[JYO] Bob Zoldos Challenges Umstattd For Leesburg Mayor

from the Washington Post...

Ed

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Zoldos Challenges Umstattd For Mayor

By Barbara E. Martinez
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 11, 2004; Page LZ01


Leesburg Town Council member Robert J. Zoldos said he plans to run 
against Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd in this year's election because of her 
"lack of leadership."

Zoldos said voters would have to choose between continuing "on a path 
toward mediocrity" or changing "the course we are currently on and head 
toward a successful future that we all envision for our families, our 
businesses and our town."

On May 4, voters will elect a mayor for a two-year term and three 
council members for four-year terms. The terms of the other three 
council members do not expire until 2006.

Zoldos, 60, a systems engineer at the Federal Aviation Administration, 
was first elected to the council in 1998. He has often been at odds with 
Umstattd, 49, who has served on the council since 1992 and handily 
defeated incumbent B.J. Webb in 2002.

The most notable difference between Zoldos and Umstattd has been 
Zoldos's support of the town's petition to annex 2,700 acres near 
Leesburg Executive Airport. He said the annexation would protect the 
airport by surrounding it with town-owned land and would increase the 
town's tax base.

Four council members, led by Umstattd, voted in December 2002 to drop 
the petition. Umstattd contended that without a demand for commercial 
space, the town would come under pressure to allow residential 
development on the annexed land, which would add to costs and congestion.

In one of last year's most important votes, Umstattd and Zoldos voted in 
favor of a revised plan for the Oaklawn at Stratford development just 
north of the airport that would allow building hundreds of homes on land 
previously zoned for commercial buildings.

The developer secured approval by promising to spend $6.4 million on 
road improvements before building any homes and by moving one proposed 
road off land on which Leesburg would need to install a new instrument 
landing system for improved airport safety, a project that Umstattd and 
Zoldos support.

Zoldos, a former chief of the Leesburg Volunteer Fire Department, 
supported the Oaklawn application even though the developer withdrew 
plans to give two acres to the fire department. That offer was later 
returned to the application at the request of council member Frank J. 
Buttery Jr.

Last spring, Zoldos voted against the town's 2004 budget, saying the 
majority of the council was "not demonstrating the necessary fiscal 
restraint." He objected in particular to several capital projects, 
including a planned pedestrian trail along South King Street that he 
said would be unsafe.

Umstattd, a lawyer and former Navy officer and CIA analyst, said that if 
reelected, she would focus on transportation improvements, specifically 
building Battlefield Parkway between Route 7 and Sycolin Road. "I think 
that will do a lot to relieve congestion," she said.

She also said she wanted to keep the tax rate down. Although the council 
voted last year to double the cigarette tax to 50 cents a pack, the 
property tax remained at 22 cents per $100 of assessed value, despite 
the town manager's recommendation for an increase.

Umstattd also said she hoped to maintain a good working relationship 
with the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and county staff. The new 
Republican-majority board took office Monday and began dismantling the 
slow-growth policies of the previous board.

"I try not to be critical of the county, and I think the voters of 
Leesburg have put us in office to try to work with everybody," she said. 
"I think in the past few years we have done a good job."

Zoldos said he would also like to focus on advancing the Battlefield 
Parkway project.

Zoldos will hold his campaign kickoff event from 7 to 8 p.m. Wednesday 
at the Thomas Birkby House, 109 Loudoun St. SW. Umstattd will formally 
begin her reelection campaign from 7 to 7:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at Rust 
Library, 380 Old Waterford Rd.





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