Delegate David Englin (D-45) today issued the following statement in response to Gov. Bob McDonnell’s announcement that Virginia ended the fiscal year with a “surplus” of $404 million:

Governor McDonnell today repeated the claim that Virginia suddenly has a surplus, but that is simply false. Webster’s defines “surplus” as “the amount that remains when use or need is satisfied.”

Please be sure to remind your readers that Virginia’s fifth annual back-to-school sales tax holiday begins Friday, Aug. 6 and runs through Sunday, Aug. 8. During this three-day period, customers will not be charged the 5 percent state and local retail sales tax on school supplies priced at $20 or less per item, or on articles of clothing, including footwear, costing $100 or less each.

Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced that law enforcement officers can ask about immigration status of anyone stopped or arrested. This condoned discrimination is not just ineffective, it also undermines the hard work that hundreds of thousands of immigrants do in Virginia every day.

Communities across the nation are saying no to Arizona law SB 1070 and many are planning actions today to highlight growing resistance to Arizona-like policies in their cities and states.

n an article dated July 21st on the Alexandria restaurant Chez Andree, reporter Carla Branch writes that the corner of Commonwealth Avenue and Glebe Road is the unlikely location of a French restaurant. “That’s where, in spite of a neighborhood that has never quite transitioned, Chez Andree has stood for 46 years…”

I am afraid that my statement at Tuesday night’s Council meeting was misinterpreted by your readers, and understandably so.

In response to Mr. Donley’s comment that the redevelopment of the area is a” zero sum game,” I countered by saying Jefferson Houston was in need of attention, and was “architecturally unsafe.”

Governor Robert F. McDonnell told reporters Monday that he no longer plans to ask Congress to support an enhanced federal match for Medicaid benefits to the states unless the funds are offset, citing concerns about the deficit. Yet he signed a letter in February, along with 46 other governors, indicating that an extension of these funds, known as FMAP, “would greatly assist us in maintaining services and further stabilizing the economy.”

On Saturday, the Council will take the final vote on a new vision for north Potomac Yard. This process started over two years ago when Councilman Wilson and I proposed that we link any new development in Potomac Yard to the creation of a new metro station. This concept was enshrined in the city’s transportation master plan. At the time, there was a lot of doubt that we could create a project where the developer essentially paid for the metro. But here we are, with a plan that accomplishes that and much more.

Earlier this week, I met seven T.C. Williams High School juniors who will receive four-year college scholarships. Pretty remarkable, don’t you think?

Dear Editor:

I found the recent letter on the T.C. Vision and Action Committee by Ms. Fisher to be confused and misleading. Perhaps Ms. Fisher hasn’t had a school aged child in Alexandria and she certainly hasn’t done much research. Most parents have long been aware of the problem that Alexandria has had with the achievement gap over many years. It could hardly have gone unnoticed by past school boards or superintendents as it has been extensively covered in this newspaper and elsewhere. The problem is not fixed because it is very difficult, not because anyone involved with the school system was unaware of it.