Much is said about the agony of commuting in northern Virginia, one of the worst areas of the nation. I have been blessed in that throughout my adult life, I've never had to drive past Leesburg to hold down a job.  My first bit of luck was that in the early '80s a German industrialist, Helmut Wagner, purchased the old Deco/Westinghouse facility on Edwards Ferry Road to house the north American headquarters for REHAU, his worldwide plastics company. As a young biologist/chemist I was able to find work there in 1983 and continued on until 2001.

When I left REHAU I wanted to reconnect with my community after years of being on the road, to work for employers who directly impacted Leesburg and Loudoun County.  My first stop was with our family business, Jerry's Flowers & Gifts. This family, not one to grow moss, now has five businesses.  Besides Jerry's in Virginia Village, there is Jerry's Downtown, the Razzle Dairy Bar, Tech Support and now Leesburg Magazine.

I've also been privileged to work for Loudoun Magazine and the Loudoun Red Cross. Truly a lucky guy, never having to commute far to earn my daily bread.

But in this area which has long considered a bedroom community to Washington, so many have had to endure up to four hours on the road each day for the sake of their careers. Precious time away from home and family, stress on body and soul, stress on the area's roads and impactful on air quality.

During my time at Loudoun Magazine Congressman Wolf was pushing the idea of telecommuting and perenially spronsors bills in the House to that end. Brett Phillips, majority owner of Amendment One (parent company then of Leesburg Today and Loudoun Magazine) caught the fire and re-established Loudoun Magazine as a telecommuting project. Key positions were moved out of the office and into their homes, where they enjoyed their 1-minute commutes most workdays.  We continued to produce a fabulous magazine, which Congressman Wolf even held up during a speech to Congress as an example of successful telecommuting.

Brett Phillips used to ask: "What's so magical about strapping yourself into a car so you can drive an hour just to sit in front of a computer that could as easily be in your home?" (okay, I paraphrased a bit, it's been five years).

But alas, the efforts of Congressman Wolf and Mr. Phillips have never taken hold.

So, if we are bound and determined to keep strapping ourselves into those automobiles, encountering road work and road rage all the while, maybe there is a better way?

Yes, there is. It's called the "Reverse Commute" and the same geography which made Leesburg such a crossroads during the Civil War, can cause it to be an emplyoment crossroads in the 21st century.

Leesburg has three main arteries leading out towards all the jobs in eastern Loudoun, Fairfax County and DC.  They are Route 7, notorious for all of it's traffic lights, the Greenway and now, since it's been covered with a little asphalt, Sycolin Road. 

Through my working years I've frequently heard from colleagues traveling in from the east, "oh, it's no problem, I have a reverse commute".

In its drive to gain new employers to the Town, why not market Leesburg as a commuter's dream, if you're going against traffic that is.  That there is a great pool of workers already living in Fairfax/eastern Loudoun and all they have to do is get on Rt 7, Sycolin Road or the Greenway headed west in the morning when traffic is light? 

Why not push for a light industrial center off Sycolin Road near Leesburg Airport?  Why not ask the Greenway to cut the toll west in the mornings when it is underutilized?  And shoot, keep putting in interchanges down Rt. 7, that's a winning proposition anytime of day.

Leesburg is a great place to do business, it's quality of life spills over to those who are there mainly from 9-5.  It has amazing water, a really good road system and perhaps in a few years, locally produced power (and maybe Dominion won't feel the need to keep crapping all over our countryside with those awful powerlines).

Let's promote the reverse commute.  Let's ask the Feds to put some satellite offices out here, same with all those high tech folks down in Herndon. And for heaven sakes, let's find someone who makes something the world needs and get them to set up shop out by the airport.