SPORTS: All-Class 6 and all-Class 6 Region B baseball and softball teams are announced. PAGE 9
June 29, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 26 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
Manassas Park leaders wary about Rosie’s
County board, activists split on Wheeler’s loss
Mayor, city manager don’t support shopping-center location By Cher Muzyk
Times Staff Writer
PHOTO BY JOHN CALHOUN
Prince William Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler, who lost her bid for a second term in the June 20 primary, listens as speakers urge the board to put the brakes on data center approvals before the new supervisors take office in January 2024.
Voters rejected data center proliferation, activists say By Anya Sczerzenie Times Staff Writer
While many local activists see incumbent County Board Chair Ann Wheeler’s loss to Deshundra Jefferson in last week’s primary as a clear rebuke of the proliferation of data centers in western Prince William County, county supervisors are divided on the voters’ message. Wheeler, 61, who was vying for a second term, raised at least five times as much as Jefferson, 47, a political newcomer. Wheeler’s campaign coffers were largely fueled by data center interests, such as the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which supports the data center industry because of the jobs it creates for its electrician members. That’s why Jefferson’s 5-point win was widely seen as a surprise upset, even to those who supported her. “You know when you hope and pray, but you don’t think something could really happen? That’s how I felt [when Jefferson won],” said Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, a group that advocates for the preservation of the county’s rural crescent. The group led a failed attempt to recall Wheeler from office over her support for the Prince William Digital Gateway, which would allow a massive data center corridor on about 1,600 rural acres adjacent to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. “I was looking up to the universe, saying ‘we really need this one,’ and the universe delivered.” Schlossberg has been an outspoken opponent of the PW Digital Gateway as well as the Devlin
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/JILL PALERMO
A boy rides his scooter in Village Place townhome community in Gainesville, where 70-foot data centers are rising just yards from people’s homes. Technology Park, a controversial data center development proposed for 270 acres next to homes and an elementary school in Bristow, largely for environmental and quality of life issues. Schlossberg says Wheeler’s loss was due to her support of what she calls “the worst kind of planning imaginable” -- building data centers near homes and schools, despite residents’ objections, as well as the county’s overreliance on data centers instead of a variety of commercial development. “I hope that other supervisors stop following her losing strategy,” Schlossberg said. “People didn’t like what she was doing to their communities. ” See WHEELER, page 2
GOP state Senate primary heads to a recount, page 3
Rosie’s Gaming Emporium wants to try its luck in Manassas Park, but already the city’s top leaders say they are against its plan to open a gambling outlet in the Manassas Park Shopping Center on Centreville Road. Churchill Downs Incor- Manassas Park porated, Rosie’s Gaming Mayor Jeanette Rishell Emporium’s parent company, announced on Friday, June 23 an effort to collect the 450 signatures necessary to get a referendum on the Nov. 7 ballot seeking Manassas Park voters’ approval to open a new Rosie’s Gaming Emporium in Manassas Park. In the days since, Manassas Park Mayor Jeanette Rishell (D), Vice Mayor Alanna Mensing (D) and City Manager Laszlo Palko have all voiced opposition to the plan. Rishell opposes bringing any form of gambling into Manassas Park. “We are a family-oriented and a safe little city that by nature is welcoming to all families and residents, and I fear that positive character will change,” Rishell told the Prince William Times. “Also, I do not consider bringing in gambling to be a good example for our children.” Mensing said she doesn’t support bringing gambling to Manassas Park in general but said she was open to an initial plan, quietly hatched by Palko back in 2019, to bring a larger Rosie’s entertainment complex to Manassas Park’s new downtown area dubbed, Park Central. See MANASSAS PARK, page 4
TIMES STAFF PHOTO/CHER MUZYK
Rosie’s Gaming Emporium wants to move into the Manassas Park Shopping Center on Centreville Road, a location some of the city’s leaders oppose.
PWC celebrates July 4th, see page 7
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