Moonhowlings

The Manassas City Council voted Wednesday to spend $100,000 on the upcoming 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Manassas.  The 150th anniversary of the first major engagement of the Civil War will take place around the week of July 21, 2011. 

The City hopes to bring in revenue and position itself for long term tourism.   Creston M. Owen, chairman of the board of Virginia Civil War Events Inc. plans to organize 9 days worth of events.  He came before the board on Wednesday to ask for money. 

According to the News and Messenger:

Owen’s outfit of volunteers is poised to begin organizing the nine-day commemoration that is set to include a Blue and Gray Ball at the Candy Factory, a re-enactment of the First Manassas, breakfast with the troops and concerts on the lawn of the Manassas Museum and at the Battlefield.

Owen told the council that it’s time to get started if the aim is to educate and attract the crowds that will generate income and put the area on the map.

“We’re only 18 months away. If we don’t start beating the drum now, we won’t get people here,” Owen told the council.

Owen has also met with the Prince William delegation of the Virginia General Assembly and hopes to get a million dollars from the state for this 9-day event.  To date nothing has been heard publically about the Prince William County involvement in the commemoration of the sesquicentennial or about their plans to infuse money into this venture.

Already citizens are cheering for their home town.  However, an equally strong set of boos are being heard because of the recession,  extremely tight municiple budgets, and basically, a Tea Party mentality.  Is this something that the local governments ought to be supporting or is this an event better handled by private enterprise?

Saturday Manassas will hold its first ever Veterans Day Parade. The Parade begins at 11:00 am and will commence along the same route as the Christmas Parade.

There is quite a parade line up which you can view at the following website:  Line UP

From Emma:

Additionally, she added: 

[I] Forgot to add that the parade will feature a Blackhawk flyover, a moment of silence and the national anthem right after the WWII veterans arrive at the reviewing stage.

 

It definitely sounds like a fun event full of honor and regalia for our veterans. A big thank you to Emma for the selling points.

More signs from our local gadfly, Mr. Fernandez.  

Pwc and mans. City

stop your racism. Ag

ainst native Americans

287g, another law by

white supremacists to

get rid of people of color

stop 287g…no more chains

on working people

equality & justice 4 all

 

The above was dictated to me and supposedly it is color coded as shown. The sign is roughly a 7 x 10.

The paragraph below is my opinion only. M-H

I expect the good people of Manassas and its surrounding areas have long been out of patience with this type of signage and with the gentleman who is allowing it to happen. Mr. F stands in the way of any healing our community might want to transpire. He continues to throw gasoline on a fire that is trying to go out. I suspect it is because if the fire goes out, he loses the attention he so desperately seeks. His 15 minute walk of fame is growing dimmer and dimmer.

Manassas City Police Chief Skinner has changed a few rules for demonstrators along the Sudley Road/Forestwood Corridor. Over the summer, Chief Skinner had several complaints about signs and protestors blocking the line of vision of drivers attempting to pull out onto Sudley Road. As a result, the chief, in conjunction with the city attorney and city manager, devised some new rules, with safety as the main goal.

The demonstration site was moved so no one’s vision was blocked. Additionally “City ordinance limits the number of signs demonstrators may use at any one time to five. The signs must not exceed 24 by 36 inches and may be attached to wooden handles with no sharp ends, Skinner said. ”

Protestors requested to go down onto private property. Skinner explained that the property owner will not permit demonstrations there.

As long as everyone has to go by the same rules, no one should mind these safety conscious rules. Chief Skinner appears to have gone above and beyond the call of duty. He has contacted the people who demonstrate most frequently and explained why he arrived at the decision he did. Some folks have complained to the City Council about first amendment rights. That seems like quite a stretch. I would hate to think someone was in a automobile accident because I just had to exercise my rights.

Full story in the Manassas News and Messenger @ www.insidenova.com

Here’s a link to a front-page article in the Washington Post today that quotes Kisha Wilson-Sogunro, Neighborhood Services Manager for the City of Manassas:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/03/AR2009050302330.html

Kisha’s Week of Hope program starts June 13.  Join the burst – plan a neighborhood event or improvement project this summer!

Number of Hispanic Students Enrolled Sept. 30

School System

About the only quantifiers we have as far as immigration goes come from schools. Immigrants generally have children. The Virginia State Board of Education keeps data on ethnicity as set by the federal government.

The above data shows the number of Hispanics enrolled in the 3 school systems on Sept. 30 of the given year. It looks like MC gained 74 more Hispanic students. MP lost 82 students between 2007 and 2008. The county lost 531 students from 2007 to 2008. I can just see Corey Stewart and Greg hi-fiving each other. It appears, however, that Help Save Manassas, didn’t (Save Manassas, that is.)

So much for the great plan that was supposed to save us all that money.  Many of us will be waiting for Corey to turn that savings over to the school system.  Pony  up Corey Stewart!  Where is that money we supposedly saved?

In the grand scheme of things,in a school system that has just under 74,000 students,  losing 531 students is , to quote Mr. Stewart, a ‘drop in the bucket.’

[NOTE:  Many of these students could very well be from families of legal immigrants. Additionally, they very well might not be involved with any LEP classes.  Some could have lived here for generations.  There is no way to tell exactly.]

High school drop out rates have been growing by leaps and bounds, to the point of being called a national epidemic. Exactly what is the cost of dropping out of high school? According to the video captured from the Washington Post, dropping out is a million dollar mistake.

In an era when having a diploma is a bare minimum; many of our young people are selling themselves real short very early in the game. As budgets are finalized, it seems prudent that these stark, staggering statistics should be in the back of everyone’s mind.

Earlier in the week I put up a thread about Hispanic high drop out rates, much to the chagrin of at least one ‘regular’ here. I was accused of quoting some pro-Hispanic groups. Truthfully, I was gathering my information from the VA Dept. of Education. I would say that is a fairly ethnically neutral agency. It’s their job to disaggregate data.

So without apology, here is part 2 of the drop out phenomena. What I didn’t know earlier in the week is that City of Manassas has an even higher drop out rate than Prince William County. Critics will be happy to know that this video does not break down data by ethnicity. It speaks about all kids.

Pardon the mini-mercial.

Surely with statistics like these, right here in our own backyard, we should be rethinking the ‘business as usual’ for high school students. Will everyone go to college? Should everyone go to college? What is being done educationally for those who probably have no intentions of going to college, at least not right after high school? What kinds of job training can a high school student get? Should it be the job of public schools to prepare students for jobs out of high school? If not, where will the student aquire those skills?

I was so tempted to type wedgie….

It sounds like things are moving right along with the Fernandez Wedge, according to the Washington Post. The injunction will be heard tomorrow by a circuit court judge. All the City can do is go through the process, regardless of what all the dark screen quarterbacks want to happen. It appears that the motive this time is to send a message to VRE riders.

[More updates: I hope Sr. Fernandez is not superstitious. Poor Richard has let us know that the hearing will probably be Friday the 13th.]

From today’s Washington Post:

A Circuit Court judge will weigh in as soon as tomorrow on the structure, after Manassas officials filed an injunction against Fernandez on Monday when he refused to stop construction. That came after Brian Smith, the city’s chief building official, issued two violations to Fernandez on Sunday, including a stop work order and a building code violation. Both notices threaten to bring criminal charges against Fernandez, 48, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1979.

“Let them put me in jail. I’m not going to remove my message,” Fernandez said this week, after spending $1,600 on lumber, plywood and white, waterproof vinyl panels that are typically used on bathroom walls but have provided Fernandez with a durable canvas for his thoughts.

If Fernandez receives a court order to remove the structure and fails to comply, he might end up in jail, but it’s not clear whether the city would be able to remove the installation after that. Then again, Fernandez said that his current message is temporary and that he might dismantle it in two months — unless, he said, Manassas officials “make it difficult for me.”

[UPDATE: Current wedge and sheet signs at 9500 Liberty Street  2/9/09.]

Close-up

Thanks to Chris for this guest post and picture.

We have a new ADC for Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park. It will begin to house inmates next month. The new ADC is long overdue, and finally complete.

One of the best things about having the new facility is that inmates who are currently “farmed out” out to other jurisdictions will be returning to the area. This will be a big savings to us the tax payers. We’ve been spending a fair amount of money on our inmates to be housed in other facilities. We aren’t able to farm out any person with an ICE detainer.

The new facility was also featured during yesterday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. It showed the project from start to finish. The presentation will re-air on Channel 23 or Channel 37 the next three nights at 7:30, and then on Saturday and Sunday at 10am.

One of the neatest features is the “video visitation.” PWC is the second jurisdiction in the Commonwealth to use this technology, Virginia Beach was the first. One of the big benefits of this new technology is there’s less possibility of contraband getting in the hands of the inmates.

A Special Congratulations to Cindy Brookshire

For immediate release

Contact: Kisha Wilson-Sogunro
Neighborhood Services Coordinator

City of Manassas
703-257-8240

City Brings Home Three State Neighborhood Awards

MANASSAS, VA – The City of Manassas, one of its neighborhood organizations and a local youth have won three state neighborhood awards. They are:

State Neighborhood Youth Individual Effort of the Year

Michael Sensale, Cannon Ridge Community

State Neighborhood Youth Group Effort of the Year

Week of Hope Program, City of Manassas Neighborhood Services

State Neighborhood Project of the Year

Weems Neighborhood Watch/Week of Hope Cleanup

The awards were presented on Saturday, September 20 at the 9th annual Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference, held at the Hilton McLean Tysons Corner.

The City of Manassas has been stepping up efforts to build strong neighborhoods and increase civic involvement since it hired Kisha Wilson-Sogunro as Neighborhood Services Coordinator in November 2006. Sogunro has put her extensive knowledge to work addressing critical needs in the community,

“This was truly a city government-citizen group partnership,” said Cindy Brookshire, whose project had the support of more than a dozen Weems Neighborhood Watch members to organize a four-day cleanup of Landgreen Street, where Manassas Cab Company driver Khawaja Ahmed was murdered in February 2008. More than 30 youth and adult church volunteers, including the general manager of the cab company, worked with Watch members to fill four City trucks with trash and yard waste, mow 12 lawns, haul away a trailer load of hazardous household waste (used motor oil, paint, car batteries, TV and computer monitors), reinstall a mailbox and spread a truckload of mulch. They ended their labors with an ice cream “party in the park” at Byrd Park. “Our Neighborhood Watch could not have pulled this project together without the encouragement of Officer Scott Stallard of the City of Manassas Police Department, Kisha’s in-field guidance of the Week of Hope volunteers, and the Public Works Department, which supplied us with courtesy trucks, wheelbarrows and other tools we needed to get the job done. I’m grateful to the City and to the church youth for their help in our crime prevention and community building efforts.”

The City is planning to host its own Neighborhood Conference on Saturday, November 15 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Carteret Mortgage Branch Boys & Girls Club on Dean Drive, complete with workshops, a marketplace of exhibits, a block party lunch with “divine desserts” from local churches and their own Best of Neighborhood award winners.

To register for the City’s Second Annual Neighborhood Conference, go to www.manassascity.org.

Apparently a settlement is in the works for the case brought against the City when they attempted to redefine a family.

ACTION ITEM: Consideration of Resolution #R-2009-38 as Full and Final Settlement Agreement and Release of the Equal Rights Center, Et Al. v. City of Manassas and City of Manassas Public Schools and City of Manassas School Board, Case No. 07 CV 1037 – TSE/TRJ before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (Staff: Lawrence D. Hughes, City Manager.

What a heart-rending story in the Washington Post this morning about the volunteer work of local people, mainly kids, and youngsters from as far away as Tennessee.  Manassas City neighborhood services director Kisha Wilson-Sogunro is to be congratulated for her efforts orchestrating this tremendous effort. 

Approximately 900 volunteers participate in the Week of Hope Program.  Most of the worker bees are kids.  Talk about team work.  Many of these kids came from out of town, hours away. 

I certainly hope that the City of Manassas has evening activities such as swimming available for these welcome guests.  Last year this program saved the city over $35,500. 

Let’s also hope some of the whiners I have heard on both blogs went out and helped these kids.  This effort is definitely an example of what friends, neighbors, and even outsiders can accomplish in the face of adversity.  Now HERE is a solution!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/27/AR2008062703586.html

We all have high hopes that this organization can improve the image of Manassas & Prince William.  How can we distance ourselves from the racist, anti-immigrant image that has been projected through out the state and around the country?  Image is very important in attracting businesses and residents alike. Maybe a good first step at restoring our image would be a public proclaimation denouncing racism and anti-immigrant sentiments?

To clarify, I’m not opposed to the ‘Rule of Law’, but I don’t agree with 20 years of non-enforcement by the Federal government followed by a period of strict enforcement without making some accommodations for those individuals who in many cases have been entrapped by inconsistencies in our immigration policies.

Just a reminder, it’s only post 9/11 that we have required people to adjust their status by returning to their home countries.  But many of these individuals entered our country during a time period where we allowed them to gain work sponsorship after they arrived ILLEGALLY.  However ,now with changes in immigration laws these individuals who were once under the impression that they could adjust their status here have now been told that they must leave and in many cases for extended periods. Many times people have claimed that these people have had enough time to become citizens without the realization that this option hasn’t been offered for many years.  It doesn’t make sense to have these people abandon their homes, have their children lose years of an educational opportunity only to readmit them years from now.  It doesn’t seem to benefit our economy now or in the future and, our inconsistent policies are directly affecting the lives of many including our most vulnerable – US citizen children. Read more…

Just surprised that this one is even reported on the bvbl.net website.  Typically, the only stories that are deemed newsworthy appear to be those that involve a suspect who is Hispanic.  Otherwise, we usually don’t here diddly squat.  For some reason though, Osbourn High School seems to be of special interest to this blogger.