Recently my wife and I went to Washington, DC on a field trip. The nation’s Capital has a new underground entrance hall we wanted to see. The research part of the trip was to visit Fairfax County, our state’s most prosperous county. For Virginia, Fairfax County is about typical in size. Although little more than half the land area of Albemarle Fairfax has ten times our population. So, too, is their annual operating budget. Fairfax makes do with a $3.25 billion operating budget while here in Albemarle our annual budget is a tenth that.

I remember reading about Fairfax’s explosive growth in the 1980’s and 1990’s and also recall when they built & opened their new county office building. So we took pictures. The main building is really quite attractive, and not surprisingly, large in scale.

There are a couple more nearby buildings – one similar in concept to our Community Development building at McIntire Road.

Next I thought of Highland County. If Fairfax represents growth how does the home of Monterey and the maple syrup festival compare?

Highland County is also typical in size for a Virginia County. But population? 2500! This includes a student population of 353.  Fairfax has 168,000 students. Albemarle has a 12,600 student population.

I remember Highland County, the West Virginia bordering county, from a family trip in the 1980’s. Going west down the mountain to Monterey offers a spectacular view.

I compared economic development pursuits in these three counties.

Fairfax? A $6.7 million budget with a staff of 34 people. Highland has a Chamber of Commerce building in a small shared building.  Albemarle? You might think somewhere in between, yet Albemarle has no economic development office. No web listing, no telephone number. It is sort of mysterious…

County life in Fairfax, Albemarle, Highland fit expectations in terms of money and pace of life. Fairfax has $123,000 median family income. Per family, Albemarle has $68K. These compare to $40K in Highland County. Real Estate total value is $220 billion to $19.50 billion to $750 million respectively. Tax rates?  $1.04 per $100, $0.746 per $100 and $0.70 per $100 (approx) respectively.

Fairfax is a sea of traffic, yet full of culture. There are huge family opportunities (that is what a population of 168,000 students plus Universities will do for you).  Highland County is serene and yet quiet - from Monterey one might need to travel great distances for cultural and family/sports events. Of course, we here in Albemarle County have the idyllic compromise. Life is Good in Albemarle County. Hurray for the University. Cheers for our Airport and Downtown. Let’s be tolerant of traffic and enjoy a moderate pace to life!

Not political campaign running; running for health! In Charlottesville the Ten Miler is again upon us. April 4th this year and perhaps as many as 2500 runners. Yes, it is mainly a Charlottesville event. UVA is actually Albemarle County though so Albemarle has presence in this hugely popular event.

In North Garden the Charlottesville Track Club for more than twenty years hosted a small but always popular 5 miler event called the “Chicken Run”. It was a fund raiser for the North Garden Volunteer Fire Department. For many years the firemen barbecued chicken to sell hence the nickname for the run. One of my first memories after moving to my home, Rockland, was a card table manned by Jim Lorenzoni at the end of my driveway early one Saturday morning in August. Soon lots of runners showed up to sign in. After a few years of my watching this happy group the next logical step was to participate. Here I am many years later with a firmly entrenched habit. Now, too, my children run and I only try to keep up with them.

Is running good for you? You bet. Ask your doctor. Go easy on your knees. Are we lucky to live in Albemarle, home of the 10 miler? Yes. Also we now have a ½ marathon and the full Charlottesville Marathon. And legions of healthy runners. I hope runners vote. I want every Samuel Miller runner’s vote November 3rd.