Fairfax County Chairman Gerald Connolly delivered his annual state of the county report on Thursday, aggressively touting the board’s record on transportation, land use and the local economy.
The speech carried added significance this year because each of the county’s 10 seats on the Board of Supervisors, including Connolly’s, is up for election in November. Connolly will seek his second term at the helm, and faces possible opposition from D.C. attorney Gary Baise, a former Nixon-administration official, and Gail “for Rail” Parker, who lost a long-shot U.S. Senate bid last year.
The 56-year-old chairman delivered an expectedly upbeat assessment of the county during his tenure, buoyed by a recent U.S. Labor Department report that found Fairfax county’s job growth had outpaced the District’s and other counties’ in the region. He went on to tout the board’s recently approved “transit-oriented development” policy that encourages dense development around rail stations, and rolled out a “cool counties” initiative to cut the county’s carbon dioxide emissions.
“Prudent planning, forward-thinking policies and a robust, proactive partnership among governments and business, civic, human service and faith organizations have put Fairfax County in an enviable position,” Connolly said. “We enjoy a vibrant economy with low unemployment and low office vacancy rates, a school system that is the envy of the nation and one of the lowest crime rates of comparable jurisdictions anywhere.”
Connolly, and the rest of the board, will likely face criticism over the amount of development approved in recent years, which some — including Republicans in the General Assembly — have blamed for the county’s daily traffic snarls. Opposing candidates this year will likely target campaign contributions from developers, which have factored heavily into the supervisors’ war chests in past elections.
