It seems no matter what we do, snow wins! This latest snowfall, forecast to be 4-10 inches, was much closer to the minimum than the maximum.  VDOT was prepared with over 4,000 vehicles to clear snow and treat the 17,000 miles of roads in Northern Virginia. VDOT provided us with a tool to track the snowplows and ascertain where the plows had been and would be going. You can search (after 2” of snow) by zip code or street or address.

That VDOT page has everything needed to declare war on snow. You can view the mobilization plan, road status and resources right on that page. There’s even a legend to help you identify the many graphics that determine road conditions. With VDOT boasting 4,000 pieces of equipment, we all feel confident that no matter what nature throws at us, we can handle it!

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I had a pretty amazing experience this week when I attended a MIDCO (Mid-County Civic Association) meeting with about 75 other interested citizens!

Why is that amazing? Well, typically the number of citizens attending a MIDCO, NAA, (Neabsco Action Alliance) OLRCA  (Occoquan Lake Ridge Civic Association) or a LOCCA (Lake Ridge Occoquan Coles Civic Association) is around 25 people. There were so many people in the Occoquan Room at the County Center that we had to move to another, larger meeting room on the other side of the building.

The number of residents seemed appropriate to opine on the Pyramid Project, a huge proposed development at the corner of Liberia and the Prince William Parkway. This development is intended for 101 acres of land at a premium intersection dividing Manassas and Prince William County.

The original proposal has undergone a number of changes since submission in August of 2012, most recently updated on the county web as of March 2013. At the MIDCO meeting, Developer Carlos Montenegro brought an even more recent version of the proposal that further reduced the number of residential units.

The project is very tempting, both for the county and residents because the development will include a change to the Prince William County Parkway that will alleviate congestion at that failing intersection at Liberia and the Parkway.  (If you want to learn how VDOT determines a failing intersection, try pages 24 and 25 of this hefty document! )

I think a few things merit consideration:

1. If we change the comprehensive plan as requested we will be removing yet another CEC (Community Employment Center) designation and adding more residential.
2. PWC staff, residents and the developer should also be working in tandem with Manassas because this development will definitely impact the city.
3. While the realignment of the Parkway will provide relief to residents wishing to turn left to go to Rte. 234, It really does nothing for people travelling into the city or turning right on Rte. 28 toward I-66. (The same is true in reverse if you are leaving the city.)
4. The development may be alleviating traffic at that intersection, but it is still adding cars from 300 homes and 400 apartments.
5. While alleviating traffic at that intersection, what about the next intersection or the one after that?

The development promises high end retail, but Virginia Gateway is only 11.3 miles away from the intersection of Liberia and the Parkway. What about the competition to Hastings Marketplace right across the street? What are the impacts on schools? The developer is proffering this massive piece of roadwork…there likely won’t be any school proffers from this deal.

One of the reasons Neabsco Action Alliance was founded is to work collaboratively across districts with residents, business and government. We are part of group called FOCAL (Federation of Civic Associations for Land use). We invite residents to contact us, come to our meetings, attend the planning commission hearings, attend (or watch online) the Board of County Supervisors meetings, sign up for e -notifications, or any other way you choose to become engaged in your community.

You may think this development doesn’t impact you. I assure you it does. We may live in seven different districts in Prince William County, but we are all connected by roads, jobs, schools, healthcare, land use, transportation, and that one indefinable esthetic; community.

There is one thing I want you to remember. If you weren’t one of those 75 people, we don’t know what you think of this proposed development. You can tell me in the comments. I’ll be sure to share them.

The Prince William Committee of 100 on 1.9.2014 presented a distinguished panel of experts and an outstanding moderator for the January program, “Can You Rest in Peace in Prince William County?”

Charlie Grimes, a professor at George Mason and the Chair of Prince William Conservation Alliance ran a tight ship as five guests were allotted eight minutes each to summarize their positions.

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Wednesday night I attended the Prince William Committee of 100 forum. The program, titled, “Can You Rest in Peace in Prince William County?” was in direct response to recent events involving the discovery of burial sites at the proposed location of Prince William County’s 12^th high school near the intersection of Va. 234 and Hoadly Road.

I have been interested in this topic since the flurry of activity that began (for me) in early November and wrote about it once, then again when I recapped the information that led to this point in a previous post.

Since then, I became friends with Carolyn Lynn on Facebook. I was finally able to see her face to face, when we arranged to meet at the C-100 forum. She’s a charming woman, well-spoken and knowledgeable in local history and genealogy.

We got better acquainted over dinner and were fortunate to share the table with Julie Langan, Acting Director and State Historic Preservation Officer, Virginia Department
of Historic Resources. Carolyn was able to ask Langan some questions that had been a point of concern and Carolyn and I were both pleased to learn Langan is not the enemy. Both Langan and Joanna Wilson Green, Archaeology Stewardship and Easements, Office of Preservation Incentives, Virginia Department of Historic Resources are sincere and concerned about the way this saga evolved. Yes, the permit to disinter was issued from their department, but they were simply doing their job as designated by state law.

I tried to put myself in Carolyn’s shoes and imagine what it must feel like to know your ancestors had been uprooted and removed from what was surely considered a final resting place at the time of interment.

One of the things we discussed was the comments people made on insidenova.com or the Washington Post. Carolyn said she tried not to read those comments because many were so negative. A feeling we definitely shared is why don’t more people care? The answer to that is probably very simple. The Lynn family is not your family.

I tried to imagine how it feels to be lost from your family and then re-discovered in such a public fashion. I thought about how little we know about the people who come and go from this world. So few of us are actually remembered for long. We are here, we live our lives and we are gone. A few generations pass, and it is entirely possible we are forgotten completely unless you have become famous or notorious.

People like Don Wilson, Director of RELIC and Bill Olson, President, Historic Prince William are joined by devoted volunteers like Robert Moser who spend an incredible amount of time ensuring our past is not forgotten. Folks like Carolyn Lynn and Bill Golden create blogs not only for family history, but to connect the past to the present and help others do the same.

We are an evolving county, with vastly different citizens than twenty years ago. It’s important not to lose track of our past while we continue to build our future.
You can read the recap of the Prince William Committee of 100 meeting here.

Opinion 

Quick! What is the number one cash crop in America? Cotton is the number one crop, but could that change if more states legalize marijuana sales as Colorado has done?

Estimates vary, but NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) touted marijuana as the number four cash crop in a 1998 study: NORML Report on U.S. Domestic Marijuana Production. Other studies place the marijuana cash crop value at fifteenth place, at least that’s according to a team of researchers and public policy experts from Carnegie Mellon University, Pepperdine University, UCLA and the RAND Corp.

This 2006 chart ranked marijuana as the largest cash crop, with an estimated value of 35.8 billion dollars! If you continue to scroll the chart, you’ll find how marijuana compared to other crops by state using production figures from US Department of Agriculture and estimated figures for marijuana, but here’s the breakdown for Virginia:

Virginia:
Hay                 $ 304.8 million
Marijuana     $ 191.8 million
Soybeans       $ 106. 7 million

What does all that mean? Well, 50% of the population think legalizing marijuana is a good idea and 50% don’t. So 50% of American people will use these figures to show the potential for profit and taxable income from marijuana and 50% of Americans won’t care what the value is, they just will not agree it is a good idea to legalize pot.

Thinking about this after seeing a raft of photographers record the moment, left me with a lot of questions. I wonder about driving while impaired. We know the legal limit of blood alcohol and there’s a page full of questions and answers at the DMV web page. Driving while impaired seems to be the outcome, whether it is by drugs or alcohol, but what is the equivalent of a Breathalyzer for marijuana?

There is a device called SensAbues developed in Sweden and it is believed capable of determining if the driver has smoked marijuana, or used cocaine or methamphetamine. The technology is available to ensure drivers are not driving while impaired, and I hope that gets put to use whether pot is legal or not.

There were several recurring themes I encountered while I was researching this topic:

1. We are spending $8.7 billion a year nationally in law-enforcement costs to arrest, prosecute and jail marijuana violations by about 750,000 individuals. Legalization would not only save a ton of money, it would free up a lot of time devoted by law enforcement and courts.

2. Legalization creates jobs for the “good guys” (store owners, clerks, accountants, farmers, et al) while removing income from the “bad guys” (criminals and drug dealers)

3. Taxation at a rate similar to tobacco and alcohol would result in revenue of approximately $8.7 billion according to this study The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition.

When people protest legalization, the arguments generally follow a line of logic that includes: “Marijuana is a gateway drug!”

There really are very few studies that prove that statement to be true.  A Yale Study does state that adolescents who use alcohol, tobacco and marijuana are more likely to use stronger drugs as adults, but considering that over 1.5 million teenagers are smoking pot, I think that train has already left the station. I also think teens using alcohol, cigarettes and marijuana already have an addictive personality and that must be addressed.

So, what do Potomac Local readers think? Is legalization a good idea or not?

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Opinion 

Have you ever said, “Whew! I’m glad this year is over?” I think that phrase has been uttered by most adults at one time or another. After a string of bad luck, medical crisis or financial meltdown, maybe you were relieved when that hateful year ended. Perhaps you lost a friend or a family member or maybe one of your parents died and you consider that whole year as a devastating loss in your own “Book of Life.”

I imagine you have also experienced wonderful years, filled with promotions and great grades, maybe a wedding or the birth of a new baby. That’s when you look forward to another year and hopes of more of the same grand events.

There are probably some years (more likely if you are middle age or past) that are not really memorable at all. Nothing spectacular occurred to fix that year in your mind good or bad enough to designate a year described as “good” or “bad”.

I have had cancer twice, but both times the treatment was excision, so was spared the more horrible treatment methods used to combat the disease.

One thing cancer breeds is the dread the disease will return. We survivors are continually beset by the knowledge we were lucky once or twice, but maybe three times is too many.

When my mammogram came back last month with “inconclusive results,” I was asked to reschedule for another look. That mammogram showed a “shadow” and the lab requested I return yet again for a sonogram.

As I sat in the cubicle, waiting for results, I remembered being in that dressing room before. There are many curtained “closets” for women to change from their street clothes to a gown, then wait for a technician to bring them the news. I recall hearing women sobbing and the out of control sensation that your entire life is suddenly in the hands of some unknown, unseen force.

After an interminable wait, I had the sonogram and the technician was able to see the “shadow”. It is a cyst, not a tumor and my relief was nearly embarrassing. I hugged this woman, whom I’d only just met and thanked her for her effort.

She was nearly in tears, too, as she said, “Last month, I told my husband I was thinking I should retire. I began this position as an x-ray technician and migrated to sonogram when they were first put to use in cancer detection. In November, nearly every procedure I administered showed cancer. I got into this field because I wanted to help, but I seldom have any good news to report.”

 I went back, got dressed and as I stepped out, I was eager to get the heck out of there, but there was a young woman, seated in the “holding pen” quietly weeping. I sat down to ask her and she told me “I’ve had cancer once….”

Please take a few minutes to watch this video. I shared it with a friend who faced his own struggle with cancer, but it applies to all of us.

Last week I wrote a post entitled: Home Values Rebounding, Prince William Needs Housing Solutions. Someone left me a thoughtful comment that included this phrase:

“Those of us in older neighborhoods who were comfortable and safe in our homes for decades and paid mortgage on time had nothing whatsoever to do with the bad mortgage/foreclosure, etc. mess yet our home values have suffered greatly because of the actions of others.”

I am typically ready to share responsibility for our plight with everyone, whether it is government, business or residents. I must say, though, that comment resonated with me, in fact the whole post sounded like the kind of rumble in the back of my head that I hear on a regular basis!

I (and the person who wrote that comment) paid my bills. I made my payments and I went without vacations and I SACRIFICED to pay off all our debts! My husband and I worked long hours and we continue to work for our neighborhood and our community.

It is not my fault there were unscrupulous lenders, nor is it my fault people bought houses they couldn’t afford. It is not my fault that banks won’t keep up their vacant properties and it is not my fault that a large portion of Prince William County residents and a few of our elected officials don’t seem to recognize the plight of people like me and the person who wrote that post.

It is definitely not my fault that sequestration occurred and it certainly isn’t my fault that my husband is still unemployed. Since I’m all riled up now, though, I’m going to blame somebody!

In October, I read a devastating article in the Washington Post about leaving $7 billion worth of equipment behind as we withdraw troops from Afghanistan. (We’re not just leaving it behind, it’s being reduced to scrap!) On Monday, I read another Washington Post article about the Air Force wasting $600 million by retiring a small fleet of planes only six years old and mothballing five more planes that haven’t even been produced yet! Why? The Air Force and the National Guard are having some kind of power skirmish.

Then I read about Senator Coburns’ “Wastebook” where he outlines $30 billion that the government could have saved!

I watched the school board allocate funding for a school that will total in excess of 110 million dollars and require debt service for many years, knowing, the overcrowded classrooms, and low teacher pay will continue.

So let me see if I can explain this in a way that everyone understands. People like me, who have been careful and cautious and thrifty all our lives are now in pretty dire straits. The home that we spent money to purchase, money to remodel and money to preserve is going to contribute very little to our retirement. (Thanks to those low housing values I shared with you last week.)

We didn’t save enough when we were younger because we were busy paying off our bills and our home. We were being responsible.  Now, in the last working years of my husband’s career, when we should be saving nearly every bit of income…there is no income.

So all this waste is making me very testy. I’m having a hard time thinking in terms of sharing the wealth when others are wasting it…and it’s not my fault!

In 2007, my nice, middle class neighborhood had begun to deteriorate in obvious ways. Tall grass was everywhere. Houses stood empty. Vandalism and graffiti began to emerge. Prince William County created the Neighborhood Services Division in response to the issues that were arising. I attended my first Neighborhood Leaders Group in 2008, with the hope that I would explain the problems occurring in my neighborhood and the county would fix them. (The county was way ahead of me!)

Most housing in Prince William County has recovered, but my home, here in Lindendale, while it has recovered some value, (from a high of $411,000.00 in 2009 to a miserable $136,000.00 one year later in 2010, to today’s current assessment of $231,000.00) that assessment has gone from being an acceptable median price to a value nearly $100,000.00 BELOW the current median price!

As I watch the birth of a new Woodbridge and the rising of the Potomac Communities, I’m left to wonder what will happen to my neighborhood in Dale City and others like it. I see homes being built in the 22193 zip code, like these beginning at $437,000, and these, ranging from $519,000.00 to $ 670,000.00, and I am grateful these homes are not tax negative constructions. (These higher priced homes pay for services like school, police and fire from their assessed taxes, ergo “tax positive”, as opposed to homes assessed at lower values are “tax negative”. 

Our home is now 37 years old. In most places, that is not particularly old. This page states the average age of homes in all the surrounding counties. Our home is twice the average age for Prince William, but age is not the problem. I tracked those values on Zillow:

Average Sales Price:

• Manassas (20112)       $427,300.
• Gainesville (20156)    $424,000.
• Dumfries (22025)        $336,000.
• Lake Ridge (22192)     $297,900.
• Woodbridge (22191)  $264,000.
• Dale City (22193)        $258,000.

Dale City, and, in fact, most of Prince William County, was built as a bedroom community — a place to escape the crowded cities. That is who we were. Today, with a population of more than 425,000, we need to acknowledge who we are.

We need to search for solutions for aging housing, aging residents, and aging infrastructure. We can’t just continue to build new, ever more expensive homes to attract proffers and increase property taxes. That is not working, as evidenced by the problems we are encountering with our schools.

We need plans to incentivize homeowners to invest in remodeling with low cost or no cost loans. We need improvements to our communities that engender pride of place. While I am delighted to see plans for the magnificent new libraries in Montclair and Gainesville, I know our Dale City Mini Library is about the same square footage as my home and yet serves a population the size of every other magisterial district. (Yes, I know, the Chinn Library and Woodbridge Library are regional libraries and we in the Neabsco District use those.)

Our Dale City Farmers Market has long been a blessing to our community and provided a unique experience since 1987. Last year Occoquan started a Farmers Market and Tackett’s Mill in Lake Ridge will be boasting their own Farmers Market in the spring. You can visit Farmers Markets in Manassas or Bristow. That’s great for residents of those communities, but what will the competition mean to Dale City? One of our only unique assets is no longer unique.

I am grateful for our amenities like the Prince William Ice Center and Waterworks at Andrew Leitch Park. I’m not discounting the value of the Sharon Baucom Dale City Recreation Center. It’s great we have a public pool at Birchdale, but none of those are bringing up our housing values.

I don’t want to whine with “woe is me” theatrics. I just want some ideas that work; some suggestions that will help and some acknowledgement that residents in older communities deserve solutions to the low housing values.

Opinion

Do you watch television? I bet you think that’s a funny question. Your response was probably something like, “Of course! Doesn’t everyone?” In fact, last year, the cable, satellite and telecoms providers added just 46,000 video customers collectively, according to research firm SNL Kagan. That 46K is a pretty small percentage of 974,000 new households that were created last year.

That’s not to say people aren’t watching anything that is televised, but it does mean that less people are signing up for traditional subscriptions and more are resorting to services like Netflix or Hulu. I don’t watch regular television at all, but I do watch TED on my computer. I also watch the Prince William Board of County Supervisors meetings.

I found last week’s meeting to be particularly interesting, as the discussion on the Bi-County Parkway resulted in several motions after presentations by county staff and fervent citizens. I’ve avoided making a public statement on this topic because up until this week it seemed to me to be a battle between residents and transportation officials and each side has seemed well armed to make their own arguments. I’ve followed the discussions through “Say No to the Bi-County Parkway” on Facebook and read the prodigious amounts of information sent to my inbox.

I read the blogs, but usually as a kind of barometer to gauge the sentiments of those vocal folks and their admirers and detractors. I don’t usually comment, but if I do, you will always see my name. I made an exception to my “almost never comment” policy when my friend, Al Alborn, made this post.

I was moved to respond, because that post resonated with me. I don’t want to keep doing things the same old way to achieve the same old results. Haven’t you ever asked yourself, “Why, if we keep building roads, does it keep taking longer to get to our destination?” On Al’s blog, I mention self-driving cars and drone package delivery. Transportation is changing. Whether you believe it or not, whether you want it or not transportation is changing.

This story from Grist talks about a decline in driving. This story from the Washington Post states Americans are driving 7.6 percent fewer miles per year than they did in 2004. All across the United States, people are actually driving less miles per year and that’s after removing variables like the recession.

We’re building miles and miles of hiking trails, walking paths and bicycle lanes and guess what? People are using them. People who used to have to drive to an office five days a week can now work from the comfort of their home. There is more public transportation available. The price of cars, insurance, repair costs, gas and time lost in traffic are outweighing the private automobile.

We keep adding roads, lanes, lights, signs and striping…what if we’re doing that all for nothing? Many cities are experimenting with no signals. It sounds inconceivable, but it is certainly working in Poynton, England where they have made an effort to revitalize their community.

The way we build homes changes as we use more Earth-friendly products. The super large houses of the last decade make way for smaller more comfortable homes for today. Cars change, people change, ideas change. Everything changes, whether it’s television, computers, telephones, hair color or road building.

Let’s not build a road that changes nothing but just gives us more of the same.