Tea Party summit date will have to be moved. Attended the Education Forward retreat this weekend and it went well but I appear to have been blessed with some food poison action from something there. Was going to work up some bike Manassas stuff Sunday but laid around on the couch all day. I’m at work now but I still feel like I’ve been poisoned. I will try to work up something meaningful in the next day or so…..
May 2, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Sorry to hear about the food poisoning.
Let me know what help you need with the bike manassas stuff. Many hands make light work.
Also, I’m up for the summit, if it must be moved. The original date was problematic.
May 2, 2011 at 8:42 pm
Education Forward then food poisoning….can there be a connection? Conspiracy therorists have to know!!!!! 🙂
May 3, 2011 at 10:55 am
Come on Andy, at least don’t croak before the first and
second readings of the budget next week!
May 3, 2011 at 11:02 am
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/05/the-secret-team-that-killed-osama-bin-laden/238163/
A humble thank you the great Americans who accomplished this mission.
May 3, 2011 at 1:59 pm
Thanks to Team Six for their hard work – and to all Americans who have participated and sacrificed in the long, long war on terror.
May 3, 2011 at 10:36 pm
Real interesting letter from Keith Sutherland in the N&M on May 2nd.
http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/may/02/manassas-gop-betrays-its-principles-ar-1011030/
I have pondered his point on our Chief asking for funds “so they are not trained and hired away by other jurisdictions”. For the life of me, cannot understand his or anyone’s objection to it since it is standard practice. And as I said in my comments at the hearing, MCPD has the CALEA “Flagship” designation, making us among the “best of the best” since only around 4% of all departments nationwide have it. And in order to keep it, we have to maintain the ratio of Police Officers to Citizens. 1.3 Officers per 1000 is considered a minimum, with optimum being 2.8 Officers per 1000. That translates to a low of 53 officers, and the optimum of 112….I asked our Chief once how many officers he foresaw as a plan for the City, and his answer was 100 (2.5 Officers per 1000).
I am looking forward to the upcoming release of the MCPD Strategic Plan as the Chief said the other week is in development. Maybe then with hard facts, some of the voices in the wilderness will quit their cry – but then again, maybe not. Some of those same voices cry lack of conservative politics and corruption abounds!!!!
May 4, 2011 at 12:12 am
Osama Bin Laden arrives at the pearly gates, expecting to meet Allah.
He is stopped and met by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and 69 other Americans.
After a vicious beating, he falls to the ground and cries out to Allah.
“What is this? I was promised 72 virgins upon my arrival to heaven.”.
God calls back..”That was 72 Virginians”
May 4, 2011 at 6:41 am
I thought Mr. Sutherland’s letter was thoughtful and very carefully worded.
May 4, 2011 at 8:02 am
http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/pastisprologue/2011/05/04/connaughton-to-launch-battle-app-in-fredericksburg/
Interesting. Hopefully, there will be one for Manassas in the near future.
May 4, 2011 at 8:47 am
Isn’t this the same crowd screaming for more enforcement? How is that supposed to work exactly? you can’t have it both ways…
May 4, 2011 at 10:57 am
Andy, agree his letter was well worded to a point – take the $400K for the Civil War Days in July. As written, without expanding on ALL that was included in the list of what that money was going for (as shown by Liz when presented), it remains an inflammatory statement showing the Council just likes to spend, spend, spend.
His paragraph about the Police I pondered about above is another example – it leads in well, then gets killed in the second sentence by just focusing on the $450K and the “guard Lake Manassas” against toe dippers. I won’t argue about his points on the Schools…yes, they wrote a Strategic Plan, but where are the action plans? Where is the PUBLIC available information on any PLAN related to “Manassas Next” (last one being your slide presentations and videos from years ago) or a Prelim Outline of “Education Forward”?
And “Manassas Next” for the Schools should not be confused with the title of the Comp Plan for 2030 by anyone – just a caveat to the readers of the blog. Different Plan and that one is at least out in draft, and Comm Devl is accepting PUBLIC input – versus the closed world of MCPS.
Letters such as this are what the author intended – inflammatory as facts are left out. And as a wise lawyer once said: “Don’t tell me the truth or the feeling, just tell me the facts as those are what hang you.”
May 4, 2011 at 10:59 am
@Steve – that app is really slick! Given Manassas is the “kick off” for the five years of events, be nice if the CVB advocated for it (hint hint hint to the Council to push for it since we help fund the CVB).
May 7, 2011 at 1:51 pm
Great morning for the Police 5K! And great to see Steve there! Hey Andy, next year, have a coffee bar in front of your house to hand out cups for those of us on the return trip….we got Dunkin’ Donut travel mugs in our grab bags, and I could have put mine to use if you had a stand! 🙂
May 9, 2011 at 8:35 am
Apparently the turnout for the MCPD 5K was the largest in the history
of the event. Nice to see Ray, his family and over two hundred other
people there. Great morning for running or walking for a good cause.
May 9, 2011 at 6:17 pm
Its not about having it both ways. Its about spending money in a smarter way. Take money from what is not working,namely the school system and put that money where it will be better used. That does not involve tax increases just a reassignment of funds. Why we are spending 400k on the anniversary. Of the war is beyond me. I supported the first request of “Seed” money which was around 200k.
Smarter spending can lead to tax cuts. Which is good for the City.