Hello all.  Slow posting in the lazy days of summer.  We had a meeting tonight and the staff brought forward some action items regarding the peddler issue.  One was a total prohibition on peddling and there was also an alternate resolution that remanded the item back to the land use committee.  We voted to send the item back to the land use committee. 

Now, some will undoubtedly demand to know why we didn’t simply outlaw peddling.  My answer (and mine alone) comes in 2 parts:

1.  I’m unsure what happens if we outlaw peddling.  Will pumpkin vendors still be able to sell pumpkins?  How about Christmas tree guys?  I don’t believe it wise to take action until I understand all of the ramifications.  Doing something half-baked is worse than doing nothing at all.

2.  I’m tired of being in the weeds on every issue.  The City Council is the executive board of the City.  We need to take a step back and set a strategic policy direction.  It is a certainty that the Council will engage in tactical decisions but without longer-term thought and guidance, the job of making Manassas the place we all want it to be is an impossibility. 

I know that not everyone will agree with my rationale and will want immediate action but this seems like the wisest course of action.

As always, the floor is yours….

The City of Manassas has always had pretty high-minded goals and ideals. Shortly after incorporation in the 70’s we had our own lake, an airport (which had been around awhile) and school system. In the 80’s and 90’s the City, in partnership with others, built a museum, the Pavillion and rehabilitated the Candy Factory. We are partners with GMU in the Freedom center and their Opera house. That is a pretty long string of success in a short period of time.

Fast-Forward to 2000-2006 and we begin to see problems in the City. There are significant issues with overcrowding and the City begins to see, what I would argue, are its first real prolonged “urban” problems. Manassas is built out. We have an aging housing stock and there really isn’t much dirt left for green field development. The area around us is building so fast that thousands of people are driving on the same roads that held dozens when I was a teenager.

The upshot of all of this is that the City is now engaged in an act of broken field running that Walter Payton wouldn’t enjoy. We face a mix of tactical and strategic problems that are far more nuanced than before. City politics have become far more energized. Where 30 years ago you might have had Council members saying they just didn’t like spending money, now there is pressure to sign “no-tax” pledges. Would I, a small government guy, ever have dreamed of myself banging the drum to hire more staff just one year ago? No. The problem, as I see it, is that large parts of the legacy we inherited are clashing with the reality of a significantly changed social, demographic and financial setting. Manassas used to be the outpost in NoVA. For awhile we were the toast of the town and now, we have been bypassed and Gainesville is that outpost and their draw and gravity is ever increasing.

If we are to fight off a static and predicable cycle of devolution we will have to take control of our City and her destiny. The first step, in my view, is to get the place cleaned up. That is under way and continuing. It won’t be finished tomorrow but it is happening. We will hopefully hire another zoning inspector soon. Next comes the various and sundry pieces of the strategic plan and going through what is in there. If we are to be successful, we will have to take actionable pieces of those plans and make them happen. These things are happening but it takes time, the courage to take chances and resources to make it all happen. I do believe we have the courage and, while resources right now are slim, I do believe we will be successful if we are clever and determined.

p.s.: I’m unsure why I’m publishing this other than to crystalize these things for myself. If you comment be gentle. I’m thinking out loud here…:)