Social media is a game changer. For those readers not familiar with “viral” in any context but a cold, it works like this: I write an article. You read it. You share it on Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and LinkedIn.

(If there’s a photo, you may share on Pinterest and Instagram!)

Your friends see what you shared. They’re impressed because you are so smart. Your friends share the article. Then friends of your friends share.

Result? I get my message out to a gazillion people and you helped me do so! If I was selling a product, you’d be making me a millionaire!

Unfortunately, I don’t write to make money.I write to help people become informed about our community, raise awareness of issues, praise the good and condemn the not so good. I try to educate without preaching, share the joy without simpering, and inspire action to replace inertia.

More than anything, I want to engage you in the business of living life in Prince William County. I think it is important to get away from the television that is dulling your vibrant thoughts and get out here in your community to interact with your neighbors and find some worthy causes that deserve your attention.

Not everyone wants to go tramping through muddy creeks or walking along busy highways picking up litter. (I know, right? Who wouldn’t want to do THAT?) So maybe volunteering for an environmental group or the VDOT Adopt a Highway program isn’t for you.

Perhaps you have young children and you are volunteering for their soccer games or for the PTO. That’s great news, but I still ask you to step outside your family circle into the community circle. I received an email from a gentleman the other day, concerned for his three girls. Here is part of that email:

“I am looking for some volunteer opportunities for my family that would involve homeless and helping those that are hungry.  We could help at a food bank but I would like my children to experience how it feels to directly help those in need.  I fear that they are becoming too insulated to the challenges that most families deal with on a daily basis”

I am so appreciative of people like the author of that email and I was glad to connect him with some organizations and activities that will help him and his daughters fulfill their mission. More than anything I was thrilled to know somebody out there gets it! Even if I can’t coerce you into participating in an event, joining an organization, volunteering for some group, at the minimum, you can share information.

Everyone can do that. PotomacLocal.com makes the sharing so easy by providing buttons to click at the end of the column. Use them to help spread content and create viral without using a box of tissues!

I recently volunteered with my Lions Club at the winter shelter in Woodbridge. The shelter, located on Potomac Mills Road, is open to homeless men and women for overnight use from November 1 through March 31.

We were at the shelter in May for a Meet and Greet. Our Lions Club brought a Sight and Hearing van and we performed vision and hearing screening for any homeless people who wanted that service.

There was an entire contingent of agencies represented at the meet and greet. Several churches were there to offer their assistance. Prince William County Social Services and many not for profit groups were also in attendance.

I was very interested in one group, Veterans First who offers assistance to end homelessness for veterans who qualify. The most impressive words from that group were, “We are fully funded.” I am familiar with a lot of not for profit groups. You never hear those words!

The criteria to qualify for their Friendship Place program is simple.

1. Have you served in the military?
2. Do you have a discharge that is anything other than “dishonorable”?
3. Are you homeless or at risk of homelessness?

There were people at the meet and greet to assist with job placement, mental health issues, and drug and/or alcohol abuse. Our first client got to the head of the line because he had to get out early to be at his AA meeting. Most of the clients were orderly, polite and grateful for our services.

There were only three that bore watching; two of them were challenging and combative, one was under the influence of alcohol.  I imagine anytime you gather a crowd of twenty people, you’ll find about the same ratio of personality or dependency traits.

One fellow had a clever sense of humor and said, “I don’t think I need glasses, but they might make me look good. More hipster.”

So, with all these groups and agencies, churches and organizations willing to help, why are these people still living in the woods with tarps and tents for shelter? Every city, town, county and community has a homeless population. Why can’t we find solutions? Well, actually we can find solutions, but it takes a big effort by a lot of people for a sustained period of time.

I’ve seen task forces come and go. Local papers do a feature and the citizens are outraged that homeless people live in the woods. Suddenly people want to help and groups like Woodbridge Homeless Outreach  are formed, providing food and other necessities to the encampments.

The most promising, evolving movement I’ve seen is the Tiny Village or Tiny House concept. I have no doubt we could build tiny houses for the approximate 500 homeless in Prince William County. I don’t know where there is land to be donated for such projects. I’m uncertain how to maintain and sustain those homes. I would also want some commitment on the part of the folks we shelter in a Tiny Village.

Please take a few minutes to read about a Tiny Village. Watch this video and then let me know what you think might work.

What was the most amazing thing you saw or read on the internet this week? I watched this TED talk. If you are not familiar with TED talks, you definitely should investigate. Videos are produced by a non-profit organization, shared globally, and are intended to both educate and inspire us all in 18 minutes or less.

The video I watched explains Biomechatronics. What’s that, you ask? That, my friends, is something many of us loved more than 35 years ago. The catch phrase; “Gentlemen, we can rebuild him.” became part of our vocabulary for many years. The opening of each episode of the Six Million Dollar Man started with our hero, Steve Austin, a man barely alive.

I adored that show and the spinoff, The Bionic Woman, with Lindsay Wagner. I loved the idea that science and technology could repurpose a life, save someone from near complete destruction, and make them “better, faster, stronger” than they were before.

The TED talk features Hugh Herr, who lost both legs in a climbing accident 30 years ago. He is now the head of the MIT Media Lab’s Biomechatronics group. The TED video shows his incredible technology in a talk that’s both technical and deeply personal — with the help of ballroom dancer Adrianne Haslet-Davis, who lost her left leg in the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and performs again for the first time on the TED stage.

Similarly, another 30 year old technology has arrived in the current world with the advent of affordable 3-D printers. People are printing cars you can drive, guns that will shoot, jet parts, football cleats, toys…HOUSES!

Once again, though, the medical field is the notable arena for 3-D printers. We are already manufacturing artificial limbs. We are already printing bones and skin, hearts and lungs. The future is nearly unrecognizable as we develop and perfect organs and tissues that combined with our own stem cells to make replacement parts as needed. Here’s a great interactive video from CNN to help you understand the implications of 3-D printing.

It’s sometimes hard for me to fathom how, in our modern world with so many exciting inventions, children are still starving. Millions of people are still out of work. In many parts of the world death comes from lack of clean drinking water or simple medications.

I ponder the possibilities of life not just improved by technology, but extended. What will that longevity mean to the scarce resources of our world? Will we become so overcrowded by bringing new life into the world without losing old folks, we will be forced to fight for food and water?

More likely, the reality will be much as it is now. Very wealthy people will have access to the 3-D health enhancements to extend their lives, while those without resources will live their “normal” life span.

Those question may seem inconceivable today, but don’t forget 45 years ago, we thought those portable Star Trek communicators were impossible.

I saw a photo of two schools (Two prototype schools. The one on top is Freedom, the one below is Patriot) The Prince William County School Board recently had to select which model the next (13^th) high school should follow.

In my heart, I’m yearning for that big, beautiful, light-filled, elegant structure. I think the Freedom design looks dated, institutional, boxy and unfriendly. In my head I’m thinking the Freedom design is much less expensive. I’m also recalling the exorbitant cost of the 12^th high school with all the bells and whistles, soon-to-be built at the intersection of Hoadly Road and Va. 234.

If Prince William County Public Schools (PWCS) had saved the additional money from the pool and put that toward the 13^th high school design, which is planned to be built in western Prince William County, we’d be close to even, wouldn’t we? Couldn’t we then have had two high schools built with the more modern design?

Now, in part because of the brouhaha over the 12^th high school, the 13^th high school is forced to accept less. But, wait! Is it less? Less than what?

It’s certainly not less than PACE East!  PACE East is on the right side of that photo. What kind of shining example of special education is THAT school? How can we even consider investing nearly $110 million in the 12^th high school or $90 million for a 13^th high school when we have a PACE school that looks like a correctional facility?

Am I the only one who feels ashamed that the beautiful Kelly Leadership Center is within sight of the Pace School? Do you think it is appropriate that special education students have to go out in the rain to get to the bathroom?

I’ve been in some schools that are showing their age. I know in America we treasure the new and shiny while we disregard the old and dowdy. I know the appearance of a building doesn’t reflect the quality of the teachers or the dedication of staff.

Perhaps I am overly sensitive to the appearance of the Pace School? I did have a parent tell me the Pace Students do not have iPads like so many other PWCS students have received. Is that relevant? Is that suspect? Does that confirm my sense that no one really knows or cares about that school at Independent Hill, save the children and parents who go there?

Nearly every day of our lives is a battle of some sort. Occasionally I come up against something that is just too big for me to handle. This is one of those things.

I’m sure PWCS will have an explanation for this. The people who do budgets and crunch numbers always have reasonable, logical explanations for my questions. Someone is going to have to explain to me why at the 45-year-old Independent School building, the PACE logo is displayed on the side of a utility shed instead of a monument sign and why those trailers that look like a prison are the solution to special education in wealthy Prince William County.

*This story has been corrected

5^th Annual Occoquan River Clean-up Results

The Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition successfully coordinated and conducted a multi-prong clean-up event from 9 different sites along more than 25 miles of the Occoquan River and 10.5 miles of Cedar Run.

The clean-up ranged from the Fauquier County/Prince William County line to the Izzak Walton area in Brentsville, and from the base of Lake Jackson Dam south to Hooes Run.

Over 55 watercraft (mostly Kayaks, some canoes, motorized Jon Boats, and Pontoon boats) put-in at appropriate sites to collect debris from 9am to 2:00pm.  More than 156 volunteers cleaned up debris on the water, land or assisted in moving the debris on shore to waiting trucks or dumpsters.

This was a collaborative effort that involved members of the Prince William County Parks and Recreation Department, Public Works, Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition (PWTSC), the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District (PWSWCD),  three Home Owners Associations; rescue boats from Lake Jackson VFD and the Lake Ridge VFD, the Occoquan Watertrail League (OWL) Neabsco Action Alliance (NAA), Keep Prince William Beautiful (KPWB) and several bordering Homeowners Associations.

Other participants included the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, Prince William Izaak Walton League, Bradley Forest Recreation Association, and Lake Jackson Citizens Association.

Coordination was made with the Alice Ferguson Foundation for plastic bags and gloves who sponsored the Chesapeake Water Shed Clean-up effort.

A combined summary of debris removed from a 10.5 mile stretch of Cedar Run from the Fauquier County/Prince William County line to the Izzak Walton area in Brentsville, and a 25 mile stretch of the Occoquan River from below the Lake Jackson Dam passing five (5) put-in/take-out sites, including Riverview Estates HOA, Occoquan Forest HOA, Canon Bluff HOA, Lake Ridge Marina and Hooes Run is reflected below.

Volunteers collected over 7,900 pounds of trash, including 2 overfilled small 15 cubic yard dumpsters, including:

156 non-recyclable bags of trash

4 recyclable bags of material

38 tires

1 old washing machine

1 broken canoe and paddle boat

1 serviceable canoe

1 canoe paddle

1 child riding truck
Misc. large pieces of Styrofoam

1 fire extinguisher

1 large plastic dumpster

1 foam mattress

1 skateboard ramp

1 broken plastic lawn chair

4     – 5 gal plastic buckets

1   large traffic cone

Several large plastic and metal 55 gal barrels

Several pieces of wood, pallets, wire, garden hose, a slide, a container of gasoline, broken trash cans, leaf rake and many balls

Have you ever volunteered to work a cleanup? Have you supported a cleanup in some way? I bet you have, perhaps without even realizing you’ve done so.

Beginning in March and working through April, untold numbers of volunteers work to remove trash, litter and debris from parks, creeks, rivers and roadsides. We work large cleanups like the one at Marumsco Creek. That’s one we do twice yearly and in response to the flooding that occurred in Woodbridge a few years ago. Photos of this Marumsco Cleanup are here . Volunteers removed 2,135 pounds of trash this time. (Don’t forget we did this six months ago.)

My friends and I work small cleanups, too, where we total the bags, not the number of pounds, like the last Dale City Lions Adopt a Highway where we collected a dozen bags, a stream cleanup where we collected 10 bags and a neighborhood cleanup in Kerrydale, where we only collected six bags.

I loved the one in Kerrydale, because this family has an Adopt a Highway as a tribute to their son, Josh, who died in 2009. I actually read an article about this family in Potomac Local almost two years ago.

I was moved to realize everyone holds cleanups for their own reasons.

One of the biggest cleanup efforts we do is the Annual Occoquan River Cleanup. Many different groups work together and some, like FOTO (Friends of the Occoquan) has been doing work on the Occoquan for more than twenty years. I am a member of PWTSC, (Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition) a group dedicated to building trails in PWC, but cleanups are a major part of their mission.

PWSWCD (Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District) is dedicated to protecting our soil and water resources, and they administer the Adopt a Stream Program. You can see photos from one of the sites, Lake Ridge Marina, here. PWSWCD helped coordinate the Occoquan cleanup and helps organize the Marumsco cleanup.

There are lots of other groups whose mission includes cleanups, like KPWB or NAA (Neabsco Action Alliance) Upcoming are dozens more cleanups like this one in Woodbridge hosted by Penguin Paddling, but the biggest group of supporters of cleanups is you!

You pay taxes at the federal, state and local levels to support cleanups.

The undisputed champion of cleanups is the PWC Litter Crew, who, since 2009, collected and properly disposed of more than 860 tons of trash and debris collected around our County.

This story, from the Washington Post about trash at the Cherry Blossom Festival just ruined the beauty of the day for me. Someone leaves trash at the park, in the road, on the sidewalk, in the street, at schools, at churches, in creeks and rivers and oceans. Who is it and why won’t they stop? Don’t they know who pays for that?

We all pay for it, whether in labor or taxes or loss of beauty. Thank you for your support, but it would be so much better to just stop littering and use those volunteer hours and tax dollars for good cause.

 

I just got an email from a grade school friend, telling me St.Augustine Church is undergoing some renovations. If you follow that link you’ll see photos of the restoration work. If you click here, you’ll get a virtual tour of one of the most beautiful Catholic Churches I’ve ever seen in the rather unlikely place of Jeffersonville, Ind.

I attended St. Augustine School from 1959-1967. The school was over 100 years old when I went there and closed two years after I graduated, then eventually was demolished in 1975. Our school was a victim of sprawl. For a time, the population steadily grew until we were actually overcrowded. Then, as subdivisions were built, farther away from the town center, new schools were built to accommodate those new houses and new families. St.Augustine, located in an aging neighborhood, saw their children grown, graduated and moved to another location. Enrollment diminished and eventually led to the demise of the school and nearly of the town itself.

Growing up there in the 1950’s and 60’s there were two big employers, Colgate-Palmolive that thrived in the 60’s and survived until 2007, and Jeffboat, which is still operational today. Both companies were union jobs, with benefits that included retirement and insurance. Other than those, your options were pretty limited unless you worked across the river in Louisville, Ky.

I haven’t been back for a while, but I follow the town on Facebook and I’ve become a long distance admirer of the Mayor of Jeffersonville, Mike Moore, who I’ve never met, but seems to be driving the town through a Renaissance as the downtown has become a tourist attraction and the Historic District is being restored.

Jeffersonville is taking advantage of the tourist opportunities offered by the Kentucky Derby Festival. One of the most ambitious projects in revitalization I’ve seen is the restoration of the Big Four Bridge.

The bridge connects Louisville to Jeffersonville, and while no longer operational as a train bridge, it will soon be open as a pedestrian bridge. There have been many delays in the opening, and it’s possible it will not be open in time for the Derby again this year. That will be a terrible disappointment to local business, but this town has learned to survive the tough times and keep moving forward.

Thunder over Louisville has become a national draw for tourism and of course, with any large event, the concern for safety is paramount. The city has produced a video to help citizens understand the dangers and included a checklist of items not allowed. The checklist has a number of citizens irate and upset that their constitutional rights are being violated.

Prohibited items:
• Open Carry of Alcohol
• Weapons of Any Kind (handguns and pocket knives)
• Glass bottles and containers
• Silly String and Noxious Gases 
• Skateboards and bicycles 
• Unauthorized Vehicles (ATV’s and 4-wheelers)
• Laser Pointers
• Pets

I draw a lot of parallel lines between my past, my present and my future. I’m sharing this story with you in the hopes you will see the same things or at least consider the possibilities.

What I see is a revitalization and opportunities taken to capitalize on the best the town has to offer. I also see the foot dragging and obstacles thrown in the way by opponents, naysayers and even citizens who are more concerned for their rights than for the common good.

Not to go all Kumbaya on you but I can definitely relate!.  

When my eyes flash open in the morning, (They do “flash” open. None of this slow leisurely awakening for me!) A deluge of thoughts pour out. It’s as if, while sleeping, all these thoughts have been dammed up, just waiting for the opportunity to get out there in my conscious world.

Today, as I lurched from sleep, I was already considering the events recently past and the day ahead. There’s no yawning and stretching, no snooze alarm, no snuggling back under the covers or otherwise transitioning into the day. It’s full tilt awareness with a sense of urgency that grabs my body and mind from the sound slumber of a moment before.

Last night, I attended a great O.W.N. Optimist Club meeting where Kaitlin Keefer spoke to us about her recent stay in Ukraine as a Peace Corps Volunteer. Keefer taught Health, English and American History in a school with total enrollment of 400 students. She described the many differences in culture, employment, education, ecology and numerous other topics. We were all impressed with her knowledge of Ukraine, her command of both Ukrainian and Russian languages and her obvious love and respect of the Ukrainian people.

I shifted from last night to this morning before my feet hit the floor. I hope you recall Bill Golden and I worked on a video series titled, “Nights at the Round Table”. We had to suspend production for quite some time, but check this out!

Connie Moser and Bill Golden are pleased to announce they will be resuming the Nights at the Round Table video productions on April 11. Recordings will be done on Friday afternoons and there is no charge for folks wanting to get a good message to the public. The topics may be political, social, or educational, with preference given to projects that benefit our community.

Recordings will include publicity, posting on You Tube and several web pages and may be used by the interviewee as they see fit, as long as credit is given to Nights at the Round Table, an Intelligencecareers.com production. Please contact [email protected] to get on our production schedule.

Today, we are setting up a recording studio here in my home. The space is larger, the furniture more comfortable, and since there is no charge for recording, it will help immensely not to pay rent for office space!

As I move from the thinking to doing stage, I have a look at my calendar, sift through the email, check the Washington Post, all my local online news, the blogs, and Facebook. I’m stricken with guilt when I realize I have so much from yesterday’s “to do” list that didn’t get “to done”!

So, I had two fairly coherent thoughts, then all Hell breaks loose! Now it sounds like cacophony in my head as I hear: “Need to call Mottern Masonry for issues with the driveway, cleanup with Kipp Hanley on Saturday morning, Dale City Lions have nearly sold out of citrus fruit, need to post event for Prince William Committee of 100 on Facebook for the forum on April 17, meeting friends for lunch-first trip to Smokin’ Brays-love to support local business, I hope I bookmarked that very sobering video of Abandoned Malls (I did bookmark and you should definitely have a look!)…the litany of thoughts and ideas is running full tilt boogie, now! Oh, and I need to write my Potomac Local column!

I don’t drink coffee. The idea of my brain on caffeine is frightening.

It’s 50 degrees outside and the sun is shining brilliantly. Fat, yellow Daffodil heads are nodding in a little whisper of breeze. The last remnants of the most recent snow are dripping off the roof and traveling melodically through the downspouts to share water with the Crocus, Tulips and Hellebores that are rising from their sleepy winter mulch beds.

I’m feeling it! I don’t want to write about overcrowded schools or politicians who may not be meeting my expectations. I can’t find it in my head or my heart to opine about builders, developers, roads or transportation. I consider writing about my miserable experience being stuck in traffic last week and missing a luncheon with the League of Women Voters of Virginia, but it’s just impossible to focus on the sad, the bad, or the mad stuff!

I know the end of winter is here. I’m nearly giddy with the anticipation of the end of dry skin and itchy scalp that competes with snowfall for frequency and density. I’m counting the dollars I’ll save on skin cream! I’m thinking how much faster I will be able to make arrivals and departures when I don’t have to spend time putting on boots and gloves and coats, nor will I have to put them all away after they’ve dried by the heating vents all over the house.

More than the physical relief of hands and feet no longer numbed by cold, more than the luxury of hitting the floor barefoot in the mornings without gasping and grabbing a robe and slippers, even more than the prospect of stepping into a warm shower instead of an icy spray is the mental warmth that comes with Spring.

Spring renews our hearts and fulfills the promise we made while begging, “God, please just let me get warm!” Everything seems softer, not so sharp and bitter and I may be romanticizing a bit, but it also seems the people I see are more friendly, open and more accessible. (That may be true because they are no longer hidden under six layers of clothing and a ski mask.)

For gardeners, it is the absolute best time of year. We can put down the seed catalogues and start the work that will ensure a delightful season of growth and largesse. The soil, too wet just now, but very soon will be perfect for amending with compost. Here’s a perfect opportunity for me to tell you to take your yard waste (grass clippings, tree limbs, brush) to the Prince William County Landfill or the Balls Ford Facility to be rendered into compost.

Since I meandered my way into the landfill through this post, I’d like to also mention another reason April is my favorite month: It is Litter & Illegal Dumping Enforcement Month!  The paragraph below captures the essence of why I volunteer for so many cleanup activities.

Littering and illegal dumping negatively affect our neighborhoods and the Potomac River. Further, litter that surrounds homes and businesses affect feelings of well-being, recreation and tourism in the County, and studies show that there is a strong correlation between large amounts of litter and increased crime.

So enjoy this beautiful time of year and all the good things that go with it. It’s quite likely next week we’ll all be grousing about how hot it is!

I attended the Prince William Committee of 100 forum on March 20. The topic was the revenue share agreement between Prince William County and Prince William County Schools and the question was posed to a panel to determine if they thought the current revenue share was sufficient or if schools actually require more funding from the county.

The panel was composed of Gainesville District Supervisor, Pete Candland, the owner of intelligencecareers.com and many other job sites, Bill Golden, School Board Chairman Milt Johns, and teacher/student advocate from Bull Run Middle School, Riley O’Casey. Our moderator was David Kinsella, teacher and Vice-President of the Prince William Education Association.

Several themes permeated the event, including the high burden on the residential tax base and a need to examine the school budget (and the county budget) for more cost effective savings.

There was a wide range of questions from the audience spanning designated taxes, audits, budgets, teacher pay, overcrowded classrooms and lack of infrastructure maintaining pace with the influx of students.

Several things became apparent quickly: Nearly everyone believes Prince William County teachers need reasonable pay, almost all believe class sizes are too large and nearly all feel we need to do something to improve the situation.

I didn’t perceive any solution. Supervisor Candland made several attempts to move the discussion toward solutions, such as grant matching, but there were so many more questions and suggestions they outweighed the possibilities he proposed.

What really concerned me, though was the ability of the entire audience to glide right over the facts presented by Bill Golden. Golden made it painfully obvious the future of jobs is reduced pay and reduced work force. He had data to back up those claims. Having been familiar with the employment situation for 14 months, I don’t need the data to understand. We’re living it!

I am fairly confused about where we plan to get more revenue to give to schools. Let me try to dumb it down for those of us who cut economics class in high school.

Schools need more money. Schools get money from Prince William County. If Prince William County gives schools more money, the county budget is short. If the county budget is short, there are two ways to make up the short fall: Cut expenses or increase taxes.

So, I totally understand parents wanting pay raises for teachers and smaller class sizes for students. I absolutely agree we need improvements and maintenance at older school facilities. I just want to know what is it we should cut from the county budget to increase the amount we give to schools. Should we cut public safety? Should we trim public works? Should we reduce economic development? Should we stop funding parks and libraries? No?

Then that means increased taxes. I recently wrote about the many ways we pay tax to Prince William County. So if you assume Mr. Golden’s scenario is accurate, (I will tell you, he is a friend of mine and a fact checker) how is Prince William County going to collect more taxes when residents are making a reduced wage and have lower housing values? Have you ever heard the expression, “You can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip?” I’m feeling vegetarian!