Potomac Mills To Expand

From the Potomac News:

Thirteen months after Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group acquired The Mills Corporation, the investment group revealed plans for a multi-million dollar project that is bringing an upscale retailer and an expansion aimed at further ridding Potomac Mills mall of its warehouse-like exterior.

Plans to add a Neiman Marcus Last Call Clearance Center into the mall’s 200-plus store roster and construct an expansion that would include 50,000 square feet of restaurant and retail space were announced Thursday morning at a news conference held inside the mall in Woodbridge.

. . .

The expansion will feature 20,000 square feet of retail space, 30,000 square feet of restaurant space and a redesigned main entrance and exterior façade that one member of mall management said would bring a more park-like atmosphere to the south side of the property.

No restaurants have been announced for the expansion that will stretch from the movie theatre to Costco, but Goodman said the company is in talks with several interested eating establishments.

The company still has to go through the site plan approval for the expansion, he added, but its construction is expected to be complete in 2010.

. . .

Prince William County Board Chairman Corey A. Stewart, R-at large, and Supervisor Michael C. May, R-Occoquan, attended the brief news conference and spoke favorably of the plans.

Stewart said the two additions to Potomac Mills should help dispel any doubts about Prince William’s ability to compete with neighboring Fairfax County.

“The county continues to thrive commercially … even in these tough economic times,” Stewart said. “The county has diversified and become more cosmopolitan … [the addition] is going to prove without a doubt that Prince William County has finally moved upscale.”

Once again, Corey Stewart is displaying that he understands where the residents of our county want it to go and what it should be.

RPV Chairman Debate — GAME ON!!!

An Invitation to the
RPV Chairman DEBATE
Thursday May 22nd

@ 7:30 p.m.

Robert E. Lee High School
6540 Franconia Road, Springfield VA

Please join
The Honorable Jeff Frederick and The Honorable John Hager
for this one-of-a-kind conversation about the future of the Republican Party of Virginia

For More information email pwyrclub@gmail.com
RSVP appreciated, but not required.

Hosted by the Prince William Area Young Republicans, the Fairfax Area Young Republicans, the Arlington/Falls Church Young Republicans and with the help of Fairfax County Republican Committee

Loudoun BoS Chairman York (I) for 32nd HoD?

Word out of Loudoun, is that Independent Board of Supervisors Chairman Scott York has met face to face with House Speaker Bill Howell about the possibility/opportunity of challenging incumbent Democrat David Poisson in the upcoming 2009 HoD elections.

You heard it correctly; Scott York.

The same Scott York who has voted for tax increases 4 straight years as Chairman.

The same Scott York who endorsed five (5) democratic challengers over five (5) incumbent Republicans in Loudoun local Board elections last year. Four (4) of those Democrats won.

The same Scott York who supported Mark Herring (D-33) over Republican candidate Patricia Phillips in the ‘07 elections.

The same Scott York who is currently unemployed. (Hasn’t a college degree either)

Oh- but this gets much better.  York goes from campaigning against Republicans last year, to in his discussions with Speaker Howell, laying total waste to those same Democratic members of the board that he campaigned so hard for.  York labeled them as ‘incompetent’ and ’single-issue-minded’. Claiming he couldn’t stand to work with them for his full term, thus why he wanted this opportunity so bad.  How ‘incompetent’ does York feel they are? So much so that he promised the Speaker that he’d deliver a Republican to the Chairman’s seat after he’s vacated his own position as Board Chair. That’s right, he’ll not only be passing all the democratic board members over for a promotion, but claims he’ll personally see to it that a Republican fills his open seat in the special election.  That should make the current democratic board majority really happy. This, again, from the guy who supported all 4 of these same democrats just six months ago over the 4 incumbent republicans. How can this guy be trusted?

From the timeline York laid out to the Speaker; He had one ‘pet project’ that he needed see get approved by the Board, which should be done by late winter ‘08/early spring ‘09.  One who follows Loudoun politics could assume given this specific timeline that it’s the pending application for a new hospital submitted by the Hospital Corporation of America. (The largest abortion provider in the nation, by the way)  This further fuels rumor that York may go to work for HCA should their application be approved.  If he does, he’ll have no real responsibilities to his new employer in the immediate future, since it’ll probably take a few years for this HCA facility to be built, leaving York with plenty of time and a six-figure paycheck to devote to his new campaign for HoD.

Also, to what will be very surprising news to a lot of folks, Chairman York made claims in his meeting with the Speaker that he now ‘controls the Loudoun County Republican Committee’, and did the committee ‘a favor’ by getting rid of those ‘right-wing puritans’ from both the board and the local GOP Committee. For those of you that don’t follow the LCRC, they elected a new Chairman just a few months back under a banter of ‘unifying’ the various factions of the Party.  Scott York is not going to be that ‘path towards victory’.

Personally, an opportunity to have a Republican elected Board Chairman in Loudoun County, a swing county no less, and having a Republican back in the 32nd District House seat, on the surface is great news for the entire GOP. However, the local committee, and the GOP House Caucus will be selling their souls to the devil [York] to achieve it.

I sincerely hope, in his many other meetings and interviews with potential GOP candidates around the Commonwealth, that this is not the type of candidate/resume that the Speaker is out recruiting to run under the GOP label.

The Nutroots Candidate for Northern Virginia

This just landed in my email inbox…

            

Yesterday, the Huffington Post began to expose our opponent’s hypocrisy.  Claiming to be against the war in Iraq from the beginning, Leslie’s opponent is employed for one of the most secretive war profiteers in the world.  In fact, it was a highly-placed executive from his company who made the case for the Iraq war in the first place!  Can he really claim to be against the war if he was lining his own pockets with the profits? 

This just underscores the real choice we have in this election. 

CONTRIBUTE HERE

 
Just three weeks from now, on June 10th, we have the chance to elect a true progressive.  Leslie Byrne has always stood by her constituents.  She opposed the Iraq war from the outset, sponsored such legislation as the Family and Medical Leave Act in Congress, and has always protected a woman’s right to choose. 

With your contribution of $35, $75, $150 or $250 today, we can send a clear signal that we want a progressive Democrat to go to Congress and not someone whose concern for war profiteering is determined by his run for office.  Can you help today?

We have been working hard to take our message of progressive change to voters across Northern Virginia and the response has been overwhelming.  But with election day around the corner, we have many more people to reach and need to continue our aggressive voter contact efforts. 

This week, your contribution of:
$35 will pay for literature handouts in one precinct;
$75 will feed our fabulous volunteers;
$150 will keep our volunteer phone banks dialing for three nights;
and $250 will send direct mail to 450 primary voters.
Almost 2,300 contributors have invested in Leslie’s campaign for progressive change.

Please click here to make your secure online contribution of $35, $75, $150, $250 -  or whatever you can give - and join the Byrne Brigade today!

Sincerely,

Joe Fox
Campaign Manager, Byrne for Congress

P.S. – Please don’t delay in making your contribution.  We need to put Leslie, a true progressive, in Congress!

Oh, PLEASE let the nutroots deliver a Leslie Byrne primary victory next month. I don’t think that Keith Fimian could catch a better break than for that to happen.

 

Keith Fimian
11th Congressional Dist. of Virginia
 

VA Dems Start The Infighting

Gov. Timmy! has managed to get House and Senate Dems battling one another. Welcome to the jungle…

The internal battle between House and Senate Democrats over what taxes should be increased represents a turnaround in Virginia politics. For much of this decade, it has been moderate and conservative Republicans who have been divided, resulting in stalled efforts to enact taxes or fees to relieve traffic congestion and repair the state’s aging network of highways.

Now Democrats in the General Assembly are feuding among themselves over the $1.1 billion tax proposal Kaine (D) unveiled Monday. Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax) lashed out at House Democratic leaders Wednesday, underscoring Kaine’s limited influence with even Democrats when it comes to the transportation debate.

Sen. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath), a likely candidate for governor next year, said, “Governor Kaine wanted the Democrats in the House and the Senate to get behind one set of proposals, and that is just not going to happen.”

The worst political atmosphere since Watergate

U.S. Rep. Tom Davis, whose political instincts are second to none, sees dark clouds on the horizon this Nov. for the GOP.

“The political atmosphere facing House Republicans this November is the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than the fall of 2006, when we lost 30 seats (and our majority) and came within a couple of percentage points of losing another 15 seats,” Rep. Tom Davis, a moderate Northern Virginia Republican who previously headed the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote in a 20-page memo to colleagues.

Third Party Presidential Candidate Enters The Race

Yippy-Ki-Yay America!!!

Will John McClane spell trouble for John McCain?

After four years of a McCain Administration

UPDATE: More on McCain’s vision for the future of America from his speech in Columbus, OH this morning.

Bob Marshall and Transportation…

Why I support Bob Marshall for U.S. Senate….

Transportation? Yes, transportation!!!

The King Has Left The Building

Yesterday, King Kgosi Leruo Molotlegi of the Royal Bafokeng Nation based in Phokeng in the North West Province of South Africa visited Prince William County. He visited an elementary school near Dumfries and had lunch with the First Grade class.

The visit was not publicized beyond the school and the parents of the students, so no media was present at the request of the King.  By all accounts, the students (and staff) were thrilled to meet royalty.  The King was visiting to check out school nutrition programs and find ways to implement similar programs among his people.

Here’s some facts and features about the Royal Bafokeng Nation:

POPULATION: 300 000 (160 000 living in the area)
AREA: 1 400 km² land owned by RBN
LARGEST TOWN: Phokeng (150km from Johannesburg)
GEOGRAPHY: Rolling bushveld plains broken by small hills
CLIMATE: Temperate with hot summers and cool winters
NATURAL RESOURCES: Platinum and associated minerals
INDUSTRIES: Mining, engineering and tourism
EXPORTS: Base and precious metals

New Paul Shanklin Parody about Hillary!

Conservative Parody-meister Paul Shanklin debuted a new song on today’s Rush Limbaugh Show — “Every Little Thing She Does Is Tragic” as sung by “Bill Clinton” to the tune of The Police’s “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.”  Comic gold…

Mark Warner Thinks You’re An Inbred Moron…

Recent posts on Rappahannock Red and Bloggers 4 Bob Marshall led us to speed up the release of our “alternate cut” for the video to accompany Marky Mark’s bluegrass music campaign theme song.  This time, we dig into the lyrics of the song — talk of “mountain people,” “stills” and “coal mines” — and come up with but one conclusion –

If you live south of the Rappahannock River, you are an Inbred Moron in Mark Warner’s mind.

So, without further pause, we bring you Mark Warner’s campaign theme song from 2001 that he is once again recycling in 2008. The song that single-handedly will set back economic development in rural Virginia by 75 years…

While you’re at it, please be sure to vote in our poll at the top left of the site as to whether you think that Marky Mark is a liar or a moron. (Sorry, the option of “both” is not being offered as we suspected most people would select that one and we’re trying to decide upon one or the other.)

Finally, Something Conservatives and Republicans Can Agree With Jim Webb On

The Write Side Of My Brain has uncovered something that Republicans and Conservatives can finally agree with Sen. Thinskin Gump (D-WashPo) on.  Click here to find out what it is.

It Could Be Worse, In Fact It Is

If you ever start to get depressed about how Virginia government works or doesn’t work, just remember we’re not California. 

The state annually adds to its debt via routine high dollar spending referenda, an abdicating Democrat dominated legislature that just doesn’t understand what it means to live within your means, and a governor who after bucking the tide with a series of failed cutting initiatives decided it was much easier and more politically expedient to go with the current.

Today, the Governor has come out with a way to solve the current debt-load: Borrow more.  This time against the state lottery.  So, the state of California will bank its future on those self-taxers who try their luck.  Good grief.

By Then It Will Be Too Late

Gov. Timmy! promised during the 2005 campaign that he would not raise taxes for transportation until safeguards were in place to prevent the additional funds from being spent on things other than transportation projects.

Now, Timmy! has proposed a $1 billion tax hike to pay for road construction.  His promised safeguard?

He also said the legislation his office is drafting will include a provision to ensure that none of the new money is diverted to other needs in tight budget times. If any of the new revenue is used for another purpose, Mr. Kaine said, the tax automatically expires.

Won’t it be too late by then?  The money will have already been spent on something other than transportation and will be long gone.  Plus, the additional revenue for road construction will then be gone, too.  This isn’t the kind of “safeguard” for transportation funds that I had in mind…