During its June 26, 2023 meeting, council members focused on problems at the Battery Heights substation, off Liberia Avenue, contributing to the city's recent power woes.
The city's utilities director Tony Dawood said the recent power outages are unprecedented. In the past, the city has been known for its reliable, independent energy supply, not relying on electricity providers Dominion Energy or NOVEC to deliver power to its residents.
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Karl Greten, of Gainesville, speech at the June 27 Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting: “I am Karl Greten, and I live in the Gainesville District. We are against the Digital Gateway CPA on Pageland Lane and its associated rezoning.”
“Chair Wheeler’s statement about the next Chair making statements about MAGA is completely accurate. Wheeler has not listened to the statements from PWC citizens that the underlying issue is to make PWC great, make VA great, and Make America Great. Wheeler, what do you want? Make Russia or China, or Iran great? This is what Wheeler has not understood. Perhaps you were trying to make another locale, state, or country great. PWC citizens are working to make PWC great and to not bulldoze it.”
“For the rest of the Democrat BOCS members, we are watching your comments, voting stance, and your financial gains.
“Prince William County has made amazing progress over the last three and a half years, and all Democrats and independents must all come together to ensure that continues,” Wheeler has said. This statement is true because Republicans, Democrats, and Independents came together to vote Wheeler out.”
“We will follow the developer and data center bulldozer money as Wheeler passes funds on to other Democrat destroyers.”
“Supervisor Angry: you narrowly won your primary election contest. Congratulations on winning with just over 100 votes. Your opponent is a newcomer to the PWC election process so this shows you may not be on the firmest ground.”
“Kenny Boddye: you have said, ‘This is an opportunity to say, Hey, we hear that there needs to be more care and caution when it comes to data centers and where we put them.’ Where have you been for the last two years? This is what the citizens have been pounding on you.”
“’You’re going to have a whole host of Democratic activists, advocates, and volunteers who may have sat out of the primary who are definitely going to be energized in the fall,” Boddye said.”
“Kenny, you got this wrong. Republicans, Democrats, and Independents came together to vote in the primary to oust Wheeler. Now county-wide issues such as the economy, violence, transgenderism, schools and grades that have declined during Democrat rule, abortion term limits, affordable housing, and the socialist agenda will be the issues between the Republican and Democratic position of the BOCS Chair in the election voting in September. Republican and Independents will now vote on multiple issues other than just data centers.”
“The citizens have spoken, and the county has heard us. Even though there was apprehension during the primary, the citizens of PWC knew what the outcome would be. There is no surprise.”
“The largest surprise is how far-reaching the results have resounded. Associated Press reports are coming in from Canada, Illinois, Oregon, Florida, Alaska, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Texas, and these are just a few.”
“Vote against the Digital Gateway CPA on Pageland Lane and its associated rezoning.”
Editors note: Potomac Local News aims to share opinions on issues of local importance from a diverse range of residents across all our communities. If you’ve recently spoken at a Board of County Supervisors meeting, send us a typed copy of your remarks for publication to [email protected].
Stafford County Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke will hold a town hall meeting today about a methadone clinic slated to open in a neighborhood shopping center.
Bohmke says some residents are concerned about the clinic's location in the Woodlawn Shopping Center. Two children's daycare centers are located within a mile of the clinic.
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Leadership Prince William is an organization that aims to develop new leaders while providing them with new perspectives on Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park.
Each year since 2007, the program has held an annual class, dubbed its signature program, where future leaders meet monthly to discuss big ideas and tour various areas of the county and cities.
I spoke with LPW Executive Director Charles Gilliam and Board of Regents Members Tiffany Izenour (2024 chair) and Bradley Marshall to discuss the organization and its programs.
What is Leadership Prince William?
Izenour: “Leadership Prince William is an applied leadership program for our community here in Prince William County, Manassas City, and Manassas Park.2007 was our first graduating class, finishing in 2008. We currently have well over 500 alumni in our Signature Program base. We run two programs on an annual basis. The first is our Signature Program, which runs from September to June of each year. And the second is our newer and emerging Leaders Program, which runs a fall and a spring cohort for eight weeks, one day a week.”
“The Signature program gives you the opportunity to sit in the room of approximately 32 to 33 of your colleagues throughout the county that are in a variety of different roles in different industries, different demographics, different ages, different sexes, different backgrounds, and pull back the curtain on our community to see really how the community works, how we work, how we work as individual leaders and how we can best collaborate to bring our community better services, to improve our leadership skills, improve our businesses.”
More than just networking, you also learn more about yourself, correct?
Gilliam: “One of the big mysteries that we like to keep is we go up on a mountain where the cell phone service isn’t very well [to kick off the signature program]. We had a crazy experience, and for some of us, I was one of the guys who actually got to meet me for the first time on the mountain through this assessment. It sounds kind of like I’m overblowing it, but you’re familiar with the Myers Briggs…they are great assessments. I won’t take anything away from them. But this one is truly mind-boggling, how it can give you insight into yourself. That’s one of the things we do on the mountain. We introduce you to yourself and allow you to look; some of us have never seen it before. Some had. And then we and then we show you how other people’s minds and behaviors operate. Then we teach you to work within those boundaries to improve our communications drastically.”
Who should participate in this program?
Marshall: “It’s very broad, and one of the things that interested me the most when they first came to me, I’m an attorney…and the very first thing I said is, ‘I do enough with attorneys. I don’t want to join another attorneys group.’ And they’re like, ‘No, that is not what this is.’ You’ll have people from nonprofits, clergy, and government agencies. When I went through … it was tremendous, and I learned a lot from it. There was a judge in my class or a couple of other lawyers. However, the best thing about my class is that there were small business owners like Miguel Perez, who owns several restaurants, and other innovative leaders.
“When I was looking at the program, I thought I knew everything about Prince William. I really did. I just took it for granted. But after the program, what we do is basically over nine months is it’s one full day Thursday each month, and we just tackle an issue and move around the county to do it. We’ll be in Occoquan; we’ll be in Manassas Park; we’ll be in Mid County, wherever it is, different months and sometimes multiple places in one day, like the field trips.
“And we tackle these issues, and it’s bookended by these retreats going up on the mountain, is what Charles was referring to. And in the end, you learn so much more about the county and the people and about the issues they face that have already been touched on. The thing you learn the most about is yourself. And because of that, I think it’s great for anyone who’s at this point in their career.”
You can listen to the full interview on our Youtube page.
Applications for the LPW Class of 2024 are closing. More info here.
Those who are interested in attending a future class are invited to come and hang out with members during the non-profit’s fundraiser, Evening of Excellence: Casino Royale,” on Friday, July 6, 2023, at the Hylton Performing Arts Center near Manassas.
Hillary Clinton posted to Twitter today, urging Democrats to organize and flip three seats in the House of Delegates.
The former First Lady reminded her followers that Democrats only need three seats to regain control of Virginia's House of Delegates.
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These days, it's rare to see someone who was elected as a Democrat give their endorsement to someone who is running as a Republican.
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The Rice family recently announced that they sold their family-owned hardware store, J.E. Rice Co., after almost 87 years.
The new owners, Sarah and Amy Pitkin, own three other hardware stores -- one in Dale City, one in the Woodbine neighborhood of Prince William County on Route 234, Locust Grove.
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Three Stafford County Board of Supervisors members quashed renewed discussions for resurrecting a tax on businesses' gross receipts (BPOL).
Supervisor Crystal Vanuch motioned to end conversations about resurrecting the tax during the Board of Supervisors Finance, Audit, and Budget Committee meeting on Tuesday, July 27. Supervisors Meg Bohmke and Tinesha Allen also voted to table discussions.
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Stafford County Supervisor Meg Bohmke also serves on the Virginia Railway Express Operations Board.
Today, Bohmke said much of the discussion held during a June 16 planning meeting for the state's only commuter railroad, held at the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (OmniRide) in Woodbridge, focused on keeping the system afloat.
