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Help Save Manassas Responds
By Greg L | 24 August 2007 | Manassas Park | 17 Comments
Help Save Manassas has issued a statement in response to Manassas Park’s Governing Board smearing the concerns expressed by their constituents as the pursuit of a “vigilante agenda”, and strongly rebutted the arguments made that the City of Manassas Park can do nothing to protect it’s residents. Let’s see if the mainstream media covers this in anywhere near the detail as it did when one council member called a significant portion of the electorate a bunch of racists, and another referred to the concerns expressed by others as calling for “ethnic cleansing”. I’ve heard from veterans who have seen what actual “ethnic cleansing” looks like, and they are none to pleased with this kind of irresponsible hyperbole.
From the statement:
The term “vigilante” refers to those who take the law into their own hands, often violently and summarily, without recourse to lawful procedures. Help Save Manassas does not, and has never supported vigilantism, and instead has educated citizens on the issue of illegal immigration and helped them effectively engage with their elected officials to seek responsible legislative solutions in Prince William County, Manassas, and Manassas Park. We call on the Manassas Park Governing Board which has unanimously endorsed this false statement to either substantiate it, or retract it.
Anyone unfamiliar with the effects of the current policies of Manassas Park towards it’s illegal alien population will see a strong example of how this is not only impacting the residents of Manassas Park, but those in surrounding jurisdictions. How’s this for a timely example?
Help Save Manassas takes further exception to the position stated by the Governing Board that there is nothing they can do to protect the interests of their citizens from the large number of illegal aliens which reside in Manassas Park. Recently, a person who was driving without a license was apprehended by the Manassas Park Police Department, and was released from custody after providing three false identities. This person is suspected in the murder of Manassas City resident Breneley Ester Lessing-Yanes on the day after he was released from custody on a $1,000 bond. The address the suspect in this case provided to police, which they apparently never bothered to confirm, is that of a vacant lot behind a 7-11 on Ashton Avenue in the City of Manassas. Had Manassas Park’s Governing Board taken a no tolerance policy toward illegals aliens who commit crimes, participation in the Section 287(g) program might have been earlier implemented to include deportations for any offense within Manassas Park and Jose Martinez-Zeron would have been in the custody of ICE on August 14th. Instead, he is suspected of committing the first homicide in the city of Manassas in 2007.
The statement concludes with this:
If redress of the concerns of Manassas Park’s residents cannot be effected through legislative action, the citizens of Manassas Park ultimately have a right to effect redress through the democratic process.
Is the Governing Board going to realize it just kicked over a hornets nest here? Or will politics in Manassas Park start changing dramatically before the citizens get their next opportunity to weigh in about who should be their elected representatives in the City?
This is going to be mighty interesting to watch.
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17 Comments
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Excellent.
Greg,
The one thing they will respond back with, just wait and see, is that they did not mention anyone by name. But we all know no other group has tried to engage the M.P. elected officials.
My contention is, they put the statement out in response to HSM inquiries on their position to this issue. Did they honestly think we would go away and let this matter drop?
Maureen, as a group, they are the most corrupt and inept public officials I have ever encountered. What is truly beyond reason is that it doesn’t seem to matter WHO gets elected to the MP Council, they all either succumb to the same malady or only the corruptible seem to want the job. I know that there are good people in Manassas Park…I really wish they would step forward.
A little post script here: I suddenly occurred to me that Rishell’s home base is Manassas Park. Is this merely a coincidence?
Is it ALSO a coincidence that she and the MP city council started making noises about a “livability court” at the same time?
OK
What is the “livability Court”? I had not heard of that concept before.
It would be a separate court to adjudicate things like overcrowding complaints. I don’t know much more about it than that–seems pretty useless to me, the existing court should be fine.
The citizens of Manassas Park, must get involved.
MANASSAS PARK LEGAL CITIZENS NEED TO DO THE FOLLOWING:
1) Join HSM
2) Come to the HSM meeting at Stonewall Middle 8/29/07. Bring your concerned family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers.
3) Contact the Governing Board, regarding the presense of ILLEGAL ALIENS in their city.(Call, fax, e-mail, and snail mail)
4) Go to the Governing Body Meeting, and address them on your concerns of ILLEGAL ALIENS in the City of Manassas Park.
5) When you spot zoning/building violations CONTACT THE CITY OF MANASSAS PARK. There’s lot of “Mystery Mansions” in the Park.
6) Engcourage all to do the same.
Remember, the Governing Board will ONLY hear from Manassas Park residents at citizen’s time. This is not how PWC or MC conduct business, and thank God they don’t. With that being said it is up to you MANASSAS PARK!!
Where was even a single soul from the park this morning?
By this morning I mean at MP Shopping Center, to sign folks up for HSM.
http://helpsavemanassas.org/index.php
Lafayette, what you fail to realize is there are several citizens who are addressing illegal immigration and its effects, such as residential overcrowding, in Manassas Park in our HOAs, with the city (from the overcrowding perspective), as well as our state and federal leaders. We don’t want to join HSM - no interest at all. We don’t need to join HSM to work for change. The OTB situation, where both sides had people from outside the city, left a bad taste in our mouths.
If you went to the shopping center to sign up people for HSM, you were clearly in the wrong place. I live very close and I don’t even shop there (save the occassional trip to Guapo’s.)
Anonymous, a few things.
(1)There is NO HOA on the west side of the city for those single-family homes. (There is in the townhouse community).
(2)OTB would affect many people outside of the city. I remember very well the whining that took place in MP when PWC approved a development, Walker Station, that would be accessible only off Manassas Drive. It works both ways, you know.
(3)People are meeting at the MP shopping center to sign people up in MP neighborhoods.
Finally, a question:
Which of the useless MP city council members are you?
BTW. I live in MP. In retrospect maybe I should have not bought a house here. But I did, figuring that maybe, just maybe, all that negative stuff I heard about MP isn’t true.
So far I haven’t been proven right….
I am a useless community activist who attends the Governing Board meetings from time to time and wastes time on a variety of issues that affect my family. If you don’t want to live here, by all means sell. We are doing the same - to move to another house in town. I love and value my community.
Anon@8:52am
You fail to realize that only “SEVERAL CITIZENS”, addressing the GB of MP, won’t change much. Futhermore, the older section of the Park doesn’t have a HOA. I guess you live in the “elite new section of MP”. We walked the streets of the old part of the Park, and I saw “Mystery Mansions”, vacant houses, an Uninhabitable property, a burned house, and many open storm doors. I get so sick and tired of listening to the people of the Park cry, and yet do nothing. I’ve said this many times before I live in PWC, and MP & MC are just a 10 minute walk away for me. Imagine how fast a criminal could run to PWC from the two cities. The two cities sit smack dab in the middle of the county. The county is doing something about immigration, and the Park must do something to. I’m very passionate about this problem. However, I’m at a point that quite frankly I don’t care what happens in the Park. Only the citizens can help the selves or join HSM.
No elite here… behind Uhaul. We have lots of overcrowding here. Don’t make so make so many assumptions. People outside MP think Westside or Blooms and don’t even realize that people live in between. That’s part of the problem. We get no attention. I was at the GB meeting a month ago and it’s not like it is the first time I have been there, so no crying and doing nothing here either. I focus on the overcrowding issue, because it isn’t just Latinos that are the source of MP’s problems. Lots of white and black folks living ten to a house, hogging parking, and throwing trash everywhere. HSM won’t help me with that. So, before you come here, why don’t you educate yourself about all aspects of my community, not just the ones you choose to see.
anon
I know the exact area you speak of. I agree that area needs attention. I see the same violations here in WestGate/Sudley, and yes the blacks and white are guilty of violations too. Maybe, you don’t realize I share these very same concerns trash and parking. Heck, it took weeks to get the rats even looked at around here. I do believe at least in the county the HOA’s aren’t enforcing their restrictions that could really help control this problem. I think folks that live in a HOA neighborhood should attend all meetings and address their Association Board. I do believe these are quality of life issues, and there’s no pricetag that can be put on loss of quality of life.
“I think folks that live in a HOA neighborhood should attend all meetings and address their Association Board.”
In my neighborhood, in MP, the HOA has never managed to get a quorum during the annual meeting. They usually have to reschedule. People can’t even be bothered to send their proxy cards in. They didn’t get a quorum this year and have yet to reschedule the meeting. (It’s been 3 months).
What is with the apathy in MP? Nobody, not even “concerned community activist” anonymous above spoke at the budget hearing several months ago. The governing body interprets this silence as acceptance of their actions and policies.
I suppose the question is, are we in MP getting the government we deserve based on the apathy in this city?
FYI, the 8/29 Washington Compost did an opinion piece supporting MP’s position. I found in the online comments this excellent one:
“Deja Vu – this sounds so much like the previous Herndon Mayor, Michael O’Reilly, and most of the Town Council … just before they were tossed out on their ears and replaced with a new Mayor and Council that recognized the rights of legal residents take precedence over the “comforts” of illegal aliens.
Anyone want to place a virtual bet that Mayor Frank Jones and council members will be equally stunned when the Park voters kick them to the curb in the next election when the voters elect a new, more legal resident-friendly Mayor and council?”