The Illegals Are Moving Out
By Greg L | 15 August 2007 | Local Economy, Illegal Aliens, Prince William County | 98 Comments
So businesses that cater to the immigrant community are seeing a significant decline in business. That’s not too surprising given that between two and five million illegal aliens enter the country annually, as compared to 1.2 legal permanent residencies being granted in 2006, so there are likely plenty of illegal aliens who see the writing on the wall that Prince William is no longer a comfortable place for illegal aliens. Apparently, just establishing a policy that you intend to crack down on illegal aliens can potentially yield significant benefits, if this decline in business is a result of illegal aliens moving to other jurisdictions, or repatriating themselves to their home countries. What the MJM despairs about in today’s article on this subject is probably something that many of us will see as an opportunity to celebrate.
Area Hispanic business owners said Tuesday that they have seen as much as a 40 percent drop in business since the county passed a resolution aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration.
The members of Help Save Manassas, some of whom have significant insight into the illegal alien community, are reporting significant shifts of illegal aliens out of not only Prince William County, but Manassas and Manassas Park as well. What we’re hearing is that illegals are moving on to Centreville, in Fairfax County and to Montgomery County, Maryland in order to escape potential increased scrutiny by law enforcement, which is what seems to concern them the most.
Now it’s time for Fairfax County to do something, lest they start to suffer the negative impacts of large numbers of illegal aliens in their county to the same extent the Prince William area has. As far as Montgomery County, Maryland goes, I’m pretty sure they’re going to have to experience a lot more pain before their elected officials decide to change their sanctuary policies which encourage illegal aliens to reside there. In Fairfax, look for significant numbers of concerned citizens to get together soon in order to try to address this situation.
When Prince William wins back it’s neighborhoods, look for a rapid recovery in the residential real estate market as citizens start to snap up relatively inexpensive housing in areas previously considered unmarketable. It’s going to take more than the policy of trying to reduce the number of illegal aliens present in the area to actually allow these areas to recover, but after actual enforcement starts, we could see some dramatic recoveries in the quality of life in many neighborhoods. Better neighborhoods result in better real estate values, and this may just be the corner the market, and the municipal tax base needs in order to turn around a truly terrible situation.
The illegals are beginning to leave, after years of them increasing their presence and visibility. If the MJM actually was representative of the readership it has, they’d be celebrating this rather than crying about it.
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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WHOOPPPIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!
RAAAAAAAAAAAAACIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTSSSSSSSSSS
Anonymous, you provide an excellent example of the lower mentality of many of the illegal alien apologists, and of the illegal aliens who routinely break the law without consequence…the moment someone says that the LAW will be enforced, they are racist. One could reasonably believe that only criminals would have that attitude, not law-abiding members of society.
See, when there are actually consequences to their illegal behavior they move on. When they can’t escape the consequences anywhere, they’ll go home!
Thing is illegal advocates have been sounding the call to stop buying everything but essentials for a month now. I have to wonder if between Bush and the democratically controlled congress, if the so called crack down is just something to lull us into going back to sleep so they can sneak the rest of the amnesty through hidden in legislation, as the house did when they used the SCHIP bill to provide health insurance to illegals who earn up to 100 thousand dollars per year.
Keep the pressure on and fight this like there’s no tomorrow. We can’t afford to let our guard down.
Sheeeeeeit. The illegals in the park haven’t gone anywhere. Trust me on this one. I appreciate the pep talk Greg but I sure don’t see what you are saying happening in the park. It’s business as usual here…
I asked on a different thread and I will ask again in the hopes that you see and respond to it this time:
Can you make sure that the Manassas Park City Council elections are publicized here so that we know when they are up for reelection? We could also do a voter drive to inform the citizens of the park of the sanctuary policy in the park instituted by the Council, Mayor and police. We need to get these people to act on this and imo HSM needs to start concentrating on the park since it is by far the worst area for illegals.
Maybe if “Save Manassas” group has an advert. in the paper that Legal and Green card imigrants are all welcome . That ” Mexico Wthout Border” has been lying to them. Welcome them to the group. Put in Spanish and English so all can see.
I wouldn’t think illegals would use a lot of catering businesses in any event.
Before we all put our celebration hats on: there is a good chance that illegals may be trying to escape capture and are not out as much or are allowing their “legal” relatives and friends to do the shopping for them.
although I have to say that places like WalMart in Manassas and down in Liberia seem to be empty and other locations where you would expect the illegals to shop seem to be much less crowded, I don’t think that it is possible to really assess what the impact is until we can see what the real numbers are. One way is to see how many students are going to be in the schools this year vs last year. If there is a decline, that is where you will be able to quantify it.
As far as Anonimous goes, your racist insult is laughable. You really need to come up with something better. The person who sees racism where there is none is one who is him/herself racist.
What do you expect from people who support law breakers? When they are attempting to defend a defenseless position, they have to resort to name calling.
Personally, I believe illegals and their supporters are just trying to claim sympathy in the public eye with this talk of business being down.
I guess I should dust of my HOME SWEET HOME sign. Thank you everyone for your efforts in the fight for what is right!
Wonderful. They’re probably moving south - right down to Stafford County. Stafford BOCS had better get off their duff and follow PWC’s lead.
So businesses that cater to illegals are feeling the pinch… Cry me a river.
This really is fabulous news. Nothing has even been passed yet and the only thing that will be passed are ordinances to enforce laws already in the books yet the self-deportation process has already begun. The kicker will be what the schools are like in a few weeks.
I have a feeling MD isn’t going to like us very much in the near future.
It is interesting that the hispanic business owners are blaming the decline in business on just Stirrup’s resolution. Only this winter, there were several media pieces done on the decline in hispanic businesses due to the housing market slowdown.
In reality, it is probably a combination of the construction downturn AND the resolution. The amusing part is that I wondered if the WaPo and PN actually expected people to read these articles and say “oh no, the PW economy is headed south…we must repeal the resolution.” Instead the reaction I imagine most county residents had after reading this article at their breakfast table was “The resolution is really working. Praise the Lord and pass the biscuits!”
Now I’m just curious as to how the business owners will spend their $100,000 that they raised for lobbying? Who will they attempt to buy?
Three houses have vacated on my block since 7/10/07. These three houses were not if foreclosure. They were houses that had 8-12 vehicles, and storm door propped open. Also, within the first two weeks of PWC Resolution being 25 apartments became VACANT, at Prince Cole Apts.(Old Centreville Gardens)
I seriously doubt all of the housing units were occupied by legals. There’s no reason for a legal immigrant to leave. However, the ILLEGAL ALIENS on the other hand, feel the need to cut and run. Hopefully, the went over the Cabin John Bridge on into MONTGOMERY COUNTY, MD!
Mando
hate to tell you, but MD didn’t like us before this so called migration. Do we care ? No. Let them have it.
On the other hand, I hope that this kind of action is taken up by other counties and states.
What is racist about wanting the people who are commiting crime and destroying your community to move out. Annonimous, your are truly an idiot!
Who do you think will come to your community now? Just curious!
Anon,
you failed to say that the $100,000 were going to be used for lobbying by a group of Latinos who oppose the boycott.
***Who do you think will come to your community now? Just curious!***
Legal citizens that share the tax burden.
I have noticed in my apartments that quite a few people moved out within a week of the resolution being passed. My daughter has a friend
who was born in Russia, her mother has been here illegally for years and they moved out last week in quite a hurry. The apartment above me is full of illegals from Guatemala and their room for rent business has fallen off considerably. A few months ago you could not find a parking space in the evening, now they are 1/3 empty.
On another note, does anyone know if the kid that murdered the girl in the apartments off of Liberia is legal or not? I know they have not found him yet.
More counties need to follow the lead taken in PWC with Mr. Stirrup’s resolution. The more counties that take action against illegal aliens should force those in Richmond to take action as well. We the legal citizens must be heard and fairly represented. It is the will of the people to restore law and order to our communities, and to eliminate illegal aliens from our country, and those that feed this illegal invasion(illegal supporters-Nancy L & John Steinbach(?) along with those that employee and house illegal aliens.
Thank you again Honorable John Stirrup!!!
Thank you indeed, Hon Stirrup
I just hope my daughter can now go to her last year of high school not feeling like she is the outsider, having to cower to all the people who threaten her with being MS 13 and generally being ostracized for not being an apologist.
I’m in the process of giving my conservative, patriotic, activist, and capitalistic back a big pat, so excuse any mispellings since I’m doing this with one hand.
The subject of HSM’s next meeting should be “Entering into Joint Ventures and Partnerships for the Purpose of Buying Foreclosed Flop Houses for Renovation, Re-Sale, and Renting to Real ‘Murricans and Legal Immigrants.”
The fight must continue and expand to include all of Virginia (except the People’s Republic of Arlington, which we can turn into a giant holding area for illegals, al-quaeda, spies, liberals, same-sex marriages, and my ex-girl friends.) We’ve got to address the employment and harboring issues, which probably will have to wait till the Hazleton appellate decision comes out, and the 287g issue at the state level. Meanwhile, the local implementation of 287g has to be monitored closely, as well as our Police Department’s interpretation of “Probable Cause” to believe a person may be illegal. We need to elect those officials who supported us from the beginning to even higher and more influential offices and replace them with people from our own ranks. So there’s lots of work to be done.
As I’ve said before on this blog, we’re going to take back this County, this Commonwealth, and this Country. One way or another.
I just saw that the van driver who killed the road workers in Maryland was an illegal from Guatemala.
Fed up: My daughter suffers from the same thing. She is entering middle school and has kids tell her all the time that they are MS13 and that they are the real Americans and are taking over. I am former law enforcement and always armed so the gang element does not worry me for my own safety, but it does for my wife and daughter when I am not around.
Advocator -
As soon as I see you, I will also give you a big pat on the back. Thanks for your hard work. We all appreciate it!
Okay, if the PWC Police need to know what constitutes “Probable Cause” to believe someone is an illegal alien, they need to study this list –
You might be an illegal alien if…
…you think George W. Bush is the greatest president in the history of the United States.
…the #2 on your touch-tone phone is worn out.
…if the folks at Western Union greet you by name.
…you crash a party and then decide to never leave the house, just living there rent-free in exchange for doing things the members of the family don’t want to do.
…you’re on your 7th DUI and haven’t even been to court yet.
…you are still donating to the Republican National Committee.
…you’re getting tired of pulling yourself out of the bushes everytime someone yells that the ICE cream man is coming.
…that Genesis song “Illegal Alien” really offends you.
…you have no criminal record, except for the one 200-pages long that corresponds to some guy 6 feet under who died in 1941.
…you can vote but can’t rent from Blockbuster.
…your name and picture are on the front page of the New York Times, accompanied by a long article complaining about how unfair it is that you have to live “in the shadows.”
…you receive a Feliz Navidad card from the White House this year.
…your SS number is 123 45 6789 and your credit card says “Mrs. Nussbaum”.
RNO - thanks for the humor - we need a break once in awhile. Now…back to work!
RNO -
That’s GREAT! Let’s give the list to the PWC PD - it’s obvious that they need help! We need to keep voicing our opinion about C. Deane as well - let him know we are NOT happy with him!
Hi guys, so what if a whole bunch on “legal” immigrants move in but they happen to be brown, poor and with accents? I doubt you guys in PWC county will be welcoming to latin american legal immigrants.
Advocator
I have mentioned the number of foreclosed properties to PWCBOS on numerous occasions now, and I would like to see PWC teachers, law enforcement, and first responders move into some of these properties. The banks are selling them for very low prices. Mr. Horton said about the only the county can do is let the PWC employees know that affordable housing is available. Our home prices reached a high that made it almost impossible for these fine professionals to live in the county that they work for and serve. I would certainly welcome any US citizen or legal immigrant to move into these vacant houses, and not have the prior owners squatting and stealing two months after the foreclosure sale.
We will take our land of laws back.
We must remember this problem didn’t happen overnight, and will NOT go away overnight.
True confed -
As stated MANY times on this blog - of COURSE we would welcome ANYONE who is LEGAL. Nice try, though.
TC - the focus is ILLEGAL no matter where you’re from or what is your color.
“Nothing has even been passed yet and the only thing that will be passed are ordinances to enforce laws already in the books”
This is so true and it says a lot about how poorly our immigration laws have been enforced in the past. Well the American people are fed up and are now demanding something be done. When action is finally at hand, just like most criminals, they will go else where, where it is much easier to get away with breaking the laws.
BTW- An illegal alien ran over 5 construction workers, killing two of them on August 13th in Burtonsville Maryland. Enough is enough!
That’s a good idea about continuing to stay on Police Chief Deane’s ass, if you ask me.
“True Confed”
So I misread that as True Confused…
“True Confed said on 15 Aug 2007 at 10:27 am:
Hi guys, so what if a whole bunch on “legal” immigrants move in but they happen to be brown, poor and with accents? I doubt you guys in PWC county will be welcoming to latin american legal immigrants.”
Now that the illegals are running, I would like to put in a request that people like you DON’T move in, oh yeah, that’s why you don’t understand.
Lafayette,
Great idea! Is there a central list of properties?
Dear Advocator
Just tell me where and when and I’ll be there.
Anonymous. My mother was an arms dealer. I don’t believe that we should run away or hide either, but my heart goes out for my daughter every time she goes to school. And I must tell you, boys are in no better situation either. I thought of moving again, but I know that this problem is everywhere and, at this point, we need to stand up and fight to take back our country and by God we will. But for all the idiots who belong to the Bleeding Hearts Club, you may want to keep an eye on your daughters and your sons.
Riley, you are too funny!!
Had to Say RAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTTSSS
Dolph
I don’t know of a central list. I do there are websites with a list of properties, and I doubt they are real current.
I have one. I have a list of 9 properties in West Gate that have been foreclosed on. Two of these properties are on my block alone.
I’m actively working on a list going one neighborhood at a time. There are more properties being foreclosed on. Is there a neighborhood in the county you’d like to know about?
Watch those foreclosure Lafayette. At this time, I would not suggest anyone enter into auction without some solid help from a lawyer, and a title officer. There are way too many people who have entered into mortgages illegally, who have one or more mortgages which would not be discharged by the auctioneer at the time of sale and last but not least, many foreclosure have some serious damage becuase of the abuse at the end of the foreclosee.
The old political maxim “perception is reality” still rings true.
As long as groups like Help Save Manassas continue to stir it up and more resolutions and ordinances are considered in the cities and the county, the MSM (including the MJM) will be forced to cover it. Word trickles out to the illegal community (even those who don’t speak our language) and more and more of them begin to reexamine their choice of residence.
That is not to say that we can get complacent or accept weak legislation, thinking that just the perception is sufficient. While an unknown percentage of illegals may leave just out of fear of prosecution, the radical front groups will cajole many more to “stay and fight”. We must continue to ratchet up the pressure on all local municipalities to protect their citizens from invasion, even if the fed won’t.
TH said on 15 Aug 2007 at 9:32 am:
Who do you think will come to your community now? Just curious!
Manassas City Council, for one, is always looking to widen the tax base by attracting more business to our community. That will remain impossible until the perception of Manassas as “little Tijuana” no longer exists.
Large corporations and smaller businesses want to locate in areas that would be considered desirable by prospective employees.
The Viennese and the McLeanians used to migrate to Manassas and PWC to escape the madness of living inside the beltway. Ask those you know if they would ever move out here now. The answer is usually “hell no”.
Dan
YOu are absolutely right. If Manassas and PWC did not have such a bad reputation, many people would move here from the nearer exurbs. I am one of those people, who moved here in 2001 because I liked to be out in an area of less dense urban sprawl.
If we can change that, people will come here again.
Fed Up
I wouldn’t suggest actually bidding on these properties. I’m suggesting when these properties get listed for sale by real estate agency. One property on my block is listed for $240 or $250K, while an owner occupied property would sell for about $40K more than that. It’s not real easy to bid on these properties, because there are so many people bidding that have made careers of buying foreclosed properties. True, all of these properties aren’t in the best of shape. However, there are some good deals out there, and it takes time and effort to get a bargain as always.
Always when dealing in real estate have a professional involved, and a title search done on a property before considering such a major investment.
Lafayette &Fed Up,
That is why it is GOOD to invest in Title Insurance. There are also programs thru the county that can aid the right person in rehabing the destruction left behind.If some does thier homework, they can come out with a very nice deal.
See attached link to the County site on rehab.
http://www.co.prince-william.va.us/default.aspx?topic=040029
I wish the illegals on my street would move out. For the last couple of weeks I’ve seen more people being dropped off. One house in particular seems to have a parade of different cars parked in front. Some seem to have taken an interest in visiting houses that are up for sale and vacant. Like hanging out in the backyard and stealing apples. So instead of going to the grocery store they are stealing apples. Only one group on my street has moved out. Anyway, I guess we’ll just hang in there and hope for the best.
By the way, how much do you want to bet that the person who keeps posting the racist comments is Nancy Lyall?!
Who will plant the corn in neighborhoods?
Who will provide the free salsa music in parking lots and on city streets?
Who will keep the little kids away from the toys at Chuck E Cheese on Sudley and on playgrounds?
Who will honk the horns at 5:00 AM like roosters to wake everyone else up?
Who will tag the sidewalks with graffiti?
Who will test our brakes, crossing Highway 234 with families full of toddlers, looking like deer in headlights in a strange new land …
Who will give all the Spanish translators in our government and schools something to do, and provide additional jobs for them?
I’m sure we’re going to miss the illegals and the services they provide more than we yet know …
RNO/RB
Many thanks for the laughs. We sure need them.
At this time, I would not suggest anyone enter into auction without some solid help from a lawyer, and a title officer
Make DAMN sure that the lawyer and the title officer work for YOU. Too many of these slime balls will take your money, but their client is the bank - and they will not tell you that. Just because they are in the long line feeding off your transaction - do not make the mistake they work for you.
GET. IT. IN. WRITING.
Lafayette,
At least in your block, the people you see leaving are old residents or new ones?
TH
The residents that left are new ones, just purchased in last few years. There are two original owners, and about 7 houses that haven’t had a new ower in over 35 years. Those of us that have been here for decades have no plans of leaving. We’ve invested in our community and remain hopeful that it returns to what it once was.
I know you weren’t interested in a guided tour. However, did you take a tour of West Gate/Sudley on your own yet? I would like to know what you thought if you did.
Patty:
Take pictures of the cars coming and going and dropping people off. Make notes as to the dates the pictures were taken and the addresses the people went into. We will make good use of the pictures once we get the right laws and enforcement mechanisms in place. Harboring illegals is a serious federal crime and has just not been prosecuted.
Lafayette,
Sorry about not responding to your message before. I had my tour schedule for this weekend but I couldn’t make it.
I will be there soon and I plan to bring a camera ( do you think that people will agree to be interviewed?. I am very interested in conducting research in the area. From a social researcher point of view is fascinating but it is not the same thing for you who live sorrounded by a problem.
I think your story is very important and although I decided to do it on my own I thank you for offering the tour. I will let you know as soon as I go there and if i do something else I will contact you.
Patty/Advocator
We also need one PCE inspector replaced. We have to have inspectors that are willing to go to the CORRECT address they were given, and actually LOOK at the violations, and enorce the few laws they can. FYI, #08 has been assigned to Sr. Chavez again. Keep your eyes out for him as we the legal citizens need to inspect that inspector. Heck, he might show up at your house instead of #08. Keep your camera ready. Is that ticket still on car blocking the PUBLIC sidewalk and on the grass?
Rick Bentley said on 15 Aug 2007 at 12:57 pm:
I agree:)
TH
Are you a news reporter of some sorts?
I think you find many legal citizens willing to talk to you. We are
FED UP around here. Thanks for the update.
I emailed a request that an overcrowding inspection be done on a house on my street. I *know* how many people sleep there each night because their comings and goings are very visible. I received a one sentence reply from Inspector Chavez stating no violations were found.
What type of proof must be given that the 17 people living in the house are related in such a way to get around the violation? Did Mr. Chavez knock on the door, ask how many people were residing there and take the verbal answer as proof?
I thought I had to take his inspection results as the end of the matter. What type of interaction have you had with Mr. Chavez and what proof do you have he is not pursuing matters the way he should? Can I appeal his findings and ask that another inspector be assigned the residence?
No I am not a news reporter but I like to document the facts (ethnographic study). I wanted to do on my own because I read how you grilled a guy asking for documentary interviews.
It is good that there I can find some people to talk about this issue.
Advocator
Patty, and I along with others have been taking pictures, documenting, calling zoning, calling police, calling building code, and others PWC officials
Harboring illegals is a serious crime, however who’s going to come, and make arrests. I’ve called HLS on one very serious problematic house, and I was told I must be sure they were illegals. If they took my complaint, and they were found not to be illegal they could press charges against me for making a false complaint. Remember, none of us knows who’s legal and who’s illegal, so with that in mind how can we get anyone at HLS or anywhere to respond, and take action against this harboring? It’s time for some of these cases to be prosecuted, and made examples of. Any more suggestions? We want this ILLEGAL INVASION and ILLEGAL ACTIVITY to STOP!
TH
When you say “I read how you grilled a guy asking for documentary interviews”, do you mean me personally, or someone on bvbl? Thanks for the response.
Someone else Lafayette. You have always been nice to me and in many ocassions I have changed my mind after reading what you have to say about this issue.
Anonymous:
You ask, “What type of proof must be given that the 17 people living in the house are related in such a way to get around the violation? Did Mr. Chavez knock on the door, ask how many people were residing there and take the verbal answer as proof?”
As the Sopranos would say, “Fuggedaboutit.” The zoning inspector has no police investigatory power, and if the owner/lessee of a house answers, “Todos son mis hermanos” he’s got to accept that. We’ve got to enact a law that makes harboring an alien illegal. Hazleton, PA, had such a law, but it was recently declared unconstitutional on the basis that there was not an acceptable regulatory scheme for identifying who is an illegal alien, because that’s a federal responsibility, and only the feds can do that, said the judge. That decision is being appealed. While there’s no doubt in my mind that decision will eventually be reversed, it would be irresponsible for any local government to enact such an ordinance during the pendancy of the appeal. It would be immediately challenged, and an injunction against enforcement issued because it would be viewed by any federal judge as a challenge to the federal judiciary’s power (which it would be). However, you should keep documenting the coming’s and goings because eventually an ordinance that can be enforced will be passed.
Back to the article in the newspaper that’s the subject of this thread: It could be inferred from the Post’s and MJM’s articles that many of the business owners themselves are illegals. My question is do they have a business license? It’s a federal law (8 USC 1621) that states, counties, and municipalities cannot issue business licenses to illegal aliens. Here’s the language, with all the inapplicable language deleted:
“Notwithstanding any other provision of law . . . an alien . . .is not eligible for any State or local . . . contract, loan, professional license, or . . . commercial license provided by an agency of a State or local government . . . .“
Are PWC, Manassas, and the Park inquiring about the legal residency of applicant’s for business licenses? There’s a pretty simple process for governments to go thru to check if someone is illegal (called SAVE). Do the businesses actually have licenses? Next time you go out for a taco (or borscht, or Irish stew), ask to see their business license.
Anon @ 3:55pm
What type of proof? Good question, however I don’t know exactly what it takes? My first thought is do NOT assign Sr. Chavez to the case. All the occupant of the house has to say they are related, and the burden of proof is on the county. One time Sr. Chavez was supposed to inspect 9700, and he went to 9701, there was trash overflowing out onto the street. The complaintant has pictures of Sr. Chavez, going to the wrong house. There are several more instance. Too many details for here. I would ask that you please, have Greg L, give you my email and/or phone number. I have big chapter on their “leader” Ms. Michelle Casciatio, who in my opinion doesn’t care one bit that he goes to the wrong place. I hated her Quaterly Report to the PWCBOS, mostly it was her attitude. I especially didn’t like how she said they 267 unfounded complaints. I know of three instances in that count that weren’t even checked out. I swear I could write a book if I had the talent.
Please, have Greg put you in touch with me. We really should discuss this further.
I will try and find out if there’s an appeal process, I doubt there is. I guess just call the violation back in, and demand they don’t send Sr. Chavez.
Maybe Patty, will come online and elaborate more. Do you live in WestGate or Sudley?
TH
Thank you, I must say I do have some pretty compelling true stories of our community.
Lafayette,
Our favorite car finally moved sometime between 2:30 and 3:00 pm.
Advocator,
I’ve been copying down license plate numbers but I don’t think I can take pictures of individuals but I’ll probably have to get more detailed in my documentation.
Anonymous,
If you called Mr. Chavez about a property code violation, Good Luck! He pretty much called me a liar on two violations that I called in to PCE. Fortunately I had pictures of the violations. I informed him of that and then he apologized especially after I told him I was going to send copies to my Supervisor’s office.
I really suggest that if you know of property code violations, take pictures. The only thing is that you can’t take pictures of people, but you can take pictures of cars and trash.
I called the Manassas City Overcrowding hotline recently about a house on our street…screen door open…..mega cars in the driveway and street…..and I was very disappointed in the response I got. He (will have to see if I can find his name on my notes) said that the house in question had just been inspected in March and everything was fine - no overcrowding. I told him that a lot of people can move into a house in five months, that they should probably inspect again. Because when they inspected, was soon after the purchase of the home. I also mentioned the open screen door to him. His reply, “we have found nothing to substantiate that an open screen door indicates that rooms are being rented to illegal aliens.” He then went on to say (this blew my mind) that they have asked people with open screen doors what it means and one response they got was that the door was broken, and in an effort to keep the wind from catching it, they propped it open. I just started laughing and asked him - “so you just took their word for it? Of course they are going to lie about it. What are they going to tell you, that it is a sign that rooms are for rent?” This inspector can’t be that naive, or maybe it’s just sheer laziness? We ended in a heated discussion and it was a waste of time. I plan to call the fire marshall next.
And, as Advocator suggested, take LOTS of photos!
Patty,
Who ended up picking up the trash(when he went to 9701, and 9700)?
manassascityresident
I’m NOT glad to see you having the same problems as us in the county. However, with so many hard working “undocumented immigrants”=ILLEGAL ALIENS, why don’t they fix their storm doors if that were truly the case. I’m laughing so hard, and the fact of the matter is this is NOT one damn bit funny.
Lafayette -
There were so many things I should have asked him while I had him on the phone….
He asked me “what makes you think that they are illegal?” and I should have IMMEDIATELY asked him, “what makes you think they’re not?”
I was really put-off by having to defend myself and my concerns…..
BTW - one of my friends stopped you to ask about your HSM sticker on your car…..
Patty,
Why do you think you cannot take pictures of people? I believe…operative word here….believe….that you can.
Does anyone here know of a valid reason pictures cannot be taken of people?
Meanwhile, keep up the good work. You do a lot of good for our respective neighborhoods.
Anonymous…your choice of the dreaded “R” word is so creative and original…what a mind less.
Dolph
We CAN take pictures of people. We are dealy with some illegal aliens, and potntial gang members. I try not to take pictures of faces. You should come on a ride along with me. I think I just missed you.
corr
DEALING with some illegals aliens, and POTENTIAL gang members.
manassascityresident
Yes, she did. I need to get one of those stickers and flags from you. I think she knows where to find me. I will keep my eyes out for her. I’m not hard to find at all by my postings. I hope to be intouch with you soon, away from here. No offense to bvbl.
Lafay -
I email her regularly, so I’ll have her keep her eyes peeled for you too -
I would leave my website address, but don’t want to take advantage of the blog.
thanks
manassascityresident
If I don’t catch up with her soon, I’m always at the HSM meetings. I pretty sure you and I have commented about the same things there last meeting.
There was a report on Channel 9 news at 6 pm about the strike team in Fairfax that is taking action on the overcrowding issue there. Couldn’t find the video, but here is the story: http://www.timescommunity.com/site/tab5.cfm?newsid=18704042&BRD=2553&PAG=461&dept_id=506096&rfi=6
Just heard on channel 8 news that the Herndon Day Labor Center will stay open for another year. HOWEVER, the current operator of the center will be hitting the road in a couple months and if I understood correctly, the new operator will have to check the legality of the workers.
Thanks Dolph, I just thought that it would be difficult to take pictures of people without getting their faces. I’m not sure if they would call police on me for harassment.
Lafayette,
The first time I called about the trash at 9700, it finally got picked up and put with the trash cans. I figured that Mr. Chavez got through to them but the next week it happened again and I believe that time my neighbor picked it up because it ended up in the road in front of his house.
By the way 9703 got another visit from the guy who lives at 9700. Called the police but don’t know if they talked to the man. I spoke with the homeowner twice today. They are not happy about people going onto his propety that are not supposed to be there. Makes a great selling point. I’m being sarcastic.
I sent you an e-mail. I’m fed up with PWC police!
Patty,
If they are illegal aliens I doubt if you get reported. Do you have a zoom lens? We could have a Sudley/Westgate rogue gallery. Seriously, it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to have pictures of people living in the ‘hood who might have false identities.
What’s good enough for store surveillance should be good enough for Patty. grin.
Not all of those living in Alexandria/Arlington support illegal immigration.
I am one who favors enforcement, grassroots organizations and patriotism. The “we cant find and deport millions” is a fake scare tactic in my opinion. Deport a few, make it uncomfortable for them to live in our communities, make it hard for them to find a job, give them harsh punishments for crimes and they will go home.
Start a Help Save Fairfax, let it get going and growing, keep it unaffiliated with one political party. If that works then a Help save Arlington/Alexandria has a chance and I’d consider getting involved.
I know you guys realize this but these organizations must demonstrate (beyond reason sometimes) that their motives are lawful and fair. Welcome people into the group and keep unnecessary politics out.
Good Luck!
If you want to do it incognito use a cell phone with a micro SD card and the ability to zoom in. That way you can take photos while it looks like you are looking up info on your phone.
Anyone interested in participating the in the establishment of a “Help Save” chapter in their locality should send me an email. There’s a lot going on, and new chapters are rapidly starting to form.
The screen door issue is quite funny isn’t it? The amazing thing is…I only find screen doors propped open in the Sudley Manor area (the center of gravity of the illegal alien population). Outside of that area I do not see this phenomenon (except in other known illegal alien areas). I do have a question…if these doors are broken, why not just take the door off? Additionally, I guess doors only break in the illegal alien communities for some reason? That is simply amazing!
Patriot,
maybe we should take a walk with high powered leaf blowers and clean the side walks cough:)
Patriot, that was me
The propped open screen door is a long well known fact that it advertises a room for rent….people in Arlington County even make jokes about it. I heard about it at least 10 years ago in Wheaton, MD. I can understand the general public not knowing but there is no way an inspector would not know that. In fact, in Montgomery County (after they had that horrible fire killing all the people in the basement), the open screen door was one of the methods the fire dept. used when they were trying to educate people about smoke detectors for rentals. Of course these rentals were not legal registered rentals, so the fire dept. people had to figure out a way to get the free detectors to people that weren’t registered as landlords. The open screen door was at least a way to offer the detectors to the homes who had a room for rent. Now if the liberal Mont. Co. officials even acknowledge the screen door, why are the PW officials so in the dark.
This kind of stuff drives me crazy. When something is very obvious and an official (whose salary is paid by my tax dollars) is so stubborn and refuses to acknowledge the truth, it makes me crazy. If that inspector is that clueless about the clues involving zoning regulations, then he should be re-educated or fired. Of course a screen door could be broken, but to pretend that 40 screen doors in a neighborhood are all coincidentally broken is lying to the public.
County building inspectors would be crawling all over any one of us for other violations. God forbid, you put in a cooktop downstairs in a million dollar home for entertaining, but have 40 people living in your home with hotplates plugged in every bedroom with no ventilation and we’ll just say your screen door is broken.
God forbid you build a 11 x 15 shed in backyard without a permit but it is okay to move a family into your shed because we’ll just believe that they are your cousins visiting from Guatamala.
God forbid that your overhead light for your deck stairs is 21 feet from the stairs instead of 20′, but you can fill your deck with 87 bags of garbage because you have so many people living with you that the trash accumulates before pick up day. We’ll just say your family throws away a lot of stuff.
God forbid that you don’t license your daughter’s new puppy with the county and he accidentally gets out, but you can have a rooster with little metal spurs and we’ll believe he’s just the family pet and part of your culture.
God forbid, you park your in-laws park their RV on a county street when visiting their grandchildren but if 32 total strangers want to live in your basement, we’ll just say your screen door is broken.
Why are we the ones who have to play by the rules but no one else does?
I wish the county would put even a fraction of the inspection effort they put into other types of inspections into this particular kind of zoning violations.
Patriot
We have three houses on my block that vacated, and they all had the storm doors open. We now have only 1 open storm door. I’m so happy.
Have you noticed in this same area, early mornings workers are now waiting on corners instead of getting picked up at their storm door houses? I’ve seen three of these “bus stops” the last three mornings early.
Lafayette,
I noticed “bus stops” recently up the street from me, funny you brought it up.
Perhaps our BOCS need to be enlightened about the storm door situation and they will direct their employees to take notice and investigate these signs of violation.
I don’t accept the zoning officers not knowing about this phenomena. If *I* know about it, then they should know about it. It is their job to know.
The doors probably ARE broken, from flapping around in the wind so much. Fix them or take them down. Seems simple enough. 9703’s storm door wasn’t broken when the owner sold, yet it was broken a week later? Probably from all the 12 plus people who immediately moved in.
redawn
Is that basement for rent sign and Hummer still up the street from you? On the corner towards my house?
I haven’t noticed the house you are talking about? email me the address and I will check on the way home
Re: Ignorance about screen doors -
It comes as no surprise to me. Of course the overcrowding division in the City knows exactly what it means. They, like Charlie Deane, just don’t want to have to do their job. It’s as simple as that.
Charlie Deane worries that the resolution will strain relations with the immigrant community - but if there were no illegals, there would probably be less crime. And with less crime, why would you need to have a “SPECIAL” relationship with the immigrant community? Get my point?
Deane must go - keep the pressure on him, or let’s try to get rid of him.
As far as I’m concerned if we get a better police chief, we’ll get a better police force. There are two laws in this county. One for citizens and one for illegals. The citizens get hammered even if they walk down the sidewalk the wrong way and the illegals can get away with murder just as long as they say no hablo engles.
I’ve had enough of PWC police after yesterday!!!!
What happened Patty?
One thing…Manassas City Resident…please work on your own police chief first before you try to influence us on ours.
When the Last Illegal is out of PWC/Manassas then I will be one happy black man!