Apparently Prince William County is keeping a watchful eye on the White House and its policy on immigration, since President Obama took office, according to the News and Messenger. What is being specifically watched is whether the 287(g) program will continue to be supported under the department of homeland security. Certain supervisors fear that the program will lose its federal funding and basically cease to exist. And if 287(g) is no longer funded as part of ICE, that leaves PWC without its program.
The article includes a brief explanation of how the county partners with the federal government:
The 287(g) program is how the county jail and police partner with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to apprehend and process those with criminal backgrounds. Since July 2007, ICE has issued 1,606 detainers for those arrested in the county and 1,506 have been processed, according to county statistics received last week.
The two supervisors who are most tied to the federal program are Chairman Corey Stewart and Gainesville supervisor John Stirrup. Stewart explained the possible ramifications:
“This is what I think is going to happen,” said Corey Stewart, R-at large, chairman of the Board of County Supervisors, looking at the national scene. “I think the administration is going to shift its enforcement focus from illegal immigration to the employer.”
Moreover, he continued, depending on federal budget decisions, the 287(g) program could lose funding. And if that happens, its fate in Prince William is jeopardized.
“If they defund it, it stops our program dead in the water,” Stewart said, rating the chances for such to occur at 50 percent. “It’s just based on the budget and the [actions of] Democrat members of Congress.”
A GAO report and Congressional testimony call for tighter control over the 287(g) program. According to the written testimony of March 14 of Richard Stana, director of Homeland Security and Justice, to the House Committee on Homeland Security:
Specifically … guidance on how and when to use program authority is inconsistent, guidance on how ICE officials are to supervise officers from participating agencies has not been developed, data that participating agencies are to track and report to ICE has not been defined and … taken together, the lack of internal controls makes it difficult for ICE to ensure that the program is operating as intended,”
Stana’s statements were linked to a January GAO report entitled, Immigration Enforcement: Controls over Program Authorizing State and Local Enforcement of Federal Immigration Laws Should Be Strengthened
John Stirrup also expressed his concerns to the News and Messenger:
“I’m hearing the administration is going to use these [GAO] studies as a basis for defunding or reducing the 287(g) program locally,” said Supervisor John Stirrup, R-Gainesville, who was the original author of the county’s immigration enforcement policy. “We could seek assistance from the state … but it could be problematic.”
Meanwhile, county elected officials will probably have to take the wait and see approach. Many local government people have quietly suggested that the problem with these federal programs is the very thing these 2 supervisors seemed to fear. PWC has put much time, money and reputation into these programs. At any minute, the Feds could pull the plug. Should that happen, everything goes up in smoke. All the training and county resources dry up and there is not plan to deal with criminal illegal immigrants. Manassas City, who also participates in 287 (g) at the jail, was not quoted.
Perhaps this county ought to look at a new motto: Only fund and pay for that over which you have total control.
(Just a thought….)
Actually, I should say that a lot of our Hispanic neighbors would like to have had a way to tell strangers they encountered on the streets that they were NOT “illegal.” But no, of course they wouldn’t wear a patch.
I’m trying to say that I heard a lot of stories during the Letiecq/Stewart/Stirrup heyday where LEGAL citizens who happened to be Hispanic were verbally accosted in while shopping or walking down the street by people who just assumed they were “illegal.”
Thankfully that has died down somewhat. I hope they don’t bring it back again for the 2009 Governor’s race. What’s the deal with this McDonald guy? Is he an anti-immigrant crazy?
Moon, there is a way to identify the group… by checking their status when they are pulled over or when they are arrested. I firmly believe that anyone found to be here illegally should be immediately detained and deported. Yes, I think that both you and ShellyB are correct in your assumptions of how this all started. Your only problem is with the approach that was taken, from what I can tell.
I only have a few questions for those who disagree with 287g or anything like it: (I live on rt.1 the near Murumbsco Plaza, which by is hosting the fair in town for anyone who wants to bring their kids.)
1.) Do you have children from the age of 0 to 17?
2.) Do you live within walking distance (2 miles) from not one but two 7-11’s (aka day labor sites)?
3.) Do you have gang graffiti all around your neighborhood?
4.) How many dead bodies have they found beaten to death within walking distance of your house?
5.) Would you let your children walk around and play outside if you lived in said area?
Hello, what is “287g or anything like it?” There has been a concerted effort to confuse 287g with the Immigration Resolution.
We got 287g in our jails in 2006 and nobody that I know made a big deal about it. No one ran a political campaign based upon it, and no one built a sign to protest it. No big deal, because it was only affecting people who ended up in jail. If you did something to deserve going to jail, you should have your background checked.
Then came the Immigration Resolution, which would affect ALL of us, or, at least those of us who have darker skin and darker hair. And people said wait a second, we can’t have police officers pulling over possible “illegals” in an environment when everyone and their Gospel Greg mother is making a connecting between “illegal” and “Hispanic.” Especially with that boneheaded wording “probable cause.” Because the environment was so bitter and hateful at the time that even good people were assuming any Hispanic was “probably” illegal.
So before I answer your list of questions, is the Immigration Resolution “anything like” 287g in your eyes?
Armed guards had to protect the cherry trees in Washington, DC because they had been a gift from the Japanese.
Look at the trashy things that have been said about the study circle participants and leaders. How sad. They are looking for neighbors, not the government, to solve their problems. Maybe the velvets want government to solve their problems rather people in communities working to resolve their own difficulties.
Yes ShellyB, I would consider the resolution ‘like’ 287g. You say that the resolution will ‘affect ALL of us, or, at least those of us who have darker skin and darker hair’. How so, please explain…
Moon, Elena, Alanna, KG, do any of you care to answer the 5 questions I posted. I’m just curious if it’s only me that lives in these types of conditions in the honorable Frank Principi’s hood , who by the way (press sarcastic button now) has done sooooo much to improve the area since he was elected…
ShellyB said: “We got 287g in our jails in 2006 and nobody that I know made a big deal about it. No one ran a political campaign based upon it”
Not quite, Sharon Pandak was vocally against 287G. I think this was when she ran for county chair the first time. There were also other groups who were opposed to 287G. I remember being surprised once I found out exactly what 287G was, that anyone would be against it, but Sharon Pandak is a smart lady so she must have had her reasons.
I’m not sure if this would matter to you, Hello, but during that period it was very uncomfortable for all people of color. Hispanics felt targeted and hated. And other minorities were feeling very uneasy because it seemed like there was a sudden surge of racism, particularly in the Manassas area where we had the KKK dropping recruitment literature. Worse, it looked as if the local government was working closely with the group that was causing all of it. People who were “driving while Hispanic,” and others who were not Hispanic but had darker complexions, were getting pulled over by police.
Often, they were just over-reacting to the climate we were living in at the time, and worried they were pulled over because of how they looked. But time and time again, we would hear people say they had been pulled over for the first time in 15 years. Twice. In one day! And the reasons the police officers would give would be so flimsy. They’d just ask for an I.D. and let them go. But people felt as if they were being stopped because of how they looked. What if they didn’t have an I.D. on them? What if they had run out to pick up their kid from school and left their purse at home? It was just a frightening time to live in PWC if you were a minority.
That was when the Immigration Resolution was being debated. People tried to blow up the sign in Manasass, people ripped it to pieces a couple of times.
When 287g was adopted the year before in 2006, there were no fire bombs, no KKK brochures, no national media circus. It was all hum drum. In fact, I didn’t even know.
So yes, there was a big difference between the two. Not only in the application: 287g is only in the adult detention center, while the Immigration Resolution was pervasive everywhere in the county even in our homes. But also in the way it impacted our entire community, including non-Hispanics. That’s why that survey shows that the entire community, not just Hispanics, trusts the government and the police department less they we did before this all happened.
So yeah, there’s a big difference. I guess there is some strategic advantage to making us comment on both together as if they are one thing. But I can’t do it. Nope. Can’t do it.
Sure ShellyB, it does matter to me. I don’t want anyone to be hated or mistreated by the police. For me it’s simple, if your here illegally (from Mexico, Germany, Poland, England, etc.) and you get caught, you should be deported. However, on that same note, under Chief Dean I doubt many people were mistreated. To me everyone here seems to agree with the job he is doing and I don’t think that he would tolerate such things. If someone was mistreated then they should have filed a complaint, were any complaints filed during that time? I don’t know but it would be interesting to find out. Oh, the 5 questions, I answered yours…
which reminds me, the woman from a while back who claimed she was beaten up by the cop (from the pics it does look like she did get beat up) file a complaint? You don’t hear much from that story anymore, does anyone know what happened with it or if the case is still pending?
Funny thing how that story just disappeared. My co-worker and I were wondering about that the other day. I believe, at the time of the march on the court house, MP police commented in the press that the victim had not yet filed a formal complaint with the MP police department, as is her right as a legal resident of this country. Then it all seemed to disappear. No word on the outcome of the investigation either. Who was in charge of conducting the investigation by the way? Wasn’t it the VA state police? I can’t remember. Maybe the investigation is just taking some time. Would be nice to hear what the outcome is considering the media storm that surrounded the incident.
“Rapists are rapists. Killers are killers.
The child rape or the murder would have happened somewhere else.
So that would make it better? At least here, there is the CHANCE justice will be served.”
I can hardly believe my eyes. I was stopped cold at the words “At least here…” I cannot imagine those words would provide any comfort to Chandra Levy’s family.
It is inconceivable to me what some of you are willing to tolerate–in the name of what, exactly? Business interests? Or can anyone truly be that heartless?
Emma, you’re right, that is a really odd comment. FYI, the person who left it is someone you would otherwise agree with based on his/her usual posts.
Yeah Emma, that logic creeped me out as well. Anyone who honestly believes that an 8 year old getting rapped in Woodbridge is better because ‘At least here, there is the CHANCE justice will be served.’ is one sick F’er. What a sick mind to think such a thing.
@hello
1.) Do you have children from the age of 0 to 17? Yes.
2.) Do you live within walking distance (2 miles) from not one but two 7-11’s (aka day labor sites)? No.
3.) Do you have gang graffiti all around your neighborhood? No.
4.) How many dead bodies have they found beaten to death within walking distance of your house? Yikes! Zero.
5.) Would you let your children walk around and play outside if you lived in said area? No.
Hello, you know it’s funny. When I was a child I used to ride my bike everywhere, I would also walk. Even as far as a couple of miles to buy candy or whatever. My friends and my parents never gave it a thought. Today, I don’t know many parents who let their kids wander around like that. Either it’s a different world or we are now more aware of bad things that happen because of 24 hour news.
I understand that there were certain problem areas and something needed to be done. I don’t think it had to do with race (neither do you) but some did. Many of the “some” banded together to get this Resolution passed. But even if you decide “oh well everything must be blamed on documentation status and it doesn’t matter the country of origin as long as they are suddenly gone,” it just becomes a cycle of trying to separate your interests from the racists interest who are not concerned about crime, only demographics. They don’t want so many brown people around, and thus measure the success of the Resolution based on “brown faces at the bus stop” or whether Mexican-looking people are moving out or moving into your neighborhood. I think it’s really dangerous and also really racist to try to attach something like “crime” to a particular ethnic group.
Even if you can find statistics to back it up (in this case, you can’t because the statistics show the opposite) but even if you could, it isn’t fair, it isn’t American, and it isn’t Constitutional to instruct police to treat people of that race differently than white people.
So, although I am fortunate enough not to live in one of the two problem areas in our county, I do have a right to speak out as someone who lives in the other 95 percent of the county. And I would rather the solution have been more localized to those problem areas, and not have ever brought up the issue of race, racial profiling, race war, the KKK, fire bombs, or any of the frightening things we saw happening in our community in 2007.
That stuff scares me even more than the fact that we can no longer let our children ride their bikes for 2 miles.
I’m not familiar with Anesthesia’s views, ShellyB, but Moon-howler’s apparent endorsement of that comment really surprised me. I simply can’t get my head around that kind of logic.
Thank you ShellyB for answering my questions. Yes, you do have a right to speak out as someone who lives in the county. However, at the same time you do have to take into consideration and understand where I’m at and what I go thru on a daily basis. Not everyone got lucky enough to end up in a neighborhood where you don’t have to think about these issues every day.
I will admit that sometimes I do find it hard to swallow when people who completely and blindly stick up for Frank Principi that don’t live in his district. This place has been going down hill since Hilda and soon to be not re-elected Principi has done nothing to improve it.
Hello, I’m sorry you are so unhappy in Woodbridge. I guess you aren’t able to move, huh?
Wish I could ShellyB, but I’m underwater big time. If I could I would in a second, however, with that not being a possibility I can only look to my elected official, Frank Principi. If you happen to live in my part of Woodbridge Ill be the one campaigning for anyone running against Frank Prinipi who has done nothing to improve my area. Take a look at his site, why are there pics of only 3 or so areas? Why no before/after pics of rt.1? Because he hasn’t done an F’n thing! What makes it worse is that I even voted for this guy, I’m gonna be sick now…
I mean anyone, my dog, my cat, my wife’s dog who will sadly not live long enough to see the end of her term. Your dog, your cat, the random yes/no box you build in shop class in high-school… anyone other than Principi, ham sandwich?
Emma, I was specifically speaking of child rape. I didn’t address murder. Should I have? Any time a child is raped it is tragic. Rapists have some sort of sick perverted mind. That person is a rapist regardless of where they are. That was my point. And I think you know exactly what I meant, as did the jerk I have gotten 10 emails about over on the dark screen.
However, it doesn’t matter what I say, or who I am. People will believe and spin what they want. Actually, those are the types of people I do not want in decision making positions. They lie.
I have been very clear how I feel. I want to deport criminals after they have served their time. I want to remove people who harm others or property from society.
Hello, My children are grown. My grandchildren are very young. Yes, I have had grafitti in my neighborhood yes I have had dead bodies in my neighborhood, depending on how you define neighborhood. No, I don’t live within 2 miles of a day labor site. I am very familiar with the area where you live. I would not allow my kids to run free if I lived there. I probably wouldn’t let any kids run free. Too dangerous nowadays.
I do not want our cops, being paid by our county, playing ICE agents. That is ICE’s job.
Hello, what on earth do you want Frank Principi to do about that neighborhood? He isn’t superman. Have you seen some of the Gainesville District? How about parts of Yorkshire some of which is Wally’s district? You want Wally to come over and move the freaking couches out of people’s front yards? Those didn’t just arrive with the immigrants.
Have you called Frank? Have you sat down and talked with him? I think you might be surprised at how receptive he is.
You may be right Moon, maybe I should ask to talk with him. I have emailed but never got a response so I just figured… You have to understand something, when he campaigned he said “Principi aggressively looking at all available options to eliminate the day laborer open-air markets”. If you want proof just check out this site: http://www.newwoodbridge.org/newsletter/vol1.html
Can anyone here tell what has changed since he took office after I VOTED for him? Ill save you the picturesque scenic route down my part of rt.1, nothing. In my eyes he has done zilch of what I voted for him for (and a bunch of other people in this area). I don’t see him getting re-elected based on his track record so far.
Oh, thank you Moon for answering the questions also…
But… by dead body I meant a guy beaten to death within walking distance to your house, behind the BofA between the two day labor sites in the past month… you know, the same two day labor sites I referenced in my link above in which he, Frank Principi, stated in his campaign he was going to ‘eliminate the day laborer and open-air markets’?
Just makes me wonder, if Frank Principi lived up to his campaign promise would this guy have been beaten to death within eyesight of one of the ‘day laborer and open-air markets’ he said he would ‘eliminate’?
Just on that alone he has lost my vote.
Sorry… I forgot to add the link to the beating death of the 31 year old man just behind the BofA (maybe 50-75 yards from 7-11, well within eyesight) on March 15th 2009. Again, one of the exact same day labor sites Frank Principi vowed he would eliminate: http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/police_search_for_clues_in_weekends_homicide/31970/
Who’s district was botched robbery turned double murder? Who’s district was the lady who threw her daughter in an icy creek? I honestly don’t know.
M-H, are you catching shit for something Anestesia wrote? Is this another one of those BVBL goons coming over here to post something stupid so they can go back over there and say this blog had something stupid posted on it? If so you should ban Anestesia. So petty!
No, the dead body was not from a beating. It also wasn’t recent. I would pick up the phone and call Frank. Let him know your concerns. I don’t know what a supervisor can do about a make shift day labor site. As long as the proprietor allows it to go on, nothing much anyone can do. And the various 7-11’s are quite guilty about allowing that behavior to go on. I don’t believe Sheetz has ever had a problem at any location. I believe that kind of loitering was nipped in the bud.
On the other hand, Hello, spent many years right over there in your neighborhood. That 7-11 had day laborers back in the 90’s. They certainly weren’t all Hispanic Day laborers. It was no more pleasant stopping there then than it probably is now.
I hope you will call Frank and do a sit down. /Email can be iffy. I have lost a bunch of things here lately on my own email.
Note that Covington and Stirrup both have some bad neighborhood areas in their districts. I certainly hold neither man responsible. They have to work in the system also. Hell if we bounced supervisors over open air drug markets, bad neighborhoods and day labor sites, Stirrup would have never been re-elected. That 7-11 in Coverstone still has lots of day laborers in the vicinity, if not right on the property. Coverstone is still …well…Coverstone. Alleghany Street is just scary (not sure if that is Stirrup or Covington) Flatbranch Bridge gets grafitti fairly often. I wouldn’t drive through Irongate in broad daylight. There are parking lots in yards all over Westgate, many you can see from the main drag going up Lomond. Garbage sits out for days. Shall I continue??? I don’t see any of the supervisors doing jack about any of it.
for those of you not familiar the area behind the 7-11 in question all of the grass of gone from foot traffic, a path. The BofA is along the same ‘path’ just after a small barber shop and a POS motel if I’m not mistaken. The same path this young man was found beaten to death on. So, the path goes directly behind the 7-11 and past the same point where this guy was found. A direct route that day laborers taken to get to ‘work’.
Let me quote from the article “Investigators passed out fliers along U.S. 1 near Marumsco Plaza” – by the way, the fair is at Marumsco Plaza, bring the kids!
“Gamez was found Sunday morning on a walking path in a wooded area behind the Bank of America”
and last but not least “Though the day laborers seemed concerned to hear about the killing, few of them were able to offer any real leads in the case, police said”
Why wouldn’t they be able to provide any real leads? If a disturbance happens around one of these places everyone’s ears go up, trust me.
ShellyB, Anesthesia is free to speak same as everyone else. She is being misquoted. I have had a steady stream of email all afternoon and evening over the goon squads on the dark screen. Oh well….I can’t do anything about liars.
I am not in a banning mood these days.
I have been told that people turn up dead in Yorkshire and in Manassas Park every so often. I have no idea if it is true or not.
“If that person were not here, a rape would have still happened. You just probably wouldn’t know about it.”
Of course a rape committed on ANYONE is terrible. I can’t imagine anyone who would argue with that. But I still don’t get the logic, Moon-howler, that says that it’s better that a rapist (or murderer, or DUI or any other criminal) does the deed here, because justice is more likely to be done here, and besides, they were just going to commit rape or other crime on someone anyway. I cannot imagine any victim or family member here feeling relieved that they were victimized instead of someone in another country. It’s hard to imagine that any crime committed here is good because it spared someone else in another country somehow. And I do not want our country to be the holding pen for criminals serving their time until they can be deported, as you seem to suggest. It is a different way of thinking, I guess, and I suppose we’ll just have to disagree on that one.
And hopefully I am not overreacting to a dummy post by anesthesia–I just got the impression you agreed with it, MH, but now I see the above post. Perhaps I misunderstood.
Show me where I said it was better. I said no such thing.
Someone, maybe you, said that the rape would not have occurred if the illegal immigrant had not been here. I begged to differ. It would have happened regardless of where the rapist was…but we probably wouldn’t know about it. Why is this so difficult to understand?
Emma, read my lips: I did not say BETTER.
I want criminals to serve their time here because if they are deported, they just turn right around and come back here and are back on the street. Those are the 2 choices. Which one do you think is better?
You know, I feel that you are being a pain in the tail. You know damn good and well what I said and what I meant.
Moon, you said “I have been told that people turn up dead in Yorkshire and in Manassas Park every so often. I have no idea if it is true or not.
“.
I’m not talking about being ‘told that people turn up dead’, blah, blah ,blah… This guy was found dead, end of story. I linked the news article stating so. It’s not hearsay, this is fact, this is where I live, please link (as I did) the stories people have told you about people turning up dead that you don’t know if it’s true or not.
I didn’t say what the circumstances were where people told me about it. It really wasn’t a blah blah blah situation. I said I didn’t know if it was true of not because I didn’t see the body with my own 2 eyes. When I was told it was after the fact. There is no reason to be dismissive.
I read the story BofA killing in the paper at the time. Someone was gunned down in a parking lot several miles from me. There was also a rapist in your neighborhood in the late 90’s. Did you live there then? He raped an older woman and a 14 year old. He was not illegal.
I was in Dale City in the late 90’s. Moon, I’m talking about recent, I’m talking about within walking distance of my house, I’m talking about within eyesight on the same path of the 7-11 this guy was found on – short 1 minute walk from point to point, I’m talking about where I live, today, with my wife and kids. Try seeing things from my point of view and not sticking up for Mr. Principi. When it comes to where I live, first ask yourself what would I do, them comment.
I have always attempted to see other people’s points of view. When bad things happen near one’s home, I don’t think time makes the impact go away.
I most certainly will stick up for Mr. Principi because unless he killed the guy, I don’t see where he can do a darn thing about it, any more than Mr. Stirrup or Mr. Stewart could do anything about the shooting in the parking lot. And it was further from my house than a 1 minute walk.
I will tell you the same thing I told Rick. I was stuck in a bad neighborhood. It was not recently and it did not involve illegal immigrants. The immigrants who were there were not the problem either. It was plain old home grown trashy bad neighbors. NO supervisor could have done a darn thing about it.
Blaming Mr. Principi is just not productive or even logical. Perhaps I have misunderstood. What is it exactly that you want him to do to improve your situation?
Emma, we crossed in the mail. I hope we are now clear on where everyone stands.
Why is M-H being attacked for Anesthesia’s weird comment. Emma, I read it the same way you did. I have no idea what he/she’s talking about. It might even be possible that it was a plant just to give the The Bored and the Hateful something to get excited about.
Why isnt’ Anesthesia defending this comment? Why is M-H bothering with it? This “Who said what anonymously on a blog” thing is not really worth discussing until someone puts a real name to something, and even then it would have to be someone who’s in elected office or close to it (like Greg Letiecq).
Moon, I’m sorry if I didn’t explain things clearly. I live in Frank Prinicipi’s district (do you?), I voted for him (did you?) base one his campaign promises to “aggressively look at all available options to eliminate the day laborer open-air markets”.
Why you ask, oh I don’t know, maybe because between the two 7-11’s around 30 to 50 day laborers hang out. Maybe, just maybe illegal behaviour attacts other illegal behviour wanted or not leading to the desire to see these sites dealt with which Frankie said he would do. Then nothing is done about it (he basically doesn’t follow thru on his campaign rehtoric) and some guy ends up dead on the path between two sites this pandering, more of the same, politician said he would fix.
Do I really need to say more? Are you seriously going to continue to stick up for him even though you don’t live in his district? Are you going to continue to stick up for him even though you have never voted for him to represent you and to change Woodbridge. Are you going to stick up for him when he hasn’t done what you (sorry, you didn’t vote for him) voted for him to do?
I told you Moon, I get a littel wound up when someone who doens’t live in his district sticks up for him…
Every supervisor makes decisions that affect all of us. I get wound up when people act like each supervisor is only responsible for his or her own little district.
Actually, I have never said where I lived. You don’t know that I don’t live there or that I don’t work in that area. I actually don’t think it matters where I live or work. If I used your logic, I would be forbidden to talk to any supervisor I didn’t vote for. That would mean I could talk to none of them.
I will call all 8 of them and defend or criticize them at will. All 8 of them should be working for the best interests of the county.
I still don’t understand what it is you want Mr. Principi to do. He cannot do jack about the day labor site if the proprietor allows the people to do be there. If that path is where I think it is, it is private property. Now you want 1 lone supervisor to start telling a businessman, church or private resident what they can do with their own property? That doesn’t sound real republican to me.
If you want something done, call John Jenkins office. He has a way of getting good response time. Just a good ole boy tip off from the Moon-ster.
I see your point Moon, then please defend anything I have accused Mr. Principi of doing (not doing is more like it) besides suggesting I should sit down and talk with him. As someone whom you have chosen to defend can you tell me of solid, visible, things he has done in your (both yours and my) neighborhood that he said he was going to do in his campaign? As a resident of Mr. Principi’s district can you tell me why I should vote for him?
I do not live in his district. I used to work in his district. I can’t tell you why you should vote for him. I can tell you why you should call him and arrange to talk with him to share your concerns. He can tell you face to face or on the phone why he can or cannot help you. I think he will shoot straight with you.
I don’t recall him saying he would do anything in particular in the neighborhood. Perhaps I wasn’t listening closely. I got the impression that he wanted to improve the overall image of the route 1 corridor going through Woodbridge.
Actually, I am surprised you didn’t vote for Chris Royse. He was very clear about how he wanted to handle illegal immigration. If you had those concerns, why didn’t you vote for him instead of Frank Principi? Frank did not run on an anti illegal immigration platform. I seem to recall that being the bulk of Chris’ campaign.
Voted for Frank for the exact reason I quoted and posted links to what his campaign promised. You can bash anyone or stick up for anyone you want Moon, I just have an issue when some who doesn’t live in my district defends my representative on decisions that directly affect my district. Sure, board decisions affecting the county, go for it, but when it has to do with my district directly it’s tough especially when the only rebuttal is ‘call him’. You use to work here, try living here.
No thank you. I have my own neighborhood to deal with.
So back to Mr. Principi. I checked out that link. 6 townhall meetings is pretty impressive. How many do most supervisors hold? How many have you been to? Sounds like he has really encouraged neighborhood watch in some of the older neighorhoods. Do you belong to that body of residents? Have you made complaints to neighborhood services over things in your neighborhood that violated county code?
You have yet to tell me what it is you want him to do that he hasn’t done other than get rid of day laborers at 7-11 and not to have dead people in Woodbridge.
You can have all the issue with me that you want. I can and will evaluate all the supervisors since their votes affect all of us. When I have an opinion, more than likely all 8 will hear from Mr. Howler and me.
Moon-Howler, I wrote about a month ago in a different thread of my dealings with Mr. Principi. I too, contacted his office via e-mail and phone while he was running for office. He did not call me back for weeks until I left a nasty message about him losing a potential vote.
When he did call back, we discussed several issues, including the immigration debate and resolution. Mr. Principi, at that time, stated he fully supported the resolution “as it was written” in November of 2007. Mr. Principi changed his viewpoint – completely – within weeks after elected. I don’t mind someone “evolving” while in office, but weeks later? By the way, his stance on that issue was not a factor in my voting decision.
Mr. Principi did make those promises about cleaning up the route one day laborer sites that “Hello” wrote about while running for office. You’re right about the private property owners not doing anything – but why promise it if you can’t do anything about it? He’s an educated person, he should know the legal limitations he may have encountered.
To this day, his office is the most non-responsive supervisor’s office I have run into in 3 decades in Prince William.
Why not recruit the HSM army to vistit Woodbridge to clean the day labor situation up. Afterall, they did such a great job with Coverstone, NOT. The day laborers just moved about 100 yards from their old spot. I would hardly call that “cleaned up”.
Supervisor Stirrup didn’t respond to the voters in his district until summer of ’07 when the limelight was on him. With all the media attention and hype from the ‘screamers” of the Gainesville district he became responsive. He’s back to his old ways of ignoring the good people of Gainesville. I know several people in my subdivision that have been ignored by Supervisor Stirrup. This is unacceptable…Stirrup has one of the heavier staffed offices, but can’t respond to his voters.
It’s up to the residents to take some pride in ownership in the neighborhoods, and hold our elected officials accountable.
I don’t live in PWC, but I found that when I did have a concern that affected the City, Corey Stewart, the person who is most demonized here, responded to my email almost immediately, with a personal response. Judging from his efforts with Elena recently, it’s clear he values communication with his constituents. Marty Nohe and Frank Principi, however, gave me no more than what appeared to be automated replies. I am impressed with any politician who is able to see how far-reaching his/her decisions might be and recognizes that by a willingness to communicate with people outside his jurisdiction.
My advice would be the same…call the man and talk to him. I never heard him say he supported the Immigration Resolution as it was written, but that is not to say he didn’t say it. I would hope that voters would have pointed out to him that he could not do anything about the day labor sites at 7-11.
I still haven’t been told exactly what it is that Hello wants Frank Principi wants to do. He sure isn’t the only unresponsive supervisors. At least one won’t communicate with anyone who doesn’t support their every move.
Emma,
I’ve always gotten personal responses from seven of the eight supervisors. The sad thing is the one and only supervisor that doesn’t respond is my supervisor. That one doesn’t respond at all…automated or personally, nor does his staff respond. I too am impressed with personal responses from politicians. However, no response to your voters will not get you re-elected. 2011 is really not that far off. There’s still two years to turn this around. I will not hold my breath.