There’s a new coffee shop coming, across from the train station in downtown Manassas.

Jirani Coffeehouse, located on 9423 West Street, is named after the Swahili word for neighborhood.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

Facebook, Google, Amazon.

Chances are these are names you know well. But what you may not know is that companies like these own large data centers across the U.S., including Northern Virginia.

This article is FREE to read. Please Sign In or Create a FREE Account. Thank you.

Tourism is big business in Virginia.

Last year, Virginia tourism brought in $22.4 billion in revenue – $1.5 billion of it in taxes that went straight to the state and localities – and employed 213,000 residents.

But despite being one of Virginia’s top five industries, the tourism industry only received $27 million in funding, according to Virginia Hospitality & Travel Association (VHTA) President Eric Terry.

According to the United States Travel Association, a tourist is defined as someone from at least 50 miles away that spends money on food, lodging or entertainment.

“I think one of the important factors is that it is not necessarily on the agenda of the economic development folks within the states. That’s one of the things that does hinder the industry a little bit,” said Terry.

Virginia tourism doesn’t have a stable source of funding

Money for the tourism industry comes from the general funds that are allotted by the General Assembly during the budget cycle, each year. This means that the VHTA and other tourism organizations need to lobby for funds each year in Richmond.

“One of the things that we’ve advocated for is the ability to really have a dedicated, sustainable tourism funding mechanism around the state. On a long term state basis, you don’t necessarily know what your tourism funding is going to be,” said Terry.

Virginia faces competition, challenges

Terry stated that Virginia is really falling behind, when compared to other states.

“Comparatively, Myrtle Beach – and we’re talking just Myrtle Beach on its own, not South Carolina – has a $32 million marketing budget. Because we don’t have a sustained mechanism for tourism funding, I just don’t think we’ve quite kept up with the rest of the country,” said Terry.

Some localities, like Virginia Beach, have created their own funding mechanisms, in order to spend additional funds on tourism marketing, said Terry.

Even in Prince William County, the county’s tourism organization – Discover Prince William & Manassas – has seen some challenges.

With $1,162,782 from the county budget, and $65,000 from Manassas’ TOT (Transit Occupancy Tax) funds, the organization has had to look at places to find cost savings – one being the Occoquan Visitor’s Center.

In addition to fierce competition from other states, Virginia has been negatively impacted by sequestration and cutbacks in government travel.

“Historically, government travel has really been the thing that has supported the travel and tourism industry in the state. But when that dropped dramatically, we’ve had to recover that in different areas,” said Terry.

Next steps

Terry said that there are ways that the tourism industry can secure funding and continue to grow the industry.

“There’s two opportunities within tourism – one is tourism investment…[and] creating a more dedicated source of taxes that would go toward tourism…The budget cycles over the past couple of years have been difficult, because we have seen some declines around the state. And I think that we’re just now seeing the increases that are happening – so as we go forward, I think it’s a more favorable climate,” Terry said.

The VHTA intends to lobby again in Richmond during the General Assembly’s budget cycle in January.

Elderly and disabled residents in Prince William will still get rides to their doctors appointments.

In a unanimous vote, the board voted to waive their rules on waiting for action and gave the Wheels to Wellness program $160,000 – a program the county does not operate.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland said that the move by the board was unprecedented. The county decides to fund selected non-profit and charitable organizations during its budget process each spring. It is rare to see board move to fund a project of this size after the budget has been passed.

Dozens of the 613 program participants sat at the Prince William County Government Center McCoart Building in Woodbridge and spoke to supervisors about why they should continue to fund the program. The program has been operated by the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, funded by a 3-year grant from the Potomac Health Foundation.

That grant had been set to run out August 11.

“I spoke to some folks who said, ‘if this program ends, I will die’…many of them lived on fixed incomes, where I cannot even begin to wonder how they put groceries on the table – much less getting them to medical services,” said the 82-year-old former Woodbridge Supervisor Hilda Barg.

“My patients would have to choose between getting to dialysis – which is a life sustaining measure for them…or buying medication, or buying clothing, or buying food. I am really pleading for this program to continue. Wheels to Wellness has been a wonderful program,” said Kathy Trambley, a clinical social worker for a Woodbridge dialysis center.

“The benefits of Wheels to Wellness have been a godsend to my sister and me. If we were not able to use [the program] I would be traveling 350 miles a week to provide her transportation, and spend almost 20 hours a week in waiting for her. [This program] has provided my sister with a great deal of independence. It has been very physically and mentally beneficial for her to be independent in some areas of her life,” said one resident, whose sister uses the program.

Wheels to Wellness provides elderly and disabled residents with a trip card that would cover their costs for a taxi dispatched from Yellow Cab Prince William, for only their medical-related appointments, stated the program’s manager Karen Mills.

According to Mills, the program costs $40,000 every 45 days.

Mills and Barg stated that they are working to establish the program as a 501 (c)(3), partnering with Northern Virginia Family Services, and local medical facilities to fund the program going forward.

During the supervisors’ discussion, conditions including a reporting requirement, and a guarantee that it was a one-time funding source were adopted.

The county will continue to fund the program using money from their fiscal year 2015 contingency funds, according to Chairman Corey Stewart. The board keeps $500,000 in contingency funds in reserve each year, according to county documents.

“[Prior to the meeting] we met with the County Executive, to see what we could do. The board does want to do what we can do, to at least help provide a stop-gap measure of funds,” said Stewart.

The funding will give Wheels to Wellness six months to find additional funding.

Elected officials are talking about where to place the 13^th high school in Prince William.

At Supervisor Jeannine Lawson’s first press conference, she along with Supervisor Pete Candland and school board member Gil Trenum, spoke about the school possibly being placed on the site that was slated to be Rollins Ford Park in Gainesville.

“All you have to do is look at the statistics on overcrowding – especially at Patriot and Battlefield [high schools]. I really wanted to locate a high school site that was not necessarily dependent on residential proffers, for new residential development. I’m happy to announce…a very strong possibility…of what may be the next high school site for Prince William County’s 13^th high school,” said Lawson.

Following this year’s budget cycle, the county board of supervisors directed County Executive Melissa Peacor to send a letter to Superintendent Walts about placing the high school on the park site.

The 69-acre Rollins Ford Park site was meant to hold six athletic fields, according to county documents.

If the proposal was to go through, the athletic fields would then be placed on a 60-acre site which was proffered under the Avendale residential development, stated the letter sent to Walts.

The Avendale site is about five miles away from Rollins Ford Park site, according to Candland.

Since both sites are already county owned land, the county could approve a proffer swap and place the new high school on the park site, stated Lawson.

According to Candland, a 13^th high school is needed to deal with the overcrowding in schools in the Gainesville and Brentsville districts.

“Working with the school board this past budget season, we saw an unprecedented move – to try and address the overcrowding in our classrooms. We’ve looked at some very good proposals [for high schools]…the board hasn’t come to a decision on that one, so we had to seek out other opportunities. It is paramount that we find a school site on the western end of the county… We’re already behind on alleviating the overcrowding in western Prince William,” said Candland.

Construction for the new high school was scheduled for completion in 2020, but may be further delayed if they cannot settle on a site, according to the letter sent to Walts.

Stafford and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) will be paying $11.2 million to widen Route 1, and add turn lanes to Courthouse and Bells Hill roads.

Stafford will be hosting a citizen’s information meeting on the project on August 6 at 7 p.m. at the Stafford County Government Center, according to a county release.

According to county documents, Stafford will be leading the project, but VDOT will be providing oversight, and 50% of the project’s funding.

The project on the 0.65 mile stretch of road will include adding lanes to Route 1, and adding left turn lanes to Courthouse Road and Bells Hill/Hope Road, according to county documents. The project will be completed in two phases.

“Phase 1 will improve the Route 1 and Courthouse Road intersection. Phase 2 will improve the Route 1 and Bells Hill/Hope Road intersection,” stated a county presentation.

A county presentation on the project stated that the reason for the project is the frequent backup and delay, as well as a projection that traffic will increase at the Route 1 and Courthouse Road intersection by 500% by 2035.

Before construction can begin, Stafford will need to submit plans to VDOT, and host public hearings for residents to speak about the project.

According to a county presentation, construction on the project is set to begin in 2018, and be completed in 2019.