By Sara Brescia
On Monday, September 12, Osbourn high school in Manassas experienced the threat of gun violence.
It was a chaotic and frightening moment for the city and the school community, which was unfounded.
Although this incident ended without further incident, the question of student safety remains urgent. As anyone who has ever been in the vicinity of Old Town Manassas during school hours knows, Osbourn High School struggles with a truancy problem.
Walking through Old Town at lunch hour, you might be forgiven for thinking Osbourn has an open campus policy (it does not).
At the School Board meeting on Tuesday, September 13 — the day after the gun violence threat-a concerned parent spoke during citizen’s comments, questioning whether the schools can keep children safe when children’s whereabouts are frequently unknown as a matter of routine. How can a school successfully implement a lockdown procedure when so many kids are off campus without leave? How is the school supposed to account for their safety?
Fortuitously, the School Board received a pre-scheduled presentation from the Executive Director of Student Services, Dr. Chevese Thomas, on the 2022-2023 Crisis Plan at the same meeting. This was a perfect opportunity for members of the School Board to ask probing, insightful questions about our crisis procedures and how they were applied to this specific incident.
One current School Board member did ask Dr. Thomas whether protocols were applied to the incident on Monday, September 12th.
The response was underwhelming, “Yesterday we did implement the plan… there were rumors… we did respond, we did use the plan… we did implement the plan… we handled that according to the plan.”
No additional questions were asked for clarification or specifics on the incident and the response. The only further questioning was whether the Crisis Team had debriefed following the incident and whether emotional support resources were made available to students.
I would have approached this moment differently if I were on the School Board. I would have asked Dr. Thomas to describe the events of Monday, September 12. I would have asked her to describe “the plan” and how, strictly, it was implemented.
I would have asked Dr. Thomas to address the question raised by the concerned parent: how does the school account for the safety of students in a lockdown scenario who are absent from campus without leave? Has the Crisis Team factored in the unusually large truancy issue at Osbourn? How?
On the topic of truancy, I would have had some additional questions. What are our attendance procedures at the high school? Have we studied our mid-day truancy issue? How many students leave the campus and do not return to class? How many students leave the campus and eventually find their way back to class? How are hall passes monitored? What controls have we established around the early release/late arrival program? What security procedures do we have in place around the perimeter of the campus?
The School Board is an oversight body. School Board members must ask good, detailed questions of school officials, especially on matters of urgent community concern.
I plan to do just that if I am elected to the School Board.
Brescia is a candidate seeking one of three open seats on the Manassas City School Board during the November 8, 2022, General Election. Here’s more information about the upcoming elections from the city’s website.
We are Democrats, neighbors, and fellow citizens of Prince William County who find ourselves on different sides of an issue that has pitched your fellow landowners along Pageland Lane against a huge majority of residents in the county and surrounding jurisdictions.
We respect the right you and other property owners have to your personal financial interests in this issue, and we had hoped you would show others the same respect.
Trying to manipulate this into a partisan political issue, a racial issue, or an anti-school issue is completely dishonest. Your attempt to cast Hung Cao, the Republican nominee for Congress (Va.-10), as against equal opportunity, property rights, businesses, schools, students, teachers, government employees, and first responders is unhinged.
Your letter to Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, the Planning Commission, and others recasts your differences with Mr. Cao, and the vast majority of County residents, in the most self-serving and disingenuous way imaginable.
And, for the record, you dishonestly characterize a screenshot from an HOA Roundtable email message as being a flyer from the Hung Cao campaign. That is simply untrue and another example of the dishonest public relations campaign you are waging.
Congresswoman Wexton has, herself, conveyed concerns regarding the impacts of such an aggressive expansion of data centers in areas selected primarily for the economic gain of landowners rather than professionally established land use policies that place such facilities where they minimize impacts on surrounding communities.
In her letter of January 25, 2022, to the Prince William BOCS, Congresswoman Wexton stressed former Manassas National Battlefield Park Superintendent Brandon Bies’ concern about ” … the effect of increased traffic, noise pollution, deforestation, and the degradation of park streams and water quality …”
She is right to have those concerns, as is Mr. Cao, and we look forward to continuing to work with both of them on these issues.
As Democrats working alongside Republicans, we are not against data centers, and neither is Mr. Cao. We support the expansion of the commercial tax base to balance the tax burden on every homeowner in Prince William County.
We believe that properly placed data center developments can increase the commercial tax base, but they cannot be placed where the environmental impacts devastate the watershed, where noise makes adjacent homes unlivable, where the property values of homeowners are significantly eroded, and where the current infrastructure simply does not exist for power generation or distribution for more of these new industrial monoliths.
We understand the financial windfall that you and a small number of landowners wish to receive, but you have no right to demand everyone else around you willingly have their property values reduced to enrich your financial position.
When located in appropriate locations in Prince William County, data centers can be a valuable tool to rebalance the tax burden on homeowners. But such impactful industrial development must be implemented with reasonable tax policy comparable to surrounding jurisdictions.
The county absolutely should not give a 60% tax break to the world’s richest corporate entities at the expense of Prince William taxpayers. Once taxed fairly, there is no need for the excess 27 million square feet of industrial data centers the PW Digital Gateway would bring, and the citizens of our county will not be taken to the cleaners for your largesse and that of big tech.
And, as residents representing diverse financial means and employment, we support workers in data centers and the unions that represent them. Adding union representatives to your letter demonstrates clearly how you deliberately mislead others when the real issue is the amount of money you will receive if this self-serving land grab works.
While you claim a desire to expand public open spaces and parks, the gymnastics you are going through to sell a lie that data centers will save the County from a deficit of needed parklands is absurd. Attempting to con the families of Prince William into believing that trails between gargantuan industrial buildings, ringed by security fences, is “hundreds and hundreds of acres of permanent public open space and parks” is laughable.
The PW Digital Gateway is proposed between a National Park and a State Forest. How can you claim to increase parkland while destroying the environs of two major parks in the process?
The truth is, the current view scape of the Manassas National Battlefield Park (MNBP) will be destroyed forever by the proposed data center corridor on Pageland Lane, and the Rural Crescent that has been the most effective land use tool ever enacted in the state will be demolished. A four-lane divided industrial highway will become the highly dreaded Bi-County Parkway that even the Board of County Supervisors has removed from any planning document precisely because of its negative impacts on the entire county.
Your characterization of the Rural Crescent as stealing your property rights 23 years ago is a convenient recast of history for you and some of your neighbors when just two years ago, you personally extolled the virtues of the Rural Crescent when the Bi-County Parkway would have significantly reduced your property values.
You publicly argued that the Bi-County Parkway would just be a way to expand housing developments in Loudoun County that would threaten the Rural Crescent designation in Prince William County.
You fought for the Rural Crescent then, and in the blink of an eye, you condemn it as a segregationist relic. That’s a convenient 11th-hour conversion to line your pockets with millions at the expense of an entire culture that actually suffered through the worst of our nation’s history. Some of us stood together with you and fought for the protection of the Rural Crescent.
You are on record – and we can roll the videotape of media conferences.
Further, you supported the previous Board Chair, who frightened people of color by advocating for the 287(g) migrant enforcement policy with ICE. Only now, when millions are at stake, have you chosen to embrace equity and inclusion, in name but not in practice.
What is true today is that you and your neighbors have found a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for you to hit the land-sale lottery because a group of large multi-national data center companies is willing to pay a high premium for the land where the siting of data centers serves their economic interests, not the interests of the communities and homeowners impacted by those decisions.
None of those data center companies would have even thought to promote the historic and environmentally vulnerable Pageland corridor without your personal promotion. Don’t try to make this about anyone else benefitting other than you and a small number of your neighbors.
Those who oppose the PW Digital Gateway are not exclusively “Republicans,” and the fact that a congressional candidate from the Republican Party has recognized the importance of this issue and its impacts on the MNBP, the Occoquan watershed that serves a large portion of the Northern Virginia homes, and the national security interests at Ft. Belvoir, makes it far more than a local land use issue.
The HOA Roundtable, whose email image you intentionally misused, is made up of tens of thousands of homeowners of all political stripes who have one common objective: Protect our homes, our communities, and our quality of life. Your cynical attempt to make this a Republican vs. Democratic issue is plainly dishonest.
Neither Hung Cao nor Prince William County Republicans are against expanding the commercial tax base in Prince William County, and they fully support Prince William County Schools, its students, teachers, employees, and first responders every bit as much as you do. As part of a strong bipartisan coalition, we all support the property rights of landowners – including our land and homes – and the right we have to protect our property values from personally exploitative decisions that benefit a small number of people at the expense of hundreds of thousands of homeowners.
Finally, you argue that your vision for data centers will result in “billions in investments.” Responsible land-use and tax policy will deliver the very same results, without the devastating impacts of the improperly placed data center corridor you are promoting for your own economic benefit.
Hung Cao sees through your selfish ambitions and, like us, knows you are far from the self-styled virtuous protector of Prince William County’s future.
We appreciate Mr. Cao and his principled stand on the PW Digital Gateway. His views represent courage and commitment emblematic of the dedicated service he selflessly gave to the nation during his storied military career. We thank him for supporting us as we work to prevent Prince William from being bulldozed into a vast industrial zone.
Sincerely,
Prince William County Democrats:
- Deshundra Jefferson, Treasurer of the Potomac Democratic Committee
- Ruth Balton, Former Chair of the Gainesville Magisterial District Democratic Committee
- Bill Wright, Former Treasurer of the Gainesville Magisterial District Democratic Committee
- Roger Yackel, Gainesville District Resident
- Sue Yackel, Gainesville District Resident
- Erik Brown, Gainesville District Resident
- Brigette Wilson, Gainesville District Resident
- James Ryan, Gainesville District Resident
- Jacqueline Ryan, Gainesville District Resident
- Elena Schlossberg, Executive Director, Coalition to Protect PWC, Gainesville District Resident
- Paula Daly, Board of Directors HOA Roundtable of Prince William County, Member Gainesville Citizens for Smart Growth
“I am here to serve. I will serve all without any discrimination,” are the words of Imam Shamshad Nasir, who is the new Imam at Masroor Mosque, at 5640 Hoadly Road near Dale City.
On August 15, the congregation formally welcomed Imam Shamshad Nasir at a dinner specially organized in his honor.
Speaking at this occasion, Imam Nasir highlighted the need to work collaboratively towards education and spiritual progress. He said, “We have to work together towards these higher goals and let go of petty differences that become an obstacle.”
Imam Nasir is a seasoned missionary of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. He completed a seven-year intensive, multi-lingual missionary training in 1973. As a missionary of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, he has served in Asia, Africa, and various parts of the U.S. for more than 35 years. Before coming to our area, he was serving as a missionary in Detroit.
Imam Nasir is not only a learned scholar but also a potent speaker and has been a regular contributor to various publications through his writings.
He is known for his work in humanitarian and civic outreach to build bridges and promote interfaith harmony and understanding through peace symposiums and dialogue. Anyone interested to learn about his work, Masroor Mosque, or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community may reach out to him at (909) 636-8332 or via email at [email protected].
Shehla Ahmad
Manassas
The imminent approval of Devlin Technology Park, a site formerly planned for housing that morphed into yet another power-sucking eyesore, will bring the total capacity of data centers operating or planned in Prince William County to nearly 50 million square feet.
That doubles the current capacity of neighboring Loudoun county, and exceeds the 48 million a recent study projected to be the maximum demand for the next twenty years.
How much candy do the kids running your government plan to gorge on? They’re hoping for an early Halloween. The Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ timeline for the dreaded Prince William Digital Gateway could shove another 27.6 million square feet sugar-high down the county’s throat by early fall.
This mindless candy crush is happening while the bellwether in Loudoun County is flashing warning signs. Not only are they facing budget shortfalls from their over-dependence on data center revenue, but Dominion Power is saying over-development has run them out of electricity.
Meanwhile, Prince William’s Absence of Planning Office has not even estimated the electrical infrastructure required for all their new toys. Batteries are not included.
When is Prince William going to wake up?
The ground is shifting beneath our feet as your Supervisors make a succession of irresponsible choices. Pretty soon your electric bill and your tax bill will be subsidizing big tech behemoths who will be calling the shots. Hold your elected officials accountable now while they’re still running things.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
Your mission states that you wish to “inform” the community about what is happening. Well, your writer’s understanding of the recent removal of Henry “Hank” Scharpenberg from the Citizens Transportation Advisory Committee’s (CTAC) leadership role is flawed and does not reflect the real issue at hand.
Had the reporter and the Stafford Board of Supervisors members who called for his ill-considered removal and ultimately yanked Mr. Scharpenberg from his leadership role of CTAC had attended more than one meeting, they would have understood the issues this group faces, works hard on, and discussed at length all year long.
All the newspaper provided in this instance was a political grandstanding platform for ambitious local politicians who selected a “near and dear” topic of their constituents–transportation. Their actions not only harmed a dedicated public volunteer but all the participants of CTAC, some of whom are, like me, not board members but are vested members of the general public at-large.
I am a transportation advocate for the physically and financially-challenged members of the Central Region. If anyone understands barriers and obstacles, we do.
I’ve had my fill of politicians who ignore or provide small token projects for us and glow with self-satisfaction and say, “Look what we did for you!” They don’t mention the sweetheart deals they make with residential and commercial developers who fail to create ADA-approved sidewalks, install audible signals at road crossings, little or no safe access to public services, transit, and all the other things that allow those who are challenged to access quality of life services and employment.
They don’t provide or allow money to be spent on those things. But, they will stand on the backs of devoted citizens who work to create a viable process to achieve good transportation outcomes.
Transportation is a complex issue that requires many facets and considerations to achieve equal, safe, accessible, affordable, and meaningful access to ALL citizens, not just those with car keys. The real power of that process is given to politicians who vote to allow or remove our advisory options.
The BOS members are basically clueless and have little real understanding of what the public needs. That is why CTAC exists.
Politicians only employ knee-jerk responses when the public is critical of their politicians’ choices. Instead of letting those who know how to get the job done, the BOS picked and chose a hot topic to grab the headlines, not the real issues that needed to be addressed fully and completely by those who do understand its complexities.
As an advocate, I have attended and participated in transportation committees and forums on the federal, state, and community levels for almost 30 years on both coasts in three diverse states. My perception of CTAC is that it is a worthy and effective endeavor.
While I don’t always agree with Mr. Scharpenberg and some of the other members, I do respect their knowledge, leadership, and understanding of the complexities of the topic. The mere fact that he was re-elected to his leadership role by his CTAC peers defines that respect implicitly.
Many of the CTAC board members and advocates like me resent the political intrusion by the Stafford BOS has done to arbitrarily take this action of his removal. It is misguided, unfair, and does not in any way represent the public feeling about what CTAC has achieved in its advisory role.
CTAC has no real power other than suggesting and advising to the local politicians in the Central Region on how they perceive the needs of the community should be met without fanfare, politics, or grandstanding.
So back off!
If you think you can do the job better, which I sincerely doubt, leave us alone to do what our mission calls for to use whatever available resources and options that are reasonable, considered, discussed, fair, and ultimately offered to the local stakeholders for review and to be voted upon. We don’t need the BOS stepping on our work and leadership to create a platform for their political ambitions.
We already have plenty of challenges, barriers, and obstacles to overcome.
Jane Leeds
Fredericksburg
It’s a bit unusual to have one-quarter of your county supervisors facing recall petitions from their constituents. It’s also unusual that Prince William County has no Ombudsman or Ethics Office. So, what other recourse do our citizens have?
In the Navy, when a commanding officer is relieved for cause, it is usually not for specific misdeeds but for leadership failures that adversely affected subordinates or enabled their substandard performance. You’ll hear terms like “loss of trust and confidence in the ability to command” or “cultivating a poor command climate.” There is a recognition that bad leadership is unacceptably corrosive to an organization.
Thus, Chair at Large Ann Wheeler’s conflicted financial trading is not only problematic by itself, but as an indication of the shoddy values, she demonstrates to the those she presides over.
Examples of behavior that may not constitute legal violations but are potentially more damaging than those that do, include:
• Setting low ethical standards that invite unscrupulous individuals to exploit them for personal gain
• Using personal wealth or power for electoral advantage or leverage over more vulnerable colleagues
• Using a powerful position to pressure apolitical staff into relaxing professional standards to advance a personally or politically advantageous agenda
• Suppressing legitimate inquiries into improper conduct and performance
The Coalition to Protect Prince William County will be collecting recall petition signatures at the upcoming County fair. See the livestock and then seek us out to help send Supervisors Pete Candland and Ann Wheeler out to pasture.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
By Tom Coyle
Bristow
It seems clear to us that, as a group, our local elected leaders in Prince William County appear to be struggling to make decisions regarding the long-term strategic use of a scarce resource — our land.
Such land use decisions are critical to ensuring our county will be one that continues to attract new residents and new businesses and retains the current attributes that attracted current residents to move here.
The single issue of large data centers in proximity to residences is a complex one that crosses into hotly debated topics such as taxable revenue, open space and zoning use, and increased pressure to balance green space use and residential growth.
Although the various zoning laws, layover grids, etc., can be confusing and even contradictory, what’s clear is that no one, either elected or County Staff, seems to have heard of Moore’s Law. And if they have, they have failed to take it into account as it applies to these large buildings now popping up throughout our county, large parts of which are rural or semi-rural.
Moore’s Law is the observation that the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit (IC) doubles about every two years. Moore’s Law is an observation and projection of a historical trend. Rather than a law of physics, it is an empirical relationship linked to gains from experience in production.
It is understood the interior of these centers consists mainly of computer servers and racks, which, if we apply Moore’s Law, will shrink in size and thus need less space to operate. What happens in 10 or 20 years when the requirement for these 500,000 square foot buildings is no more? What incentive can our county offer a private company to continue to occupy a space that is not needed in order to operate and make a profit?
Why would they wish to occupy a 500,000 sqaure-foot space when, due to said law, they would only need a quarter or less of that space? Who do the citizens then turn to to raze the building and restore the area to its original nature?
All the extra tax monies from these centers will not make up for the permanent scarring of our county. Why can’t we analyze best practices from other municipalities around the country and then apply the best of those to use as a framework?
Has any elected official, or county staff, examined the second and third-order effects of approving the construction of these buildings and thus degrading one significant reason citizens move to Pricne William – high quality of life
We implore our county-elected leaders to slow down and demand a thoughtful, factual review of these proposals from staff. If we don’t have the expertise in-house, then hire a well-respected national company to conduct it.
There is no rush to carefully consider all aspects of this issue, given the lasting impact it will have for years to come. Perceived short-term gains (more money in our county coffers) we believe defines false economy and reminds us of the family cat being happily distracted by that new shiny object right in front of her to the exclusion of anything else.
We hope the elected leaders in Prince William County will reflect for a moment on why they ran for office in the first place: to help enrich the lives of the citizens they serve by thoughtful and informed decisions affecting all of us for generations to come.
Bill Wright
Gainesville
Citizens were recently treated to two more mind-numbing episodes in the surreal story of the Prince William Digital Gateway.
The July 13 Planning Commission meeting featured an exchange where Gainesville commissioner Rick Berry asked acting Planning Office Director Rebecca Horner why there was a work session scheduled to discuss the proposal when neither the Comprehensive Plan update nor the overlay district review was complete.
Ms. Horner’s incredulous reply was, “They [the Supervisors] did not require that type of analysis.” Why is the Prince William Digital Gateway jumping the line to be considered ahead of reviews that ought to precede it?
The following evening, the Planning Office hosted a virtual discussion on the Camoin report that they seem to believe validates all their preconceived notions.
When asked when the County would release detailed information on the land and expected capacity for data centers under development, Director of Economic Development Christina Winn said that non-disclosure agreements protect information.
Is that a joke?
Is she really telling us that information essential to evaluating the necessity for the Prince William Digital Gateway will be withheld from public review and scrutiny at the behest of private corporations that stand to profit from public ignorance?
Unbelievable.
What is driving the contrived urgency to push the Prince William Digital Gateway proposal forward in this illogical sequence? Whose armored car is double-parked outside?
Stop the embarrassment and suspicion surrounding this troubling proposal until the Planning Office can get its act together and its story straight.
Potomac Local News occasionally writes editorials and accepts opinion-based letters to the editor on local issues. Readers may email letters.
By Charles B. Roberts
Republicans have a monumental chance at beating Rep. Abigail Spanberger this November, but we need the right candidate in order to win this seat in November.
Stafford and Fredericksburg are losing Rob Wittman due to redistricting and now are faced with a choice. We can’t elect the same ol’ Republicans and expect different results this time around. That’s why I’m supporting Crystal Vanuch for Congress.
I’ve been astonished by Crystal’s work on the Stafford County Board of Supervisors. Not only does she have an incredible voting record for standing up to special interests and fighting for her constituents, but she’s actually accomplished very difficult things to move the County forward in very difficult times.
When other counties were “defunding the police,” Crystal went the opposite direction and increased pay and resources for Stafford County law enforcement, it is no secret the Sheriff’s office supports her, and she attends every event possible to show how they are valued in our community.
When our children were exposed to politics in the classroom, Crystal fought to stop controversial topics like Critical Race theory from being taught in school. She also secured historical pay raises for our teachers and almost $100 million in transportation funding. I can only imagine what she can do with the federal budget when we send her to congress.
She’s proven time and time again that she can navigate incredibly difficult political waters, save taxpayers millions of dollars, and get true results for our community and we need her in Congress. I’m tired of politicians who are all talk and have no action.
Crystal Vanuch is from Stafford and knows exactly what our community needs and we have a chance to finally send someone to Congress who will fight for results. I encourage my fellow Republicans to vote for Vanuch on June 21
Charles B. Roberts is a personal injury attorney who lives and works in Stafford County.
Potomac Local News occasionally writes editorials and accepts opinion-based letters to the editor on local issues. Readers may email letters.
