My Side of the Fence

The danger isn't going too far. It's that we don't go far enough.

Coffee & Open Thread

Coffee tomorrow – 7:30!

18 Comments

  1. Rebuilding a house in the historic district to replace an older structure….yeah, Prescott House scenario. I was coming out of Bloom onto Prescott Street and again admiring the house just two up from Iron Horse Antiques. If ever there was an example of a current constructed house, done in “period” style and fitting in, it is that house.

  2. FourKidsnaDog

    March 5, 2012 at 9:43 am

    Going back to the crematory. The Manassas Patch reported that city council will hear from the public on March 12th. Are local residents being notified and what about all the parents that have children attending the two schools that sit across from the proposed site. I understand that the vast majority of kids that attend All Saints School and Pennington are county residents but the city should act responsibly… children breathe that air 7-8 hours a day.

  3. Local residents are notified via signs posted on the property and notices in the newspaper. The applicant has also hosted a meeting with the neighbors on at least one occasion. I don’t know about pennington but the Catholic church has submitted a letter in support of the proposal….

  4. Steve Randolph

    March 5, 2012 at 10:17 am

    http://theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/03/you-are-what-you-wear/1381/

    Remember sweaters sold in a ladies shop in Old Town that read:
    London
    Paris
    Manassas
    New York

    Any suggestions for a new one?

  5. I kind of like Ian Lovejoy’s “whole town, not just old town.”

    Also, here’s an interesting article, brought to my attention by William Golden of PrinceWilliamLife.com. That idea of a “newspaper of record” is so 2011, although I would love to see you compile all those great newspaper factoids about Manassas into a book, Steve.

    http://pewinternet.org/Presentations/2012/Feb/How-People-Learn-About-Their-Local-Community-in-a-Digital-Age.aspx

  6. @Andy,
    Thanks for the All Saints Church info.. So pleased that they feel qualified to speak for the parents. I guess it is bad for church business to disagree with a funeral home.

    BTW, I know it’s standard practice but public notices are a joke. Small print on a busy road can’t be read.

  7. agree about the notices – you’ve got to be pretty interested to see what they say. I think they’re required by law…

  8. Steve Randolph

    March 5, 2012 at 2:54 pm

    FourKidsnaDog, the notices-on-a-stick are indeed almost impossible to
    read from a moving car and many people no longer take the
    dead tree version of the local paper and, even if they do, don’t always
    scan the legal notices. The signs do, hopefully, at least give
    a head’s up – something that requires legal posting is being requested
    for this property. A citizen can contact the city directly or
    call or e-mail a councilmember for more information. The basic
    notification details, when ads must be run and where, where signs
    must go and how long, to “give notice” for a public hearing are
    legal requirements. Letters also must be sent to the nearest property
    owners.

  9. Interesting about the crematory…THANKS!

  10. FourKidsnaDog

    March 5, 2012 at 4:13 pm

    If air quality is in question parents of children attending Pennington and All Saints School should be notified. These children will be spending 1,260 hours every year across from that facility.

    BTW, City Council should not assume that a thumbs up from All Saints Church equates to parents being aware of or in support of this proposal.

  11. Legal Notices: why not put them in the “News and Announcement” portion of the website?

    A benefit there is folks can sign up for e-news and get the notices.

  12. You can always move the kids out of the school but you can’t move the school.

  13. FourKidsnaDog

    March 6, 2012 at 9:24 am

    @WSGFN,

    Exactly. Parents should be informed so THEY can decide if changing schools is warrented.

  14. Steve Randolph

    March 6, 2012 at 10:25 am

    http://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/vnp/

    Cindy, you might find this website interesting.

    Copies of our local newspapers, “the first rough draft of history”,
    can be found in the ill maintained J-M “morgue”, on microfilm
    at Bull Run Library with worn out balky machines (not updated
    for decades due to budget challenges) and at the Library of Virginia
    in Richmond.

  15. Steve Randolph

    March 6, 2012 at 11:12 am

    Public schools have been a major part of local news
    for over a hundred years.
    A few examples of issues we still debate – decades later.

    *On September 24, 1915 the Manassas Democrat noted
    “Discipline is the greatest reponsibility now resting upon the teacher,
    because of the woeful neglect in the home ….the child today lives
    in perpetual fear of coming examinations … and despite numerous
    request, the Democrat will not publish the names of tardy students”.

    *”The Crisis in Manassas Schools” – front page editorial
    by Miss Eugenia Osbourn in the April 22,1921 Manassas Journal
    calling for more higher pay “before we lose our best teachers”.

    *Manassas Messenger headline on January 9, 1947 – “Taxes and
    Teacher Pay Are Major 1947 Problems”.

  16. So what you are saying Steve is SSDD. Same Stuff, Different Day! Glad to see almost 100 years later, we still are facing the same issues. Some things never change.

  17. Steve Randolph

    March 7, 2012 at 7:09 am

    http://blogs.roanoke.com/politics/2012/03/06/counties-plead-with-va-senate

    Virginia’s “local governments in a lurch”.

  18. Local Governments are in a lurch – and well expressed in the Press Conference held yesterday by the Virginia Association of Counties and as noted in Steve’s linked article.

    Although the article is slightly incorrect – during the VaCo Press Conference, it was stated that the Virginia Constitution requires the House & Senate to pass the budget AND that is the ONLY by Constitution law that has to be passed. Several stated the Delegates and Senators had sworn to uphold the Constitution, and have failed in their oath. I call that putting it squarely back in the laps of the elected down there.

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