The time has come for our elected officials to address this impending health crisis in Prince William County. Not only are the sheer number of foreclosures a fiscal crisis, but there is a rising health concern as well. Now we must all band together and start creating some innovative solutions to deal with the foreclosure crisis. This issue affects us all!
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/26/AR2008052602036_2.html?hpid=artslot
No county in the region has been hit harder by the foreclosure wave than Prince William, where there are nearly 7,000 empty houses, said neighborhood services coordinator Michelle Casciato. Given recent census estimates, that means about one in 20 houses in the county are unoccupied.
The county has had only a few cases of West Nile virus in recent years, he said, but it’s more of a concern this summer. “The risk is increasing with these vacant and unmaintained homes,” Meehan said.
And new residents aren’t filling up the empty houses fast enough. Although home sales in the county increased 14 percent from January through April compared with the same period last year, foreclosures in the county have gone up 211 percent in that time. There were 645 foreclosures last month in Prince William, Manassas and Manassas Park, court records show.
Frustration and impatience have turned some residents into lawn-care vigilantes, who attack the blighted yards with their own mowers and implements. Technically, it’s trespassing, but health and safety matters come first.
Thanks for posting this. I was wondering if the foreclosure rate had leveled off or not. From my understanding of this article, the rate of foreclosures are outpacing sales. My concern is also with the price of gas; Prince William County could become less desirable because of the necessary commute to areas of employment which are closer in.
Here’s what a group in Battle Creek, Michigan did to solve their problems in deteriorating neighborhoods with many vacant homes that became magnets for crime, trash, etc.
http://www.wkkf.org/DesktopModules/WKF.MediaPlayer/Player.aspx?CID=-1&ID=222&SID=1096&LanguageID=0
The photo of the abandoned swimming pool in the Post article was taken by a member of our neighborhood watch in the City of Manassas, and the zoning dept has been notified. Meanwhile, a neighbor has been draining the pool every time it rains. I picked up trash on the front lawn today. Don’t sit and wait for the local government to do something.
I went to the national neighborhood conference in Hampton, VA last week http://www.nusa.org and watched a group called CrimeWatch from Battle Creek, Michigan win and award for their program cleaning up their neighborhood. The thing that got them to take action? A five year old girl was raped in one of the vacant houses. Don’t wait for something tragic to happen. Address the seemingly simple issues, like tall grass, now, before they lead to worse things.
Also, neighborhood services coordinators from both PWC and City of Manassas were at the conference in Hampton. The county’s newly re-designed website has a wealth of information in their neighborhood services section. Learn, get empowered. Get active in your HOA, start a neighborhood watch, volunteer with Project Mend-a-House or Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush With Kindness — all these groups can make a difference, or start your own group.
Wow, great comments and suggestions Cindy. Can you make sure to repost in the solutions section!
I wonder if maybe a letter to the editor would be helpful in reaching a large number of people with this info.
Interesting point Alanna about cost of gasoline and commuting from PWC.
Here’s another case study from the conference. A problem area called Andy Street in Long Beach, California was cleaned up by a partnership between tenants, property owners and the local government. I talked with Rina Castaneda, a resident of Andy Street, at the conference. She is someone who was brave enough to stay and make a change — despite hearing gun shots the first day she moved in. I asked her if she felt threatened by the drug dealers when they saw her out talking to her neighbors and organizing them. She said yes, but she didn’t let it stop her because she knew she was doing the right thing by staying in the neighborhood and making it better.
http://thedistrictweekly.com/print/features/2007/08/08/how-to-save-long-beach-one-street-at-a-time/
Is there such thing as declaring a Federal Disaster Area for Poor Leadership and Bad Policy? “In the wake of Hurricane Corey, Prince William County, VA was declared a Federal Disaster Area by President Bush….”
Thank you Cindy B for reminding us that we can and must take action as a community. These dangers are serious, demonstrable, and, most importantly, treatable with decisive action and strong leadership. Of course, with the current leadership from our hapless Chairman Corey Stewart, we almost certainly will be left alone to deal with this.
You see, with real and actual problems such as these, there is no obvious “target” to scapegoat and blame other than Corey Stewart’s own failed leadership.
“Fighting The Health Crisis I Stupidly Caused” is not an effective campaign slogan. It would provide zero political gain for him to demagogue about this. In fact, it would be a political embarrassment for Corey Stewart to admit that there is a problem here, let alone address it.
I’m beginning to wonder if we made a mistake in re-electing to a four year term a man who is so good at making us more angry about our problems, but so very poor at solving them.
I’m waiting for some clone to post a brilliant thought like, “I’d rather have snakes, rats, and West Nile virus, as long as there are no Illegals or people who look illegal to me in this county or in this country! And, and I will pay higher taxes forever to do it!”
Speaking of clones, it’s Ironic, too, that Gospel Greg and his adoring disciples have HELPED TO CREATE the health crisis they cried wolf about last election season with all their talk of “rats” to be blamed on new immigrants. Turns out, vermin infestation is not caused by your ethnic-looking neighbors; it’s caused by the exodus of your ethnic-looking neighbors. Woops!
Now, that last paragraph was truly entertaining! We can’t blame Corey for the entire forclosure mess, but certainly, having the dubious honor of number one in forclosures is not an award PWC wanted. The perception by lantinos is that we are unfriendly to them, wether they be legal or undocumented, the reality is that the businesses most suffering appear to be latino.
However, at some point, we have to move into bringing people together for a common cause with a positive message. I wonder how would could emulate the example that Cincy mentioned from Long Beach, CA?
Oh, last paragraph being entertaining attributed to WhyHereWhyNow, 27. May 2008
That photo is not one of a pool that was lovingly cared for and then just recently went into disrepair due to foresclosure. It is obvious from the condition of the liner and the pool that it has been in a state of neglect for at least 3 years or more. You can’t blame that on foreclosure, it is the homeowners fault when they let it decay years ago.
And Why Here Why Now: Rats were initially spotted in Manassas and Sudley about 4 or 5 years ago. I’m sure the city could give you stats on how many vermin calls they received and you can see the trends of the past 10 years. They began showing up when overcrowding caused garbage to pile up at the end of driveways. Streets without the overcrowded garbage conditions in the other parts of Manassas didn’t have rats. My in laws have lived in Sudley for over 30 years and never saw a rat until about 3 years ago. Now they or their dogs see or hear them frequently. The tall grass didn’t bring the rats, it just gives them more places to hide.
Chairman Stewart may be an idiot sometimes, but he didn’t cause the pool or rat problems. You can put that blame on careless homeowners. This has nothing to do with immigration, legal or illegal. It is a homeowner and overcrowding issue. That is probably why people are willing to take the tall grass and having to drain someone’s pool after rain over what they had before with neglectful homeowners.
Thanks Elena. I just re-read the last paragraph since you said you like it. Can you take out the extra “the” in the last paragraph?
I’ll be more impressed with the HSM minions when they get on their riding mowers and clean up a few lawns in their neighborhoods than when they don their camo unies and grab their cameras and stake out the 7-11s. They’d have more of an impact if they did something constructive.
Cindy B, I’m looking forward to hearing more about the conference in Hampton.
“You see, with real and actual problems such as these, there is no obvious “target” to scapegoat and blame other than Corey Stewart’s own failed leadership. ”
I didn’t know Corey Stewart had such national pull in the mortgage lending industry…
Lemme see…nationwide mortgage crisis – all Stewart’s fault? Nationwide foreclosures…again, Stewart’s fault? Foreclosure crisis in Cleaveland and throughout California – again Stewart is to blame?
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t vote republican, I didn’t vote for Stewart. I wouldn’t vote Republican if the world were filled with urine and they were passing out life boats. But after reading that article – no mention at all in it was made of the resolution or attributing the foreclosures to it. Yet you somehow magically KNOW that stewart is to blame as is the Resolution for it? Even though homes were going into foreclosure well before the Resolution?
I smell a bit of desperation in trying to link the NATIONWIDE foreclosure crisis to Stewart and the resolution…heck, they even mentioned FAIRFAX and its increasing number of vacant homes and unkempt yards…and funny thing, no resolution there. BUt by all means, do keep on tying every problem in PWC to the resolution…kind of how the Black Velvets and their puppeteer GL tie every problem in PWC (to quote him) “liberals, dihms and illegal alien apologists”
EVERYTHING is Stewart’s fault.
That’s the reasoning he/Stirrup uses when discussing illegal immigrants, so why not apply it to him?
I’m being ironic of course, but you get the point.
But I AM being serious when I say CS/JS add to the rat population and reproduce at exponential rates.
“That’s the reasoning he/Stirrup uses when discussing illegal immigrants, so why not apply it to him?
I’m being ironic of course, but you get the point.”
So instead of rising above, just do the same?
Look, I’ll never claim that the resolution didn’t force some people out, but come ON…we’re knee deep in a nationwide mortgage meltdown that is getting WORSE (and trust me people, we aren’t out of the woods by a long shot) and is now affecting prime loans and their lenders. Yet Stewart is to blame for the foreclosures? Stirrup is to blame as well? The resolution is the cataclysmic event that has brought PWC into economic, social and spiritual destruction??? All outside factors be damned?
It’s rhetoric and spinning like the above that we do NOT need. Tying every darn misfortune on that Resolution is no different than what GL does on his so-called “blog” to immigrants and basically everyone of whom he disapproves. And it further degrades the arguments of those who are anti-resolution….or are anti-some parts of the resolution.
I am not nearly as opposed to Republicanism as you seem to be Bubba. But I agree with your astute analysis that economic and real estate problems are not limited to Prince William County.
Remember, there is a reason why Prince William County’s foreclosure rate is DOUBLE that of the next worst rate in the state of Virginia. By forcing the exodus of much of the immigrant work force of this county, Chairman Stewart and his cohorts at Help Save Manassass (including John Stirrup) have made the real estate problem worse, much worse.
Meanwhile, they have not only nixed a vitally important sector of our work force, they have reduced our real estate tax base, our retail sales tax revenue, and wounded all aspects of our local economy such that we not compete effectively with neighboring counties during the eventual recovery.
The news I have to break to Chairman Stewart and the extremist wing of the local Republican party is that economics and politics BOTH rely heavily on public perception. By chaining himself to the sinking ship that is the Immigration Resolution, Chairman Stewart has also chained himself to the larger problems of economic downturn and foreclosures to which it this doomed policy has certainly contributed. Why? Because Chairman Stewart’s historically disastrous leadership during this critical, make-or-break period has led to a glaringly obvious result: the economic downturn and foreclosure crisis is hitting and will continue to hit Prince William County much harder then our neighboring counties, the very counties with which we will have to compete for new investment and new home owners for decades to come.
We need a massive PR campaign to, not only obfuscate the failings of Chairman Stewart, but to rebuild Prince William County’s crippled reputation.
Not Me Bubba,
Nobody here believes that Corey should be blamed for the entire national mortgage meltdown crisis. That’s absurd.
What we have consistently said is that the Resolution surely MUST be responsible for some portion of the PWC loss in real estate assessments & foreclosures. To what extent these thing are inter-related nobody will ever know. What’s curious is that PWC has double the losses in assessments to surrounding counties AND double the foreclosure rates.
Additionally, if Help Save Manassas & Corey conclude that the drop in ESOL students are a direct result of the Resolution then it makes sense that those students/families left homes behind as well. This isn’t unreasonable, why argue this point? Did the students simply evaporate into thin air leaving behind homes occupied? Doubtful.
“The resolution is the cataclysmic event that has brought PWC into economic, social and spiritual destruction??? All outside factors be damned?”
Not Me Bubba,
I was busy writing and missed your last post. You are correct, it’s not THE cataclysmic event but in my opinion it has compounded the problem.
When school gets out for the year, we may see another exodus accompanied by for sale/vacant homes. Again, it’ll be hard to tease out how many homeowners – who stayed put while their children finished school – are leaving because of the resolution and how many are leaving for the usual reasons (new house and new school district, transfer, etc.). I see another uptick in lawns to mow.
Where are the usual venomous responses by GL’s minions to the WaPo article? They haven’t gotten their marching orders yet, I guess. The responses are not running in their favor.
And what’s with the hatred of snakes. The poor devils just can’t get a break…
It seems that HSM is trying to have it both ways. They are touting their successes such as the vaporized 800 ESOL students. Then they deny they had anything to do with the high rate of foreclosures. Well, which is it? I to not think they can have it both ways.
I wonder if any of the esteemed BOCS, Manassas City or Manassas Park Councils have an inventory of all the homes in their localities that are abandoned or that are in foreclosure. The problem of ticks, mosquitos, rats and snakes will just get worse if the properties are not taken care of at least on a minimal level. They might want to get an inventory, call some town meetings, form community groups throughout the area and get some civic minded volunteers to take responsibility for one or two houses, just to keep lawns mowed. There has to be a way to address the problem.
The Corey Stewarts, John Stirrups and the Gospel Gregs did not cause the collapse of the mortgage industry but their actions certainly have compounded the problem of vacant and abandoned houses. We all can continue to complain and criticize but in the meantime the grass is getting taller and taller. Vacant properties create more problems than tall grass and vermon. So, we could try to be part of a solution and ask our local governing bodies to get the community involved to help out.
It is easier to light a candle than it is to curse the dark. Just my opinion.
Madam Mo Fo brilliantly said: “It seems that HSM is trying to have it both ways. They are touting their successes such as the vaporized 800 ESOL students. Then they deny they had anything to do with the high rate of foreclosures. Well, which is it? I to not think they can have it both ways.”
Admin, you also get kudos for pointing this out. Never mind my own lengthy explanation above, this sums it up entirely.
Marie, thanks for the candle analogy. It’s nice to see there are voices of reason to remind us not to look back, but look forward.
The S, S, and L boys don’t take criticism well (or responsibilty for PWC’s high foreclosure rate, small business closures) but how they love the limelight when they think that they can take credit for something positive in their little minds (fewer ESOL students, fewer dark faces).
I am a proud member of Help Save Manassas – and I have been mowing the lawns and weedeating four of the foreclosed homes on my street (three were formerly boarding houses and the prior owners abandoned their homes in the middle of the night – they didn’t make their mortgage payments). I also recently started a Neighborhood Watch on my street. Try that on for positive action!
Help Save Manassas is not the “bad guy” in this situation. The “bad guys” are the people who illegally entered our country. Help Save Manassas didn’t cause the illegal alien invasion – illegal aliens did.
I gladly mow the lawns so I don’t have to deal with what existed on my street prior to the abandonment and foreclosure of these homes.
Instead of slandering and defaming Corey Stewart and John Stirrup every day, why don’t all of you start doing something positive in your communities, instead of complaining, whining, griping, and finger pointing?
Loudoun,
Good for you in doing so. I think people wan to get out there and do it but I hear that becomes a problem in itself as far as trespassing, etc. I don’t know, just what I have been hearing.
I just read this article and I don’t know how if it is true or not or what would be different in a HOA. I would think the fees are collected for maintenance of the common area and also trash/snow removal.
Maybe some knows the difference and can explain how they would be able to mow the vacant homes vs. non HOA.
Cencored by bvbl,
I don’t like spiders and snakes of any kind. ( reminds me of that song) I had this recurring nightmare when I was little that my favorite tree that we hung out in ( remember those days, before video games?) turned into spiders and snakes. The branches were snakes and the leaves were spiders..ewwwwww
I have no mercy for either. 🙁 ( even though I know they are good, WHATEVER, lol) My husband will catch and release them, while I look for the nearest shoe, newspaper ( for spiders) Thank God, I have not had the encounter of a snake…I would just hope that this “fat broad”would be ” hysterical” enough to run like hell 🙂
posted by Red Dawn
here is the article about the HOA ( all though it is an opinion piece)
http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/article/friendly_bank_not_so_friendly/16117/
Welcome Loudon,
I guess whining and complaining is the eyes of the beholder, I could say the same about many from Help Save Manassas. We are very interested in looking for solutions to neighborhood problems. We are just unwilling to blame a specific ethnic group for all that is wrong.
Loudon,
I have am wondering, if Help Save Manassas is so great, why have several people left?
I like foxes.
And Loudon, you can’t “slander” a politician unless you hold some political office yourself AND there is proof you’ve ruined his/her career. We can sit around all day and say things like, “Corey Stewart is the Anti-Christ and here’s where it says so in the Bible,” and it’s just our right to speak.
Citizen-to-citizen is another whole deal, as is public official to citizen. And it really DOES come down to, “Did you maliciously lie, causing serious damage to this person’s reputation so it harms their safety or prevents their income?” You won’t see that over here, but you DO see it on BVBL, the place where true character assassination is encouraged.
If I say something, I do so because I have PROOF. If I don’t have proof, I don’t say it. Only a total fool does that.
Now…that doesn’t mean I can’t be wrong about some things or that some things are just my opinion. But when we are talking about obvious racism in front of a camera, I don’t think that has anything to do with slander or an inability to prove our point. These people talk themselves into their own holes. We hardly have to do any work to “prove” it. We just observe and note it.
Red Dawn, many years ago, I lived in a neighborhood with an HOA. The fees covered snow removal and the maintenance of common grounds (and playground equipment). Some of the fee probably covered legal fees to force owners to maintain individual properties (cutting grass, painting houses, etc.) I suppose HOAs could see an increase in banks not promptly paying their HOA fees because sometimes there’s a time lapse between owners (whether banks or individuals) where the proper owner may not be clear to an HOA.
Loudoun, good for you for cutting the lawns. I’m sure there are other neighbors like you. Let’s see Greg organize a bunch of people to cut lawns instead of weilding cameras.
Instead of slandering and defaming Corey Stewart and John Stirrup every day, why don’t all of you start doing something positive in your communities, instead of complaining, whining, griping, and finger pointing?
And , of course, you have no idea what we are doing in our neighborhoods.
I thought the county has told neighbors not to go onto other people’s property, even to mow. What has become of the rule of law? Do we use it like a smorgasbord and just pick and chose what we want off of it?
Red Dawn, 27. May 2008, 18:01
I have no mercy for either. 🙁 ( even though I know they are good, WHATEVER, lol) My husband will catch and release them, while I look for the nearest shoe, newspaper ( for spiders) Thank God, I have not had the encounter of a snake…I would just hope that this “fat broad”would be ” hysterical” enough to run like hell 🙂
You’re hubby’s a good man. Also, snakes and spiders aren’t that bad once you get to know them. I have a 5′ rat snake that visits my back yard; keeps the mice and rats away. Kinda toothy, but an all-around good guy. He’s just doing the job I don’t want to do (using rat traps, etc), and works for practically nothing! 🙂
es_la_ley,
Yikes almighty! I know you and my hubby are right ( ewww, I am getting chills talking about this, lol)
He wants a PET snake…..ummmm, so far I have been winning the battle 🙂 He keeps trying …hisssssssss. ( I keep winning the battle because I tell him that Mr. Sandman is the most powerful man around….everyone can’t resist him and what could happen in a slumber…and for any whacks out there..that is not a threat but a joke 🙂 )
Red Dawn, I once called my husband from Idaho only to be told he’d call me right back…that a HUGE spider had just run out from under the chair. Ha ha. Living in the woods, he had to get used to them. We don’t kill or injure our snakes. In fact we maneuver the copperheads that we find near the house into a bucket and release them into the brushpile. That took some getting used to.
Madam Mofo, 27. May 2008
that does create an interesting dilema Madam.
Red Dawn, 27. May 2008, 18:34
He wants a PET snake…..ummmm, so far I have been winning the battle 🙂 He keeps trying …hisssssssss.
I’m with you on that, and good luck. 🙂
es_la_ley,
I just told my husband about your 5′ rat snake and he said ” holly snake Sh#t”, lol
He asked where do you live ( you don’t have to answer that) I was just surprised that HE was surprised at that one. ( he doesn’t scare easily at all) He said they are aggressive but good.
Cencored bybvbl,
Takes some getting used too? and I thought I was a country girl….you win!!!!!!
KG,
Look at the definition of slander, you CAN slander a politician or anyone. Just because they are a politician or famous figure does not mean they are fair game. You should check under the tort laws of the commonwealth for clarification before you start giving erroneous legal advice. and written defamation is libel, not slander.
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that public persons (e.g., celebrities or politicians) alleging libel may recover damages only if they prove that the statement in question was made with “actual malice”—i.e., with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard for the truth (New York Times v. Sullivan, 1964). Slander is defamation by oral communication. An action for slander may be brought without alleging and proving special injury if the statement has a plainly harmful character, as by imputing to the plaintiff criminal guilt, serious sexual misconduct, or a characteristic negatively affecting his business or profession. The defense in defamation cases often takes the form of seeking to establish the truth of the statements in question.
the above taken right out of brittanica but you can look on westlaw or lexis for numerous cases if you need more proof.
Red Dawn, 27. May 2008, 18:52
I just told my husband about your 5′ rat snake and he said ” holly snake Sh#t”, lol
He asked where do you live ( you don’t have to answer that) I was just surprised that HE was surprised at that one. ( he doesn’t scare easily at all) He said they are aggressive but good.
I’m about 2 miles south of Lake Jackson on 234. That’s accurate but vague enough. 🙂
“aggressive but good” Yea. He’s right with that. Next time I see him, I’ll get a picture. It’s been cool lately. When it starts to get hotter and more humid, the tree frogs come down and play around a couple little man-made ponds we have. That’s when the snakes come in.
WHWN, did I miss something? How is it that you went from defending Corey Stewart to blaming him?
KG,
Zero in on this, maybe help you out a little
“all words shall be actionable which from their usual construction and common acceptance are construed as insults and tend to violence and breach of the peace.” Va. Code § 8.01-45
Virginia counts slander and libel as the same i.e. defamation. Take a look, the definition is pretty broad
es_la_ley,
Yeah, take a picture that would be neat. He said you must live on a farm but acreage, woods and water are enough 🙂
elvis, you appear to have left out another defense that bypasses issues of truth and falsity regarding public figures: the defense of satire and parody.
“Respondent would have us find that a State’s interest in protecting public figures from emotional distress is sufficient to deny First Amendment protection to speech that is patently offensive and is intended to inflict emotional injury, even when that speech could not reasonably have been interpreted as stating actual facts about the public figure involved. This we decline to do.”
That was from Chief Justice Rehnquist’s opinion in a decision that held for Hustler magazine against Jerry Falwell, who had been depicted in the magazine having drunken sex with his mother in an outhouse. Since it is equally improbable that Corey Stewart is *the* Antichrist, I am pretty sure KG would be safe suggesting it.
“all words shall be actionable which from their usual construction and common acceptance are construed as insults and tend to violence and breach of the peace.” Va. Code § 8.01-45
In this context, we could sue the HELL out of GL who tends towards violence and breach of peace.
I sincerely doubt any court would take the time to review a mere “insult.” If that were the case, we all could have sued Stewart and Stirrup for insulting our collective intelligence.
Loudoun,
You shattered any shred of credibility you may have been seeking as a “proud member of HSM” when you referred to human beings that settled in this County as “an invasion.” People who are invaders are generally thought of as at war or it’s a term used to describe parasites. In either case, you are showcasing yourself as a minion and you really need to think things through. Your actions to try to keep your neighborhood neat should be commended even though we have all read on this blog that other homeowners are not supposed to be taking on this task, but you could do that all by yourself without being associated with HSM and their rhetoric. You obviously are right on board with getting the “invaders” out of the County. You should just remember that these “invaders” are human beings. And they have children that will be voting in droves in the next 10-18 years, so good luck to you trying to keep Manassas and PWC white with red necks.
es_la_ley,
One more thing and I am outta here…you said tree frogs.
A girlfriend of mine and our kids ( we were stay at home moms at the time)decided to take the kids camping overnight at Bull Run campground. We did all the usual stuff, smores, stories by the campfire and PLOW!!!!! a tree frog dropped in my youngest daughters lap….guess where I was…no where near her!!!! LOL I ran like hell…..poor thing :)sounded funny BUT it was all but a second and I was right there with her trying to help her…she had the scream that scared everything away that night 🙂
Loudoun –
Thank you very much for taking an active part in the community.
So, Elena, out of 2,000 HSM members “a couple have left?” WOW!
We’re just dandy, thank you.