Comments on: The Spirit of the Law: How can we get a County ordinance to do what its authors intended?

By: dammika hewage

dammika hewage — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 03:30:33 +0000

very nice

By: Marilyn Seiber

Marilyn Seiber — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 19:57:50 +0000

Agree with comment #1. Make appointments to meet with State Senator (in Reston!) Janet Howell and Delegates for the area from Vienna and McLean, etc. The growing interest of locovores in buying local means that timing could be good. Bring in any elected officials that you can, including Frank Wolf, Jim Moran, etc. Both have local district offices. Get their help and advice.

By: NoVaResident

NoVaResident — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 16:26:28 +0000

I would if I knew what “noncontiguous parcels” meant…

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 23:38:38 +0000

Please strongly consider using your elected officials at both the federal and state levels to help you with your claim; other farmers may want to help as well if you have a decent network as they may find themselves in similar situations down the line.
This type of issue is likely to be near and dear to the minds and hearts of many constituents and elected officials because it connects to issues such as community activism, local agricultural support, sustainable living, ecological impacts, and taxes (although could be a double-edged sword) to name a few. Elected officials, and I’m not trying to be sarcastic, must (re)elected. Therefore, if little traction is initially gained, slightly more organization would be the next logical step (petitions, etc…). Think of this as the bottom-up approach (“grassroots” if you will).
Consider your federal representatives as well, because they can wield enormous influence and are connected to those in smaller assemblies. This would be your top-down approach. Hopefully one or both methods exert the desired pressure.
The tactics to do this are too long to properly discuss on this thread, but the internet is, of course, a great place to begin.