I generally do not get real worked up about what I read in the paper but the opinion piece from the MJM about the City’s future has irritated me somewhat. I do not disagree with the notion that the property tax rate will have to go up. I’m ok with that as the rate has to float up and down and housing valuations change. Lower is better but we have to pay for the things the City does.
However, here is what I take exception to: “An attempt to enforce tougher zoning restrictions last year was something of a back-door effort to battle illegal immigration, as illegal immigrants are often painted as the culprits of housing overcrowding.”
As the author of that initiative I can state that this is complete bunk. It is true that we went to proactive zoning enforcement but the zoning regulations we were enforcing were no different than the zoning regs of years past. Not tougher, not softer, just the same. That initiative was focused on cleaning up the City and, as you might expect in such a scenario, there were many more building code violations (over a thousand violations – broken fences, peeling paint, etc.) than there were zoning violations. I probably shouldn’t even post on this but I want folks to understand the motivation for that initiative. I view the cleanliness of the City as an important part of the overall fabric of the community and a necessary thing as we try to move the City forward.
January 10, 2008 at 12:14 pm
Cleaning up the city is like going to heaven. Everybody wants to do it,
but very few want to do what you have to do to get there. (Same can
be said for many things in government – like cutting the budget).
Facts: 1) The Manassas codes are very close to others in N. Virginia
and the great majority have been on the books for years.
2) Manassas was/is understaffed in this area compared to
other jurisdictions. (The Town of Herndon, with far less
population, has six folks doing what we have two doing).
Hard to see your push to go from one to two folks last year
being more than just a proper step to catch up to our needs.
Nothing “back- door” about it.
January 10, 2008 at 9:40 pm
Andy,
Anyone who knows you, has spoken with you regarding this, knows what your motivation is. You were born and raised in this City. You don’t want to see it turn into an urban slum, regardless of who is responsible for the degradation.
The MJM has to link the zoning enforcement issue with the illegal immigration issue. The editorial staff has exhibited time and time again that they think that immigration is a federal issue, a “complicated issue”, etc. They couldn’t fight the 287g program too hard, as this IS a federal program, and they are just making up for it on this issue. If the city is getting aggressive about zoning, at the same time that illegal immigration is becoming the main topic of debate, the two MUST be connected in their eyes. They (the editors) are being careful these days, since readers have been calling out any perceived bias (some of it REAL bias).
I am really surprised how they have backed off of the “anti-hispanic” language that peppered their earlier editorials, when referring to anything that local elected officials were trying to do, whenever they could make a tenuous linkage to illegal immigration. I remember what a big deal they made of the percentage of the complaints for overcrowding involved homes occupied by Hispanics.
What the MJM refuses to acknowledge is that Hispanics are the fastest growing segment of the population, some but definitely not all are in this country illegally. Residential overcrowding, increased gang activity, unofficial day laborer sites, push-cart vendors, and the explosion of ESOL students in our schools is a direct result of this demographic shift, and it is further exacerbated by the presence of illegal aliens.
What the MJM is guilty of, is kowtowing to the PC and pro-illegal crowds. We cannot begin to have a civil, intellectually honest discussion about this until the MJM and the crowd they lean towards are willing to accept what every reasonable person knows to be true:
1. While not all Hispanics in the greater Manassas area are illegal, most illegal aliens in the greater Manassas area are Hispanic.
2. While not every overcrowded home is a Hispanic home, many of them are. This is a result of both cultural and socioeconomic reasons. If you have several families in one overcrowded home, in many cases a number of those living there are in this country illegally. Two sisters and their families might live in a home. One sister and her family are here legally, the other sister and her family are not. To make the mortgage payment, they may have a mix of illegal and legal extended family members, and illegal and legal unrelated persons, that they will claim to be family members.
3. MS-13 is a Hispanic gang. There aren’t Swedes, Italians, Irish, Scots, Turks and those from the Indian subcontinent lining up to join. It is a Hispanic gang, and many of their members are here illegally. The Hispanic community must step up and do something about this.
4. While the current interpretation of the 14th amendment grants citizenship to anyone born on US soil, or to the children of two US citizens born abroad, illegal aliens, who shouldn’t be in this country to begin with, are having babies. These babies are growing up in our community, and are going to our schools. Because no English is spoken in the home, ESL is needed in order for these students to pass state and federal standardized tests. Yes, until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, these children are recognized as citizens, and due to a previous ruling, children born to illegals, and those brought here illegally must be granted access to publicly funded education. However, when you have 5 families living in a single family home, each sending several children to our public schools, yet the property taxes derived from the home were meant to send one family’s children to the public school system, there is a deficit between what they pay, and what they take. I know, the illegal alien apologists will say that whenever a poor family sends their children to school there is a disparity. This is a canard. Somewhere, whether the poor family owns or rents, the same tax rate is being paid. It is when you pack multiple families, and have them “piggy-back” (PWC Public Schools Official Term for this practice), we experience a deficit.
5. There is a percentage of the Hispanic community that refuses to assimilate. There is nothing wrong with this. Historically, there are segments of other populations who have done the same thing. Go to any major city in the North East or the West Coast, and you will find a section called “China Town”, or “Little Italy”, or “Little Ukraine” etc. What makes these populations different is that they don’t demand that forms be printed in their language, or that mainstream businesses have services in their language. Growing up in a town that had its Irish, French-Canadian, Puerto-Rican, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Haitian sections, I can’t recall my public school system ever spending additional monies on ESL programs in their native languages. Kids learned English. If they couldn’t keep up, they were left back. Usually, and extra year in a grade was enough. The kids eventually spoke English sufficiently to perform at the same level as those who where born to English speaking households.
6. The pro-illegal alien groups do resort to “race-baiting” when it suits them. While they may not be true “racist” organizations (some, like La Raza ARE) they are definitely “ethno-centric”. Because the current make-up of the city council is Caucasian males, if ANY initiative is perceived to impact Hispanics in ANY way, you will be called a “racist”. Never mind that you were elected in an open democratic process. This is a canard as well. Zoning enforcement cannot be “racist” anymore than the laws against convicted felons not being able to vote or own firearms are “racist”. It is in the APPLICATION of the law that it’s tested. If you don’t park your car on the front lawn, have 20 unrelated people living in a single family home, and 5 people living in the garden shed, you are not subject to a code violation. Period.
7. While I am sure that there are a percentage of citizens who are actively opposing the presence of illegal aliens in our community, because they feel threatened by changing demographics, and might be considered “racists”. The majority couldn’t give a hairy rat’s patoot where someone is from. They don’t care what religion they are. They don’t care what language is spoken in the home. What they want is for people to come here legally. They want them to work hard, follow the law, pay their taxes, and try to be a good neighbor, and respect American customs. If I am living next to two sisters, and their husbands, and their six children, and they are here legally, and they don’t park their 4 cars on the lawn, and they don’t play loud music at 2 am, and they don’t rent their home out to 10 single men who will drink beer on the front lawn and leer and catcall my wife, and they keep their house up, and don’t let their pool water turn black and become a breeding ground for mosquitoes and who knows what else, I don’t care if they are from El Salvador, Finland, Russia, India, Inner Mongolia, Outer Mongolia…do you get where I am coming from?
Sorry for the length of the post, Andy. Considering that you don’t get the volume of a BVBL or an NLS, I hope you won’t mind. I am not speaking for you. What I am trying to say is I am not a racist or anti-immigrant. I know that you or anyone else on council is a racist or anti-immigrant. One of the reasons that I love this city as much as you do is that its citizens are fair, reasonable, common sense people. We aren’t Berkeley, We aren’t SanFran. We aren’t Boston. We aren’t radicalized. We bring our grievances before the elected body, and they govern according to the laws of Virginia and the US of A.
8. Until the MJM recognizes that perception IS reality for human beings, and that they are perceived as being biased, their contribution to the debate will be nothing more than “comedic relief”.
Like my first Platoon Sgt. used to say, here’s the straight-skinny:
While you (the MJM, WashPo, Univision, and the pro-illegal lobby who I know will read this) may accuse people like me of inciting superheated debate, and injecting divisive rhetoric as well, the fact that you refuse to have an honest and open debate about the issues, will cause us to continue to be polar opposites. Do not fault our elected officials for moving in our direction. This should tell you that the majority of citizens agree with me. This is what counts in a democracy. Andy Harrover, Mark Aveni, Steve Smith, Steve Randolph, Hal Parrish and John way derive their authority to govern from power granted to them by the citizens of Manassas. This is the American system of government.
In closing, please keep doing what you are doing, Andy. If they (the MJM and the pro-illegal crowd they are so afraid of offending or are in philosophical agreement with) don’t like it, let them try to run you out of office. The New media is here. They will make sure that voters hear the opposing side. They are in quicksand. The more they thrash and struggle, the deeper and deeper they sink towards irrelevancy.
January 10, 2008 at 9:50 pm
“I know that you or anyone else on council is a racist or anti-immigrant. ”
Should read “is not a racist or anti-immigrant”
January 10, 2008 at 9:59 pm
Thanks for your thoughts and your support Steve. I don’t mind posts of any length if they are genuine and I know your sentiments to be genuine. Thanks for your carefully considered opinions and your involvement in the process!
January 11, 2008 at 4:08 pm
I can understand why you would be upset about the whole deal Councilman, it’s a “misquote”. In my experience, and admittedly, it’s not a lot, so this is anecdotal at best: Every single article (in any newspaper) that covers an event or story that I had involvement with has been inaccurate to some extent. Sometimes it was blatent lying, other times it was poor fact checking or not bothering to get all sides of a story. Because of my experience, I take for granted that any article I read is probably a “version of an event” and is not likely the “facts of an event.”
to wit; They cleverly extrapolate the zoning enforcement’s “true intention” and attribute that “intention” to those council members who pushed for it, even though they never cite a source to confirm that this is fact. It’s half-assed journalism at best. Might as well grin and bear it, because they can snipe at you on this medium and there is no real recourse, because if you say anything, it’s likely to result in another “misquote”. The best thing you can do about it, you’re already doing, which is giving the citizens whom entrust you with decision-making an avenue to communicate with you (this board) in an open dialogue. I trust that much more than some petty journalist whom has proven over and over that they can’t even get the story correct.
January 17, 2008 at 5:58 pm
“I trust that much more than some petty journalist whom has proven over and over that they can’t even get the story correct”
It’s not that a journalist CANNOT get the story correct, they WILL not get it correct. The journalists that actually get it correct don’t stay around the MJM very long, has anyone noticed??
I agree with you Steve, the ‘new’ media has arrived and viewership runs circles around readership of local papers. Thanks to you and all the other contributors of this responsible journalism, we the viewers are becoming informed and engaging ourselves in the democratic process.
February 7, 2008 at 9:48 am
>I
February 7, 2008 at 9:48 am
I attribute the lack of real journalism today to the lack of education of journalists in the colleges and universities going back many years. Once the educators became radicalized, the education they provided became heavily slanted towards their own political leanings. Since far more “educators” were radicalized to a leftist vs a rightist point of view, you find FAR MORE leftist leaning journalists.