Author: Uriah Kiser

I'm the Founder and Publisher of Potomac Local News. Raised in Woodbridge, I'm now raising my family in Northern Virginia and care deeply about our community. If you're not getting our FREE email newsletter, you are missing out. Subscribe Now!

News

Cost could outweigh benefit of expanding VRE to Haymarket

By Uriah Kiser

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — The cost to extend Virginia Railway Express 11 miles west to Haymarket could be as much as $660 million — about $60 million per mile.

That number brought pause to members of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors who on Tuesday said the costs of the project might outweigh the ridership benefits, and that could lead to the project’s demise.

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News

Manassas Park candidates say business growth will help city escape debt

By Uriah Kiser

Election hopefuls in Manassas Park say more economic development is what is needed to escape the city’s crushing $120 million debt.

City Councilman Preston Banks held an open voter forum Wednesday night where 10 candidates seeking seats on the Governing Body shared their vision of a bright future for the two-square-mile city. New government facilities to include a community center — where residents gathered for the forum Wednesday- with indoor swimming pool, new fire and police stations, and new school buildings all built over the past 20 years have left the city with a pile of debt.

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News

Supervisor Jeanine Lawson wants Strategic Plan Committee to discuss future land use in Prince William, will call for extension of meetings beyond December

By Uriah Kiser
Lawson

Prince William Supervisor Jeanine Lawson will ask county leaders to extend the meetings of the 2016 Strategic Plan Committee because the group has not focused on land-use policy.

Residents at a Lawson town hall meeting Thursday night in Bristow said discussing land use — new residential, commercial, agricultural, and municipal developments — should be a topic discussed by the committee.

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Originals

Renaming of Hampton Middle School dubbed ‘historic’ event, Godwin name stripped from building

By Uriah Kiser

The sign that hangs on the front of George M. Hampton Middle School looks as if it has always been there.

The silver-lettered sign against a brick background uses the same lettering as a sign that once hung there until this summer, noting the school had originally been named after Mills E. Godwin, a former Virginia Governor who was once a segregationist but later reformed, and became a champion of public education.

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Publisher's Post

We are all grateful to the law enforcement officers who protect us. When wounded on the job, we should know who they are.

By Uriah Kiser

I saw the name of a Stafford County Sheriff’s Deputy, who was shot four times the line of duty earlier this week identified today in the media only through court records.

Thankfully, the deputy is on his way to recovery after a successful surgery.

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News

Strategic plan group talks transportation improvements, house rules

By Uriah Kiser

Virginia Railway Express trains that travel both north and south all day, more bike lanes, and more commuter parking are just some of the transportation wishes for the group tasked determining what Prince William County will need as its population grows.

Nowhere on the big list was an extension of Metro rail to the county, something advocates have long called for despite the Washington, D.C. subway system’s funding issues and crumbling infrastructure.

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Business

Manassas leaders float idea of downtown co-working space

By Uriah Kiser
New Owners to Combine Best of Past, Present and Future to Transform 100-Year-Old Hynson Department Store Building Into Flagship Office Space

Manassas City officials propose spending up to $200,000 to place a co-working space inside the newly acquired downtown Fiducial building.

The co-working space would serve entrepreneurs and start-up businesses in the market to rent personal workspaces, offices, and conference room space to hold client meetings. The move comes after the Mason Enterprise Center, which catered to small start-up businesses on the Science Technology Campus of George Mason University in Prince William County, was shuttered a year ago.

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