Good Council meeting last night. We had a public hearing on the budget and 3 people showed up. These are the first people at any of our budget meetings.
The Chief of Police released his 2008 complaint and commendation data and here’s an excerpt:
61,791 calls for service last year. Before somebody points out there there are only 40k people in Manassas, I would offer that my understanding of “call for service” is that it is not always an actual call. It’s just about anything the PD does in pursuit of its mission – if a patrol officer sees an unlocked door and checks it out, that counts.
16 complaints. All were investigated and 9 were not sustained. The other 7 “resulted in various forms of corrective action or discipline.”
The department recieved 68 written letters of commendation and many telephone calls of appreciation.
The PD made 2,228 criminal arrests, issued 5,441 traffic tickets and wrote 6,799 parking tickets.
I am pleased with the Chief’s committment to releasing this data to the public every year. It contributes to the level of trust in the community and it illustrates that our department performs at a very high level.
March 10, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Andy,
Do you think if more people showed up to voice their opinion against a bloated budget, school budget and higher taxes, the Council would be responsive?
March 10, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I can’t promise you any particular result but Council listens very carefully to all input. I would point out that Council can’t respond to viewpoints that we don’t hear…
March 10, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Andy,
I think the issue is besides apathy, is that too often when Citizens do engage their elected officials end up voting just the opposite and that leads to people just giving up.
There are issues that I know people care about, but it seems the Council simply does not care how the Citizens feel.
Lake Manassas–closed, no action for years. I know for a fact, there are hundreds if not thousands of people who would like to enjoy “our” lake.
ESL classes, same thing.
Schools getting a fixed percentage of the overall budget, same thing.
During the “boom” years we begged for a real tax cut(not just a cut in the rate) and did not get one.
I know the Council has been responsive to many issues, but too often it seems the Council does not consider or even bow to the Citizens on many issues.
March 10, 2009 at 10:15 pm
Gee com, you seem to know a lot. You should identify yourself, run for office and fix all the problems of the city.
March 11, 2009 at 6:42 am
I just pay attention to local politics, I think more people should. I would never make it as a politician.
March 11, 2009 at 9:54 am
FYI: Tonight’s Council meeting at the Public Works/Utilities Facility.
Starts at 5:30.
– Work session regarding advanced metering infrastructure (AMI).
One hour.
– Work session regarding broadband over powerline (BPL).
One hour
– Work session on the proposed FY2009-10 budget.
75 minutes.
-Police Dept.
-Fire and Rescue Dept.
-Decide Tax Rate to Advertise
March 11, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I think Com hit the nail on the head. I personally don’t want to sit through over 3 hrs of hearings for my thoughts to fall on deaf ears as it seems the minds are already made up. I think 1.37 is a ridiculous rate. The tax rate in arlington co is .84. I own property in Page co.,the rate there is .48 .I also think the proposal to build a 2nd fire station and the staff and equipment required is crazy in these times. I feel unpopular cuts need to be made and not a tax increase in a recession. Less taxes and smaller goverment is why i vote Republican.
I think if you and your fellow councilmen would post your email address’ on the city site you would get alot more feedback, Just a thought, Thank you for the oppourtunity to post
March 12, 2009 at 8:04 am
I sure hope the City isn’t continuing to dump good money after bad on a dying technology like BPL. What a train wreck that experiment has been. Do they even have any customers left?
March 12, 2009 at 8:10 am
Agree with Bud. Council should be asking where is the incident volume that justifies what is REALLY a 3rd F&R station in the City. And asking hard questions about why the proposed location was chosen. If the argument is that the airport needs better coverage, then let there be a F&R station built on the airport complex, and funded by airport fees.
March 12, 2009 at 8:18 am
$1.37? Wow. I’m already getting killed by the City’s over-valuing of my property. Does the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office even LOOK at the REAL prices for which homes are selling in the City when setting our assessments? Even a cursory look on the web at recent sales compared to the online assessor’s database is amazing how disconnected many appear. I know a lot of sales are foreclosures and shorts and all, but in many instances the differences are astounding.
I think a LOT of people might be appealing their assessments this year what with how the market values have plunged. I know I will be.
March 12, 2009 at 10:27 am
DavidB…even if they “reset” our assesments, they still need the same amount of money that’s why there is an increase in the rate.
Do I like it? HELL NO!!!!
I just read that the City of Manassas School Budget is $91.3M…According to the MCPS website we have 6500 students. $14046.153 per student.
Tuition, Fees and Boarding at James Madison University totals $7,278.00. If you are an out of state student you pay $13,025.00. As far as I know most MCPS kids still pay for their own lunches and they don’t sleep at school.
mmm…ok I’ll stop for now.
March 12, 2009 at 12:46 pm
According to the JMU website, that rate looks to be for one semester. WSGFN, have you contacted any SB members with your concerns?
March 12, 2009 at 8:50 pm
Andy,
Why are you not working to change the silly agreement that provides a certain percentage of the overall City budget to the school board? We are not seeing a good return on our money spent when it comes to education.
Yet, you want to throw even more money at the school system with “Manassas next”. Maybe you and your fellow elites can afford to keep paying more and more taxes, but for those of us that live in reality, we are sick of paying more taxes for poor services and results.
The joke for years was saying how much DC public schools spent per student. For a school system on the verge of academic failure, I do not see why and how the school board can justify spending that much money. Of course I realize the union controls the schools and school board, which mean you and the rest of the Council are needed to step in to take control.
Tommy,
I have had “discussions” with school board members and they defend their bloated budget.
I think we need to have a tea party here in the City. Forget about high Federal taxes, we need to worry about the tax and spend “R’s” on the Council.
March 13, 2009 at 7:39 pm
Its great to see interested citizens. Of course I’m assuming that everyone is a legal resident! Just a joke folks.
Bud- FYI, a $1 rate would reduce total City revenue by 25% or so. Ideas on how to manage that reduction while maintaining services are most appreciated.
WSGFN- Interesting concept. Near as I can tell, the number at JMU is $21,166 a student.
DavidB- I don’t supprt the new fire station. Unfortunately your idea won’t work. The FAA requires that items funded with airport fees ONLY support services on the airport. The fire trucks in your idea would not be able to serve the rest of the city. Its a seemingly silly rule but like most rules it exists because someone, somewhere (in LA) played with the system. Also, I don’t like BPL any more than you do.
Citizen- I hear you but you’re barking up the wrong tree on ESL classes. The simple fact is that if we don’t provide those classes at federally mandated levels, the feds will sue us. We would loose and all us taxpayers would pay our share of a fine/court costs that would be into the millions.
And one other thing, Andy certainly isn’t an “elite.” I’ve seen him in the gym. Another joke.
Finally, they’re not perfect but we do have one hell of a good police department.
Time to go back to sleep.
March 13, 2009 at 7:57 pm
Mark,
Thanks for the comments. But, I have asked to see exactly where the “feds” have said we need the ESL classes. There are studies and facts out there that show putting limited English speakers in regular classes are better than ELS classes. How would the “feds” fight that if the results are better? The NEA wants to keep els classes because it means more teachers, which means more members, which means more money for the union.
The City is going broke because of the els classes. You nor Andy have said you feel bad about having to fire a tax paying Citizen while providing a free education to people who do not even belong in the City. I know I would take my chances with the “feds”, then let law abiding tax paying Citizens go.
At one time Virginia had leaders who stood up to the “Feds” and told them to get lost. I guess those days are long gone. Maybe we should look at South Carolina and Texas and follow what they are doing with the so called “stimulus” money.
March 13, 2009 at 11:31 pm
COM,
Can you let me know where I can find the “studies and facts” on the way to teach ESL that you are refering to? The NEA and the branch here in Manassas has very littlle influence in Virginia or Manassas. In Manassas all they do is endorse candidates every two years. How much does the city spend on ESL classes? You must have a number since you claim the city is going broke because of it. And what Virginia leaders stood up to the Feds? I mean besides CSA President Davis and General Lee who tried to but kind of got their butts beat.
March 14, 2009 at 5:46 am
Regarding ESL Classes: The fun part in finding out about ESL is there is a myriad of names for them. You get ESL, ESOL (English for Students of Other Languages), ELL (English Language Learners), and SLEP (Students with Limited-English-Proficiency). SLEP or LEP is the Fed way to describe the classes. I have a friend working on her Ph.D. in Education at Texas A&M College Station whose focus area is the debate on seperate classes vs. inclusion (placement in the general instruction classes vs. seperate). She is going nuts with the research – but the parrallel debate over ESL is the same as for children with disablities (seperate or inclusive?). On to other comments –
COM, you ask to see where it is mandated by the Feds we have the classes and Mark is right the City would get hit with a lawsuit to the hilt if we don’t have them. You have to go out to the US Dept of Education to find it. I pulled the following off the site:
(1) Federal Authority for the classes: “Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin. In Lau v. Nichols, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Department of Education memorandum of May 25, 1970, which directed school districts to take steps to help limited-English proficient (LEP) students overcome language barriers and to ensure that they can participate meaningfully in the district’s educational programs.”
(2) The Mandate out of Title VI: “Federal law requires programs that educate children with limited English proficiency to be:
1. based on a sound educational theory;
2. adequately supported, with adequate and effective staff and resources, so that the program has a realistic chance of success; and
3. periodically evaluated and, if necessary, revised.
(3) The Mandate on how long a student remains in LEP classes: ELL students must be provided with alternative services until they are proficient enough in English to participate meaningfully in the regular program.
To determine whether a child is ready to exit, a district must consider such factors as the students’ ability to keep up with their non-ELL peers in the regular education program and their ability to participate successfully without the use of adapted or simplified English materials.
Exit criteria must include some objective measure of a student’s ability to read, write, speak and comprehend English.
So, Mark hit the nail on the head when he said the dollars would get pulled…all that is up on DoE too. As for our local School Board info –
Good luck finding it. I went out there to the MCPS website, and all I could find directly posted was the Super’s presentation to the Council. There is NO budget book posted and a shame the Council can’t tell them to put one up. The presentation does show as of January, there were 6,619 students with 42% Hispanic and ESOL at 25.1%. Still, aside from a FTE of 1.5 for ESOL Standards of Quality staffing, nothing I could find for specific ESOL costs…always nice to be able to “bundle” costs under terms such as instructional costs.
March 14, 2009 at 2:09 pm
thanks Ray, every once in a while I get it right. To close the subject I suggest people look at:
http://www.iron.k12.ut.us/esl/ESL/Coordinators_files/Federal%20Law%20&%20ESL.pdf
and
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/122008dntexesl.35da99b.html
Beside citizen, I ‘m sure that you’re not advocating support for the causes that those virginia gentlemen defied the federal government on 150 years ago?
March 14, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Raymond,
The Supreme Court also at one time said slavery was legal. I hardly doubt the Court would say that today. Until someone stands up and says this is BS, we are just going to spend even more money then we have to. Put them in regular classes and be done with it.
Last year the cost per els student was about 1/3 more than for a non els student. I can’t find the article in the Journal Messenger, but the numbers came from the school board. Though, I guess that matters not to our tax and spend council.
Here is an article that seems to support that els classes may not be the best for students.
http://www.azstarnet.com/bilingual/day3-2.html
The City was sued by the DOJ, (or was it the hud), and other defenders of illegals, over the Council “changing” the definition of family. and there was all the talk of gloom and doom about how it was going to cost the City. Well, the City is still here.
Transplanted,
Hmm, I guess you must find the South better then the north, otherwise you would not have moved here.
The fight over a strong Federal Government or stronger State Governments goes all the way back to the framing of the Constitution. There were just a couple of Virginians involved in that. And that debate has continued to this day. Virginia has a long history of producing leaders who have not always been so willing to accept Washington knows best. Current Congressman Eric Cantor is a good example of that type of leader.
Mark,
Do you know the history of Virginia? It seems you do not.
March 14, 2009 at 10:38 pm
More proof that our school system is wasting money.
This came from the Manassas Journal Messenger by way of Black Velvet Bruce li. The link to the MJM is no longer valid.
In Manassas, six out of the city’s eight schools, Baldwin, Dean, and Weems elementary schools, Mayfield Intermediate School, Grace E. Metz Middle School and Osbourn High School did not make AYP.
Despite not making AYP, Superintendent Gail Pope said the city schools did make gains in several areas this year.
For example, Metz did not make AYP overall, but did meet the standards in math, which has been a focus at the school for the past several years, Pope said.
“We had a big focus on math,” Pope said. “We saw a great jump in math achievement so we’re very happy with that.”
Pope said all of the Manassas schools will be teaching a new writing program this year, which should help to improve reading scores.
March 15, 2009 at 12:20 pm
I also find it disturbing the Council which is majority Republican wants to accept money from the “stimulus” package that not a single Republican in Congress voted for, (I don’t consider turn coasts to be Republicans) and handed out by a guy, timmy kaine, whose job includes trying to defeat Republican office holders.
Oh, but the Council it seems is unable to pass up “free money”. It is always about spending more and more money and no thought of the future and the costs. We should not accept single penny from the “stimulus” package because in the long run it is going to cost more in taxes, freedom, and power, then any benefit we might see from it.
Would any of the Council members like to defend our failing schools and the justification on spending even more money on the schools for programs that are not needed?
March 15, 2009 at 1:56 pm
Mr. Beverage,
Your friend at Texas A@M might be interested in
reading today’s NYT website. There is an interesting article on the
front page about the impact of immigration (legal and not) on
Hylton HS in Woodbridge.
March 16, 2009 at 7:09 am
Here is a link to the article. I think it does a very good job of showing how els classes fail and the costs associated with them is not worth it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/15/us/15immig.html?pagewanted=1
March 16, 2009 at 6:52 pm
I don’t think it shows anything of the sort. I see way more questions than answers in that article.