Our Thin Atmosphere

While the politicos down in Richmond battle over how to tax people to pay for transportation, and I sit here thinking about the price of gas, a friend from college was working on his hobby in Texas. One of his hobbies over the last few years has been to build a photo/video payload lofted with weather balloons to 100k feet, high enough in the atmosphere to capture the curvature of the earth, and the darkness of space.

I would not have considered the two related, but today he posted videos from his third attempt. Part of the posting included this comment "It’s hard to believe that our atmosphere is so thin and extremely fragile".

Earl's High Altitude Photographic Balloon project launch #3 page contains several videos of the launch, the edge of space, then landing and recovery. The recovery was a bit harrowing as the payload came down in a large lake, but luckily it was near the edge and they were able to enlist a boater to assist in the rescue.

That thin fragile atmosphere is all we've got.

(not exactly a Fredericksburg story, but hey, creative license on the application to global environmental issues)

Rappahannock River @ 9' and almost steady

The USGS readings at seem to be up an running. The latest reports are 9.86 ft at 9pm. Here are some afternoon photos as the river passed 9ft (measured the old fashioned way with a sign). These pictures were taken this afternoon, which would indicate that the signage isn't exactly calibrated to the USGS sensors.

Earlier this spring the receiving station for the electronic gauge was damaged due to a lightning strike.

Based on the chart of the river height throughout the day, it seems like the river peaked around 7pm tonight, and has held steady or dropped just slightly. NOAA's advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service is currently forecasting the level to rise to the 10.6ft by 2am.

Won't be launching any boats today

Here is a luck shot I was able to get looking across the boat ramp to the no wake sign. The bird is flying just over one of the pylons holding the edge of the walkway around the boat ramp. Take note of the round things in the water - those are the caps on the pylons.

Here is a photo from a few months ago. See the caps on the pylons? That is all that is visible today. It's hard to read, but the last number at the top of the river gauge in this picture is 9'. I no longer saw this sign sticking out from the water, it must have broken loose.

Fredericksburg Photo Tour

InTheBurg updated photos on Panoramio today of downtown Fredericksburg. This list of places to see and eat will be growing over the next few months as I get the time to take more photos. These should now start showing up on the "explore this area" feature when you use google maps.



LINK FOR RSS readers:
http://www.panoramio.com/plugin.php?lt=38.30343&ln=-77.460465&z=1&k=0&user=1702660

The wall that was

Whatdya know, that cemetery wall got in the way of another bumper. Have you noticed how the police reports discussed almost never include the drivers cause for running into the wall?

Check out the city beat
http://fredericksburg.com/blogs/view?blogger_id=20&p=1210348322

Fburg bloggers overtake FLS

The bloggers have taken over! Ok, maybe its just a short term lead, but today I noticed that Fredericksburg bloggers posted more local articles on 5/7 than the Free Lance-Star. See for yourself over at fburgblogs.com and compare those posts to the RSS local feed for the FLS. This is becoming a more regular occurrence. Its nice to see more and more interest in local reporting.

I can't speak for other bloggers, but web traffic is up on InTheBurg.info over the last two weeks. A large portion of visitors are looking for upcoming event info, particularly the Marine corps half marathon. My hope is that the new visitors to town will also read about other places to visit and feed the local economy.

So to the other bloggers, good job! Keep up the hard work, and I look forward to what's to come!

The Time for Hybrid Vehicles

Last year I traded in a older Dodge Durango that I had really enjoyed for way too many miles. After an extensive search for a replacement, I settled on a new 2008 Ford Escape Hybrid. This vehicle didn't have the amount of interior space, but after really evaluating how often I used that space, I decided to downsize just a bit. The Escape is one of the few hybrids that is rated for towing. Ford doesn't have a factory tow package, but a quick trip to Leonard Building & Truck Accessories on the corner of RT1 and Cowan fixed it right up. I can now use our hitch mount bike rack, and also tow my utility trailer with no problems at all.

The real reason for this post is that this weekend I filled up with gas, and after going a number of miles down RT1 in traffic around 40mph, I was able to snap this picture at a stop light.

The 40mph speed is the sweet spot for the Escape Hybrid. My average tank of gas is getting 31+ mpg, and I expect that even though I started off very high on this tank, it will be back in the mid-30s by the time I'm done. The mileage killer for me is the daily commute to the VRE. It's only a little more than 3 miles, but Ford programmed the hybrid to run for 5 minutes at startup to warm up all of the pollution controls/catalytic converters. So it doesn't get to kick into full electric until I'm pulling into the parking lot. Then in the afternoon, it's a steady climb up a hill, so again, no electric. All-in-all, a very happy customer here.

Kybecca's Semi-Official Opening

[Edit 5/16 - Didn't open this week after all (check their blog), we'll have to wait patiently]

Check out Kybecca's blog post today about their limited opening SOON. ...before getting to try out the new awning, sidewalk, and experience downtown! I wonder if they would consider doing a cheese & cheese event if something happens to the ABC license process?

I've learned in the past not to judge any place by the first say two weeks of operations - remember that this is when everyone from servers to managers are still learning how everything works with a full service. Hopefully there won't be any major stumbling blocks, and everyone likes wine and cheese right? The sidewalk looks great, the awning is pretty impressive, I know their wine selection is great, lets hope that their next adventure is equally successful.

Not sure about the first few weeks, but I did talk with them last night and confirmed that there will be a bottle service arrangement with the store (purchase any bottle at the store, and have it opened at the table for a small surcharge of $10 - much less than ordering a bottle in a restaurant). They are also going to have several dozen wines by the glass. And as with most wine bars, you will also be able to order flights of wine, several sampling sizes at once.

Tomzak Wins City Election

I had the pleasure this evening of being at the celebration party for Tom Tomzak. It was an exciting night, with Mayor Tomzak thankful that it's over with. He pointed out that it took a team, which was the basis of his campaign all along. Here are a few photos from the event. Expect to see lots more tomorrow in the paper, I saw the newspaper (Emily Battle - City Beat) there, along with two radio stations.

Tomzak won by 1901 to only 1085 votes. That's a pretty good referendum on where the city has been over the last 4 years, and shows support for the path the city is going down. 27% of registered voters made it out to the polls today.

In other news Mary Katherine Greenlaw garnered the most votes for an at-large seat. She will be joined by incumbent Kerry Devine.

I have video, but the audio didn't turn out that great, so for now we have to do with just photos.

Bacon's Rebellion: Second Battle of Fredericksburg

Over at Bacon's Rebellion is an extensive article on Kalahari:
Bacon's Rebellion: Second Battle of Fredericksburg

Siblings, NASCAR, Horse Racing & Beer

Notes from around the web today:

I always knew it, now for all of us ‘oldest’ kids, we have a study supporting our long founded belief that we had it tougher as reported by MSNBC http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24397323

And now I know why I watch NASCAR instead of horse racing. They both go around a circle turning left, but in NASCAR when cars two and three bump into each other, it’s only bruised feelings and some angry fans to deal with, not having to watch a racehorse be euthanized. Although I can’t be completely innocent on this one, I did enjoy a mint julep on Sat in celebration of the derby. Take a look at the differences in the sports, years ago when a racing legend died in a late race accident, the sanctioning body imposed extensive safety equipment requirements (head and neck restraints, better seats, safer barriers on the race track walls, and eventually designed a new car with a better roll cage and cushioning foam). Where have the safety improvements been in horse racing?

Finally, for anyone that isn’t enjoying the re-emergence of beer, let me point out the good publicity it’s been getting lately. Again MSNBC has an article on 6 festivals worth visiting http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24411928/ …I also point anyone locally to our very own regional blog Musings Over A Pint at http://vadavid.blogspot.com/

Fridays and other happenings this weekend

Friday night we headed out to First Fridays (Finally Fridays, but on the first friday for the first few weeks). By 8 the place was filling up.


The wishing trees had a variety of strings tied to them. This one I thought was particularly thought provoking.


Doing double duty. This guy was rocking the keyboards, while adjusting the sounds. I don't think I ever heard him skip a beat.


The kids (and earlier some adults) enjoyed the tree climb.


It was a great night, some great old dance songs, a little reggae, beach tunes. What an evening to be out on the town.

We followed last night up this morning with a trip out to the school for the hurricane supplies drill, where the gaurd and scouts loaded us up with three cases of water (I wonder where the tarps and other supplies were?) . Then we went downtown to the market, found our favorite lamb sausage and homemade butter. After that it was time to head east on Rt3 to Mayfest XXII to benefit RAAI (RASCB). We ended up with a car full of flowers and plants, and even managed to win an item from the raffle. The weekend has started off with a bang! Now off to go dig in the dirt for a little while.

Sat 5/3 Emergency Drill

From the City Website, distribution of hurricane supplies this Saturday:

April 29, 2008
FREDERICKSBURG AREA CITIZENS INVITED TO PARTICIPATE
IN EMERGENCY DISTRIBUTION DRILL
Contact: Eddie Allen, Fire Chief/Emergency Services Coordinator, 540-372-1059
The City of Fredericksburg is participating in a Point of Distribution exercise in cooperation
with the Virginia’s Department of Emergency Management and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Saturday, May 3.
Beginning at 9 a.m. at the Walker Grant Upper Elementary School parking lot at 1 Learning
Lane, area citizens are invited to participate by driving their cars through the designated lane to pick up supplies that would be especially useful in the event of a hurricane: plastic tarps, bottled water and Meals-Ready-to-Eat (MREs).
Under the Commonwealth’s Point of Distribution guidelines, localities are expected to set up
Points of Distribution locations in order to assist citizens during times of state emergency or disasters.
“Exercises like this allow both the City and its residents to practice what would actually take place in the event of a natural disaster or emergency,” Fire Chief Eddie Allen said.
Citizens from the Fredericksburg area are encouraged to participate. Several companies have
donated supplies for this event, including Wal-Mart, the Nestle Corporation, Hertz Rental Equipment and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The exercise begins at 9 a.m. and ends either at 11 a.m., or when supplies are exhausted.

The Great Train Race & Caboose Run

Just saw this in the FLS today. The Great Train Race is an 18 and under 1 mile race through downtown Fredericksburg on Sunday May 4th. The Caboose Run is a shorter non-competitive run for 5 and under.

More info at http://www.runfarc.com/GreatTrainRace.php

Note: at the time of this posting the course map link wasn't working. I found this map at the USATF site:

Illegal Immigration Costs - The Other Side

I'm not one to shy away from a good debate, and I don't always take the popular sides of a story. That's sort of the point of having a blog - but I'm going to attempt to back up my article here with some factual data, and draw some information together in a way that I believe makes sense.

Today over at Bacon's Rebellion, Jim Bacon wrote a bit discussing his take on an article in the Washington Post by Amy Gardner. He took issue with the way information was presented, but I believe he twisted a key fact in the article. He translated "foreign-born families" to "Illegal immigrants". This is a common problem I'm seeing more often in the debate on illegal immigration. The post article is about the migration of 759 students out of the Prince William County ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes to other Northern VA communities. PWC is claiming this saved them $6M in education costs.

The article specifically states that these are just foreign-born families, not illegal immigrants. It goes on to state later in the article that several families may have one member that is illegal, but nowhere does it state that the students, nor the immediate parents are illegal. Which brings me back to my dislike of a number of posts and media statements by officials. At some point, emphasising illegal immigration offends the legal population to a point that disenfranchises a group of the population. Obviously PWC has created an unfriendly environment for a group of residents, who thankfully are doing something about it, they are pulling their children from the schools and probably taking their business elsewhere. As that population migrates to other localities, they take with them their legally earned incomes, will frequent businesses in those locals, and work to reinforce development outside of PWC. Just looking at the finances of PWC, this article talked about $6M in education expenses, while on April 6th, PWC staff stated that the enforcement costs were already $6.9M. A net loss of 900k, without even looking at the retail or income tax revenue. One division is being shortsighted by considering offset costs as savings, and the county is using spin to only point to savings while ignoring expenses.

On April 7th, the Daily Press reported that long time crab picking operations in VA, MD and NC are suffering from not being able to get visas for their long time migrant help. These are workers that have legally worked in these small businesses for years, many who return to the same job year after year. These businesses have advertised their $14 per hour jobs and simply haven't been able to make up for the missing workforce.

I grew up in the farmland of Virginia (yes, it really exists - I have many more stories for other posts). This area was also very dependent on migrant labor. Many of these folks became family. It was their families and children that made up a large percentage of the local ESOL classes. It was those parents that helped the farms be profitable. The farms in turn paid a significant portion of the business taxes for the county, the county and state received income taxes, the families returned money to the community for good and services, which generated more jobs. This work was geared toward the migrant community, that would work south in the winter months, and move North as the growing season expanded. When I go to the farmers market, and I see reasonably priced produce, I know that it's affordable because of the likely help of those immigrant workers. Some find jobs that allow them to stay in town year round, others still move around with the seasons. Luckily for them, a variety of opportunities now exist for them to become more settled (how did you like that wine you had the other night). I could go on but you get the picture.

Ok, so I know that a number of people are going to post comments, or think of comments about the expense of supporting an illegal portion, that this isn't following the law. I didn't say that either, I said that we can't alienate a society of contributing humans. Teach a person to fish and you feed them for a lifetime! Shouldn't we be expending energy trying to get those people that want to contribute, those that want to be part of American culture, to do the things they need to do to be legal? My friends have heard my harp on the talk of in state tuition for illegal immigrant children. These young adults who were brought here and worked hard enough to qualify for college, who have the financial capacity to pay for college, and people want to turn them away? If we educate them, and graduate them, they become part of the solution, not part of the problem. A wise solution would be to require them to take a freshman class that gets them citizenship (yes, laws would be needed to allow them to gain citizenship). They would have to pay for the class and pass the citizenship tests, but then they would be set for the remaining 2-4 years of college.

The current way of handling illegal immigration ala PWC is broken (yes, that's my opinion, but I'll admit to it being an opinion). It's time to get creative, stop thinking in-the-box.

Thankfully, Fredericksburg has not put this in the forefront, especially considering it's an election year. My wife and I are considering an Au Pair, and today I wondered if the country they came from would make a difference in how they were treated once here. Would they get hassled? If I lived in PWC, I would start to wonder when I might be called to bring a visa to the courthouse after a traffic stop.

FYI - I started to write about the whole prejudiced treatment, but being a caucasion guy, some would say I have no standing to talk about it. It pisses me off to see the way illegal and immigration are lumped together, I see comments and words in replies that bring back reminders of growing up in a racially divided local. I read about profiling (note the minimal requirement of suspicion for PWC cops). For anyone that wants to read more, start here. Maybe one night when I feel like imparting more VA history on folks I'll talk about growing up near Farmville VA.

Tornado Sighting Map

Here is a creative use of a internet app to supplement online information:

While researching the storms in Suffolk VA, I was on the VA Pilot Online website (local nespaper for the tidewater region). On the left side of the page was a google map applet/widget with markers for sightings, the emergency shelter, and other markers. Turns out that the VA Pilot is using online maps to supplement several of their stories. With Googles 'my maps' interface, anyone can do this.

Tornado Sightings, Damaged Homes and Shelter Locations, click view larger for full descriptions of markers.

View Larger Map

Here is a link to all their story maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps/user?uid=105885191028680103487&hl=en&gl=us&ptab=2

This is a very good way to supplement written text and photos. The ability to integrate apps from across different sources is changing the way online articles are being written.

Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon in Fredericksburg, VA

2009 INFO HERE

[4/24 Update on Official Street Closings]
Fredericksburg VA is going to host the Marine Corp Historic Half next month.
Stats:
May 18th
Start Time 7AM
5,000 Participants (Filled in 2 Weeks)
13.1 Miles

Below I have created a Google route of the course map, each marker indicates the water locations. (If viewing in an RSS feed, you may need to open the story, click here)


View Larger Map

One minor error, the course is going to [EDIT thanks to City Girl] use the canal path to get from Fall Hill back to RT1. Google doesn't have a street here, so the map goes down Normandy Ave around the shopping center. That's probably where the extra 0.2 miles comes from in the distance.

I haven't seen any documents of official places to watch, but here would be my suggestions.

1. In and around UMW/Sunken Rd. This is a tree lined area, with lots of shade.
2. Cowan Blvd should be fun, you get to see the pack at the start, and also the thrill of the chase (uphill) near the end.
3. Old Mill Park, plus there is parking
4. Anywhere along Riverside Drive. Plus when there are no runners, you get to enjoy the river.
5. Start/Finish Line. Surely there will be plenty of parking in Celebrate VA and Central Park. Along with other activities during the day.
6. Princess Anne & Caroline Streets should be active places. The reason this is low on my list is because of the limited sidewalks. Hopefully the city will restrict parking downtown to give people more room for a block party atmosphere to watch the race. PARK IN THE GARAGE. (Hint Hint, if downtown plans adequately for this, I'll consider moving it up the list.)
7. [Updated based new route information] If you leave near Normandy Ave, you might be able to use one of the Canal Path Bridges to watch from. Again, nice and sheltered from the sun. This part of the run is going to be narrow, which might make for some interesting strategy, however, I'm not sure if there are going to be good viewing locations since it's the area is designed for people to stay on the pathway.

More info here: http://www.marinecorpshistorichalf.com/
Map w/Elevation: www.usatf.org/routes/view.asp?rID=210414

[update 4/24] Just received this from a friend at the City:

Street Closings on May 18, 2008
6:50 - 7:30 Carl D Silver Pkwy (CDSP) southbound from Convention Center to Cowan Blvd.
6:50 - 11:00 Traffic control point (TCP) at Fall Hill Ave. and CDSP.
6:50 - 8:00 Cowan Blvd. (eastbound) from CDSP to Keeneland Rd.
7:00 - 8:05 Woodland, Keeneland and Westwood Roads from Cowan Blvd. to Rt 3.
7:05 - 8:10 Rt. 3 (westbound lanes) from Westwood Rd. to William St.
7:10 - 8:55 William St. (westbound) from Blue/Gray Pkwy. to Washington Ave.
7:10 - 8:35 Sunken Rd. northbound from William St. to Fitzhugh St.
7:15 - 8:35 Fitzhugh St. between Sunken Rd. and Franklin St.
7:15 - 8:35 Franklin St. between Fitzhugh and Madison St.
7:15 - 8:35 Madison St. between Franklin St. and Littlepage St.
7:15 - 8:40 Littlepage St. between Madison and Grove Ave.
7:15 - 8:40 Grove between Littlepage and Kenmore Ave.
7:20 - 8:50 Kenmore Ave. between Grove and William St.
7:20 - 9:05 Washington Ave. between William St. and Maury St.
7:20 - 9:10 Maury St. from Washington Ave. to Fall Hill Rd.
7:25 - 9:10 Fall Hill Rd./Canal St. from Maury to Princess Anne St.
7:25 - 9:20 Princess Anne St. between Canal Rd and Charlotte St.
7:25 - 9:20 Charlotte St. between Princess Anne and Caroline St.
7:30 - 9:50 Caroline St. (west lane only) between Charlotte and Van Buren St.
7:35 - 9:55 Riverside Dr. (east lane only) from Woodford St. to Fall Hill Ave.
7:35 - 10:00 Fall Hill from Riverside Dr. to canal path.
7:40 - 10:15 US Rt. 1 (one lane and turn lane only) from canal to Mary Washington Blvd.
7:40 - 10:20 Mary Washington Blvd. from Rt. 1 to Sam Perry Blvd.
7:45 - 10:30 Sam Perry Blvd. from Mary Washington Blvd. to Hospital Dr.
7:45 - 10:30 Hospital Dr. from Sam Perry Blvd. to Cowan Blvd.
7:20 - 10:50 Cowan Blvd (westbound) from Hospital Drive to CDSP
7:20 - 11:00 CDSP northbound from Cowan Blvd. to Fall Hill Ave.
CLOSURE TIMES STREETS/HIGHWAYS
Church Patrons Only - Park at the Public Parking Lot Intersection of Sophia and George Streets
Shuttle Transportation
Free race day shuttles to/from the Fredericksburg Expo & Conference Center will be available for runners and
spectators at the following commuter lot locations from 4:30 - 6:30 am and from 10:30 am - 2:00 pm.
• Houser Dr. lot located just off Courthouse Rd. in Spotsylvania County
• US 17 lot located at US 17 North towards Warrenton, just off I-95 at exit 133
An additional shuttle will be available to take spectators to downtown Fredericksburg at mile seven of the Marine Corps Historic Half course. The shuttle will transport spectators from World St., near the Expo Center.

Note on City PP Taxes

My public service announcement for the week.
Readers from the city should have received their personal property tax bills in the mail this week. Be sure to log into the online system (http://www.fredericksburgva.gov click in the lower right Payments Online). Before paying your bill, you might want to first click on the left side of the page; "Inquiry Options" Then "PP Inquiry", and review your account. I found I had a credit of $30 from an overpayment last year. This credit was not applied when I clicked payment options. The payment screen only contained this year's combination of vehicles. After getting a few busy signals I was able to get through to the treasurer’s office and verify that the lower amount was correct. I believe I could have just entered this amount manually in the online system and everything would have been just fine. So be sure to run your full account to validate your bill.

Friday night at Liberty Town

hat tip to Fredericksblog: Going to Liberty Town on Friday night to support a neighbor.

http://thefredericksblog.com/2008/04/22/friday-night-at-liberty-town.aspx

A "Big! Bodacious! Blowout! Benefit" for Don Wingate's Liver Transplant Fund...

When: Fri., April 25, 6-10 pm
Where: LibertyTown Arts Workshop; 916 Liberty St., downtown Fredericksburg
Cost: $20.00 admission and kids under 13 for free
For more info or to donate please call: 540.845.2744 or 540.840.1414 or 540-370-4311

F'burg Fire Dept Heart Saver Award

The Fredericksburg Fire Department and several of their responders received an award tonight: The Heart Saver Award by Medicorp American Heart Training Center.

This was from their excellent work at resuscitation for a cardiac arrest response. It's recognition from the American Heart Association.

These service members were given a standing ovation.

City Council Mtg

Marv Dixon may have said it best tonight. Are there any items in the Kalahari package that are deal breakers for him. This sums up what a lot of us feel, there are bits and pieces of the package that we don't like, but would you turn down the benefits because of it?

He went on to state "it took less time for the Continental Congress to form the nation" in relation to having talked about this for 8 months. Every day that we don't get Kalahari, delays 10k in revenue.

Of course Girvan voted 'No' twice. There was a squabble at the beginning of the meeting. She wants to talk about the 800 jobs in the incentive package. Early on, in some memos, and in verbal, Kalahari talked about 900 or 1000 jobs. Like they could ever put that in a minimum bar incentive.

Here's the deal, ANY INTELLIGENT BUSINESS is going to hedge their numbers when an incentive package is 100% dependent on meeting the goals. If I were a betting person, I would bet the 'investment in 10yrs' is a huge hedge. Especially since it isn't indexed to inflation.

Thankfully everyone else on council had thought this through.

Ice Cream Eating Contest

Couldn't pass this one up.

"On May 10th the Fudge Factory will be having is 1st annual Icecream eating
contest at 12:00 noon. Up for the challenge?
Then come sign up!
The winner will get a Junk food bucket, Trophy, Fudge Factory T-shirt, and
Gift certificates.
Second place will win a free ice cream cone for three month once a week,
trophy, and T-shirt,
Third place will get a pound and a half of fudge, T-shirt and trophy. 705
caroline street across from the visitors center. "

Link to the Fudge Factory, 705 Caroline StreetFredericksburg Va, 22401 (540) 371-4973

The poster on Fredtalk took a bit of a backlash for "advertising", so for something as fun as this I'll gladly pass along the word.

eBags Earthday Promotion

I checked my email early this morning to find an interesting promotion from eBags. I'm just about due for a new backpack. Two years of commuting, train riding and airline travel have taken a beating on my current backpack. I had never thought of 'green' alternatives when evaluating backpacks. This is a novel idea, so I'm copying the promotion here in case anyone else is looking for bags.

I'm not a fan of spending for the sake of spending (tax rebate anyone). But I am a proponent of spending wisely when replacements are due. For example, it doesn't make sense to go out and just buy a hybrid. You're not going to make up the expense of gas once you count the cost of a new vehicle, hybrid premium, production impacts, etc. However, last year when my very old Durango was on it's last leg, and not being that environmentally friendly with a few leaks here and there, we decided to replace it with a Ford Escape Hybrid. That turns out to have been a very good choice. In refinishing our kitchen last year, we reused some very sturdy components, replaced what was worn out, and purchased our countertops from a Virginia soapstone quary. We couldn't be happier with the results.

Like those examples, it's time to replace my commuting backpack, so instead of purchasing just any product, I'm looking for either something produced locally, or something a bit more environmentally friendly than it's competitors.

Fredericksburg taxing train riders and recyclers

This year federicksburg took a step toward removing a defunct requirement for city decals. Unless of course you want to park in the city train station lot or if you want to use the recycling center! If you are one of the eco conscious or commuter friendly residents, its still business as usual, pay your $2 annually and get the sticker. Oh, wait, pay the $20 fee plus an EXTRA 2 for actally getting a physical sticker.

Does this make sense? Maybe. Does it make sense to do each and every year? I think I can prove there is a better way.

I spoke to the treasurer's office and they did take a look at these costs going into the year. They determined that by using annual stickers, they would prevent someone from moving from in the city to one of the nearby counties and still have access to the lot. Their concern was not so much this year or next, but erosion over time. They also decided to not use the decals with your plate # to help save cost.

Not knowing how many prole would purchase, the city ordered 2000 decals. The cost works out to about $0.72 each. At the time of this writing (4/2), we have sold less than 100. That is an actual cost of $14.40 per decal. Since the old ones haven't expired, let's assume a conservative estimate of 500, that's 3 times the number of VRE spaces. That's still $2.88 each. Figure in 15 minutes of time to visit the commissioner of revenue window and then the treasurer's office window. I estimate that even at $22 the city is loosing money on this setup.

Now repeat this activity each year, trow out the 1500 unused decals, maintain the staffing to continue to administer the decals. Pay the credit card processing fees for the $2 transactions.

Granted, on the surface, going to permanent decals only saves is $1440 a year. But dig a little deeper and the costs add up to more than that. The comment I've heard is that this whole problem goes back to the city being able to enforce tax collection. That problem exists whether or not we have a vre decal. That decision was forced on the city by other jurisdictions that deleted the decal. If we want to enforce tax collection, upload a list of delinquents to autochalk and start towing - bonus revenue in business taxes from the towing company!

What has resulted is an annual tax on those commuting on the train, and those people that want to use the city recycling center (which is also where you dispose of hazardous waste on April 19th).

What we need is a single permanent city decal tied to a single license plate. The owner will have to get a new decal if they but a new car, if they damage their sticker, or get new plates. All of these happen more often than buying a new home. The savings from being able to but in bulk should recoup the expense of the write on space quickly, and in future years the administration costs drop to near zero. Maybe in 5 years the city issues an updated sticker to clean up any freeriders.

Maybe that $1440 could go to someone's raise next year? Maybe that pays for a few more school books. This is just a drop in the bucket, how many more can the city find in a belt buckling budget year?

Sidewalk Art

Where did all the fish go? Here are some photos from Crystal City Takes Flight. An art project in Crystal City that has been using an empty space in the first floor of my building to paint, plaster, mirror these different aircraft forms that have been placed throughout the city.

Last year, Friends of the Rappahannock and the Fredericksburg Museum took part in a project in Fredericksburg to decorate the streets with creatively designed fish. The fish sale at the end provided funds for the organizations. I guess it was a one year deal, as I haven't seen any similar promotion this year. I kinda miss the fish. It was a great, fun way to brighten up the many storefronts that sponsored the event. Hopefully another organization will pick up this idea in future years.

Ads Everywhere

(warning - sarcasm ahead)
The other week while traveling I discovered a new solution to the city's finance issues, we just need to look for new areas of revenue. No I'm not talking another Kalahari, I'm talking advertising area. How many sq feet of advertising does the city own? If you cound buildings, parking lots, bus sides, anything that's flat and will hold an add - check out this HSBC ad on the side of the gangway at Newark. They had one on every walkway. So every delayed passenger could look out their seat window and ponder new banking/investment solutions. Lets sell the sides and back of every Fred bus. Side of the parking garage? Huge banner space. New courts - I'm seeing legal promotions.

Cheaspeake Bay Blue Crab

How many readers had the chance as a child to use a hook, string and a little left over chicken to snag a passing crab from a dock or bridge?

This weekend I was able to visit with a lifetime crabber and discuss the upcoming proposals in VA. He's headed to the meeting Tuesday when they should find out what VA plans on doing to help recover the bay. He pointed out that in his lifetime, he has seen the number of crabbers in Tangier go from over 100 to less than 25. He estimates that a similar drop in commercial crabbers has occurred on the mainland side. He pointed out that the state shouldn't be pointing the finger at commercial fishermen as the source of the problem for Chesapeake Bay blue crabs. We talked about the '60s and the '70s, when bluefish were the king of the bay. As the rockfish/striped bass population increased through the '90s and through today, the blue crab population gradually dwindled. This year is again starting off slowly. Being here, in an area that also enjoys an active sport fishery for rockfish, there is definite resistance to any talk of competition.

I go back to all the articles pointing out the reduction in bottom grasses in the bay. Without these important ecosystem anchors, juvenile crabs don't have anywhere to hide, making them ideal targets for larger sport fish. Opportunistic feeding would quickly diminish the young stock that is vital to replenishment of the species.

The state is proposing several ways to reduce the catch of spawning female crabs. Whereas I see the benefit in doing this now as part of an overall solution, without fixing the grass coverage, the benefit is going to be limited. How long, or is it even possible to rebuild the stocks if the hiding places for juveniles is gone? If the grasses can be returned, how much faster would the stocks recover? These grasses would also benefit breeding other species. The surrounding states need to attempt to fix some of these root causes. Simply modifying the take of mature spawning females is like applying a bandaid to a puncture wound - it stops the bleeding, but without cleaning the wound, it's hit or miss as to how well it will heal.

Will the industry look like this?

Or more like this?

I hope that the next generation will be able to take that string and bait and snag a blue crab.

Weekend in Reedville & Fairport

Gail and I took off for Reedville this weekend. Hoped in the hybrid, and spent a little time enjoying earth (outdoors really) to celebrate our own version of earth day. Here are some photos from our excursion.

A view across the creek

A butterfly visitor (a swallowtail maybe?)

After an incredible dinner at Fairport Marina, we headed over to downtown/mainstreet Reedville to one of the best ice cream shops we've ever been to - Chitterchats. It has become a weekend regular anytime we're in the area. The hand dipped ice cream is good, but what really makes this unique is the home made, hand turned, waffle cones (take note Lee's & Carl's, good ice cream is nice, good cones are the reason to come back). This night they had to call in the master cone maker (her husband) to do a little catch up from the brisk business.

If you plan on visiting Reedville, I recommend any of the following for dinner: Fairport Marina, on Fairport Rd, Crazy Crab & Tommy's on Main St. FYI, rumor has it that Tommy got started in the kitchen at Fairport Marina. If you come by boat, you can tie up at either Fairport Marina or the Crazy Crab. For desert I recommend dropping by Chitterchats for a scoop or two, with the waffle cone.

Fertilizer Article in FLS

In the FLS today there was an article/column written about fertilizing your lawn/garden. Thankfully one of the first remarks was to get your soil tested. This is a must if you're going to go the fertilizer route.

What shocked me about this (it really shouldn't surprise me) is that the FLS would run this article just a few days before Earth Day (like a lot of people realize this), and during a time when the Chesapeake crabbers are making the papers for the record low number of crabs. There are reports they may sue the state for not cleaning up the bay. One of the biggest reasons is non-point source pollution, which translates into runoff from everyday operations - a big one being residential lawn fertilization. Fertilizer promotes algae growth, which kills off underwater grasses. VIMS was quoted in this article as saying eelgrass has been reduced from around 30k acres in the mid-90's to only 13,500 acres in 2006.

No wonder VA keeps falling further an further behind in their efforts to clean up the bay. Between the legislature cuts, a lack of attention from senior leadership, and local newspapers heralding a time to fertilize each spring, it's amazing we have any bay left.

Unfortunately the FLS didn't put the article online for me to link to. But here are some alternatives from http://www.chesapeakebay.net/inyourbackyard.aspx?menuitem=16888
- wait until fall to fertilize
- keep it off hard surfaces
- watch where/when you fertilize (see article for details)
- use organic fertilizers, their slow release may mean less runoff

I'll add one more - landscape, I hate cutting the grass, so our yard is mostly landscaping, a combination of mature trees, ivy, shrubs, ornamental grasses, anything but fast growing grass.

Mayoral Debates

At the meet & greet with Mayor Tomzak tonight, it was confirmed that there will be a debate at UMW on Monday 4/21. Followed with another debate with HFFI on Thursday 4/24.

City Budget Public Hearing

I went to the City Budget hearing last night and was posting messages to Twitter, although I forgot to update the InTheBurg.info website to include the twitter posts. I think they came through on fburgblogs.com though. It was an active session of many groups asking for the city to not cut their budgets, requesting increases in their budgets, or requesting ANY budget (tree plantings).

Here are my takeaways-
- there are a lot of people/groups that want money from the city
- if you are having trouble, ask the city which groups can help, there were tons of groups that I didn't even know existed. Did you know that there is an Area Dispute Resolution assistance group? They help mediate differences... They had the smallest request of the evening - instead of $2000, they wanted $2200 (they said + 10%, so that's the math I did).
- The volunteer firefighters had requested an equipment budget of 20k, but are proposed to only get 10k, that's 6k less than the organization to help seniors who are proposed to get 16k. Granted, there is an entire other budget for paid firefighters, but still, volunteers need equipment and it wears out.
- The best public speakers of the night were from the Boys & Girls Club and Head Start. The Cal Ripken rep was also well spoken, but I consider him more of a professional public speaker/fundraiser.

The biggest takeaway is this - in harder economic times, city groups are going to be asked to do more. This is when people have the biggest issues to cope with, creating the more cases for these groups to address. Unfortunately, being economic, this is also the time when the city has the fewest dollars to dole out.

What do you know - my comment after the last reassessment about why they shouldn't lower the tax rate so far seems to start making sense. Could the city have actually saved that money though? Probably not. So as it is, the city managers budget, which is actually lower than last year, probably isn't a bad starting place. I think the city can be more efficient, and do more with less. What I mean is that they could get their raises, and expend less on day-to-day activities by increasing productivity. I really believe that if the divisions would stop making decisions in a vacuum, and start looking at the cities productivity, there are a lot of little drops in the bucket that when added up easily make it to a level that supports raises, retirement benefits, etc.

F'burg Baseball Fields Design Preview

At last night's city budget beg-a-thon budget hearing, there was one tidbit of new information that I found very interesting. Even though the Cal Ripken foundation hasn't announced where it is with fund raising for the Fredericksburg "Youth Sports & Development Complex" aka Cal Ripken fields, they did announce that they have been spending money on upfront design and engineering. They brought this design concept with them.

As you can see, it appears that the fields will have one primary playing field, with full size outfield, and two smaller practice/tournament fields for a total of three. It may be that the perspective didn't come through on the 2D photograph, maybe it will be three full size fields. Looks like a concession stand and other support buildings are there. The design looks nice, with trees remaining throughout the area.

Several observations:

• I don't see any placement of light posts.
• Obviously these are all baseball fields, with grass infields. Maybe the city will feel encouraged to expand the complex later to include other rec facilities (softball, soccer, etc).
• Why didn't they turn field #1 around so that home plate was next to the concession stand for all 3 fields?
• Does anyone else notice that there are only small sets of bleachers, although they appear covered?

The Cal Ripken foundation was there last night requesting that the City not forget their commitment to provide the roadway and utilities to the site. From my conversations/emails with council, I don't think their idea of delaying the 500k of improvements was intended to signal an unwillingness to improve the site. I personally would expect that other site improvements such as land clearing, grading the fields, construction of footers, etc would have to occur before the city should expend any money on road improvements (think heavy equipment over a brand new roadway). Bringing in water and sewer will be important once buildings are being constructed. But until there is an expected start date, why tax the citizens an extra cent for this project. Let that money be used this year for other items (I vote for COLA), and expense it when necessary.

With the progress being made, hopefully a start date will be announced soon and real plans can be put in place.

Lee's Ice Cream

Went to go try Carl's tonight. Should have gone earlier. By the time we got there the line was out to the street, down to the corner, and 1/2 way down the side street. So we continued downtown and got some true Ice Cream at Lee's on Caroline St.

Tasty as usual.

Followed that up with a Hendrick's & Homeade Tonic at Bistro. What a perfect night!

Choctail Hour @ Brushstrokes

I'll start off by issuing an appology. The purpose of this Blog was to inform of UPCOMING events in Fredericksburg. I could blame it on wonderful airline service this week, but that meant I had plenty of time in the airports that I could have written this. So to all my loyal readers, I'm sorry for writing this after the fact, like all those other news outlets. I will strive to do better in the future.

Now onto it:
Friday night Gail and I attended the Choctail Hour at Brushstrokes Gallery. It was a benefit for the SPCA. The event was a series of chocolate and wine (and one beer) pairings by chocolatier Mary Schellhammer from Spice Rack Chocolates and sommelier Edwin Wyant of E. Joseph Wines (and VA Wine Experience).

The night began with a Belgian beer paired with cheese (it worked, unlike it sounds), followed by several flavored chocolates from Spice Rack, with a variety of wines, and finished with a desert chocolate paired with one of my favorite VA desert wines, Cooper Vineyards Noche.

Check around town for Spice Rack Chocolates (they are available at VA Wine Experience) for this flavorful french style chocolate.

Both the chocolates and the wine were delicious! What a great evening out on the town.

Overheard at the airport

- you won't believe where I am!
- can I send these bags with my cats through the scanner?
- time to sell my AMR stock
- how many cancelled flights were you on before switching airlines?
- what day is this?

New travel hints

I probably should wait to post this. To say I have a lack of sleep is an understatement. I was one of those lucky 100000 fliers caught up in American's reinspection screwup this week. So this week brought a few new travel tips.

- if your children have games that make noises, or you choose to being a DVD player, invest in some headphones. It will make your seatmates much happier.

- don't travel with your 2 cats in the cabin. You can't send them through the x-ray machine, so its going to back up the security line and then no one is happy-happy. I can now say I've seen it all (until someone tops this one)

- be sure to tell the people doing a good job that they are doing a good job. In a month where American has been testing my patience, there have been very nice people at continental that are picking up the slack. And a well written survey response at my hotel complimenting the bar staff got me at least one free drink.

- roll with it. Cancelled flights happen, have the phone #s to your airline and if you're nice, they really will try to work with you. Its thurs morning and I'm in Newark, the alternative was to wait until at least Friday before even starting home.

So there are my morning musings from a sleep deprived traveler.

Kalahari Meeting 4/8

"nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes" - Benjamin Franklin

So I hope the city does what it can to keep the 2nd in check. I think they have a good plan to entice a developer to build an east coast destination for families. Hopefully they will get an adequate amount of revenue in return for whatever incentives finally get approved. At this time, based on what I've read, I'm reasonably happy (see previous posts on parking decks/parking lots/light pollution). I expect Kalahari to be held to their statements of being a partner with the community.

So, I'm going to be in airports the first few days this week, hopefully my voice will be heard by those councilors that take the time to read this blog.

Chocolate Extravaganza Week

Gail and I went to the "Chocolate Brunch" this morning at Jake & Mikes. More on the Chocolate Extravaganza Week here - with benefits going to the SPCA. No photos as it was raining and I forgot the camera. Regardless, the brunch was delicious.

We had a great morning talking with fellow blogger Andrew Flusche and his wife Nicole. Between the four of us, we had a combination of entrees. I had to stay in the theme and order a side of chocolate pancakes. They didn't exactly go with my fish & chips, but then rules are meant stretched on a day like this. All of these were very nice, but the real treat came with desert. The Dulce de Leche ice cream deserts were incredible.

If you missed the brunch today, there are other chocolate events going on this week. Maybe we'll see you out there.

Traffic Solutions Circling

Something to think about this weekend:
I opened the paper today to be greeted by yet another picture of an area wreck. This one was at the corner of Amelia & Princess Anne. Here is the FLS article. Based on the details in that article about previous wrecks at that location, we could infer that the stoplights are not getting the job done. I think it's high time that VDOT and the City of Fredericksburg take a look at something other than stoplights for our intersection needs.

Just yesterday, the Washington Post ran this article about traffic circles and roundabouts used in surrounding areas, titled "A Better Way to Get Around". Take a look at the first image in their slide show, it's a test using yellow cones in a circle at an existing intersection.

The Harford Courant ran this article on safety - "Safety, Traffic Flow Give Roundabouts An Edge"

The FLS did an article here about the few local roundabouts.

And don’t forget, NASCAR almost always has you turning left.

In a small roundabout, where only single lane roads are entering, it's pretty easy to see why traffic will benefit. Everyone is only required to yield. Traffic collisions, if they do occur, are at much smaller angles. Traffic speeds are kept more constant.

It takes drivers a few times around to really figure it out. Go to Gordonsville, VA and watch for a while and you can quickly tell which drivers are from out of town. Yet most of the time, that busy multi-street intersection of US15 & US33 runs very smoothly.

Here is my wish list for intersections to convert.
Kenmore Ave @ Hanover St @ Lee St (Great example of a 5-way intersection)
Lafayette Blvd @ Kenmore Ave
Fall Hill Ave @ Riverside Dr

Last year City Council put an item on the VDOT list for "widening Fall Hill Ave". Ever since then I have deliberately chosen to drive Fall Hill at various times of the day. Twice going west I have been slowed, once by a school bus and once by a postal vehicle. Both turned left at the apartments just before the interstate. At all other times the observed flow of traffic was either above the posted limit or way above the posted limit, but rarely at the posted limit. There were the other occasional stops for red lights. Traffic did slow going up the hill, but by slowed, I mean the speed limit.

If Fall Hill becomes 4 Lanes as proposed, then what's the purpose of Cowan Blvd? What if this road were widened, single lanes separated, bike lanes installed, and separated sidewalks run down both sides. Then each intersection at Bragg Hill, Whicklow Dr, the Cal Ripken Fields, Crestview Way, the business center, etc. could get their own small roundabout, where without any stoplights one could drive from Rt1 all the way to Wegmans. These roundabouts would also act as traffic calming measures, reducing overall speeds to maintain safety with bicycles and pedestrians.

Perhaps we could get the new Arts Commission to support some public art in the medians on a rotating basis (idea borrowed from Charlottesville's Art In Place).

Concerns have been raised by current council members about the safety of pedestrians in roundabouts. IIHS has research and a study of 24 conversions "SAFETY EFFECT OF ROUNDABOUT CONVERSIONS IN THE UNITED STATES" documenting as much as a 75% decrease in pedestrian accidents at converted intersections. A quick Google search led me to this government agency article on improvements to roundabouts for the visually impaired. This article also stated that slower traffic speeds increased the occurrence of yielding to all pedestrians. Widening and re-architecting Fall Hill would be an opportune time to institute these as well as other smart and visually appealing designs.

This isn’t to say roundabouts are our answer to everything, but how many stoplights were you sitting at the last time you went through Central Park, or down Princess Anne? It’s time to start looking for alternatives, because the current set of timed and untimed lights just doesn’t get the job done.

Smith Run Trail Opening Announced

I've blogged about Fredericksburg Pathways Partners before, this is a great group trying to put together a comprehensive set of walking and biking trails around town. They work through with the city to get grants and donations for their projects, some of which require a fair amount of engineering.

I just received this announcement for the opening of Smith Run Trail which winds through the woods between Hugh Mercer, Great Oaks Subdivision and Cowan Blvd.

SMITH RUN TRAIL
THE FREDERICKSBURG PATHWAYS PARTNERS ALONG WITH THE CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG INVITE YOU TO JOIN YOUR NEIGHBORS AT THE OPENING OF A NEW HIKING TRAIL IN OUR COMMUNITY.
WHEN – SATURDAY, JUNE 28TH, 2008
TIME – 10 AM
WHERE – AT THE END OF THE HUGH MERCER SCHOOL MAINTANENCE ROAD, BEHIND THE NEW POLICE DEPARTMENT.
LISTEN, WHILE WALKING THE TRAIL, TO A PRESENTATION REGARDING THE CONFLICT BETWEEN UNION AND CONFEDERATE FORCES WHICH OCURRED AT THIS LOCATION.

Finding Unique Beers

In this month's Front Porch, there is an article titled "Brown on Beer". Great writeup on how and why things are the way they are when trying to get something unique.

Let me just give you a few examples of some local stores going out of their way.
VA Wine Experience was able to get a case of Belgian Delirium Nocturnum for me.

And when I wanted a bottle of Utopias which is only released every 2 years, I was able to call and set one aside at Total Wine in Central Park. When I went to pick it up later that day, they still had one bottle remaining.

Since then, I have found Kybecca to be very helpful in finding what I want, or making a suggestion for something in stock that is very similar.

Gotta Love Election Years

Ok, I can't let this one go. If you haven't read the print paper today, there is an Op-Ed from Girvan. If she really wants to put this out here like this, it opens herself up to all the responses. Matt Kelly and I don't always agree, but he wrote a very well articulated response.

Let me try to be even clearer - what is it Girvan wants to say? Here is why so many people have responded negatively to the way she asks questions at council meetings: It isn't clear until the very end what she is trying to say. It starts with the moment she is recognized to talk - routinely the first words are "I have a question", yes, we all know that, it's why you were recognized. Then there are several sentences of supporting information, and a minute or two later it's followed with something like a question.

Lets compare this to the Op-Ed. First she makes a statement wanting to devalue one council action over another. She tries to define subsidy and incentive in light of recent actions. If she would visit the Webster-Meridian dictionary and lookup the definitions, she would find that her examples are not accurate. Then she makes statements comparing a 200M single tourist attraction to a mixed use 1.8B development in Arizona. I'm sure I could find a dozen examples more closely related to what the city is doing for Kalahari.

Subsidy: a grant or gift of money as a grant by a government to a private person or company to assist an enterprise deemed advantageous to the public
Incentive: something that incites or has a tendency to incite to determination or action

Ale House of Fredericksburg, Kalahari, Kybecca, all of the JumpStart beneficiaries - are getting money as both incentives AND subsidies. The subsidy is done as an incentive for certain activities: Moving to the area, restoring facads, changing office space to retail, etc, etc.

Do I like that Kalahari is getting so much tax money back? No. Would I be against the program because of it? NO. I'm able to weigh the disadvantages, with the many other benefits. Is she really saying that if the current proposal doesn't change she's going to vote 'no'?

Even Ms. Givan states "We must work harder to market the city as an attractive place to work, live, and play " - doesn't having Kalahari here make the city more marketable? She also states that we need to be "creating an action plan". I think this is a great idea - so show us what you've got? Don't expect us to vote based on words alone, if she thinks we need a plan, how about giving us a proposal. According to Matt the city already has an incentives plan, I know they have a documented JumpStart, and we have full time city employees specifically tasked with economic development.

Wow, and there is still a whole month left before the election. Lets just say it's going to get interesting around here. (Did anyone else notice that she hasn't mentioned Autochalk since my article on cost/benefit.)

Newly found Area Websites

A couple of new blogs & websites of interest:
http://www.legalandrew.com
- A local attorney and fellow blogger

http://artspoint.org/
- City Library site with many local arts events

http://rivervoices.net/
- Another publication of Fredericksblog

City Decals - Pay By Phone

I just spoke to the city treasurer about our new city decals that are required for those using the city train station parking lot or don't want to show id at the recycling center.

You can pay-by-phone. Just call them up (540)372-1001, give them your info and a credit card for the new $2 fee and they will still mail you the city sticker (if you're paid up on your taxes).

So that's good news - I'm still working on a story about why these are still annual stickers and not permanent decals.

May 6th Election

I have been closely following this year's race for Mayor and City Council. Several people have asked why I didn't toss my hat into the circle - obviously I have an oppinion or two about how things could be done better. Well, timing just didn't work out for me to attempt such a run this time. Instead I'm going to toss my support for a few of the candidates that I think will do the best.

I'm sure that some readers will find that one or more of these candidates are not their choice. However, I'm supporting them, and I've given them my word that I will do what I can with that support. So here are my reasons why these three are going to be my vote on May 6th.

Mayor:

Tom Tomzak - Because I like the idea of having a medical professional and experienced businessman as Mayor. I generally support the initiatives he has backed, as well as his vision for a future Fredericksburg. He has been open to suggestions, and openly engages the public to make sure that all sides are considered (note that I'm not saying he always makes everyone happy, but anyone in this position is going to have this problem).

At Large Council:

Kerry Devine - I've watched Vice-Mayor Devine tactfully ask questions in council meetings and work sessions to draw out useful details for making decisions. She is always very well prepared, as well as direct and to the point. I also feel that as a teacher, she brings a level of understanding the budget discussions that not only reminds the city of what they are paying for, but also means that the schools have a respect for the limited resources the city work with. Coming from a family of teachers, this emphasis rings home.

B-J Huff - Here is my wild-card candidate. B-J doesn't have the historical voting record to go on yet, but there will be six other people there to reign him in if he goes way off course. I believe that he will bring both new and refreshing ideas to council. He may swing big at times, but maybe a few will be hits that everyone can get behind. I believe his youth will be a benefit, something to mix it up at council. With his accounting background, his decisions should be anchored in reason and logic.

So there you have it, a doctor, a teacher and an accountant. Their backgrounds alone make for a pretty good group. There are many more reasons than I've listed here. The FLS editorial board interviewed the Mayorial candidates this week, and I'm sure you're going to hear more over the next few weeks about what each one did or is planning on doing.

As I get time, maybe I'll try to write an article on each one, letting you know what I like about each of these indivuals. I expect some people won't agree with me, and I look forward to their participation in this discussion. The other candidates both have their strengths, I just like these three better than the alternatives.

Arts Commission Public Meeting

We live in a small but growing city. What makes living in any city great? The closeness of having things to do. A descent music scene, vibrant cultural foods, are all part of the atmosphere. An active arts community normally thrives in city environments. These are all pieces of the draw to a city center.

On Wed, April 2nd, Vice-Mayor Devine (who is running for another term as an at-large council member), along with councilman Solley, are going to be at the library @ 7pm to talk about the art commission.

WHEN – Wednesday, April 2, 7:00PM
WHERE – Central Rappahannock Regional Library Theater
WHY – To discuss the expansion and revision of the Fredericksburg Arts Commission

Kalahari TIF public hearing

Come one, come all, speak your mind. The city has announced the next public hearing on the Kalahari proposal, and the use of Tax Increment Financing as the legal method for funding any incentives package.


http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/agenda/2008/ag20080408ph.pdf


I won't be there at this meeting, so I have to use this space as my platform. I only wish that Kalahari would lower their 10 floor hotel, I think it's going to be visible from the river. I would like them to couple that with building a parking deck to prevent paving acres and acres of beautiful land, and putting up tons of exterior lighting that wipes out what little night sky we have. That's all I ask.


Here are more of the meeting details.


Kalahari wants to come to Fredericksburg, but they need to get some loans from their banks or investors to the tune of about $220 Million. We've all heard about the credit crunch, and if you haven't, you may not be watching the stock market close enough (coming from an owner of Citigroup stock, ouch). Anyway, Kalahari wants to have as much assurance that they can pay back that money. They probably shopped around a little bit along the I-95 corridor, and decided on the Fredericksburg area - hey, we are 1/2 way between DC and Richmond. Well, the lock up the deal, the city and Kalahari went to the negotiating table, and hammered out a deal where a portion of the taxes Kalahari pays to the city will be returned over 20 years. There has been some angst about the 47% portion, but that still leaves 53% for the city. Not to mention that the city doesn't have to pay for all of the infrastructure to get the place up and running - good 'ol Silver Companies is doing that for us. The TIF is simply a way to write this into the city code so that no future government entity can renege on the contract.


Now people are going to come along and say a lot of things, like doesn't this mean we have to build another fire station - it was already in the plans, take a look at the comprehensive plan from several years back. What about police and fire? Nope, those departments have already spoken up about growth - yes they plan to grow, but they are planning that anyway.


Traffic problems? Actually more ballanced traffic, yes it may be heavier during the day around Central Park, but it's not really going to impact rush hour except maybe some Fridays. This will give VDOT more incentive to explore another exit ramp which will help everyone. And I still propose that we don't have a traffic problem per se, but that we have a stoplight problem.


So please read through the presentations that have been given by consultants, our own service departments, Kalahari, and council. You can draw on this data to formulate your own conclusions.

http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/city_manager/kalahari_project.asp

City Wide Spring Cleaning

The City of Fredericksburg has announced the dates and locations of city dumpsters for those of us that live in the city and would like to clean up large items around the house.

More info here:
http://www.fredericksburgva.gov/notices/spring_pride_week.pdf

Note that this is not the time to through out old paint and other hazardous material. That's on April 19th at the recycling center.

Take furniture, tires, appliances, brush, scrap materials
(NO household trash, paint, or hazardous materials) to
centralized locations in the City:
• SUMMIT STREET AND AIRPORT AVENUE (Mayfield)
• OLD WATER TREATMENT PLANT (1505 Kenmore Avenue)
• RIVERSIDE DRIVE, at FALL HILL AVENUE
• RECYCLING CENTER (1200 Belman Road)
• SHEPHERD STREET (905 Lafayette Blvd., behind 7-11)
• ALTOONA DRIVE (Sam Perry Fire House)
• RAPPAHANNOCK AVENUE
• BRAEHEAD WOODS (near Meade Ct)

Lights out Saturday Night 3/29

"Lights Out Globablly Saturday Night for Earth Hour" is about an event Sat night where citizens around the world are asked to turn out the lights for 1 hour starting at 8pm local time. More at EarthHour.org. I would suggest using this time to get outside and seeing some stars, something that I enjoyed on a regular basis as a kid. Check with Rappahannok Astronomy Association which is having one of their Star Parties at Caledon Natural Area.

I guess I'm feeling a little green this week - this is article #2 on earth events in the last 2 days. This one hits home a little bit though. Growing up in the country, looking up at the stars at night, sparked a lot of my interest in science and exploration - wondering how far the go, what other life might be out there, how old are all those balls of light? Reading about the universe in a textbook, or even seeing it in a museum just isn't the same. I hope that when I have children, there will still be places nearby that I can take them to sit there and ponder the questions of the universe.

Did FLS Typo REGION today?

This morning I opened the REGION section of the Free Lance Star to find a column not on region, but on the theories of the universe. In case you missed it, columnist Donnie Johnston had a column on the front of the region section titled "Holes in Big Bang Theory…". Did the editors forget to put the "LI" in REGION. This article would have been more relevant in a RELIGION section, or the Opinion section. Scientists do have evidence of movement of mass in the universe, and have measured their data and formulated a THEORY. This is why this is a THEORY, not a law. Could there be some entity (or multiple entities if that's what you believe) having a divine intervention here, sure, but what I do know, and what astronomers can show you, is that we're on something similar to a wave heading outward from some distant starting point/area.

Oh, and as for column's statement that an atomic explosion only releasing energy, we now know that in addition to energy, electrons, neutrons, quarks and other subatomic particles are all released, some of these being the necessary building blocks of matter.

At first I was offended, angry that they could somehow mix this in with regional NEWS. Then I thought about it, if we are never offended by what we read, then does our brain ever get the exercise it needs in formulating opinions. So thank you FLS, for a cerebral experience this morning, even if it wasn't regional.

Earth Day Events (25 days and counting)

InTheBurg is going to run a banner a the top of the blog for the next month with planned area Earth Day Events. I will try to keep an eye on the major Earth Day websites for locally promoted events. If your group wants special recognition, please contact me to have something posted on the blog. As I find out about events I will try to post them to the blog, as well as the banner.

4/19 Events: Fredericksburg Area Earth Day @ Alum Spring Park. City of Fredericksburg Recycling Center