The FY2012 budget was passed last night on second reading. The only substantial change (actually made on Monday) was the BPOL increases were eliminated and, in fact, the exemption level was tripled. So, if your small business grosses less than $150,000 you will pay no BPOL tax. Both the Chamber of Commerce and our Delegate Jackson Miller pushed hard for that change (the chamber sent out a blast email which I recieved as my firm is a member but nobody bothered to call me directly which I find mystifying if their agenda was limited to the BPOL change). Also vastly reduced were commercial real estate tax bills – down over $500 on average. The Council did a lot to keep Manassas business-friendly but our job is still to balance interests and we need to stay mindful of the burden our residents bear.
Importantly, we managed to keep the 4 additional police officers in the budget. That gets us back to the staff level of about 4 years ago. No, the chief didn’t ask for them but our crime level hasn’t gone down. I’m not waiting for more terrible crimes before asking the Council to act. Sometimes leadership takes decisions that were unlooked-for.
The officers will be ready for duty late next spring when we’re ready to start expanding our foot patrols.
May 12, 2011 at 9:52 am
Leadership & balance is good. Many of us wear multiple hats.
Speaking of police, Kline Memorials has donated a stone and plaque that is being delivered & installed this morning in Point of Woods in honor of Sgt. John D. Conner III, the only Manassas City police officer killed in the line of duty (July 24, 1988).
Last Saturday, the repurposed gazebo (it’s had nine lives from fairgrounds to Old Town caboose to Public Works) was placed on a 3-acre field off Stonewall Road near Stonewall park. The memorial stone will be placed near it, as a community gathering place in honor of Conner. The donation is part of the 1 By Youth project. On Saturday, more than 700 volunteers will gather to sand & paint the gazebo, plant flowers around it & work to turn part of the field into a 30-plot community garden. Volunteers will also be working on projects throughout the 440-townhome community in partnership with Habitat for Humanity. Sponsors of the 1 By Youth project include Lockheed Martin, Mike Garcia Construction, Manassas St. Thomas UMC and many others.
Tomorrow is the 23rd Annual Candlelight Vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C. National Police Week is May 15 – 21.
To volunteer on Saturday, contact Christen Zenich at 703-257-8315.
May 12, 2011 at 11:46 am
A leader knows the way, shows the way, and goes the way. Thanks for leading.
May 12, 2011 at 7:23 pm
Steve is correct.
May 12, 2011 at 8:45 pm
Outstanding work! And thank you for keeping the four police…again, as I said, I am the only voice I heard from the citizens asking for them. Keeps the CALEA Flagship Status front and center too – which will be handy when next round of grants come around by the Feds as status is one of the things that lead to the award of money.
Andy, are you really suprised nobody from the Chamber called or wrote you directly? I have an opinion on their PAC approach – but not fit for public consumption 🙂
May 12, 2011 at 9:18 pm
@ray: I was honestly surprised. My firm has been a member for 10 years (give or take). It’s not like they don’t know me. I guess it’s just a matter of approach – if I wanted to get something like that done, I’d call the guy(s) making the decision – not everyone but…..
@Cindy: that’s cool that Klines did that. I well remember the day Sgt. Conner died. It was chaotic – police officers from everywhere were here. My buddy lived a couple of houses down and they were completely freaking out.
May 13, 2011 at 9:56 am
Andy, agree with you – especially when you are the “Idea Guy” and I have to say, probably the one person on the Council who can rally in a positive way the folks to roll up the sleaves and get things done. As you know, I follow the BOCS sessions because of being on the COA, and we had our Budget Public Hearing, and then the next day, the County had theirs. I listened to the Chamber in both sessions – and it was night and day. Seemed they were more negative to the City. Of course, over in the County, when it comes to the BPOL, Marty Nohe is the biggest fan to get rid of it and they know they have a champion in him. Shame they do not see you the same way.
By the way, on the rhetoric of the Chief asking or not asking for two additional officers (he had two in his budget request) – one of the three sovereign duties of the City Government is public safety, and if y’all place that as the priority, we citizens should remember our basic Civic Lessons and rally around it.
Also, Idea Man, here is something to think on….We have a Fire District under Virginia Law and the FRS has its seperate fund, although intergrated in the total budget; seperate funds for the various Utilities, Public Works, etc etc as listed out. One of the things I wish would occur is MCPD be treated almost the same. When you look at the budget, one would almost see they are treated like just like other Staff Departments. Goes back to my arguement two years ago about a Public Safety Committee (vs. just FRC). There are models out there in other cities. Just something to toss around in the back of your head. 🙂
May 13, 2011 at 10:24 am
It doesn’t seem like a bad idea but I think the Fire & Rescue committee needs to work by themselves to finish sorting out a lot of their “foundation” issues before we start mixing them in with other functions.
You’ll see much less of the “idea guy” part of me in the future, at least in Council functions. That part of my brain has been directed towards my business and is staying there for the foreseeable future. The environment on the City side just isn’t right for it at the current time.
May 14, 2011 at 10:37 am
Andy, I have given up on the idea of a “Public Safety Committee” and your right to let the FRC do their thing…as I told you, I was asked to leave the FRC alone and I did.
Actually, I have taken the Public Safety one and moved it into another direction in my head and in thinking. The idea fits better into Neighborhood Conservation as an overacrching approach.
Brutally honest assessment of the enviroment, my friend. Your right too in focusing on the biz….leave some of the ideas to others like me who can write it up and approach you with it. I have one I have scratching out on a chart pak now that the General Assembly mandated Blueprint for Livable Communities is out….how to take that and fit it into the notes from the Beer Summit.
May 14, 2011 at 2:48 pm
Raymond,
I was interested to see your reference to the Blueprint for Livable Communities. Some folks around town and I are kicking around ideas for a proposal on a Complete Streets plan, to include more up-to-date standardized cross-sections to guide the retrofitting of the City’s mostly obsolete streets and sidewalks, to develop specific streetscaping plans as zoning overlays, and, perhaps, taking another go at a tree ordinance. Charlotte NC, where I have a place, has really transformed its urban core into a wonderfully walkable, cyclable, livable and economically thriving group of well inter-connected neighborhoods in the past ten years.
Such an effort on our part could dovetail nicely with, and buttress, Bike Manassas, and potentially reenergize and mobilize in support of that effort a lot of folks around town who, quite frankly, have become discouraged about the City’s commitment to a high standard of livability, especially given the very pronounced decline and decay of the City’s existing streets and parks.
Would you be interested in talking?
May 14, 2011 at 2:52 pm
I should readily add that the decay in the City’s infrastructure came in spite of Andy’s hard work to slow and stop that decline by more adequately funding things like street paving. Andy was/is on the right side of that issue, in my opinion!
May 14, 2011 at 6:32 pm
I’d be interested in a beer summit for that. Whenever. Wherever.
May 15, 2011 at 11:24 am
http://www.apa.state.va.us/ComparativeReport.cfm
Interesting information.
May 15, 2011 at 4:39 pm
@Steve Hersch….ah! Complete the Streets Coalition stuff! I use those as reference all the time especially since they are tied with Easter Seals “Project Action” and also the National Center on Senior Transportation (which also looks at not only transporation issues around our Older Citizens above age 60, but also the disabled and Job Access-Reverse Commute). Be happy to meet with you and kick the can around – give me a call or drop a line to me rmbeverage@verizon.net and we can maybe formulate a basic agenda before Andy makes a beer summit call.
@Steve Randolph…ah gee, thanks for the posting…as if I did not read enough stuff already that piques my interest 🙂
May 15, 2011 at 4:47 pm
@Steve Hersch…you mention Charlotte NC, and closer to home is Charlottesville and what they are doing down there. What started as a response to the “Age Wave” actually has grown in to much of what we are talking about here with Complete Streets, Livable Communities, etc. Back in 2003, they created a great plan with goal by 2020. It encompases our older residents, baby boomers, families…all the multigenerational stuff. Plus, it fed subsequent Urban Renewal for which I have other material on. But here’s a link if your interested to see what a large Virgina Urban area with a touch of nonurban for good measure is doing:
http://www.jabacares.org/page/full/2020-plan/
May 15, 2011 at 4:49 pm
another “gold standard” document is out of AARP Policy Institute. Provides recommendations and checklists.
http://assets.aarp.org/rgcenter/il/d18311_communities.pdf
May 16, 2011 at 10:05 am
As has been pointed out by many in previous postings, one of the major hang ups in making our City more walker/biker friendly is what to do with the South Grant and GTS areas. Walking down Grant and or Main street south of Old town is not exactly a walk in the park. The other route, Prince William Street is not much better.
May 16, 2011 at 2:14 pm
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May 16, 2011 at 2:23 pm
It is nice that Klines is providing a memorial for Sgt. Conner. I do remember living there on Laurelwood Ct at that time. Had been out of town and made it home the next morning in time for a reporter to be shoving a microphone towards me and asking how I felt about it. Hard to answer when you do not know anything of the event. My feelings have remained the same since I learned what happened, that a family and a community suffered a great loss.