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Leadership Makes A Critical Difference
By Greg L | 6 August 2007 | Manassas Park, Manassas City | 21 Comments
Ever wonder why there’s such a difference between Manassas and Manassas Park? Why Manassas, while facing plenty of it’s own challenges, is vastly more effective in dealing with the illegal alien problem than Manassas Park? A recent posting over at MSOTF by Andy Harrover, Manassas City Councilman demonstrates the biggest reason: leadership. While Andy and some other members of the Manassas City Council understand what the problem is, and are committed to doing something about it, Manassas Park Mayor Frank Jones and his Governing Board clearly do not. Can anyone imagine something like this coming from Frank Jones?
However, the big difference between then and now is the number of people who are here illegally. The illegal segment of this migration wave has turned this from a large but manageable problem into a train-wreck at the local level. Municipalities are so desperate to get a handle on this issue that they are willing to pass laws that they know will draw the immediate attention of hordes of lawyers (including some of whom their tax dollars pay). Cities and Counties nationwide are willing to plunk down local tax dollars to enforce federal immigration law. Communities are tearing themselves apart as their demographics shift so fast that it turns local officials from ribbon-cutting automatons into fire-fighters trying to keep the whole house of cards from falling down.
All the while, the Federal government sleeps. The “grand compromise” of months past failed. The borders are still wide-open. ICE doesn’t have the money to run it’s 287 program effectively. “Homeland Security” is funneling billions into finding and deterring attacks in large cities nationwide yet Satan himself could walk across the southern border with anything he cared to bring. I suppose the part about this that bothers me the most is the damage done to our social fabric - the legacy of neighborhoods first devastated by overcrowded flophouses and then abandoned by the dozens when localities turn up the heat. Hospitals bankrupted. Schools overstressed. Legal immigrants viewed with suspicion. This legacy does no good for those on either side of the debate as our communities continue to disintegrate and the rhetorical intensity cranks up.
The leadership in both municipalities understand that the state and federal governments need to do a better job. Despite this failure, one municipality is doing everything it can to protect it’s residents, including participating in the Section 287(g) program, making strong efforts to effectively enforce zoning and building code violations, and enforce the law as written. The problem is largely under control there. The leadership in the other locality refuses to do anything, apparently is handing out questionable building permits, refuses to enforce the law as written, and is now thoroughly overrun with overcrowded housing, gang-related crime, and trash.
I’ll bet that Manassas Park residents with they had a Marc Aveni or an Andy Harrover on their Governing Board. It would make a world of difference.
The opinions expressed here are solely the views of the author, and not representative of the position of any organization, political party, doughnut shop, knitting guild, or waste recycling facility, but may be correctly attributed to the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy. If anything in the above article has offended you, please click here to receive an immediate apology.
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Well no sh1t…
No, I can’t imagine that coming from Frank Jones. I also can’t imagine why the guy isn’t in a Federal Pokey somewhere too…but that’s a whole different subject that’s been covered here.
The federal government is NOT sleeping. They are the cause of this and are watching it very carefully.
Can you spell globalism? There has to be a reason why our borders are forced open. Why states like Virginia go along peacefully with the bs argument of preemption.
Believe me, when the next terrorist strike happens, the well planned excuses are going to pop like popcorn.
I am frequently asked WHY? WHY doesn’t Manassas and/or MP do something about illegals. I truly believe it boils down to this:
We are relying on career government bureaucrats to enforce zoning ordinances and laws that have never really been an issue before. It is WORK to enforce zoning ordinances and keep after law enforcement. If you are a career bureaucrat that has never had to lift a finger before and now you are faced with WORK!… it doesn’t surprise me that nothing is done… much easier to ignore it…
Tobias
It is not for lack or will to work. It is becuase action or enforcement is immediately tagged as profiling, politically incorrect or generally distasteful against potential future voters.
As long as there is ambiguity from Washington as to what enforcement of the immigration laws will be made or a clearer stance one way or another, none of the elected officials or politicians will dare to move one way or another, no matter what the outrage or discontent is.
think about it: if the amnesty bill had passed, who would need to enforce what? And what kind or burden would then be placed on the court system, which as it is is completely overburdened by the incredible increase of residents, legal and not which is now in PWC. Go take a look at the traffic or criminal and juvenile and domestic courts these days and it will be clearer why the gov does not want to enforce.
The resources of this county are being stretched beyond capacity and none of the services, from police to emergency can keep up with demand.
Liz - it would take damn few indictments and convictions of contractors, landscapers and restaurant owners to put a stop to this.
This would have little effect on the court system. The employers are the big fish in this net anyway. They are the ones making out by breaking the law and stealing jobs from qualified - legal - workers.
Smoke em.
It WOULD take feds to show a little initiative to enforce the law. It would also dry up a significant amount of campaign contributions.
GeTimorge
That is my whole point, enact laws that give stiff penalties and considerable jail terms to employers,but do not expect the FEds to do it now or later. There is no intention or manpower devoted to the reduction of illegal immigration. On the contrary, this administration is probably telling every federal agency that woudl be involved to refrain from action.
The answer is not to go after every little infraction the illegals committ. They need to punish the employers who are destroying this country.
Both needs to be done liz…and sooner rather than later.
Wow, I’m impressed. I’m still trying to find/apply the wisdom of the 14th US Constitutional Amendment and its impact and relevance to this issue of illegal immigration. I’m with you, illegal acts are illegal and the laws should be enforced. Those who break those laws should be punished regardless of their race, religion, gender or ethnic status. The law has to be applied equally to all regardless of race, ethnic origin or religion under the 14 amendment (equal protection under the law clauses, or it will not stand the test of time in a Supreme Court challenge, and it has to apply with equal opportunity for all, special privileges for none, and cannot and should not guarantee equal outcomes) We should not as a community cave-in to political advocacy for special privileges for certain genders, ethnic groups, religious or racial groups, just because they request special status treatment as a political action group, or choose by group association and group privilege to break or restructure the law so it is only in their group’s special interests and benefit. Racial, ethnic, and gender based advocacy groups are active enough, and confident enough through association with radical or conflict oriented groups (just short of civil war) and are arrogant enough to flaunt law and privilege (disguised as discrimination or diversity or inclusion) and assume no-one will care enough to enforce equitable laws or make them pay any consequence for breaking the laws. I’m still formulating in my own mind the right and wrong of community rights and conflict advocacy methods (read Hillary Rodham Clinton’s bachelors thesis on Alinsky’s community advocacy model of power and conflict methods for grass roots organizations) and the role of fair and unfair community action to protect the community’s values and social goals from foreign invasion. By “foreign” I mean any group that refuses to assimilate into the current community values and social fabric. This primarily includes refusal to support or ensure language and political assimilation, but not art and entertainment assimilation as they are relatively harmless even beneficial invasions into a community. So far I’ve summed up the following problems with the last 20 years of group advocacy politics and fractionalized community ideology gone awry.
The first problem is groups. Especially special protection of groups under the 14th amendment clauses that where never intended to deal with these new threats to American social stability and equality. The second problem is a loss of understanding of individual rights advocacy as the basis for equality concepts and equal opportunity concepts, and a disastrous transition to group advocacy for diversity and inclusion, not “equality” as a means to obtain group favoritism, group preference and group self-interests at the expense of the targeted “majority” or “status quo”.
My interpretation of the current law is that groups are the problem, we can now by law (See the small business act) discriminate and give preference to groups as long as they are identified and “classified” as privileged and under-privileged, but not if they are identified as equal. “Equal” means everyone deserves the same salary according to the construct, but must achieve it by privilege. This in essence is unconstitutional as soon as it is associated with groups, race, gender, religion, or ethnic diversity. It is the groups that are not included in these targeted and protected privilege groups that are discriminated against. Just look as any 8A contract to see the numbers and type or groups that win the contracts, compared to those who are not members of the privileged group. The illegal issue, is not just about group special privilege advocacy and desire to live only as a member of the group in a neighborhood of groups, but advocates for law-breaking as a means to achieve it. If fairness was the only issue, we could argue the 14th amendment that everyone has to be put under the same law and follow the same law, but with criminal activity involved (illegal immigration and the social consequence of it), the equality of the community is no longer the goal, but the absolute takeover and replacement of the community is. It becomes an “un-realistic” conflict that historically leads to civil war. It is for this reason, and the right to protect my current society from social and cultural invasion and replacement as an invasion or pre-civil war event that needs to be swiftly dealt with before it is too late that I whole heartedly support your efforts. If this current invasion does not stop or assimilate we will soon be at war with radical groups supporting radical ideas rallying around radical flags that won’t be the American Flag or the English language. Do we have a right under the 14th amendment to protect the American Flag, American society, democracy (which is equitable individual rights) or the English language from invasion and obliteration into diversified, conflicting citi-state advocacy groups? As a former soldier I believe we do. Every group-led invasion in history has resulted in poverty, fractured government, fractured and warring communities and eventually collapse of society and law into civil war and self-destruction. The solution is to get rid of group labels, group advocacies, group politics and group ideologies and concentrate on individual rights and equitable laws that are applied and ENFORCED EQUALLY on everyone in the community, so we will recognize none of us as privileged and all of us as Americans holding only individual rights to basic freedoms and conforming to community standard laws. As a member of one of the “excluded” groups in the 14th amendment, I want my Asian wife to be treated the same as my LEGAL HISPANIC neighbor, but I don’t want either of them to have the right to change my language, culture, social values and community ethics into their country of origin, nor be given anything under the law I’m not entitled to just because of their race, religion, gender or ethnic association, nor do I want them to be protected from breaking my community laws, just because they feel some racial and ethnic sense of entitlement to a job or social status they can’t get in their own country.
Michael, NO ONE has expressed their position, and the feelings of most of the rest of us, better than you just did. I am not only impressed, I am grateful! There is very little anybody could add, and certainly nothing that any reasonable American could dispute.
I agree. Unfortunately, in this area it falls on deaf ears. There will be revolution over this within two years because our leaders will fail us and it will be up to the people. Choose your sides ladies and gentlemen. You can either choose to support the Constitution and laws that should be enforced equally for everyone or you can choose anarchy and selective enforcement of laws based on race and skin color.
Deaf ears? People need to speak before someone will hear. I just took the time to look up all the citizen time on MP website, figuring that’s when people would go speak about their concerns - I know I have attended in the past and done just that.
January 2007 - 1 speaker about lights
February 2007 - 3 speakers, addressing topics such as the city recognition program for employees, mail ordinance, worksession, committee appointments from the first speaker, street lights again and bill pay from the second, the senior center and city phones from the third.
March 2007 - Citizen’s Time on the same night as the FY07 budget hearing - 0 speakers.
April 2007 - 1 speaker on the city using cubicles to optimize space
May 2007 - Couldn’t find any evidence of citizen’s time that month - maybe a night’s minutes are meeting?
June 2007 - 0 speakers for citizen’s time in June.
July’s minutes aren’t up, so I don’t know who all spoke then and what topics were addressed. I know Greg did, but according to this, it was the first time the issue was brought before the Governing Board. Not one of these citizen’s times brought up illegal immigration in the first six months of this year. Maybe I am wrong, but this is the public record.
Tomorrow I am going to check out Manassas City’s website to see what’s topics are coming up during citizen’s time if I get a chance. I am sure I will see more activity on this issue there. But elected officials are more likely to act on things brought before them publicly.
How can you hold them accountable if the public record that exists to do just that does not reflect any interest?
Well, I don’t believe that the City of Manassas has regularly taken down their Council Minutes for editing as has the City of Manassas Park. We discovered that in looking for copies online of the Council Minutes regarding the Rack N’ Roll affair over the past year. They would then reappear, piece-meal. If they’re all there again, I guess they finished their editing.
Well said GeTimorge. Too bad local Government can’t enforce Federal law. Lock a few day labor employers up and see where the illegals go.
Of course nobody shows up in MP to discuss illegal immigration since from what my rough estimates have been able to determine put this town’s population at roughly 80% Hispanic; a majority of those no doubt being illegal. When I can stand on a corner of the town and count the first one hundred people that I see and come up with 79 of them being Hispanic then it’s no wonder why there is no citizen time over this issue. The people in this town like it JUST the way it is and the rest of us are powerless to do anything. Without the help of a big organization like HSM then there is nothing that a few fed-up leftover CITIZENS of MP can do.
A woman went to the last MP governing board meeting to discuss residential overcrowding. She did something, she spoke out. Where were you?
To save our community, we are going to have to be responsible and respected citizens. This group needs to act responsibly and respectfully with every stated word and concept stated, in public and in private, even on this blog in order to withstand scrutiny by those who would seek to destroy it. Good citizens and good politicians will respect and admire only those who are of good character, are principle based, and argue from a position of law and mutual respect. That means you will have to police your ranks and educate your members to eliminate hatred, eliminate anger and eliminate lack of wisdom that gets you labeled as a revolutionary radical, hate group or irresponsible fringe representing the citizens of Manassas. If you follow a few simple principals as I believe your President has wisely done and is evolving to do (Like get good constitutional legal advice and form an LLC or political action committee) to protect you as members from the threat of lawsuits from hate groups you will succeed. These political hate groups seeking special privileges now hide behind diversity cloaks and legal defense fund discriminating special interest groups that will target you and attempt to discredit you using their twisted interpretation of the 14th Amendment laws. The media will target you because they love a soap opera of mistrust, intrigue, radicalism and hatred to expose. What media group wants to target and expose well principled, trustworthy, and respectful citizens attempting to uphold the community’s laws?
These are the principals I think you should incorporate into your charter and post in every public place to remind your members how to behave as responsible and respectful citizens trying to save their community.
1. Firmly believe that all men are created equal, and all have equal inalienable rights.
2. Believe in the constitution and rule of law and what it stands for. Realize that laws are not perfect, and can be changed if they were made in error or with poor judgment based on the combined free will of individual members of society acting responsibly and respectfully. Study and actually read the constitution and know what you are talking about first hand as an individual and not what someone else has told you to say because of your political affiliation with a group.
3. Speak and advocate from a position of neutrality, not polarity. Polarity leads to conflict and war. Neutrality leads to a position of strength and respect when combating hate, discrimination, privilege, and lawlessness.
4. Do NOT associate yourself with ANY group that is based or chartered to advocate for rights, issues, and privileges based on their race, their gender, their religion, their ethnic origins, or their creed. Fight the groups that do associate themselves this way. Work to enforce laws that do not permit groups like this to function in a free and peaceful, harmonious, and mutually respectful society of individuals united under a common nation principal, common language and ideology
5. Do not let your members use any language that targets any group using hatred or anger based on their race, their gender, their religion, their ethnic origins, or their creed.
6. Advocate only that groups associating themselves with race, gender, religion, ethnic origins, or creed are acting in an unlawful and unconstitutional manner and need to be disbanded, and held accountable for discrimination and unlawful privilege practices that are detrimental and damaging to all individuals in the nation who are not associated with their group. Argue that you base this claim on your rights to individual freedom from persecution, and rights guaranteed under the 14th amendment, rights to freely assemble, rights to petition the government for grievances, and rights to free speech as an organization whose membership is not made up of, or advocating based on their race, their gender, their religion, their ethnic origins, or creed.
7. Welcome and support all individuals based on the rights to individual freedoms all members of the group share equally to uphold the common community law.
8. Advocate that you are patriotic and just when you act to maintain your nation’s sovereignty, your state sovereignty, and your community sovereignty to make and uphold equitable laws applied equally to everyone to protect your community from threats to its continued existence, its general welfare, its values and its laws.
If you do these things, lawyers and hate groups cannot touch you, you can defeat them and you can prevent them from seeking twisted rules of law to discredit and destroy you as you protect your community from invasion, both foreign and domestic. This is the strength of neutrality, responsibility and respect. Even a twisted, politically diversified and fractured special privilege group based congress, executive branch, judicial branch, and public media will respect that.
Michael, you are a very wise person, in my humble opinion.
Thank you for saying so. This is my community too and I do not wish to see it turn into a Sal Paulo slum, or have the conflict I saw as a soldier in the Middle East. These things happen too quickly and people act too late. A very similar historical parallell can be seen in Bosnia, the West Bank, Malaysia/Thailand, Iraq, Afganistan, Pakastan and India, prior to the conditions they are now faced with due almost entirely to illegal immigrants entering and dominating regions of their country. It can quickly happen here.
We must get the growth rate back into accordance with the law, so the community can absorb it over time. People are people the world over and as individuals are very nice, family oriented and respectful. However when one group begins to dominate and take over with assimilating it starts conflict and turmoil. This is why I believe you see the small but growing militant linked groups coming in, and the gang issues increasing in major areas of the country. The ethics and culture are different, do no assimilate well except over long periods of time and slow generational changes. This is why all countries control thier growth using visas and legal immigration rates establish at the rate they can absorb. When that gets out of control history shows us the consequense. It’s not an issue of who it is, its an issue of how many and how fast. This is why the community needs to do what it can to assimilate those here legally and welcome them, but send those back that enter illegally using and enforcing the laws enacted to prevent this very problem. The law is very clear, illegal immigration penalty is deportation. The issue is how you respectfully carry that out regardless of race, gender, religion, or ethnic group affiliation and apply the law equally to all without anger but with a concern for the quality of life of all the citizens who are already here, including the recent legal immigrants. I can’t understand any politician or individual would willingly destroy their own future, just to avoid offending someone who has broken the law, when so many others who have followed the law and obtained legal visas deserve our equal protection under the law, our open hand and respect as they assimilate into our community. and future generations. If I can help this group I will, but it has to be done respectfully and with a concern for the welfare of all.
Can we all agree that we should, maybe, invest a little more in our community so that it might attract folks other than poor illegal immigrants? I wish I could engage one of you on this point. Making Manassas a more attractive place to the educated and successful sould be viewed by all of us as an investment in our collective suucess, rather than as a hollow expense. You all take such pride in shaving 3 cents or 5 cents or 10 cents off the tax rate (while our schools and roads and civic infrastructure crumble) and then wonder why your real estate tax assessments decline more severely than in other jurisdictions. It’s cause and effect, pure and simple. The hard core Republicans who have succeeded so spectacularly in destroying the investment of Manassas in itself are to be congratulated for success beyond even their fondest dreams…. Your taxes are low, and you’ve gotten what you paid for.
Yes, I agree. If taxes have come down to the point where community basics are truthfully being neglected, then it is up to the community to fix it. However I would like to see solid evidence that the decline of the neighborhood and the lower total tax revenue currently available is caused primarily by factors other than people moving into the region who do not pay taxes at all, and who ship the revenue that is generated out of the community, even out of the country rather than re-investing back into the community. you see this effect in almost every community where the demographics change rapidly from one primary wage earning group to another. The “educated” will not live in a community where the social construct is “give me a special privilege because the group I belong to deserves it. It’s like this, Home Depot in Manassas now has two languages displayed everywhere in the store. The displays are illegal and deny people equal protection under the law because they do not apply to everyone the same. One language serves 39% of the community that insists on having special privileges as a result of their racially based claims and entitilements, and ignores the rest of the community needs. My wife is Thai, but there is no additional Thai language displayed at Home Depot, therefore she and every other non-English speaking resident who does not belong to this special interest group is currently not protected under the 14th admendment and her rights to have equal representation under the law are being illegally ignored. If only one language was displayed, everyone would be treated fairly and the same under the law. If you put anything up as a language sign in Home Depot that is anything other than a universal language understood by all, you are giving special privilege to a small percentage of the population based on race, religion, gender, ethnicity, etc and the community knows this. It may be good for Home Depot and a very special segment of the population, but bad for the community and eveyone not belonging to that special interest group will move away, including my Thai wife because she feels she is being treated unfairly under the law. When you strap our schools, our government offices, our hospitals, our community services with this same special privilege requirement to serve only a small part of the community just because they are twisting the concepts of the 14th admendment, you reduce our budgets to meet this “privileged” requirement that is focused only on one groups special needs at the expensse of all others. The money goes into these special programs and not into fixing our infrastructure, roads, schools and other programs that are not provifing equal protection under the law. When “educated” people see this happen they leave, levaing the region to be dominated only by that special group who can raise a tax base from only a small percentage pof the community because the rest of that community is illegal and not paying taxes. Because you refuse to identify them with any kind of tax identification and legal ID card that is enforceable and checked easily by police, you cannot deport them and increase your local tax revenue, and decrease your special interest group overheads costs to hospitals, schools, community programs, etc. Mr. Hall that is the reason Manassas is failing and people who have an education are leaving. My Thai wife is not happy with it either.