All Eyes are on the PWC Budget

MoonHowler

The BOCS Halloween Financial Retreat begins today. Instead of going to some swanky place to convene, to their credit, the PWC BOCS are staying put and doing their work right at County Complex.

Their task is daunting. Running a county on a $190 million dollar shortfall is not for the faint of heart nor for one with a personal agenda. Pre-released agenda documents pretty much spelled out how dire the situation is.

At root of the financial problem is the huge, disproportionate amount of foreclosures in PWC. Each foreclosure lowers the property values of the houses around it. Many people have seen an almost 50% drop in the value of their home in the past 2 years.

The loss of value of the homes naturally changes the property tax assessments. As if things weren’t bad enough, sales tax receipts have dropped for 5 months in a row. The county is hurting.

Each county department was directed to create a budget with 10%, 20%, and 30% cuts. Looking through the documents, there were some extremely severe cuts. All eyes will be on the public safety departments first.

According to the Washington Post:

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Foreclosure Phenomenon in Prince William County

Alanna

Prince William County Supervisors need to account for this phenomenon. What is the difference between the Counties? What accounts for this horrific occurrence of foreclosures which will most likely have lingering effects for a decade? Plain and simple, it’s the immigration resolution. The sooner Supervisors recognize this fact the faster we could turn this thing around. They have the power to stop the hemorrhaging but will they act on it? Do they prefer to see property values decline, real estate assessments plummet and the County’s budget completely destroyed? Perhaps so.

In my opinion, a more prudent course of action would be to not give anybody further reason to abandon a home. There’s never been a complete cost benefit analysis and it’s becoming pretty evident that any perceived savings from drops in ESoL enrollment have been more than off-set by devastating losses in our residential real estate market. These losses are causing extreme economic hardship among home owners who planned to use their home equity to finance their kid’s education, retirement or financing for business operations. Eventually, we will hit rock bottom but at what cost?

PWCA: Silver Lake – Opportunity Lost

Alanna

This is a real disappointment. Back in April we hoped that the Prince William Park Authority and Bull Run Mountain Conservancy could reach an amicable agreement with respect to the Silver Lake parcel, apparently those discussions have failed.

The following is an email from the Prince William Conservation Alliance:

Silver Lake: Opportunities Lost

October 21 2008 — The Bull Run Mountain Conservancy (BRMC) today announced the withdrawal of their proposal to partner with Prince William County to open Silver Lake as a park for public use.

That means:

* County taxpayers will now pay all costs to develop and maintain the 233-acre Silver Lake – $1.6 million + $215,000 each year, according to the Prince William County Park Authority (PWCPA) plans;

* An additional 270 acres next to Silver Lake will NOT be opened to horse trails, hiking, and other public uses (BRMC had a commitment from an adjacent landowner to make an additional 270 acres available for public recreational use).

The Silver Lake property was donated (as a “proffer” for County approval of 420 additional houses in Dominion Valley) to Prince William citizens, through the Board of Supervisors, to provide much needed land for public recreation and open space.

The County has kept Silver Lake closed while debating who should manage it. The core issue was land ownership, with some insisting that PWCPA ownership of the entire site was non-negotiable.

The BRMC proposal required transfer – with deed restrictions that pre-determined recreational uses, guaranteed public access and prohibited any resale or transfer – of the land they would manage in order to raise the matching funds required by their $500,000 grant for Silver Lake.

Non-profit organizations like BRMC are unable to attract donations for building a visitor center or other improvements on property that is owned by a government agency. Transferring County land to non-profits is not a new concept. For example, Prince William County donated 135 acres for the Marine Corps Heritage Center.

In the most recent negotiations, the PWCPA would have received the southern portion of the property, including Silver Lake itself. The northern portion would have been transferred to BRMC, with restrictions that guaranteed public access for recreational use. The northern portion would have reverted back to the Board of Supervisors, should BRMC not honor their commitments.

However, after two years of discussion, Prince William Supervisors appear hopelessly deadlocked and, on September 17, the PWCPA Board adopted a resolution by a 6-2 vote rejecting all compromise proposals at Silver Lake.

By rejecting such a compromise, the County will lose the opportunity to develop a 500-acre park with equestrian and hiking trails. Instead, County taxpayers will have to pay 100% of the cost to open up a 233-acre Silver Lake park.

The PWCPA has been struggling to maintain existing recreation amenities, even before the coming budget cuts. In a worst case scenario, Silver Lake could be locked up tight like Dove’s Landing, with signs saying ” Public Land – Keep Out.”

The 270 acres and $1 million in private funding to develop and operate Silver Lake for public use is now lost. The property that could have been added to Silver Lake won’t be developed into townhouses; it is permanently preserved in an open space easement. However, that private land will stay private, closed to the public.

With only 9 acres of parkland/1,000 residents, Prince William is facing an uphill battle to acquire enough new parkland to meet community needs. By rejecting the BRMC partnership, county officials will not acquire new parkland to meet the standards set in the newly revised Parks & Open Space Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan.

In fact, since that plan was adopted, the county has acquired no property for public parkland…. and now has rejected 270 acres of free land.

The Prince William County Park Authority has promised to open Silver Lake to the public in less than a year, with some areas open within six months – so long as the Board of Supervisors provides additional funding.

Will the County find the additional funding needed to open and operate a park at Silver Lake? Or will we see yet another “Public Land – Keep Out” sign?

Stewart, Stirrup Screw-up Schools – ESOL Numbers Released

Alanna

On September 30th, the County did a final head count of their student population only to discover that any supposed ‘savings’ based on Chairman Stewart’s and Supervisor Stirrup’s ‘Immigration Resolution’ will be neglible AND now because of that miscalculation we are short millions of dollars in our school budget!

Update: According to the School system, they will be able to adjust their budget and all students will continue to receive the same level of services.

Here are the numbers from the Prince William County Schools.

Per your request, here’s the ESOL information from our Sept. 30, 2008 student enrollment count of 73,657:

English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) 14.8% funded [ie receiving direct instruction]; 17.8% Total ESOL

Regarding the English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) student enrollment: Total School Division enrollment increased from Sept 30, 2007 to Sept 30, 2008 by 1,003 students for a revised total of 73,657 (336 over projection). During the same period, total ESOL student enrollment decreased from 13,409 to 13,130 or 279 students. Please note that the number of ESOL students classified in a “monitor” status and whom are monitored, but otherwise do not receive direct services decreased from 2,203 to 2,201 for a reduction of 2 students. The number of ESOL students receiving direct instructional services decreased from 11,206 to 10,929 for a decrease of 277 students.

However, it is important to note that during the FY 2009 budget process, the School Division base budget was reduced to reflect the decreases in student enrollment (and associated costs), including students receiving ESOL services, that were realized during the last school year. The September 30, 2008 actual enrollment for ESOL of 13,130, is 527 students greater than the 12,603 students included in the FY 2009 Approved Budget. The number of ESOL students receiving direct instructional services increased from 10,400 to 10,929 for an increase of 529 students. The School Division must now address the additional cost of these 529 ESOL students, without a commensurate increase in County funding.

Please contact me if I can be of additional assistance.

Note: The emphasis in the last paragraph is mine and did not come from the County.

We Deserve to Know

Elena

Please sign this online petition by clicking here. Your address and email will be not published. You have the option of signing your name without it being publicly displayed. It will get sent to all the supervisors. I know it is intimidating to sign a petition or even write a letter to your supervisor knowing that it may get FOIAed by Help Save Manassas and end up on Greg’s blog. We must all stand together to confront their bullying tactics. We can’t give up our rights to representation out of fear. Once you are done signing, please forward to your neighbors, friends and family in Prince William County. Thank you.

To Chairman Stewart and Supervisors Stirrup, May, Nohe, Caddigan, Jenkins, Principi and Covington:

We, the people of Prince William County, express deep disappointment at your appointment of Robert Duecaster to the county’s Strategic Goals Task Force, Human Resources Committee confirmed on September 16, 2008 with a 5-3 vote.

We commend Supervisors Jenkins, Principi and Caddigan for voting against it.

You have the right to vote however you wish as a supervisor, and we respect that is part of the process. However, it light the of fact that Mr. Duecaster has made anti-Hispanic, xenophobic, and anti-Catholic statements both addressing the Board during Citizens’ Time and writing on blogs,

And, in light of the fact that the appointment was confirmed on the inaugural day of Hispanic Heritage Month, we ask you for the following,

1. Please make a statement as individuals, not as the Board, explaining why you voted the way you did. Tell us how you feel about Mr. Duecaster’s anti-Hispanic, xenophobic and anti-Catholic comments. For example:

This really is not about immigration, it’s not about legality or illegality, it’s not about economics, I’m going to tell right what it’s about; it’s about and invasion of this country. This country is being invaded no less than if hordes of armed people came across its borders. This invasion is not armed, but they’ve got weapons. The weapons that they use are their anchor babies…This invasion is being funded by foreign governments…We’re going to repel this invasion, one way or another, it will be repelled. You can either be part of the repulsion or you can be part of the other side. (Robert Duecaster during Citizens’ Time, October 16, 2007)

What’s even more ironic is the fact that el Pape will be here bemoaning how some jurisdictions have ‘treated’ the illegals. He’ll disregard the facts that we’ve educated their anchor babies, provided social services, indulged their vulgarities, cleaned up their trash, and provided them with a higher standard of living and more freedoms than their own countries used to give them. He’ll berate us for not embracing them wholeheartedly, for not allowing them access to our universities at the expense of our own children, and for not rewarding them for violating the sanctity of our borders. He’ll be pandering to them to gather members to replace those who left the Church due to the institutionalized approval of his priests’ penchant for little boys’ behinds. (Robert Duecaster comment written as “Advocator” on bvbl.net, April 14, 2008. He admitted to being “Advocator” to the DC Examiner. Click here for the article.)

Please click here and review this collection of his written comments.

Please click here to review a video documenting his statements to the Board or ask Channel 23 to assemble the county’s own video documentation of his statements.

2. To mark the occasion of Prince William County’s declaration of Hispanic Heritage Month, please make a statement, and take meaningful action as an individual citizen and as a District Supervisor to express your appreciation of people of Hispanic heritage in this community.

We recognize that you have not always voted in accordance with your moral beliefs or your best judgment. We ask that you take this occasion to come forward and make a statement based on your personal beliefs instead of obscuring them behind such protocols as courtesy votes and unanimous votes.

You are our elected representatives in government. We need and deserve to hear you express how you really feel and what you believe.

People of Prince William County, Virginia

Witch-Hunt in Prince William

Elena

Nativist Letiecq Attempts to Intimidate Numerous Members of PWC Community

Just days after Help Save Manassas was classified as “an extremist organization that employs hateful rhetoric” by the Anti-Defamation League, the man responsible for earning this classification for his followers has sunk to a new low.

A private email I wrote eleven days ago found its way to Greg Letiecq, who has posted a new thread on his blog intending to intimidate and persecute, not only me, but everyone who was on the email list.

In it, I questioned the judgment of Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup, who tomorrow will ask his fellow Supervisors to vote to approve his appointment of Robert Duecaster to the Prince William County Strategic Goals Task Force. I have made no secret of my feelings about Duecaster’s racist writings, or his infamous outbursts before our Board of Supervisors (see previous thread). But now Letiecq is trying to intimidate and defame those who received the email (many of whom did not respond).

Supervisor Stirrup’s apparent trust in Duecaster — the only man in this county who has personally threatened the Board of Supervisors with more hatred and rage than Letiecq himself — is just one symptom of the toxicification of Prince William County at the hands of Letiecq, his blog, and his extremist organization. The Center for American Progress has documented how intimidation and incitement of racial conflict are common methods of attack for anti-immigrant organizations.

The persecution began last year, targeting the Hispanic community, though often worded to focus on “illegal” immigrants rather than the Hispanic community in general. But it did not stop when many members of the Hispanic community left the county. It did not stop when our county’s Citizen Satisfaction Survey revealed that both the Hispanic and the African American communities have lost trust in county government and the police force.

For more than a year, Letiecq has been targeting anyone who dares to oppose his relentless attempts to dominate our county government by exploiting his influence over Supervisor Stirrup and Chairman Corey Stewart. Now, he is not only targeting those who criticize him, he is targeting anyone who associates with his critics, or thinks about joining them.

Letiecq has made a habit of attacking me. But he knows I am not intimidated. He knows I will stand up to him.

Many of the those who received my personal email have not criticized Letiecq or taken any action to challenge his greed for power. By publishing their names without permission and “identifying” them, he has violated their privacy in a despicable attempt to make them appear guilty of some infraction, and bully them into silence.

I for one am not afraid of Greg Letiecq’s Neo-McCarthyism. And I am not afraid to say I oppose the appointment of Robert Duecaster to our county’s Strategic Goals Task Force. But more importantly, I oppose the persecution tactics Letiecq has employed to unduly influence this county government, its leaders, and its citizens.

P.S. Question for Greg Letiecq: Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

POLICY FAILING, CONFIDENCE FALLING: analysis of yesterday’s Immigration Resolution Report

Alanna

In Chief Deane’s immigration resolution status report, after six months of madness in the county, the infamous and costly “crackdown on illegal immigration” has netted 626 arrests and summons of undocumented immigrants, 1.6% of all summons and arrests in the county. This 1.6% comes with the price of 11.3 million dollars. And out of 626, only 341 arrests were made and a handful proved to be legal residents mistakenly detained. See Washington Post Article.

The rabid supporters of the “crackdown” will no doubt say that that price tag is worth it to arrest 341 “illegals.” We can argue about the value of that ad nauseum, but there is a very serious logistical problem that is the real story in the report. It’s not reported in Kristen’s article and I’m sure Corey would like to gloss over this, but Marty pounced on it during session.

Corporal Pete Meletis reports that he has no idea what happens to those detainees who are released to ICE. There is no tracking done. Even ICE doesn’t know. The detainees are sent to various detentions centers and no one knows what happens to them. In fact, Pete Meletis said that they have discovered that in examining the results of the 287(g) Program between July 2007 – August 2008, out of 907 detainers released to ICE, 48 were not only back in the county but rearrested. 48 out of 907 were rearrested in the county! Is ICE just turning around and releasing everyone? It sure looks that way to me.

Here is the reality. There is a terrible cycle to detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants and we only have control over one half of that cycle. No matter how much money we spend, how well crafted it is, if we are blind to what is happening to the other half of the cycle, it’s a pointless exercise. We are baking one half of a pie totally blind to how the other half of the pie is being baked. Unless there is divine intervention, we’re going to end up with a really bad pie.

Until the other half of the cycle is fixed and transparent, we are just wasting money, time and resources. We are pouring our money into a bottomless pit. We must face reality, ICE and federal immigration laws have to get fixed, otherwise it is wasteful and counter productive to do anything at the local level.

“Cracking down” at the local level achieved NOTHING to resolve the immigration crisis. It only achieved one thing: create a social climate in which residents are divided and Hispanics and other minorities feel unwelcome. All for the bargain price of 11.3 million dollars that tax payers have to pay in exchange for a weakened economy, an overburdened police force, and a reputation for intolerance.

We have prioritized this useless crackdown over our seniors and children. This is just bad government and it must stop. We just can’t continue down this road.

Unfortunately, the county’s strategic planning task force will be full of politically motivated appointments by John Stirrup and Corey Stewart that includes Robert “foreign invasion” Duecaster and other faces from the county anti-immigrant lobby. There is no end in sight to this policy misguidance. Citizens must step up and regain control of our government, now infiltrated by the nativist hate group.

There is so much more in the report that we must analyze. We’ll continue to analyze and post another thread shortly.

Aug. 5th Board of Supervisors Vote : Questions Asked and Answered

Alanna

Just finished watching the board meeting and there was some confusion about whether the ICE reimbursement budget item required a public hearing or not. Caddigan didn’t believe this was a hearing item but according to Craig Gerhart it exceeded a budgetary threshold and therefore it was required. Then on the tail of this confusion, Supervisor Jenkins commented about the lack of public participation in the process which he believes demonstrates a general lack of interest.

This money is a reimbursement from the federal government that goes back into the jail fund to support any additional expenses that they might have. This is not the total cost of the program 287(g). My question is what additional costs have we outlayed that are non-refundable? My presumption is that this would be better use of our tax money than restricting services.

Secondly, according to Pete there have been 860 detainers issued by ICE and 747 transfers with 154 currently doing time. Anybody else have questions about the math?

Additionally, it sounds as if they are still not at 100% for checking the status of foreign born inmates dispite being mandated to do so? Or is the proclaimation that they are checking 99% of the time just a CYA in case something goes wrong later on?

Also, Maureen asked long ago what this was going to cost and Corey bashed her over the head for asking. Is that on video somewhere? Today she commented that ‘we’ knew this was going to be expensive. I distinctly recall some Supervisors suggesting it would not be costly.

Lastly, what has been the true cost of this initiative, not the reimbursed portion but what is the County taxpayer responsible for?

MJM: County sees spot of light in housing

Alanna

According to the Manassas Journal Messenger,

The big difference seems to be price. At the same time Prince William’s sales statistics were soaring 72 percent, median and average sales prices for homes were falling by 34 percent and 31 percent, respectively. In the second quarter of 2008, the county’s median price for a home was $242,232; in the same quarter for 2007, that number stood at $366,845. For the average, the second quarter numbers in Prince William stood at $275,311 in 2008 and $398,775 in 2007.

In this same time period, meanwhile, Northern Virginia’s home prices only dropped on average 12 percent …

Selling everything at bargain blowout prices can’t be good; especially come next year when the County has to assess residential real estate and set the tax rate again.

WP Editorial: Prince William, a Year Later

Alanna

According to the Washington Post,

Prince William, a Year Later
A crackdown’s toxic effects

ONE YEAR after Prince William County launched its drive to hound, harass and humiliate illegal immigrants, the toxic effects of the policy — on the county’s reputation, social cohesion, political discourse and neighbors — are increasingly clear.

Across the nation, Prince William has become synonymous with an ugly strain of nativist intolerance that has deep roots in American history but which is a slander on the county’s generally well-educated and diverse population. In this region, almost every other major jurisdiction has spurned Prince William’s approach.

Minorities account for almost half of Prince William’s 370,000 people, and a large slice of that population — around 20 percent — is Hispanic. Most of them are legal residents, but many also have ties of kinship, friendship or employment with others who are undocumented. Many say they have been made to feel unwelcome in Prince William. This year, several dozen religious leaders in the county wrote to local elected officials, warning them of the divisive consequences of the county’s venomous campaign.

Predictably, they got the brushoff from Corey A. Stewart (R-At Large), chairman of the Board of County Supervisors, who has done more than anyone else to plant seeds of discord and hatred in the county. Mr. Stewart is an avid opportunist and manipulator who has an arm’s-length relationship with public candor. Not long ago, he said that a plan to install cameras in police cars — a precondition for his preferred policy of allowing officers to ask suspects about their immigration status almost at will before arrest — would be dropped “over my dead body”; then he dropped it. Lately, he has tried to link a decline in crime to the harsh policies he has advocated. Trouble is, much of the drop is attributable to a fall in robberies that predates the crackdown on illegal immigrants and that probably stemmed from an aggressive anti-robbery campaign by the police.

So what has the county achieved with its effort to intimidate undocumented newcomers by ordering checks on the immigration status of all detainees after arrest and by denying certain social services to illegal immigrants? Without doubt, it has prompted hundreds of Hispanics — legal and illegal — to depart the county. Many of them have moved to surrounding jurisdictions, where they are enrolling in public schools and turning to local government services or nonprofits for help. To Mr. Stewart and his allies, this beggar-thy-neighbor policy is a success. In fact, it has simply branded Prince William as the one locality in the Washington area where demagoguery by elected officials has gotten the better of coolheaded public deliberation.

MJM: A Sarcastic Thanks for Clearing Our Community

Alanna

A letter to the editor from a local teen appeared yesterday in the Manassas Journal Messenger.

Suzie Eskelund
Published: July 20, 2008

I am a 17-year-old caucasian girl who has lived in Manassas my whole life. I just want to say thank you for allowing the white, self-righteous and supremacist legal citizens of this fine, upstanding county
to once again have the important jobs back, like fast food and construction. I know it has always been my dream to work the drive through at my neighborhood McDonald’s and now you have made that
dream more possible. I am so proud to be a part of a city that is taking a stand against those pesky brown people. I was riding in the car with my Hawaiian friend when we got pulled over so the nice
policeman could make sure she wasn’t an illegal Latina. I know that in my heart I couldn’t be more thankful for those new laws that you helped pass to racially profile everyone with dark skin. Gee, I don’t even know why I’m friends with her.

I know that no one who eats tacos and burritos can be a good person. I mean hey, I don’t want that new Chipotle on Liberia Avenue! These people just need to go back to Mexico and take their children.
They deserve to starve, be in constant danger, and have a poor education.

After all, they were born in an inferior country! I don’t want any new customs in my life.

I want to be closed-minded and be surrounded by my pasty friends forever. Please get that diversity away from me!

Now people say that all Americans immigrated here. Well that may be true, but at least all of mine spoke English when they came here! Oh wait… except for my Danish, French, and German relatives.
But no matter, at least it wasn’t Spanish. When I was in high school and I was trying to learn another language, I had the hardest time and struggled through all three years. I hardly remember any of that
language, but who cares? Learning a second language may be really hard for anyone, but it doesn’t matter if your first language was English.

Now I look around my upper middle-class neighborhood and see that there are far fewer children for my neighbors to play with. But I rest assured knowing that when they play tag, they won’t get tagged by Latino cooties anymore.

Next, we should give them disease-infested blankets; it worked when we wanted to get rid of Native Americans.

Thank you once again for your efforts to cleanse our community,

SUZIE ESKELUND
Manassas

One Year and $4 Million – Brings Us Full Circle

Alanna

It’s been a year since the County first adopted the ‘Immigration Resolution’ and because of continual participation from more moderate voices, it is now, but a shadow of its original proposed self. The Resolution is, at its core, faulted because of its assertion that illegal immigration has been determined to cause ‘lawlessness and economic hardship’. This declaration has never been substantiated and continues to remain an unfounded claim upon which this resolution was founded.

If you recall, the original version suggested checking immigration status at all public facilities even schools and parks. Thankfully, staff recognized that implementation of such a far reaching and radical policy was unwise. And, with the guidance and suggestion of more reasonable perspectives, began the process of affecting changes to mitigate not only the potential of costly lawsuits but to reign in the more radical elements that initially suggested the plan.

By October, we were left with a short list of 8 identified services that could be ‘reasonably’ restricted combined with a policy that mandated officers to inquire into immigration status with anyone they came into contact with that they believed had ‘probable cause’ to be undocumented. Shortly thereafter, it was determined that 2 of the previously identified services should also not be restricted and the list shrank to 6.

In April, with the start of the planning for the ‘09 Fiscal Plan’ another opportunity presented itself for another scale back when cameras became too costly of an investment. We then lobbied and succeeded in having the Resolution modified so that Officer’s could fallback to the previous policy of ‘reasonable articulable suspicion’ combined with a mandated post-arrest procedure for status checks, Now, the “Immigration Resolution” consists of the restrictions to the 6 services, mandated status checks after arrest and the general resolution. All of this, has born a price tag of $4 million dollars, and for all practical purposes has brought us full circle, back to the place, in essence where we started.