Walkinshaw launches re-election campaign
At his re-election campaign launch Feb. 26, Braddock Supervisor James Walkinshaw acknowledged the challenge of saving Lake Accotink and said, “I still want to find a way to move forward.”
“When I was elected [in 2019], I thought we had a plan to save Lake Accotink at a cost of $30 million,” Walkinshaw told a large crowd that included several elected officials and candidates. A more recent analysis put the cost at $395 million. County staff is recommended that the previously proposed dredging project be scrapped – meaning the lake will eventually be filled in.
A public comment period is underway. Meanwhile “Save Lake Accotink” signs are popping up in neighborhoods near the lake.
“I cannot guarantee the outcome. We’re in a difficult position right now,” Walkinshaw said. “But what I can guarantee is that everything we do will be in concert with everyone in the community. We will be open and transparent about the process as we move forward.”
So far, Walkinshaw, a Democrat, doesn’t have a primary opponent, and no Republicans have announced plans to run.
At the campaign event, Walkinshaw highlighted some of the accomplishments of the Board of Supervisors during his four years in office.
“I’m so proud of the work we’ve done in Fairfax County and in Braddock District to make it through a global pandemic, to come out of it even stronger than when we entered it,” he said.
In the Braddock District, Walkinshaw said, “we literally helped hundreds of people get access to testing, to get access to vaccines, and get access to meet their basic needs to survive.”
Related story: Dredging Lake Accotink is not financially or environmentally feasible
Even during that difficult time, he said, “we kept our foot on the accelerator to continue making progress on a lot of important issues.”
There are four new affordable housing developments under construction or in the pipeline, including a project at the Fairfax County Government Center, approved by the Board of Supervisors last week. It will serve 279 families and will have an affordable childcare center in the building.
Walkinshaw lauded the board for addressing the climate crisis and setting a goal to make the county government carbon-neutral. A green bank will be established soon to finance energy conservation projects.
He noted a new wellness center for older adults opened in the Braddock District, with health screenings, classes, and much more.
“I see my job as building community – and enabling and empowering others to build community,” he said. Some of the ways Walkinshaw has done that is by launching a children’s concert series at Wakefield Park and hosting the Braddock Bark Festival.
Among the work left to be done, he said: finalizing the design of the Braddock Road Multimodal Improvement Project and rehabilitating the Audrey Moore Rec Center now that $20 million in bond funds were approved.
Fairfax County is the economic engine of the commonwealth, he said. “The most innovative companies are beating down our doors” because they want to move to a community with the best schools, the best parks, and the best transportation system.
“Fairfax County should continue to be a place where a CEO in a corner office in Tysons and her company can thrive,” he said. “We also have to make sure we are doing everything in our power to ensure that the single mom who cleans that office at night can thrive and that her kids have a high-quality education.”
One thing Walkinshaw does well is “setting the tone for the community, and we’re living in a time when setting the tone is really important,” said Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay. “We need to be proud when we talk about equity, and Democrats, and how we want to lift up people who are struggling.”
“Local government is the most important level of government,” said U.S. Rep. Gerry Connolly. That’s because “there is absolute accountability.” People know if a supervisor got a pothole or streetlight fixed.
During the 12 years Walkinshaw worked in Connolly’s office, “he never wavered from doing the right thing. He never ducked an issue. He never pandered,” Connolly said.
Connolly said the partnership he had with Walkinshaw and other supervisors made it easier to coordinate a billion dollars for Fairfax County in federal assistance during the pandemic.
Every quote from this guy makes me cringe, starting with the first, “I’m so proud of the work we’ve done in Fairfax County and in Braddock District to make it through a global pandemic, to come out of it even stronger than when we entered it,” he said.
Name one way we “cane out stronger” from covid. Someone, anyone? Bueller?
“When I was elected [in 2019], I thought we had a plan to save Lake Accotink at a cost of $30 million,”
Cool fact. Now it’s 2023. What were you doing from 2019-2023? How did this happen on your watch? What did you know and when did you know it? Did you do any due diligence? Do you believe the new cost estimates are valid? Why or why not? What is it you say you do here?
Walkinshaw says “The most innovative companies are beating down our doors”. Unfortunately, it’s the most aggressive land developers who are beating down our doors and getting exactly what they want. The BoS has been so busy approving land development that they stopped listening to residents. The Covid pandemic didn’t slow the BoS down at all, even though residents begged them to slow down because we couldn’t testify in person. They couldn’t be bothered with listening to the public. I wouldn’t be surprised if in 10 years (maybe sooner) Lake Accotink is filled in with sediment and the property is divided up to sell to developers by the BoS. How could Walkinshaw have missed so badly in just one year the enormous discrepancy in the amount it would take to dredge the lake? I’m sure he knew many months before but couldn’t figure out how to let the residents know. If, as he says, he hasn’t given up on finding solutions to save the Lake, he needs to let residents know what his solutions are. I just think all the BoS, except for Alcorn, Lusk, and Herrity, have been so busy approving land development and demanding the county staff to make the land application process faster for developers that they have ignored and allowed all the other problems in the county proliferate.
If what you all are saying is true, why would he choose to launch his reelection bid now, at the same time this issue is coming to a head because of the increases in the cost of performing these dredges in a landlocked area? You were promised this Lake would be dredged by a previous Supervisor and this one has been left to deal with THAT outcome. He isn’t perfect but the options for Lake Accotink aren’t perfect either. God knows I haven’t agreed with everything this BOS has done since they came into being but this is a new and young Supervisor who is still learning the job but has potential. Do I love that he agrees with Jeff McKay more than I’d like, no. I don’t like that. Do I like “streamling” to make life easier for developers, no I don’t like that either. Do I like that this group lumps everyone who opposes what they do into the NIMBY category to diminish their points when in fact, they are engaged citizens? No I really don’t like that. But Lake Accotink’s survival isn’t this Supervisor’s fault. He is dealing with the leftovers of the previous one.
How do you perform a renovation of Audrey Moore rec center with a 20 million bond? The answer is you don’t! The cost for the renovation is much more that that, likely closer to 50-55 million.
The Fairfax Board of Supervisors (BoS) live by PT Barnum’s code, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” Until voters remove these politicians (or more accurately- clowns) out of office, the circus will go on.
I’d really like to support this guy. He seems like a smart, talented, level headed, and friendly guy. He makes a great newsletter. He’s very good at communicating and apologizing for mistakes. But he’s proven to be useless at garnering support from his political allies at the county, state, and national level to save the Lake or fight off the push for density. He’s just not very effective as a political leader. I’ll take an abrasive ego-tist who gets stuff done over a nice guy who can’t deliver results.
Connolly let the bigots 40 years ago vote not to build metro down Columbia Pike. And that is why we are where we are, nowhere. I wouldn’t pin a Connolly button on my lapel if I was running.
Which Connelly? Gerry Connelly did not get into politics until the 1990s but the decisions about the orange line happened in the early 1970s. Or was there a different Connelly involved – didn’t follow politics as closely then, I was in grade school hahaha.
From my understanding, Metro decided not to build a line down Columbia Pike because there wasn’t enough population density to justify it…they chose to build the Orange Line instead. Now, Metro says it will cost too much to build down CPike to Annandale/Burke.
If we had a Metro down Columbia Pike you’d all be yelling about the disruption of construction, and the subsequent development that would follow.