Andres Jimenez announces run for Mason District supervisor
Andres Jimenez, an at-large member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission and climate lobbyist, announced plans on Dec. 7 to run for Mason District supervisor.
Penny Gross, who has represented Mason District on the Board of Supervisors for 27 years, announced on Dec. 6 she will retire at the end of 2023.
Two other candidates – businessmen Steve Lee and Reid Voss – have already announced plans to run in the Democratic Primary in June. Additional candidates are expected to emerge.
Related story: Two throw hats in the ring to succeed Gross as Mason Supervisor
Jimenez is the executive director of Green2.0, which describes itself as “watchdogs for inequality in the environmental sector.”
Before that, he was the senior director of government affairs at the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and previously served as associate director of government relations at the Ocean Conservancy and as a congressional staffer.
He is an active member of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and sits on the board of the Culmore Clinic, which serves lower-income people in the Bailey’s Crossroads and Seven Corners areas.
Jimenez describes himself as “a strategic thinker and relationship-builder.”
Related story: Supervisor Gross will not seek re-election
In his press release, he thanks Gross for her decades of service to the community. “We’ve seen much progress but I know there is more work to do,” he says.
“I know the struggles that many are facing as we continue to recover from the pandemic, the fight for affordable housing and transportation solutions, and the critical decisions that must be made to combat the effects of climate change.” Jimenez says.
“We must drive economic investment and revitalization toward our older commercial areas,” he says. “And it’s critical that we invest in our workers, our schools and school staff, and the programs that make Fairfax County a great place to live, work, and raise a family.”
In 2019, Jimenez ran in the Democratic Primary for the House of Delegates but lost to incumbent Kaye Kory. He was appointed to the Planning Commission in 2020.
You will not outlaw my leaf blower
Why? What’s so precious about your filthy, noisy, gas-belching leaf blower?
I need it to blow about 50 cu yards of leaves out of my gardens on my huge property. Only a gas blower is effective at this task. Electric blowers would take days if not weeks to accomplish the same task, and would waste electricity, which Dominion generates mostly from burning fossil fuels.
Have any Republicans announced their intention to run? To all those who have complained for years about Penny Gross and her initiatives, here is your chance for change. Please take it!
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Lost badly 65/35 to Kaye Kory. Not a good option
Not necessarily a fair comparison. In that election I’ll freely admit I voted for Kaye because I was happy with her work and did not feel a change was warranted.
This election will be a totally different deal, and if anything, the fact that he previously ran probably helps him, not hurts him, because now he has name recognition.
Go Steve Lee!
I want a candidate that is going to improve the economic dynamics of Mason. Figure out what to do with Culmore for it is a ghetto with multiple issues for its residents and it surrounds. Improve pedestrian and public transportation. Get the cops back out giving speeding tickets and hammer the place with speed cameras. Clean up our filthy and unsafe roads. Make our schools competitive and desirable. Bring investment opportunities that will expand the Annandale and Bailey/7 Corners’ unique characteristics.
In short make Mason great again, and I don’t mean in a MAGA way! Whoever gets in has allot of work to do, so be prepared!
You know, in some ways I actually agree with this. I cringe at any reference to “make mason great again” and I sincerely do believe we have a LOT going for us, but there are shared concerns here.
I’d like to see a candidate lean into the plans that have been long on the table for infrastructure such as multi modal rt 7 with BRT and really push the agencies to do better on the timelines there.
This may be radical – and this couldn’t feasibly happen without BRT and more school building, but I’d like to see redevelopment at culmore that retained the existing number of affordable housing units, but built up around route 7 and became mixed income housing rather than 100% affordable. You’d have to deal with folks fighting against density, but if the county actually prioritized did the infrastructure I think most of the issues you typically hear about would be remediated.
Also, this kind of planned development is so much smarter than the way arlington is doing the stupid “missing middle” that I worry will spread to fairfax. Missing middle is an unplanned way of escalating density without consideration for infrastructure planning, and will lead to more cars on the road and more crowded schools. It’s the wrong way to go about dealing with housing shortages.
We need someone who can do serious work to make Mason a welcome place for new businesses, a safe neighborhood for the families and a rewarding place to work for law enforcement. Concentrating on environmental issues won’t help the workers to bring food to their table.
Reid Voss for Super- a businessman is needed to turn around the economic engine of Mason district. We are the closest to ARL/DC/Alexandria, have the most people and yet we are the poorest? Doesn’t add up. Time to correct the atrophy in our local economy