James Burgess · Ashburn City Council
The Ashburn Comeback Plan
Building Our Community From the Inside Out. 65 commitments across 8 areas. All of them say what gets done, how, and when, because a what without a how is just a wish.
A living plan
This plan is a living document. It changes when I hear something new at a door, when somebody shows me a fact I had wrong, and when something gets done. Every change is written down here with the date and the reason. Nothing gets quietly taken out.
Last updated October 17, 2026 · See every change
The plan on one page
All 65 commitments, and when they start.
Read it here, or download the printable page to share at your church, your job, or your kitchen table.
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 every commitment says who has to say yes — and be suspicious of any plan that doesn't.
I can do this alone · 21
No permission needed
Reading, asking, showing up, and publishing what I find.
Needs a council vote · 27
I bring it, the body decides
I can put it on the table. I can't promise the outcome — and I'll tell you when I lose.
Needs a partner · 17
Somebody outside City Hall
The county, the schools, the churches, the Regional Commission, a business.
Commitments are numbered by area. 3.4 is the fourth commitment in the third area. So you can point at one and I'll know exactly which you mean.
Two more things. 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.
This plan is longer than one term, on purpose. Could one councilman, as one vote, finish 65 commitments in four years? No. Pretending otherwise would be the same overpromising this plan exists to avoid. See the roadmap.
The 8 areas
Economic development normally starts the conversation. Here it finishes it, on purpose. Community development is where economic development begins.
Area 1 · 1.1–1.7
Know Your City
You can't hold anybody accountable to a system nobody explained.
Area 2 · 2.1–2.6
Our Young People
A building is not the same as a resource.
Area 3 · 3.1–3.13
Our Neighborhoods
What people actually call City Hall about.
Area 4 · 4.1–4.10
Parks, Health, and Recreation
Five parks sitting quiet. And the sidewalk runs out.
Area 5 · 5.1–5.5
Our Elders and Veterans
They shouldn't feel forgotten in a city they built.
Area 6 · 6.1–6.6
Public Safety
Whether somebody comes when you call.
Area 7 · 7.1–7.10
Running City Hall Right
Know where every dollar goes. Go get the ones we're missing.
Area 8 · 8.1–8.8
Business, Downtown, and I-75
Interstate access gets you on a list. The drive-in decides.
What 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 1.3.
What I am promising is that the work gets done in the open, on a schedule, with dates you can check.