LoudounNow LOUDOUN COUNTY’S COMMUNITY-OWNED NEWS SOURCE
[ Vol. 4, No. 9 ]
[ loudounnow.com ]
Live like you mean it
25
[ January 17, 2019 ]
Local Gov’t, Nonprofits, Businesses Rally to Aid Federal Workers BY RENSS GREENE
Renss Greene/Loudoun Now
The proposed Emerald Ribbons project would create a network of walking trails along stream beds throughout Loudoun County, including Goose Creek.
A Walk in the Woods Board Considers Countywide Trail Network
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BY DANIELLE NADLER
s county leaders envision what they want Loudoun to look like 20 years from now, they’re considering creating a network of trails that give residents a taste of nature even amid the Metro stations, business parks, and data center alley of eastern Loudoun. A group of preservationists, nature and bike enthusiasts, and proponents of smart growth who make up the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition have been working for the past year on a project called Emerald Ribbons, which would designate a system of linear parks and unpaved trails along select roads and waterways for public use. The trails could be a space to walk
or hike, or possibly ride a bike or a horse, depending on the desire of the community that surrounds that section of trail. The coalition will be looking for the blessing of the county Board of Supervisors to put the Emerald Ribbon initiative into action. Supervisors are scheduled to take up the item at its meeting Jan. 17. If the board approves the action recommended by County Chairwoman Phyllis J. Randall (D-At Large) and Vice Chairman Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn), it would direct the Parks, Recreation and Open Space Board to develop a detailed plan to implement a network of public trails and linear parks. The idea behind Emerald Ribbons was sparked by the development along Broad Run and the future Metro stations, said Dennis R. Kruse, who sits on
the Loudoun County Preservation and Conservation Coalition and is president of Bike Loudoun. Supervisor Ron A. Meyer Jr. (R-Broad Run) suggested the creation of a linear park that runs along the Broad Run, eastern Loudoun’s largest waterway which happens to be home to some of the most diverse bird species in the county. “We want to make sure areas like that are protected,” said Kruse. The first objective of the Emerald Ribbons project is to protect the wetlands and stream beds, and the second is to ensure the public knows about them and can access them, which might include the creation of pocket parks with signage at the entrance of some of the trails.
As the federal government shutdown stretched into its third week and federal employees saw a pay period come and go with no paycheck, government and business leaders are rallying to support the county’s federal employees and contractors last week. Friday marked the first missed paycheck of the shutdown for federal employees. An estimated 15,000 to 20,000 federal workers live in Loudoun County. Supervisor Ralph M. Buona (R-Ashburn) said he has neighbors out of work because of the shutdown—and one neighbor who has to go to work without pay. “Both of those neighbors have three little children, and mortgages, and car payments, and insurance, and have to put food on the table,” Buona said. “It’s tough without that paycheck, and they’re going to suffer.” Stephanie Berkowitz, president and CEO of Northern Virginia Family Services, said her organization has seen a 10 percent uptick in traffic at food banks further east even before Friday’s missed paycheck. The impact of the shutdown reverberated throughout the region, as federal workers, federal contractors, and the people who serve them all see their paychecks shrink or stop. Berkowitz said the visitors to those food banks include not only federal workers and contractors, but waiters, Uber and Lyft drivers, and other people who have seen their income go down because federal workers are staying home. Some of those people, she said,
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