The Ashburn Comeback Plan
The Ashburn Comeback Plan: Building Our Community From the Inside Out
52 commitments. 8 areas. Every one with a how.
52 commitments
How to read this
A city councilman is one vote out of several. He has no budget of his own, cannot hire or fire, and cannot make the school system do anything.
So this plan is built on a rule: everything here is something I can personally do, propose, or bring to a vote — not something I need luck to deliver.
Every commitment says who has to say yes:
I can do this alone
20 commitments
Needs a council vote
23 commitments
Needs a partner
9 commitments
First 90 days · 18 · First year · 23 · Years 2–4 · 8 · Years 5+ · 3
Where a commitment is an audit or a list, it says what that document unlocks — no counting for its own sake. And where something is countable, it carries a hold me to this line. Not outcomes I can't control. Things I either did or didn't do.
Longer than one term, on purpose
Could one councilman, as one vote out of several, finish 52 commitments in four years? No. Not close.
So this is not presented as a term agenda. 18 of them start in the first ninety days — the counting, the asking, and the cheap visible fixes. The rest runs out past a decade, and the roadmap says which is which.
A town that plans in four-year pieces gets four-year results, and then starts over.
The order, and why it's the order
Economic development normally starts the conversation. Here it finishes it, on purpose.
No company plants itself in a town where the workforce isn't ready, the streets are rough, and the housing is failing. And if one does, it doesn't stay. Every dollar we put into young people, neighborhoods, and quality of life is an economic development dollar. It just pays out over years instead of at a ribbon cutting.
Community development is where economic development begins. So we start where the results start.
The first ninety days
18 commitments start here. Tap one to read the full how.
- 1. Who Does What, on One PageKnow Your City · I can do this alone
- 2. How to Get Something FixedKnow Your City · I can do this alone
- 3. How to Show UpKnow Your City · I can do this alone
- 4. Tell You When I LoseKnow Your City · I can do this alone
- 8. Audit the Youth Resource CenterOur Young People · I can do this alone
- 13. Publish the Condition ListOur Neighborhoods · Needs a council vote
- 22. A Condition Assessment on All Six ParksParks, Health, and Recreation · I can do this alone
- 30. One Person, One Page, One List for VeteransOur Elders and Veterans · I can do this alone
- 34. Publish Response TimesPublic Safety · Needs a partner
- 38. You'll Know Before and AfterHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 39. Posted Hours You Can Find MeHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 40. Confirm we Can Even ApplyHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 41. Build a Grant PipelineHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 42. Show up to the Regional CommissionHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 43. A Close Look at City FinancesHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 44. Sit in on Budget Work SessionsHow City Hall Works · I can do this alone
- 48. Ask the Ones Who Left WhyBusiness, Downtown, and I-75 · I can do this alone
- 49. Talk to the Ones Still HereBusiness, Downtown, and I-75 · I can do this alone
8 areas
Know Your City
You can't hold anybody accountable to a system nobody explained.
Read this pillarOur Young People
A building is not the same as a resource.
Read this pillarOur Neighborhoods
What people actually call City Hall about.
Read this pillarParks, Health, and Recreation
Six parks sitting quiet. And the sidewalk runs out.
Read this pillarOur Elders and Veterans
They shouldn't feel forgotten in a city they built.
Read this pillarPublic Safety
Whether somebody comes when you call.
Read this pillarHow City Hall Works
You will know what is going on in your city.
Read this pillarBusiness, Downtown, and I-75
Interstate access gets you on a list. The drive-in decides.
Read this pillarWhat this plan does not promise
I'm not going to tell you I'll lower your taxes, bring a factory, bring back a hospital, or fix the streets in a year. A councilman who promises those things is either misinformed about the job or counting on you being misinformed about it.
I'm also not promising I'll win every vote. I'll bring things to the table and some will fail. When they do, you'll hear it from me — including the part where I lost. That's commitment number four.
What I am promising is that the work gets done in the open, on a schedule, with dates you can check.
This is a starting point
Tell me what's missing. Tell me what I've got wrong. Tell me what matters on your street that isn't in here.
Ashburn can make a comeback. Not by going backwards, and not because one person gave a good speech. Because enough of us decided to stop accepting a ceiling that was never real.
Tell me what’s missing