There was a request for a thread on Neighborhood Services. I am not sure how many people are interested but here it is. I am also going to combine it with another county issue: DISCRETIONARY FUNDS
Many people see the discretionary funds given to the BOC supervisors as a way for the supervisors to reward their pet groups, charities, organizations with OUR money. What do YOU think?
I’m going to make a suggestion for Neighborhood Services. I think they should be proactive in older tract and non-tract subdivisions – those areas most likely to generate complaints. Send a team of inspectors into these neighborhoods and cite the most blatant offenders. Residents who live near these dumps often suffer silently because they’re afraid of retaliation from the slobs. If there’s a homeowners’ association or civic association, get them involved by telling them that their neighborhood has been targetted and let them get the info out on how to solve the problems. I’d target the Marumsco area of Woodbridge, some of Dale City, West Gate, Lake Jackson, and any other older subdivisions where there is little compliance with zoning ordinances.
It seems to me that in order to keep older housing stock from depreciating, you must invest in those communities and the best way to do that is to see that their appearance is kept up and that they’re safe.
Inspectors could start by targetting the five worst houses they see that month in those subdivisions. When those are in compliance, move to the next five.
I have mixed feelings about discretionary funds. Our neighborhood has been the recipient of some of those funds. Other drivers have been as well since we no longer spew gravel on the main road as we enter it.
I don’t want to see the BOCS members having large discretionary funds, but small amounts distributed to a variety of clubs, projects, teams, neighborhoods don’t bother me.
Some things very near and dear to my heart have received discretionary funds also. In fact, I think most of the recipients are great charities and organizations. So if this is the case, why don’t we just have a charity discretionary fund? Why does THE supervisor get to choose? How about applications for donations?
Why does one football team get something that another doesn’t? All the teams should be treated equally. When does it get to be that one constituent does more for a candidate’s campaign than someone else so their kid or special intesest group gets the donation?
I think there is just too much loose money lying about.
Application for donations is a great idea, MH.
If there were one, I would apply for a major tree donation to celebrate Arbor Day. I don’t mean those scrawny saplings. I mean like big pines or something that would thrive and give instant coverage. Wouldn’t it be cool to have dozens of new trees planted? That’s something we can all benefit from.
I will have to email my supervisor on this one. I am sure he will be thrilled. I’ve been having advocacy ADHD this week. 🙂
@Censored bybvbl
They used to what they call “clean sweeps”. They go through the ‘hood put a notice on the door listing the common complaints, explain they will be back in 30 days to follow up. If they then see violations, then the resident will be cited. However, NS does this at the request of the Supervisors. We’ve had a few “clean sweeps” in WG. I agree with your list of ‘hoods. I’m not sure about Lake Jackson, but I know that DC, WG, and the Marumso’s have been targets of this program. It does help. I’m not sure about the 5 worst houses. In WG I would start on Lomond Dr north of Flat Branch. That is the main drag through our ‘hood and it looks the worst. There are several habitual offenders along that stretch.
I have mixed feelings on the discretionary funds too. Some are very worthy causes and others seem like personal pet projects.
@Lafayette
I would definitely put Columbus Circle on the list of 5 worst. Then I would go straight over to Henrico which used to be the nicest street in Westgatem many years ago. Then I would head back out on Lomond and just drive down the street.
All of this is above Flat Branch.
As for discretionary funds, it seems to me that there could be a fund and people could apply. that keeps the pet project aspect out of it.
Have any of those “discretionary funds” ever been allocated to programs which help homeowners (as opposed to absentee landlords) with genuinely limited funds and income to undertake repairs to their own dwellings and yards, perhaps through very low cost loans or even grants? I’ve seen this done fairly successfully in some towns up North and am wondering if such a program could work here. In one case, the town even gave out cash prizes for the best positive transformations of neighborhood homes. This would, of course, take some close monitoring to ensure that the funds were well spent. Is it viable here?
“There was a request for a thread on Neighborhood Services.” – Are you taking requests? I’ve got a few…
😉
No. Lafayette and Censored have special priviledges.
Being a Manassas City guy, I just get to observe the discretionary funds. I have noticed, out of all on the dias, Supv. Stirrup seems to use his often for projects such as roads, sidewalks, etc when other funding falls through. I know in the past he put money into issues up on Bull Run Mountain. Think he actually has the smallest pot of bucks vs. some of the others.
As to use, one of the budget questions asked and compiled by County Finance was what were the funds used for. You can find a listing here:
http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/14031.pdf
My posting #10 is the list by District of who got what in this FY. The link below is to the balance sheet by District of the Supervisor Funds showing FY10 start amounts, the carryover to FY11, and then how much was donated in FY10 by the Supers.
http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/14032.pdf
By the way, as some may know, Manassas City Council has no such pot of dollars to work with.
🙁
So I’m not special? Ahh shucks…
oh well, if you ever find yourself in need of a topic in which you will get about 100 comments on in a day or two just let me know. Got about 1 MIIILLLLLIIION of them.
Just replace ‘dollars’ with ‘topics’: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Plz4DSIWDqg&NR=1
Finally, with regards to my #10 and #11 above, here is the proposed FY12 by District Line Item Budget for Supervisors Offices et al:
http://www.pwcgov.org/docLibrary/PDF/14053.pdf
@Raymond Beverage
Thanks for the link. I see they all have appox $133K for Undistributed & Miscellaneous for FY12. That’s a decent chunk of change for each of them to have to “play with”. I will say this for both Wally and John S they are very good about donating their funds to individual schools in their district. I can agree with this since our School Board members don’t get that monopoly money. Frankly, those funds could be cut back. However, they sure aren’t going to do that now. Shoot, they have so much money they are ready to work on some trails. Let the non-profits and the developers build the trails.
Yes, both supervisors are good about donating to schools. This begs the question: Why aren’t those areas funded in the first place? What about the other schools? Why are they being short changed? I believe it is the discrepancies between magisterial districts that I think is wrong. Why did some of the libaries get a huge chunk of change and others not? Why do some schools get extra money for clubs and teams?
I didn’t used to be bothered by discretionary funds. Now I see it a little differently. When do donations start going to things that are controversial?
good plan about the non profits and the developers. I don’t see where the county would need to buy anything other than some basic equipment.
I would like to see the supervisors donate some of their bux to the dog park on the eastern end. I was highly offended to read that they had to fund raise for it to happen. Let some of that happy trails money go for the pooches. The western end can go to Merrifield. The eastern end has nothing for dogs that I am aware of. Dog parks count as open space. Just watch where you step.
You know, I think some of these Supervisors are wealthy in their own right. It would be appropriate for them to donate to some of these worthy causes themselves. If they are doing so already, it’s not always obvious. I realize we don’t want politicians strutting around saying, “Look what I am doing!” because it makes them look like everything they do is a political ploy. For some, it IS a political ploy, but for others, it’s being authentically caring. Hard to tell the difference, though, I will admit.
But I am going to say here that the Covingtons have helped my family when we were in a crisis (I don’t mean they gave us money). Neither of the Covingtons have never announced it. I just know they are behind it and they have made a big difference in our lives.
Now about that over-development, Mr. Covington… 🙂
@I am not sure any of them are what I would call wealthy. There is much to do. But a big kudo to Pinko for giving credit when credit is due. And a big kudo to Mr. Covington for helping the Pinko family. We need to hear stories like this.