According to Manassas Park City Manager Laszlo Palko, just over $1,000 worth of tickets is being voided and refunded to city residents. 

• The refunds come after some were ticketed after confusion occurred over changes to the city’s latest parking ordinances.
• Drivers at older homes with limited parking spaces were being ticketed for parking in angled/perpendicular spaces in front of their homes instead of parking their cars parallel to the curb. 
• Palko said that these residents should have been warned instead of ticketed.
• “We should have issued only warning citations in these cul-de-sacs until we had time to engage with the community to find out what was going on and to brief the Governing Body on the issue to see if some legislative alternative was needed,” Palko said.

Why it matters: This ticket refund also comes at a time when the city is in some serious debt.

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Manassas officials have initiated three rezonings to properties that were built in the 1980s.

• The first rezoning, REZ #2020-01, is Beauregard Square Shopping Center in Downtown, where Olde Town Sports Pub is located. 
• The shopping center is requesting to remove an outdated regulation that forces at least 25% of the center to contain office space.

The other two rezonings are both requesting to rezone from their previous Heavy Industrial zonings. Heavy Industrial is supposed to be used for things like “outdoor storage yards or industrial uses that really have significant impact,” Arcieri explained.

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The City of Manassas is considering privatizing its library services as a current agreement with the Prince William Public Library System is set to end July 1.

• CFO Todd Frager of the private firm Library Systems and Services (LS&S) presented a plan to the city during Thursday night’s city council work session.
• It would shift the city’s library’s services interests from Central Library on Mathis Avenue to a new location at Wellington Plaza shopping center, at Wellington Road and Grant Avenue.
• The city currently contracts with Prince William County to provide library services at Central, and that contract expires in April 2020.
• “We will not leave city residents without having access to library services,” City Manager Patrick Pate said. The City has an agreement with Prince William County if it takes a longer time to finalize the city’s library.”

The initial startup cost budget is $578,000, with an annual $1.2 million operating budget.

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Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland held a series of town halls asking residents what types of programming they would like to see at the community center on Sudley Manor Drive near Manassas.

• Prince William County Parks and Rec spokesman Brent Heavner estimated that the meetings lasted about two hours.

Why it matters: The center was closed for about a year after a sprinkler pipe on the second floor of the center froze, expanded and burst in January 2019.

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The City of Manassas Parks, Culture and Recreation Department will hold a community meeting on October 26 to determine the future of Annaburg Manor.

Why it matters: The city purchased the nearly four-acre property from the Prince William Hospital Corporation in July for $846,000.

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County Tourism Director Ann Marie Maher says it starts with bringing more travel sports teams to the region.

“Our location is perfect because we’re right in the middle of the East Coast,” Maher said. “According to the Sports Travel and Events Association, 52% of all sports tourism happens in the southeastern region of the U.S.”

• The high percentage is attributed to the region’s temperate climate.
• Sports tourism is an $11.4 billion industry in the U.S.

“…If we could just get a piece of that, you know what would it mean to Prince William County residents?” Maher asked.

• It would mean more businesses for hotels and restaurants.
• Reduced travel to sporting events for area residents who already travel long distances to compete.

In order to help bring more sports tourism tournaments here, the county has added a full-time position that will focus on ensuring these events are held in the county – events such as the Tough Mudder run that was held in June at Silver Lake Park.

• The Tough Mudder run was not without controversy, but Maher holds that the event was positive for the county.
• The economic impact was $1.4 million for county businesses.

“It really put us on the map,” said Maher.

It was also a boon to Silver Lake Park. “We had many residents who came out and said I didn’t even know this park existed,” Maher added.

Travel sports facilities are often nothing more than large open tracts of land converted into fields.

• The ounty has a lot of already existing infrastructure they can utilize for such facilities, as well as plenty of opportunity for economic development because the county is still growing.
• Maher said this doesn’t mean they would want to use the  Rural Crescent — an area of rural land between Quantico Marine Corps Base and Manassas National Battlefiled.
• The goal is to “create new economic development opportunities that preserve open space and preserve the rural area,” said Maher.

“We have 60 parks. We have one hundred and fifty-five miles of trails- there’s just so much available that’s really under-utilized in a lot of ways.” Maher said.

Zandra’s Taqueria owner and founder Miguel Pires will open a third location in Haymarket.

“We’re finishing up the buildout now,” Pires said, and added that the Haymarket location will be open the end of October.

Pires had been trying to open a Zandra’s in Haymarket for three years, but he had faced challenges with finding a space.

• The new restaurant will open inside the Quality Business Engineering (QBE Building) – a 1940’s era school building once owned by the Prince William County School division.
• The building is located at 14600 Washington Street.
• Many Zandra’s customers from Prince William County visit the chain’s original location in Downtown Manassas., particularly the Gainesville/Haymarket/Bristow area, Pires said.
• Pires said that the QBE building has a similar historic charm to their Old Town Manassas location.

Clarke Congdon, one of the partners at Georgetown Caterers along with Pires and Chris Sellers, will be the executive chef for Zandra’s.

• Congdon has introduced and developed four signature sauces that are available in the restaurants – a chimichurri, a peach habanero, a salsa verde, and a red chile sauce.
  Congdon and Pires are considering production for the sauces and will look to sell the sauces at farmers’ markets.
• The Haymarket location would be a “test kitchen” of sorts, Congdon explained.

“You always want to dream big when you start anything,” Congdon said.

This month also marks the first anniversary of Zandra’s opening its second location in Fairfax.

• Pires said that business in Fairfax has been good. 
• The faculty and staff at nearby George Mason University nearby provide a lot of their business, so it slowed down a little over the summer. 

Editor’s note: The story was produced from an interview with Richard Anderson conducted by Potomac Local on Skype. His opponent, Hyla Ayala, did not respond to a request for an interview.

Rich Anderson is running to reclaim his seat in Prince William County’s 51st District.

• First elected in 2009, House of Delegates through 2017, when a “blue wave” unseated him and many other Republicans, leading to the election of Democrat Governor Ralph Northam.
• He is now one of the many Republicans this year hoping to take back his seat.

“It is a very exhilarating campaign,” Anderson told Potomac Local.

The 51st House of Delegates seat has been held since 2017 by Hyla Ayala.

• With nearly $268,000 on hand, Ayala has outraised Anderon by 104%.
• Ayala introduced nine bills in the 2019 (all failed in committee) session and was co-patron to 12.
• Since taking office, one of her chief-patron bills — a requirement to notify the state’s department of taxation of a personal data breach — was signed by the governor in 2018.

The 51st District is a cross-section of the heavily-populated, urban eastern side of the county, as well as out west around Manassas in some moral rural areas of the county.

“What I hear at the doors with a fair amount of frequency is what some have called chaos and embarrassment versus leadership and results in Richmond,” Anderson said.

Anderson’s effort to take back the seat comes as state Democrats have been involved in a series of high-profile scandals. Earlier this year, Governor Ralph Northam was embroiled in a blackface scandal where an image in his 1984 college yearbook surfaced, and a man wearing blackface appeared on a page next to his class photo.

Northam initially apologized, but then retracted the apology the next day saying there was no conclusive proof that was him in the photo.

• Two women also accused Lt. Governor Justin Fairfax was accused of sexual assault.
• Northam had also faced criticism after making controversial remarks about abortion on WTOP radio, with many Republicans accusing him of supporting infanticide.

Anderson acknowledged the scandals, but said, “I don’t want to talk about that stuff.”

• Anderson said he’d rather talk about the “kitchen table” things such as caring for military vets, transportation, education, and public safety.
• One of Anderson’s primary focuses is caring for veterans.
• Anderson led the way to bring a state veterans’ medical center to Vint Hill.
• He also championed legislation that allows U.S. servicemen and women to pay less in tuition at Virginia community colleges and state schools.

Anderson is currently a member of the Joint Leadership Council of Veteran Service Organizations that crafts bills that can make it into the 2020 legislative year.

“I’m very pleased with the progress they’re making,” Anderson said. If he is elected, he will leave the council and will again chair the General Assembly Military Veterans Caucus.

Anderson’s loss in 2017 was narrow- he lost by six points.

• But this time, Anderson says “It’s not as simple as knocking on more doors.”
• He says this year’s campaign has eclipsed anything he has done before.

“I will not be outworked,” Anderson said. “But I also intend to continue to bring this message about solid stable dependable predictable government in the Commonwealth of Virginia – not the sorts of things that we saw unfold in 2018 and really in 2019 with the chaos and embarrassment that ruled the day.”

Anderson said that a major quality life of issue he hears about at the doors is transportation.

“It would require a huge infrastructure change which will probably take several decades but I’m not a “no” on Metro to Woodbridge,” Anderson said.

• Anderson also discussed a gas tax which takes a percent at the pump that is currently helping fund the transportation costs in the state, but there is currently no floor. A floor would establish a baseline of funding regardless of how low gas prices drop.
• Anderson said that was a key flaw in the gas tax legislation. “… I knew that it would have some dysfunction that no one saw. Do you know what that dysfunction was? That dysfunction was no gas tax floor in Virginia.”
• A floor was later added in 2018.

Anderson is married to Ruth Anderson, who represents Occoquan as an elected official on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.

• Both Air Force veterans are up for election this year.

“We had a good training background there because collectively Ruth and I were in the Air Force for 51 years – me for 30, she for 21,” said Anderson. “It’s absolutely a privilege and a pleasure to be able to continue in public service with her. Whether it’s in elected office for me or whether it is as a private citizen being engaged as a community that’s just what we do. It’s all about public service and nothing else. That’s all I know.”

At a Manassas town hall meeting September 16, Manassas City Manager Pat Pate presented findings from a recent Manassas citizen satisfaction survey.

• Generally, library satisfaction ratings are 7% lower than the national average, he said.
• The survey also said that satisfaction for the “Hours of Operation and Services provided by the Library” fell for the third survey in a row.

The city doesn't have a library of its own.

• Residents use Central Library, on Mathis Avenue, in Prince William County.
• Manassas residents account for less than 27% of the usage at Central, while nearby Manassas Park City residents account for 14.5%.
• County residents make up more than 60%.

“The overall circulation or use of Central Library is also lower than [other libraries in Prince William County, to include] Chinn Park, Bull Run, Gainesville, and Potomac libraries and only slightly above Montclair,” according to city documents.

• Central Library is open daily, has a community room, computer lab, periodicals room, and a children’s and young adult area.
• The library also features events year-round, including preschool storytimes, crafts, book clubs, chair yoga, reading to dogs, and English conversation.

About 10% of Manassas residents also use Bull Run Library in Prince William County

• Ninety percent of its users are county residents.

Prince William County Public Library System spokeswoman Rachel Johnson told Potomac Local that the County conducts a biennial resident satisfaction survey through an independent research firm, which includes Library Services.

• According to that latest Prince William County survey from 2018, “The public library system in the County is highly regarded by residents. Almost all residents are satisfied with the system (96.0%) while 77.0% are very satisfied.”

• According to the City of Manassas website, as of 2018, “70% of Prince William County residents have library cards but only 45% of Manassas residents have library cards and the number is down from the previous year.” 
• The website also said that City of Manassas residents account for 5.5% of the library cards, but pay 8.3% of the library costs- this came to $1.35 million in the latest shared allocation report.

With satisfaction ratings so low, Manassas is wrangling with what to do.

• Leaders have talked about the possibility of building their own library at or near the city's Manassas Museum, in its downtown neighborhood.
• Another option, according to Pate’s presentation is a storefront library in the city.

According to city spokeswoman Patty Prince, “There has been no decision made at this point.”

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