Principi Holds Town Hall

Woodbridge, Va. — For the past 22 years, Bulah Smith has lived on Horner Road near Prince William Parkway and Interstate 95.

She says her neighborhood street is rife with debris, drug paraphernalia and crime.

“It is often that we hear gunshots; I mean they are so close to our home here where you actually hear the bullet cutting limbs and leaves off of the trees,” said Smith

To combat crime on her dark street, she erected two street lights on her property and pays an additional $20 per month to the electric company to have them, she said.

Woodbridge Supervisor Frank Principi said a planned development for the neighborhood, an assisted living center, could help turn things around. In the meantime, he said he’ll have the police department see what else they can do to make the street safer.

“What I will commit to doing is number one: we need to get the police department out there to do a crime assessment, and a street lighting assessment and look at the current street lighting situation, and if it merits, and if we can get that bill put on the county bill, rather that you paying for it, we’ll certainly explore that,” said Principi.

Principi, a Democrat seeking this fall to hold on to his seat on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, held his third telephone town hall meeting Wednesday night. With 830 residents listening in, he fielded several questions on improving transportation, redeveloping U.S. 1, and whether or not property tax rates will be reduced in light of property values that have declined.

“Our property tax rate for [fiscal year] 12…is about a buck-twenty per $100 per assessed value. That is the same property tax rate that we had in 2007 and we have been able to, for the last four years, to maintain the property tax rate the same or slightly higher base on the rate of inflation,” said Principi. “We think that we on the Board of Supervisors are doing everything possible to hold down the property tax rates in this sour economy.”

During the town hall, about 10,000 residents were called and given the option to listen in on the call and submit questions, as well as respond to instant poll questions. Given the choice between bringing High Occupancy Toll lanes to the area, expanding area roads or extending Metro to Woodbridge, 66 percent of respondents said Metro is the most viable transportation improvement for the area, Principi said.

The supervisor announced a special Metro summit to be held in Woodbridge in late September with officials from the regional transit system.

Principi faces Republican challenger Chris Royse in the general election on Nov. 8.