Manassas Park Incumbents Motivated By What Is Wrong
By Greg L | 22 June 2008 | Manassas Park | 17 Comments
Manassas Park Vice-Mayor Bryan Polk made some stunningly frank comments to the Manassas Journal-Messenger this week that Republicans might want to take note of. It kinda goes a long way towards explaining why Manassas Park has the highest local tax rate in the region, and has embarked on a spending spree on capital improvements that leaves the city burdened with long-term debt that it absolutely cannot afford.
According to Manassas Park Vice Mayor Bryan Polk, toeing the party line isn’t necessary at the local level.
Apparently, keeping taxes low and exercising fiscal discipline “isn’t necessary”, since Polk believes voters will re-elect him despite his role in the City’s ongoing fiscal crisis. I suspect voters might not be so pleased that he abandoned his campaign promises and voted for huge spending projects at the very time the City’s tax base was eroding, partly because the Manassas Park government has been harassing their commercial property owners to leave when their locations are coveted for commercial redevelopment projects that the city inevitably loses money on.
The good thing about Manassas Park people involved in leadership is they’re influenced more by what is right or wrong for Manassas Park and less by party affiliation and party mantra. (emphasis added)
It’s hard to disagree with that.
His co-conspirator Keith Miller echoes this sentiment:
[Keith] Miller said going the independent route wasn’t a stretch because he does not consider himself a hard-core conservative.
One might well wonder whether Miller, or Polk for that matter, are conservative at all. They clearly don’t consider themselves Republicans, having abandoned the Party. I’d say this is probably a good thing for the Republican Party in Manassas Park however, since being associated with these spending profligates would certainly dilute what Republicans stand for.
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Manassas Park DOES have a conservative Republican running against Polk, Miller . His name is Brian Leeper-
also some conservative democrats ( yes it sounds like an oxymoron) are running who are opposed to the big spending and tax hikes.
ANYBODY has got to be better than what you’ve got there now!!
Who is Brian Leeper? What is his background?
Since figured out that he is/was on the BZA…
My background is as follows:
In late 2000 I bought a house in Belmont Station and moved into the City of Manassas Park. I was then 24 years old and I really hadn’t thought about politics much, like many young people. Things change when you buy a house. Now you have a stake in the community.
That is when I decided that I am a Republican. I believe in the ideals of the Republican party, and I believe that they are what is best for our City.
Some have claimed that party politics do not matter at the local level.
I do not believe that is true. When I vote for a Republican for City Council, I expect that they will uphold Republican principles when they serve in office. If they do not intend to do so, they should not be running as Republicans.
I pledge to uphold conservative Republican principles and ideals. There is no other reason for me to be a Republican, and, I would expect, no other reason for you to vote for me.
My participation in the Republican party is not passive. As one example, in 2006 I participated in the 50th district convention at Osbourn High School which selected Jackson Miller as our Republican candidate for 50th district delegate(incidentally, I voted for Jackson Miller at that convention).
If you believe that Republican ideals are what is best for Manassas Park, I would appreciate your vote on November 4, 2008.
Brian Leeper
brian.leeper@gmail.com
It’s distressing to me that we need a phrase like “conservative Republicans”. Republicans are SUPPOSED to be conservative.
I suppose some will want to know what it is that I do for a living and some other information.
I work for EDS. I am a network security analyst for a large state network that includes K12 schools, libraries, government offices, and colleges. I have recently passed my CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional) certification: https://www.isc2.org/cgi-bin/content.cgi?category=97
Prior to that I worked as a Unix Systems administrator for two companies, one a nationwide ISP (now operating under the name Megapath) and the other a large dedicated server hosting company which was purchased by NTT and now operates under the NTT name.
I did dialup support for Erol’s Unlimited Internet in the mid 90s.
I also did computer repair and service for a local company, V2 Systems (now located in Manassas Park) prior to working at Erol’s.
I first moved here from Illinois in 1988. I lived in Prince William County for several years, then lived in the City of Manassas prior to buying a house and moving to the City of Manassas Park.
My hobbies are computers, automotive repair, DIY home improvement, and electronics. I have always been interested in science and technology and I enjoy learning about how things work and figuring out ways to make them work better.
“Since figured out that he is/was on the BZA…”
I was appointed to serve on the BZA, as well as the EDA (Economic Development Authority, formerly known as the IDA, industrial development authority).
However, due to Virginia state law, a person cannot simultaneously serve on both the BZA and the EDA at the same time, so I was forced to choose.
Since I strongly believe that the City of Manassas Park needs more economic development, I chose to serve on the EDA which I believed would allow me to help accomplish that goal.
As a result, I have never served on the BZA.
So Brian, if you are a Democrat or an Independent, what do you have to offer? Stating merely that you are a Republican isn’t going to cut it with me as a voter. I need more of a reason to cast my ballot for you.
I am the Republican nominee for City Council.
I believe we need more control of city spending, particularly when residential real estate values are dropping. I am glad that City Council had decided to terminate efforts to acquire land for new City Hall, however, it concerns me that they waited 6 months to do so.
I thought it was a bad idea 6 months ago, and I thought it was apparent that residential real estate values were declining well over a year ago.
My taxes have doubled in 8 years. Has anyone’s salary doubled in that time? Why should I or anyone else in Manassas Park be paying double the taxes we were 8 years ago? Is it because assessments went way up and, well, a city with $400k townhomes needs the sort of amenities that go along with $400k townhomes?
Too bad those $400k townhomes are going for $150k now.
Isn’t it time to face the reality that we cannot continue spending money as we have? Everyone who is reading this who is in control of their finances has had to make some cutbacks. It seems reasonable to expect that our City will have to make some cutbacks as well.
We have a situation in Manassas Park where we do not have a strong commercial base. I remember why Digital Drive was named that. It was supposed to be for commercial development, which did not happen and now most of Digital Drive is zoned PUD[1]. Planned Unit Development. More residential. More of what we really don’t need right now. Particularly when we have so many houses for sale in the City. [Most developers are holding back on building new developments right now due to the housing slowdown, so the land will sit idle till at least as long as it takes for the housing decline to start reversing itself]
I believe that the City of Manassas Park needs to work more with our neighbors, Prince William and Manassas. Many of the problems we are facing are not unique to us, and believe me, Manassas Park issues affect our neighbors as much as their issues affect us.
I believe that off-track betting is no solution to the city’s economic issues.
In fact, I believe that as long as off-track betting remains an option, it will continue to serve as a “safety net” that the City can rely on.
You can’t expect someone to do the hard work when there is an easy way out lurking around the corner. I think off-track betting should be taken off the table as an option. [Currently, right now, it could be brought back up for referendum per Virginia law]. I believe that law should be changed so that it cannot be brought up for referendum, ever. Once it is clear that off-track betting will not be the solution to our problems, perhaps more progress will be made towards finding other solutions.
[1] http://www.cityofmanassaspark.us/Public_Documents/ManassasParkVA_Inspections/Zoning%20Map%20PDF.pdf
Good luck, Brian.
Mr. Leeper,
You may also want to get in touch with the people over at VCDL (www.vcdl.org) and look for the form candidates fill out regarding their views on gun rights. As a republican I would assume that you feel that the rights of the citizens to keep and bear arms is a civil right that you will support and defend.
Good luck in the election and I hope you are able to bring fiscal values back to the MP area.
Way to GO, Brian….what is your position on the soon to be developed Parks and Rec. facility- and - just as importantly on the MP motel/hotels going up all over the city - either by renovation or just overcrowding..???
I spoke at the City Council meeting on August 22, 2007 where I expressed my concern about the “hotels” being developed in the city.
Since then I have found out that in the R1 zoning district, the setback for side yards is only 5 feet from the property line. This means that houses can potentially be just 10 feet from each other.
This is apparently a recent (within the last 10 years) change in the zoning rules for the City, with some unintended consequences.
One of the issues is that if a house is “renovated” for the purpose of turning it into a “hotel” (or, less euphamistically, a flophouse), it reduces that house’s marketability for a single-family buyer, particularly if the renovations were not done to code and without a building permit. Then the buyer is faced with possibly having to do extensive re-renovations to bring the property up to code. Many buyers will not be able to afford these renovations, leading the property to be purchased by an investor who may well just decide to rent it out (potentially with no re-renovation at all) instead of re-renovating and selling.
One potential solution to this catch-22 is the FHA 203(k) loan.[1]
This loan allows the mortgagee to roll the cost of property rehabilitiation into their loan, so long as the purchase price of the property plus the cost of repairs at least equals the value of the property after the repairs are completed.
As far as the rec center goes, my concerns are that:
1)There is already the Freedom Center. Which, incidentally, Manassas Park isn’t a member jurisdiction of. Has any thought been given to the possibility of supporting the already-existing Freedom Center instead of building something new?
2)This rec center will not pay for itself unless it is utilized by paying customers. Given that the economy is not doing all that well, I’m not confident that it will be utilized enough that it won’t start costing the City money that we can ill-afford to pay.
[1]http://www.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/203k/203kmenu.cfm
I suppose I should mention that I believe the City has a vested interest in doing something about overcrowding because it DOES have a negative impact on property values.
How are other jurisdictions dealing with overcrowding and can we learn from them?
I agree with that on the Rec center. This is something that is too extravagant for MP at this time. This should be taken off the table and the bonds issued be reallocated for other more important things, such as Police, Fire/rescue, and the streets and sidewalks. I believe that the school system is adequately funded and by building crystal palaces of Gov’t buildings and schools is not what is needed by the citizens of MP at this time. When the economy improves and MP starts to get more businesses, VA/Fed Government facilities, and High-tech firms, then the “nice-to-have” things can be addressed. VRE should run all the time like Metro. Been on Rt 28 on a Saturday lately? You get my point.
Good luck Brian. We need someone like you to help clean up the fiscal mess in this City.