The Ashburn Comeback Plan
The roadmap
This is not a four-year agenda. Naming the long work is the point — a town that plans in four-year pieces gets four-year results, and then starts over.
← Back to the planFirst 90 days · 18 commitments
Years 1–2 — Find out and fix cheap
Count what we have. Publish what we find. Do every small visible thing that doesn't need a budget line. This phase is unglamorous on purpose — you cannot plan around a town nobody has measured.
- 1.1Who Does What, on One PageKnow Your City
- 1.2How to Get Something FixedKnow Your City
- 1.3How to Show UpKnow Your City
- 1.4Tell You When I LoseKnow Your City
- 2.1Audit the Youth Resource CenterOur Young People
- 3.1Publish the Condition ListOur Neighborhoods
- 4.2A Condition Assessment on All Six ParksParks, Health, and Recreation
- 5.1One Person, One Page, One List for VeteransOur Elders and Veterans
- 6.1Publish Response TimesPublic Safety
- 7.1You'll Know Before and AfterHow City Hall Works
- 7.2Posted Hours You Can Find MeHow City Hall Works
- 7.3Confirm we Can Even ApplyHow City Hall Works
- 7.4Build a Grant PipelineHow City Hall Works
- 7.5Show up to the Regional CommissionHow City Hall Works
- 7.6A Close Look at City FinancesHow City Hall Works
- 7.7Sit in on Budget Work SessionsHow City Hall Works
- 8.2Ask the Ones Who Left WhyBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
- 8.3Talk to the Ones Still HereBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
First year · 23 commitments
Year 1–2 — Build what the counting earned
Turn documents into funded things. Grants land or they don't, and we say which.
- 1.5Explain the Budget Like a PersonKnow Your City
- 1.6A Town Hall Before the Budget, not AfterKnow Your City
- 2.2An Operating Plan, and the Doors OpenOur Young People
- 2.3Build it on Partners, not One OrganizationOur Young People
- 2.4Young People at the TableOur Young People
- 3.2A Repair Schedule, not a Complaint LineOur Neighborhoods
- 3.3Find Out if the Rates Cover the CostOur Neighborhoods
- 3.4A Cleanup Schedule for the Whole CityOur Neighborhoods
- 3.5Publish a Land InventoryOur Neighborhoods
- 3.7Get People from Renting to OwningOur Neighborhoods
- 4.1A Maintenance Standard for our ParksParks, Health, and Recreation
- 4.4A Safe Place to WalkParks, Health, and Recreation
- 4.5A Community Garden That ExistsParks, Health, and Recreation
- 4.7Publish What Healthcare Actually Exists HereParks, Health, and Recreation
- 4.8Make the Transportation we Have Actually WorkParks, Health, and Recreation
- 5.2A City Update That Reaches EverybodyOur Elders and Veterans
- 5.4Veterans Mentoring our Young PeopleOur Elders and Veterans
- 6.2Stop Training Officers for Other CitiesPublic Safety
- 6.3Grant Funding for our Police DepartmentPublic Safety
- 6.4Light the Dark StreetsPublic Safety
- 7.8A Technology AuditHow City Hall Works
- 8.1Reinstate Ashburn's Development AuthorityBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
- 8.5The Exit and Downtown Are One ProblemBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
Years 2–4 · 8 commitments
Years 2–4 — The rest of the term
The work that needs a budget cycle behind it, and the programs that only run once the foundation exists.
- 1.7Civics for our StudentsKnow Your City
- 2.5A Paid Summer Work ProgramOur Young People
- 3.6Fix What's Still StandingOur Neighborhoods
- 3.8Clear the Tax-delinquent BacklogOur Neighborhoods
- 4.6A Farmers MarketParks, Health, and Recreation
- 5.3Somewhere to Be, not Just Somewhere to LiveOur Elders and Veterans
- 7.9Invest in City StaffHow City Hall Works
- 8.4Put Teeth in our OrdinancesBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
Years 5+ · 3 commitments
Years 5+ — Compound
The things that take longer than one term. Naming them honestly is the point — a town that plans in four-year pieces gets four-year results and then starts over.