salons.

Posted by Historic Vienna at 11:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This week in a local newspaper George Lovelace defended the now departed Chairman of the Windover Heights Board of Review by declaring:

"Whoever we decide to put up there next, you can believe they are going to go through the same process."

We are not sure what Lovelace means exactly by the term "process". However, if the Vienna Town Council replaces their Chairman with another "volunteer" who throws f-bombs at citizens and who is incapable of answering basic questions as to the rules of the Review Board, Lovelace is right, they will go through the same "process".

When you see Councilman Lovelace ask if he can explain the precise and objective rules of the Windover Heights Historic District. If anyone receives objective rules or concrete criteria from Lovelace we will pay $1000 to your favorite charity. You can also email Lovelace lovelace@ci.vienna.va.us to ask.

Posted by Historic Vienna at 12:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Lovelace and other historic district advocates are fond of bragging about the length of time the Windover Heights Historic District has been in existence. Lovelace and others do this as they feel it adds credibility to their opinion that the District has stood the test of time as valid law.

George Lovelace knows better. For example, how much time elapsed between wrongly decided Plessy v. Ferguson and rightly decided Brown v. Board of Education? Unfortunately, it can take time to have an unconstitutional law overturned. Lovelace's argument is specious.

Posted by Historic Vienna at 08:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the now infamous 2004 Town Council work session that laid bare the nonsense that is the Windover Heights Historic District, George Lovelace tossed forward this pearl of wisdom:

"I don't think we want to any way limit what this board does...how they get it done...You want to go to the Smithsonian Institute...whatever they want to do, but I think that it's been proven that may be a little more research needs to be done when you get to deal with these applications..."

Yes, you heard that right. George Lovelace proposes that when the Windover Heights Board of Review receives an application they should consult with the Smithsonian Institute. Guess how many times this type of consultation has happened in the past? Zero times.

We assume Lovelace's scenario would unfold something like this:

"Hi, we are from the Town of Vienna. We are the Vienna historic review board. As background, we have no rules or guidelines and nothing in our District has been validated as "historic", but we need your help Mr. Smithsonian. We have an application before us to tear down a standard 1970s house and replace it with a brand new structure. Our Town Council member George Lovelace says you will help us."

All of this would be funny if Lovelace wasn't intentionally damaging property rights. Doubt that statement? Lovelace was personally responsible for causing economic harm to the owner of 315 Windover Avenue.

George Lovelace: Not An Advocate of Property Rights

Posted by Historic Vienna at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In this video George Lovelace declares:

"If he follows the ordinance he can't come up with that design."

Say what?

Here is the finished house Lovelace refers to.

Will Lovelace ever explain how the Windover Heights Historic District should have prevented this construction? How could he say that with a straight face? Where is the law that backs Lovelace's silly assertion? Do you think George will say the same thing under deposition when he has to raise his right hand?

Posted by Historic Vienna at 09:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We recently wrote about Frank and Joan Lillis attempting to lower property values.

Unfortunately, they had backing from the Vienna Town Council in the form of Maud Robinson, George Lovelace and Laurie Cole. These members of Vienna Town Council voted in 2004 against the now completed $1.8 million dollar house. Here is the gorgeous new house:

Click to Enlarge

What sane person would vote against this house? Cole, Robinson and Lovelace did. They should be ashamed. They had no legal reason to vote against it. Here is the house torn down before the new one.

Next time you think about voting for Laurie Cole, Maud Robinson or George Lovelace don't forget their vote to lower property values. These three if left to their own devices would make your house worth less money. How can George Lovelace expect to get elected Mayor in 2006 campaigning to lower property values?

Here is the type of house Lovelace, Cole and Robinson would prefer at 313 Windover Avenue. Does any of this make sense?

Posted by Historic Vienna at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Earlier we mentioned George Lovelace's desire to lower property values. Now watch the 2004 video. This video of Lovelace is not unlike a Seinfeld episode - he says nothing.

George Lovelace

Posted by Historic Vienna at 03:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Lovelace, who intends to run for Mayor in 2006, might have problems with his statements from 2003:

"The issue for me comes down to the applicants' seeing the historic district as preserving the structures as they were in the 1800s, [vs.] the historic district created by the Town Council [as being] a living, viable community that reflects the associations of persons and events from Vienna's past. It is a neighborhood with diverse homes, architecture and styles. This is a major distinction in my mind, and accounts for much of motivation to opt out of historic district. Finally, I believe the area has a distinctive quality and has retained its character and charm. The historic district represents the vision of our citizens and the Council to ensure that future generations will have the benefit of a community that reflects its past as well as the present. The historic district has survived for close to 25 years, and through the hard work of dedicated citizens. Any actions to alter the historic district such as that requested by the applicants to opt out of the district should be resisted."

Vienna Council Member George Lovelace in Action

It's not unusual for politicians to say nothing when they talk, but this takes the cake. Lovelace knows there are problems with the Historic District and he refuses to do anything. Now he and the Vienna Town Council must defend multiple lawsuits.

Here are some questions we would like to see George attempt to answer:

1. Who are these persons and events from Vienna's past?
2. What exactly is distinctive about 313 Windover Avenue?
3. What exactly is the character and charm you speak of?
4. How has the so-called District helped to retain the so-called charm?

Posted by Historic Vienna at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

George Lovelace and Shirley Damon know the Windover Heights Historic District is on life support.


George Lovelace, Vienna Town Council and Shirley Damon of Damon Galleries Ltd.

With Shirley Damon by his side Councilman George Lovelace, in a now infamous Town work session, utters:

"There are some things that don't have to be on a standard...I am little bit worried about having to redo this and put a bunch of numbers and things that we have to follow...I am not ready for that."
George Lovelace

Mayor Seeman responds:

"Right I agree. Well you start getting into trouble when you [pause] as we know [pause] you don't want to get into numbers guys. You want to keep it a little 'loosey' here."
Jane Seeman

This dialogue from Lovelace and Seeman shows why multiple lawsuits are pending against the Vienna Town Council. These people think it is perfectly appropriate to make citizens appear before review boards where there are no rules. Worse yet, as the above dialogue shows, they don't want any rules!

Posted by Historic Vienna at 02:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)