Roeder Points to Experience in Dulles Supervisor Bid

Democratic candidate Larry Roeder’s background working in poorly developed countries across the globe is the type of experience that he said the Dulles District needs in a supervisor.

A rapidly developing part of the county, Dulles – both the existing and the new district the next supervisor will serve – experienced tremendous growth during the past decade, leaving many residents waiting for the support services promised for their communities. They remind Roeder of other parts of the world with grand ideas that never came fully to fruition.

“Braddock has a lot of similarities to the roads in Albania,” Roeder joked at one point. But that’s a comparison he can make, having worked in countries with poor development for U.S. Army, U.S. State Department on economic development and emergency management issues. One job put Roeder in Albania’s first post-WWII economic development office.

The son of an American diplomat, work abroad came naturally, Roeder said. Born in Lebanon, Roeder’s family traveled considerably when he was growing up, often swinging through Virginia.

“We would rotate through Virginia all my life,” he said. “We would go through Loudoun County regularly.”

Many years ago, he explained, his ancestors split over the pronunciation of the Roeder name, some pronouncing it “road-er.” Members of that side of the family were no fun, while those pronouncing it as he does – the same as the word “raider” – brewed beer, he joked.

For the past 12 years Roeder has lived in South Riding near Loudoun’s border with Fairfax County.

Roeder said there’s too much going on in what will be the new Dulles District for the next supervisor to work part time.

“I plan to be a full-time supervisor,” he said, adding that he respects supervisors who have other jobs, but feels Dulles has “special challenges. I think all those deserve full-time attention. This is a Dulles argument.”

The candidate said he’d be able to work closely with existing and prospective businesses as well as the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce by having the flexibility to meet whenever necessary. Roeder hopes to draw high-end business development along the Route 606 corridor, while emphasizing the importance of small businesses. He said he would push for the Loudoun Department of Economic Development to put more focus on small business as well.

“They are a great staff,” he said, but “they don’t put enough emphasis, I believe, on small business.”

The county in general must attract more business development, Roeder said, to relieve homeowners, who foot most of the local tax bill currently.

“Right now we have an imbalance in revenue,” he said, adding that businesses would contribute real estate as well as other business taxes. In his district, Roeder wants to improve the Route 606 corridor by adding high-end business development. Specifically, he’s hoping to one day establish a rear entrance to the airport and a 365-day farmers market similar to the one in downtown Washington, DC.

Another way to generate more business revenue, Roeder said, would be to create a mass transit system to serve the area south and west of Dulles Airport. “Short-haul buses” would help residents get to businesses they may not normally patron, he said and then “we start to see revenue come up.”

However, he said the county planning staff has been resistant to developing new bus loops in the county.

“We need more emphasis on transit,” he said. “I believe infrastructure is a real issue here. The solution is not simply to make wider roads.”

Like many candidates for supervisor this year, Roeder talks quite a bit about schools, but said he feels his most effective role would be on funding, which supervisors control, rather than the policy, which the Loudoun County School Board controls.

“I’m a real advocate of public schools. I’m not an expert on schools,” he said.

While Roeder was “a product of religious and home schooling,” his son, Nick, attends a public school.

“I thought that was really important for Nick,” he said, adding that public schools represent the growing diversity of people in Northern Virginia, whether based on culture or economic strata. “It’s important to go to a school that represents all of them.”

Roeder said his background would come in handy not only in economic development, but also public safety when negotiating budgets or otherwise conducting inquiries with the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office or the Department of Fire, Rescue and Emergency Services.

“That’s what I do – economic development and emergency management. I understand their jargon,” he said. “I know the questions to ask and who to talk to get the right answers.”

When emergencies do happen, Roeder would like residents along the Route 50 corridor to have more adequate medical facilities than currently exist. Hospital Corporation of America, HCA, had previously committed to construct a hospital on land it owns along Route 50, but has not moved forward. Inova Health System owns land in the same area.

“I do not want them up there where Inova is,” he said referring to failed plans by HCA to construct a hospital in Broadlands, just a few miles from the existing Inova Loudoun Hospital in Lansdowne.

Roeder said he realizes that Loudoun has been a swinging pendulum in terms of politics, with board majorities often tossed out after four year. Regardless of whether his party or the GOP controls the board majority, Roeder said he’s ready to work with them.

“I believe it’s become too partisan, too angry,” he said, about the political atmosphere in Loudoun. “I don’t discount anybody’s vote. If you are elected to that job, I respect you. Whoever wins I will work with them.”

He also said he’s more concerned with finding good solutions to problems than taking credit for them.

“I’m not the type of person who says it has to be my way,” he said, however, he does believe he has much to contribute. “I’m an innovative thinker.”

Roeder said he felt that the current board of supervisors erred in rejecting a proposal to name the Dulles District the Dean District in honor of Jennie Dean (1852-1913), a former slave who helped advance the education of black people in the region.

“It was a big disappointment they didn’t take that opportunity,” he said. “She believed in integration. She’s a wonderful woman recognized in other jurisdictions. We will find a way to honor Jennie Dean.”

Roeder faces Republican in this fall's election.