The Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation donated $79,895 in equipment grants to area fire and rescue associations, including fire departments in Manassas and Manassas Park. 

Press release: 

City of Manassas Park Fire and Rescue received two automatic transport ventilators with vent circuits worth $13,751. The awarded equipment will assist first responders by delivering uninterrupted ventilation at a consistent rate, helping improve a patient’s chance of survival.

Manassas City Police Department received a tactical police robot worth $26,300. The SWAT team will utilize the robot to remotely search hostile and dangerous environments and structures during tactical operations.

The Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Loudoun County Police Department, and U.S. Park Police also received equipment grants. 

The grant money is made possible by Firehouse Subs customers who decide to pay extra at the time they purchase their meals. 

From a public relations representative for Firehouse Subs: 

All 1,000+ Firehouse Subs restaurants fundraise for the Foundation year-round. If you’ve ever eaten there, they’ll ask you if you’d like to “Round Up” your purchase to the nearest dollar at checkout. If so, that money goes back to providing equipment to public safety organizations and first responders in need. They also sell recycled pickle buckets for $2 and have general collection canisters at registers — all benefitting the brand’s non-profit Firehouse Subs Public Safety Foundation.

Crews from the Prince William Service Authority were called to investigate steam coming from a manhole cover near an Olive Garden restaurant.

Someone at Wendy’s fast food restaurant poured extremely hot water into their drains, said Service Authority spokesman Kipp Hanley.

That caused steam to come out of a manhole cover near the Olive Garden, located across the street from the Wendy’s near Potomac Mills mall. A fire and rescue crew was called to the Olive Garden to investigate a report a smoke from the manhole at about 2 p.m.

“The substance coming from the manhole at Olive Garden was steam, not smoke…” stated Hanley in an email to Potomac Local.

Service Authority crews also investigated an unrelated call that came in about the same time as the steam in the manhole, at the Silver Diner restaurant near Olive Garden.

“The [Service Authority] investigated and determined it was a grease trap issue that is the responsibility of the business owner to address,” stated Hanley in an email.

A plan to build a mosque just inside Prince William County’s Rural Crescent near Bristow will be heard by the county’s Planning Commission. 

From Prince William County Brenstville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson: 

The Special Use Permit for the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) land use proposal is scheduled to be heard by the Prince William County Planning Commission (see below).  The commission is a panel of eight citizens appointed by the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) to advise the Board on land use and development issues. All land use applications are first deliberated by the commission who will make a formal recommendation to the BOCS.  The application is then scheduled for a public hearing before the Board of County Supervisors for the final decision.  

Planning Commission Public Hearing

November 2, 2016 at 7:00 pm

Board Chambers 

James J. McCoart Administration Building

1 County Complex Court, Prince William, VA 22192

You may submit email comments to the planning commissioners (email addresses below) in advance and/or attend to speak at the public hearing.  Citizens are allowed 3 minutes each. In addition to the hearing, the public can submit email comments at any time to be added to the case file:

https://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/planning/Pages/Submit-a-Comment.aspx

The case name/number is:  PLN2014-00313

The planning staff report will be available online October 26, 2016. At that time, I will forward the link. If you would like additional information on this application, you may contact Planning Manager Steve Donohoe. Phone: (703)792-5282 [email protected]

This marks the first time the proposal will have a public hearing. Employees of the Prince William County Planning Office have been working with developers from the All Dulles Area Muslim Society for more than two years — an unusually long amount of time, according to Steven Donohoe at the planning office.

Updated

The victim was not taken to a hospital.

Original post

Rescue crews were dispatched to a county government office on Courthouse Road at 11:30 a.m. The dispatcher on the call noted the incident as “electrocution.” 

The victim was conscious at the time the call was dispatched. 

We don’t know the severity of the injuries of the victim. We’ll post more information when we get it.

 

 

 

 

Election hopefuls in Manassas Park say more economic development is what is needed to escape the city’s crushing $120 million debt.

City Councilman Preston Banks held an open voter forum Wednesday night where 10 candidates seeking seats on the Governing Body shared their vision of a bright future for the two-square-mile city. New government facilities to include a community center — where residents gathered for the forum Wednesday- with indoor swimming pool, new fire and police stations, and new school buildings all built over the past 20 years have left the city with a pile of debt.

Multiple candidates called for refinancing the debt and renegotiating contracts to free up additional funds in the city’s annual $78 million budget. There were also promises from two mayoral candidates — incumbent Frank Jones and Jeanette Rishell — not to raise property taxes.

Those taxes are the majority source of funds for a city that lacks a large retail, corporate tax base. Some residents complained about the lack of retail in the city, especially in the City Center development across from City Hall on Manassas Drive.

“Sixty percent of the city’s taxes are residential. And the city lost 58% in its property value in 2009, and seven years later and we’re still vulnerable,” said Donald Shuemaker, a 1997 Manassas Park High School graduate seeking his first term on the Governing Body.

Mehtab Singh Kahlon, seeking his first seat on the Governing Body, called to lower property taxes in order to attract more business.

Rishell was quick to dismiss claims that the city’s economic development efforts are not working. She touted the creation of a brochure to showcase the city, and sending staff to community events in Northern Virginia to promote the city as positive signs of economic development efforts.

“We now have an economic development brochure and [Econmic Development] Manager. These are things we did not have when I came onto the Council in 2013,’ said Rishell.

To date, a bank is the only street-level retail store that has opened in the City Center development on Manassas Drive near the Manassas Park Virginia Railway Express station.

“There are no jobs at City Center,” said Micheal Rogers, a pastor seeking his first term on the Governing Body.

The city has experienced a boom in apartment construction in recent years. Residents called for an end to more apartment construction, saying the homes put a drain on the city’s schools and increases traffic on area roads as new residents move into the city.

Richard Schubert, who is seeking his first term, said he would not approve any new residential construction if elected. The city’s school system, he added, is not equipped to handle the influx of Hispanic children in city classrooms and called for the hiring of more Spanish-speaking teachers.

As for generating more revenue for the city, Jones and Schubert called for more surveillance at school bus stops to make sure cars dropping off children for the school bus have a valid city decal displayed on their windshields.

Rogers and Rishell were against such a move.

“When you stop to think of the resources and administrative cost associated with that instead, we should be doing more to attract businesses to [residents] don’t have to leave [Manassas Park] to make a living,” said Rogers.

Traffic congestion on Route 28, between Manassas Drive and Interstate 66, is also a campaign issue. Despite a newly completed study that outlines needed roadway improvements in the corridor, little has been done to fix the gridlock.

“Manassas Park is landlocked behind the Bull Run bridge [on Route 28 at the Fairfax County line]. And that’s because Prince William County is not willing to widen Route 28,” said Jones, whose been the city’s mayor for the past 12 years.

He called for adding reversible lanes to Route 28 that would carry more traffic along the clogged artery during peak rush-hour periods.

The budgets of city schools, public safety, and schools ranked high on a majority of lists of items candidates said they would not cut if elected.

Jones, Rishell, and Shuemaker are the only candidates that filed their paperwork in time to have their names listed on the ballot. The six candidates urged the more than 70 people who attended Wednesday’s voter forum to write-in their names on Election Day November 8.

Updated

Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Irene Cromer tells us the bus was a “Potomac View [Elementary School] bus transporting Head Start students. No injuries were reported and parents are being contacted. Another bus was sent to transport the students.” 

Original post

A Prince William County School bus collided with a parked police car in Woodbridge. 

Bus 423 hit the police cruiser parked in the area of Mount Pleasant Drive and Bayside Avenue, according to initial reports. 

Children were on the bus, but no injuries were reported.  Police tell us the cruiser was parked legally and was sitting unoccupied.

We’ve asked a Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman where the bus was coming from, and where it was headed. We’ll update this post with new information once we receive it.

 

Press release: