Fire Andy Wade!!

FIRE ANDY WADE

While most of us are well aware of the Covid virus still rampant in the county, state and country, there is another insidious, festering sore quietly sucking away the tax dollars of Louisa County residents: The Shannon Hill Mega Site. Without fanfare, to stay below most local radars, every few months, the county’s Economic Development Director, Andy Wade, asks for another million or so dollars for his pet project. This time it’s 1.8 million for an above ground water tank.

But, a water tank without water is just a tank and the county already has one dry tank, sitting full of air at Ferncliff. There is no water coming for that tank any time soon and a line from Ferncliff to Shannon Hill (Wade’s dream) will require tens of millions more tax dollars to build and millions more to pay for the imminent domain litigation to steal the land and disrupt the lives of Goochland residents that line would affect.

All for a project that only a couple of dozen people in all of Louisa County would even like to see happen. From the start, the Board of Supervisors and Mr. Wade tried to hide this project, then when found out, used overhyped “studies” to lie about potential tax and job benefits, lies that continue to this day. In the almost 4 years since this mess began, I am aware of nothing else on which Andy Wade is working…at $90K per year.

(Sorry Andy, butchering 100’s of acres of trees for an industrial solar plantation on county land is not economic development.)

Louisa has so much to offer already and so much potential for well planned, future growth, yet still we languish in the mindset of the past. Improvements and benefits for all residents continue to take a back seat to projects to further enrich an already wealthy few.

The reality of America is this; if Shannon Hill was such a hot spot for development, it would already be developed. There is nothing at Shannon Hill because there is no money to be made there. Hundreds of other built out Mega Sites sit empty around the country; we don’t live in a movie, building it does not make them come.

Here’s an easy solution to help save the county millions of tax dollars. Put a hold on any and everything related to Shannon Hill. Focus on the initial water project; it’s going to cost more than you thought (pumps and water lines, long dry, will leak) and then fire Andy Wade. From what I hear, it won’t be the first time he’s been let go…and this county deserves and can do much better.

Sent to Editor of Central Virginian..