Settlement on the Horizon?
Apparently a settlement is in the works for the case brought against the City when they attempted to redefine a family.
ACTION ITEM: Consideration of Resolution #R-2009-38 as Full and Final Settlement Agreement and Release of the Equal Rights Center, Et Al. v. City of Manassas and City of Manassas Public Schools and City of Manassas School Board, Case No. 07 CV 1037 – TSE/TRJ before the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. (Staff: Lawrence D. Hughes, City Manager.
BVBL has posted a thread entitled “Manassas Plays Possum” about The City of Manassas and the consideration of Resolution R-2009-38. Greg L posts “Well, just have a look at this item that quietly showed up on the agenda for tomorrow’s meeting of the Manassas City Council:”
I resent the above statement made by him. He is inferring that the City Council is trying to get one over on the residents of the City. That is just not the case. The Agenda statements are prepared and posted on the City’s website well before the Council meetings and sometimes up to a week prior. Anyone who wants to know what is on the agenda can access it easily.
I can’t figure out why he cares the if the City settles this issue. It is not his tax money. I am sure he will probably appear at the Council meeting to try and tell the City Council how to do their business.
This issue has been in litigation for over 2 years. It has been on the front page of the Journal Messenger and articles have appeared in the WaPo. It is not new news. There was an initial investigation by HUD for alleged unfair housing practices which stemmed out of the Definition of Family Resolution. HUD turned the investigation over to the Dept of Justice and I think that suit has been dropped. This apparant settlement is another part of that same issue. Since this issue has been in litigation for over 2 years, I am sure there have been substantial amounts of money already spent in the City’s defense. I for one want to see the issue ended and laid to rest so we can move forward.
Again, I would like to say the City Council is not hiding anything nor trying to get one over on the residents of the City.
The City could not win this case. The Resolution to define family was in direct conflict with a Supreme Court decision in 1977 (Moore vs. The City of East Cleveland). They knew this because they put aside one million dollars to fight litigation. By settling, they avoided potential huge financial damages that may have been awarded if they had gone through the legal process. BTW, I have been told that the City Attorney had advised against passing this Resolution. However, I believe it was then councilman Jackson Miller that pushed to get this passed, perhaps to raise his political profile on the immigration issue so he could run for Harry Parrish’s seat in the Va. G.A. Anyway, this settlement will save city taxpayers money in a tight budget time.
The Jackson Miller connection is one that will be glossed over on BVBL.
(Haha. Alanna, that post hung up in moderation is mine - I can’t seem spell my name correctly.)
IVAN,
Think you are pretty much on target. Jackson Miller did push the resolution.
During that time I saw Mr. Miller and Mr. GL hanging out together.
I knew there was more to the story than that which Mr. L was providing. Why’s everything some conspiracy with them?
Maybe I should rename the topic thread to “Miller Costs City Millions”. Does anybody what the payout will be?
Emma,
You fit right in with all the hateful SOB’s over on the “dark screen”…
KathyZ
There is a lot of information regarding this issue. You can google it and read it for yourself-all the sordid details of how some families were treated.
Alanna,
Probably won’t know until after the City Council Meeting tomorrow night.
I don’t know much about this issue, but from what little I have read, seems like the City set itself up to waste a bunch of their taxpayers money.
Marie,
Why was this even attempted? Were their zoning laws lacking in enforcement?
From what I understand, zoning enforcement knocks on a door, the home owner claims everyone is related and then the burden of proof falls on the locality to attempt to disprove their assertion which is IMPOSSIBLE.
Marie, 21:02, Not sure what you mean by the way some families were treated, but I can ensure you that at no time was any family mistreated by the inspectors, that I will defend to my death. many of the claims made by the families were written by the same person in a law firm. Al you have to do is go read them and any person with any amount of brain can see the same person at the ERC wrote every complaint. I posted a very long response to this issue on the other site that gives a small history that you all might want to read. But I do want to emphasize, at no time did any inspector force their way into anyone’s home, knock on any ones door very late at night or in the early morning. In fact there was a policy not to knock on any doors after 9 pm and not before 8 am. this policy was always followed to the letter. In fact, I spent a lot of my own money on fire related gifts for families with young children that might get upset during the inspection. I also went to Wal-mart and was able to obtain several hundred dollars for the purchase of stuffed anmimal for these same children. I do not care what side of this issue you are on, but I took pride in how I did my job and I always treated people with respect and since you were never there to see how an inspection went, you should hold your tongue before you make aquasations you can’t defend. I on the other hand can. One of the complainants in their complaint stated that we forced our way into the residence when there was a Washington Post reporter with us doing the inspection. Don’t you think that if I forced my way into the residence the reporter would have made a huge issue out of this. Again, someone young attorney in a suit wrote every complaint for all the complaianats and all you have to do is read them to see. However, I do think the City is doing the right thing in settling. I also want to say, there was not one employee in favor of this ordinance. It was forced down our throat to enforce. This is what happens when Council members listen to citizens instead of the professionals they hired to do a job. I am not saying the council should not listen to citizens, but on such a hot issue like this people don’t always think things out fully and this is what happens. One last comment, it was not zoning enforcement, it was always a uniformed member of the Fire Marshal’s Office.
Apparently the city council got smart after that and stopped allowing itself to be led around though the nose by Gospel G. That Gregorian Chant only worked once. I seriously doubt it will work again. People have gotten a lot smarter in both jurisdictions.
I can assure Greg L had absolutely nothing to do with this ordinance. I am not a Greg l. hater, I think he is right on many opinions and objections. I just think the way about meeting his objections and opinions may be a bit objectionable.
Former COM employee,
“This is what happens when Council members listen to citizens instead of the professionals they hired to do a job. I am not saying the council should not listen to citizens, but on such a hot issue like this people don’t always think things out fully and this is what happens.”
Your explanation of what happened with the City sounds eerily familiar and sounds exactly like what transpired in the County. Supervisors did not listen to the professionals like Chief Deane but instead capitulated to an angry mob of citizens. In both cases, things were not fully thought out.
This shows that the issue of overcrowding can’t be handled by existing codes. So no one here has a solution to this problem even though everyone says that the problem could easily be handled. Once again, tell me in legal detail how to go about reducing the number of people occupying a single family dwelling. Apparently Manassas needs your help!
SA, Probably the best point made here tonight is the one made by Former COM employee about listening to professionals rather than some half-baked political scheme offered up by someone with a political agenda.
I don’t think anyone has said it will be easy to handle these problems but efforts should be made rather than the alternative which is to put out a resolution that scares the crap out of people and they leave town. The ends do not necessarily justify the means.
Other than that, I don’t have an opinion. I don’t live in the city.
Bring it On, 21. September 2008, 20:57
“Emma,
You fit right in with all the hateful SOB’s over on the “dark screen”…”
Was Emma’s comment removed? Why the attack?
No, her comment was not removed.
Attack? Perhaps you need to go to the source on that one.
MH,
Exactly why would the Resolution scare the crap out of people if they were in the country legally? I can understand that it could create an inconvenience in certain cases, but unless you broke a law your background would never be questioned. The fear came from the fact that they knew the new rules could possibly end in their deportation. Another inconvenience, as they would just walk back across the border later as has been demonstrated many times. How many legals do you know that left town due to the Resolution? Oh that’s right, how do you know they were legal?
Former COM
Having been a former COM myself I know much about what went on in the City during the time the Definition of Family Resolution was crafted, adopted and implemented. I do not want to go into all the details of what I know or how I know it but the resolution was a grave error on the part of the City. I know that Mr. Jackson pushed for it and that Greg L and Mr. Jackson did have an alliance at that time. I do not know what type of influence or if Greg L had any influence over what transpired. I do know he spoke at many City Council meetings regarding the issue.
As for the way inspections were handled, I know first hand of several incidents that could have been handled better. I think there were many errors made and I think there was testimony to that fact which was backed up.
Yes, I know City employees did not like the ordinance and were only doing the job they were told to do. It was unfortunate that you were caught in the middle.
SA, I asked you in the other thread to list the symptoms of overcrowding that you wanted addressed. Jurisdictions are limited in what they can do if ten people claim they’re related. That doesn’t mean that fire codes, trash, overgrown lawns, too many cars, public urination - all things you gripe about and blame on overcrowding - can’t be addressed. They can - by using other laws that are on the books. If the Dillon Law permitted, maybe VDOT and localities could limit some street parking or assign permits. You dismissed my advice and said that it employed other tax supported services. Well, millions of dollars which have accomplished little or nothing have been spent between the two jurisdictions already. What symptoms of overcrowding do you want solved? It can’t be merely number of people or you’d go after the Kelly clan.
SA, Right! I do not know who was legal and who was not and I would not ask.
As was illustrated by the massive media circus Oct 16, many people who were legal had friends and family who were not documented. I really cannot dispute what you are saying. Of course the illegal status was the cause of having the crap scared out of people in that community.
I have a problem with scare tactics being used on people. Does that mean I want open borders? NO, it doesn’t mean that at all. I want the borders more secure, not less. But it does mean I am uncomfortable with people leaving because they are scared.
The fact that they are here in the first place signals something is wrong with us as a country either from a border security point of view or from an immigration point of view. There should be a backlog of months, not years. We need workers. Let them come here legally, not illegally.
“No, her comment was not removed. ”
It is very difficult to follow a thread when people reply to posts on the other board without explanation on this board.
“Attack? Perhaps you need to go to the source on that one.”
Who is the source? Considering that I did a search of this page to see if Emma said anything, I think that referring to “hateful SOB’s on the ‘dark board’” is an attack that came out of the blue. Perhaps you should ask people who post on both boards if they consider themselves “hateful sob’s” when they are on the other board. I just didn’t think the comment had anything to do with the thread so it was out of left field and was confusing, hence I asked the question.
There is no need to explain the dark screen here. It speaks for itself. I suggest you go read what is being said over there if you want see what brought about that comment about ‘hateful SOBs.’
Emma is the source. She will probably be more than happy to explain why she has been picked on and beaten down. I do not speak for her.
Sorry ‘A PW Resident,’ I feel like you are trying to ferret out something. Suggestion, focus on the topics, not comments about individual monikers. Many of us here know each other or are friends. I wouldn’t expect to drop by and understand all the nuances or who all the monikers belong to in real life.
It’s her comments over on bvbl that are nasty. I don’t have time to outline them all but she’s a piece of work.
I agree with resident, it’s hard to follow the conversation, I too went in search of Emma’s comments.
“This shows that the issue of overcrowding can’t be handled by existing codes.”
You can go by fire codes.
Not to stir up trouble where there might not be any, but how many of the “inspections” were Hispanic homes vs. non-Hispanic homes? How many people were in each home inspected? How did the inspectors know which homes to inspect? There’s more to this story than meets the eye.
Jackson Miller’s connection with Greg L. was documented on the net before the election. Miller had the opportunity to disclose the owner of BVBL because there were so many complaints about it. However, he did not, though he knew GL owned it and was a pal of HSM. Miller is one of the minions.
Here’s an interesting piece that describes other good “soliders.” If I were some of these people, I would want to be taken off this list. But they are free to choose their own associations, no matter how unwise.
http://www.novatownhall.com/blog/2007/06/jackson_miller_event_in_manass.php
Here’s another interesting piece: http://www.loudoundemocrats.org/?p=95
Want to see something really gross? Look who donated to Miller’s campaign. I don’t think some of you will like this list. I know I didn’t.
http://vpap.org/committees/profile/money_in_donors/1350?end_year=2008&filing_period=all&filter_schedule=all&industry=all&limit=50&locality=all&lookup_type=year&order=amount&page=2&start_year=2007&zip_code=all
http://www.manassasgop.com/Events/GALA_Banquet_2007/gala_banquet_2007.html
Miller and Greg are guest speakers.
“Sorry ‘A PW Resident,’ I feel like you are trying to ferret out something. Suggestion, focus on the topics, not comments about individual monikers. Many of us here know each other or are friends.”
MH, I am sorry too since for some reason you are attaching a motive to me that just isn’t there. I asked what was said to initiate the post by Bring it On. Pretty simple request.
I am glad that you all are friends. Does this mean that I can’t understand what is being said since I am not a “friend.” I thought it was a public board but if it is just among friends then I won’t take up any more of your time. And none of this is said with any rancor at all so please don’t misunderstand my comments. It sure seems to me that you seem to jump all over some people for their posts when there is nothing unseemly about them. Doesn’t make someone feel very welcome.
Who are all friends, PW? I know maybe three people who post here and we really don’t respond that much to each other. I’m just curious.
KG, I didn’t bring it up. I was responding to the post by Moon Howler. I honestly tried to post early on about solutions and that was not very well received I guess. Since then, I try to read everyone’s opinion and for the most part, they are good posts so I don’t need to add to the discussion. I learned long ago that to post agreement just adds time to everyone’s day. When I don’t understand something I ask like I did above.
I will tell you that it seems that unless you seem to be in some inner circle, you can get some fairly negative comments thrown your way, when all you do is ask a question. That is not only unfriendly but also unwelcoming. I can understand that this can be an emotional issue but some here think “attack first” is the approach to take with everyone. I would prefer if these same people attack the opinions of someone they disagree with rather than attach some evil plot to people who are simply here to take in others opinions and don’t post much. Maybe then you won’t see so many comments about this board being a mirror image of the other board. For the most part, I don’t think it is 100% true but certainly there are people on both sides that can be somewhat tiring. it is a little like “I am not at all like the on the other board–I don’t call any of those names.”
Just my own personal opinion.
kgotthardt
At the time the “overcrowding hotline” was operational in the City of Manassas, I never heard of one call being made about an overcrowded situation involving occupants that were Caucasian , Black, Asian or any other ethnicity. To my knowledge all the anonymous calls that were called into the hotline were against Hispanics. Maybe Former COM will have the stats since he was involved in the inspection process. I, too, am a former City employee and, even though I have a good deal of knowledge about the overcrowding issues and the former Definition of Family Resolutionm, I do not have the stats on the calls. I never did, however, hear of any complaints about any other group. The Hispanic community was the target of the calls that were placed to the hotline.
by the way, the word expl*t*ve was inserted in my last made up quote above. Guess the word checker doesn’t like the word that is inserted when you don’t want to say a bad word.
A PW R,
In the amount of time you have nattered at me trying to make me out to be an unwelcoming person who won’t answer your questions, you could have figured out the answers to all your questions.
My function here is not to do research for others. I answered your question. It was a brief answer. You are being a pitbull. Why do you possibly care what Emma did or didn’t say. If you would like to figure out the friction involved, go to bvbl. She is very blunt in expressing her feelings. You won’t see some of it. The blog owner there removed it. No opinion here. His blog, he can do what he wants.
I suggest if you want a history of anyone here, go back through the archives, or go ask Emma.
I have no idea what you are talking about with the expletives. I am very sorry I even attempted to answer a question. Let’s go back to substance and forget all the gossip and who said what to whom.
Oh and A PW R, I have not jumped on you or anyone else. When I do jump on people, there is no doubt in the recipient’s mind. You must have me confused with someone else.
Interesting answer to my post. Thanks for confirming what I said. See you guys.
Adios!
I gather Emma is being a poopy butt over at the toilet?
Want to learn more about housing issues? Come tomorrow!
Who: League of Women Voters of the Prince William Area
What: Meeting for all members. BRING A GUEST. Guests are welcomed and invited to attend. Free.
When: Tuesday, September 23, 2008 @ 9:30 a.m.
Where: City Hall of Manassas, 9027 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110
Program: Housing in the Prince William Area
Guest Speaker: Teresa Giesting of the Prince William County of Community Housing and Development. Ms. Giesting has designed Prince William County’s Homeownership Assistance Program (HAP) to assist low income first time home buyers with interest free loans for down payment and closing costs.
The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization that encourages citizens to become informed to enhance their participation in government. We meet to discuss issues at the local, regional, state, and national levels. The League works to influence public policy through education and advocacy. Any citizen of voting age, male or female, may become a League member.
For more information or to join, please call 571-261-1533 or 703-492-4574 or visit the website at http://www.LWV-VA.org.
Hmmm,
Maybe, just maybe, Whites, Blacks, Asians, etc. do not try to cram 23 people into one house on a regular basis? Nooooo, couldn’t be THAT, could it?
Slow, you might want to re-evaluate that statement. Remember that fire in the country last year……
Additional examples of non-hispanic overcrowding is evident all over the place. Want some addresses?
kgot, who knows. Apparently her friends are over here trying to make an issue out of nothing. Yawn.
Maybe the fact that some of the posters here owe hundreds of thousands more on their homes than they are worth have them looking for a scapegoat?
Marie, I will repeat until my death, you never saw anything by an inspector in our department before May 19, 2008, that ever mistreated any citizen. I dare you to tell of one story where I or my assistant ever treated anyone unfairly. You can’t, because you were never on any inspections. The only thing you might think you know is what ever some person told you who had an inspection performed at their house and I all ready know they are a bunch of liars. In addition, I was at many meetings and was even asked about the ordinance from the begining and I know without a doubt that former Councilman Jackson or Greg L had nothing to do with the idea of this ordinance or its wording. In fact, I know the exact employee who came up with this idea. I consider this man a friend of mine so I wont reveal his name or position, but it was not the former councilman or Greg L. After many reports to the Council on our success even reporting that as many as 399 people had relocated due to our enforcement in the first year, it wasn’t enough. They wanted more and this was an idea floated to them. They accepted the idea even after reservations by many employees and the City Attorney. They just couldn’t let us do the job we were hired to do. Maybe you should stick to putting down City employees on a subject you really know something about because you know absolutely nothing about this subject except what you heard in public meetings.
Greg’s reporting a settlement of 700,000. I presume atleast one family left the City, hopefully some of the money ends up in their hands and not solely with the attorneys.
Marie, I should have read before I posted earlier. But you again are wrong about the races of people who we inspected. I will agree the great majority of houses inspected were of hispanic culture, but not every family inspected was. We recieved anonymous calls on white, middle eastern, black and asian. In fact, the family we recieved the most calls on was a single asian female off Confederate Trail. We even recieved many calls from callers with Hispanic surnames on their neighbors who were also hispanic. But people like you always want to make it a race issue. It wasn’t a race issue, it was a safety and quality of life issue.
Quick question, if it’s a safety issue wouldn’t it be an occupancy level concern that would not have required the changing in the definition of a family? Don’t we have adequate safety/occupancy levels?
Alanna, that is my point, did you not read anything I wrote. Many jurisdictions have limits on the number of unrelated people who can live in a single family house. This was ruled legal by the US Supreme Court. The City Council felt as if the current laws did not do enough so they wanted more done so they approved this asinine ordinance to get more unrelated people out of houses that under the previous ordinance would not of had a violation. Since the occupancy limit can not be set by local ordinance they figured we could get more people out of residences by this new family definition. In addition, not one family member was forced to be moved out during the short time the ordinance was in effect. So that is my reasoning in saying that no one was hurt during the time the ordinance was in effect.
Former COM
I know who you are. I was in more than public meetings and you where you were present in some of those meetings. My knowledge of the subject is more than hearsay or rumor.
Last I have to say on the matter.
And Marie, how many inspections were you on? none, so watch what you say about me in a public forum or you might find yourself on the other side of a lawsuit for slander. Again, you know nothing about how the inspections were done.
Former COM,
Exactly what has Marie said that would justify a lawsuit for slander? Additionally, you are going by fictitious name COM! Wow, talk about mis-sing the law.
Once again Slowpoke, you exemplify why people like me call this issue steeped in racism and prejudice, thanks for reaffirming.
Elena, I am easily found and marie has on more than one occassion stated that either I or one of the assistants that worked with me mistreated the citizens of Manassas. Slander, I don’t know, but it might be worth a try if the accusations continue. I went through a lot for the City of Manassas and I did my job well and to have someone come on here and make unfounded accusations that reflect on me will absolutely not be tolerated by me. I was against this ordinance, but not against the concept of the program before the ordinance change, so I did everything in my power to see it was a fair program. Marie still has not come on here and cited one case where I am supposed to have mistreated anyone.
Former Com
I have said nothing about you in a public forum that is slanderous. No one on this blog knows your identity. All I said was I know who you are. Did I give your name? NO. So, unless you disclose your name no one on this blog knows who you are. I see that you have posted on BVBL and are using the same moniker. So, I suppose no one there knows your identity either.
Good night! Sorry, this issue had to be brought up by Greg L and open old wounds. Greg does what he can provoke people. Too bad his spin is always negative.
Marie, you may be right, but why don’t you admit that you know nothing about how the inspections were done and that you have absolutely no idea how I treated the citizens of Manassas. In addition, again, I am easily found and all the legal stuff would be for a court to decide if you choose to continue to slander me (my opinion and we all know what opinions are like). I originally came on this sight to offer a perspective on how the program worked and to show that there is more that could be done and then you start with the big bad government official harrassed and intimidated the citizens of Manassas. Have a nice night.
Former COM
I am not attacking you or the job you had to do. All along my beef has been with the way the City implemented the resolution.
I went back over my posts and I think this is what I said.
“KathyZ-There is a lot of information regarding this issue. You can google it and read it for yourself-all the sordid details of how some families were treated.”
I was referring to the information on the internet, in the WaPo and Journal Messenger. There were many reports in the newspaper and statements from those who had undergone inspections. The reports were not very favorable to the City. You got caught in the middle as I stated in one of my posts.
“As for the way inspections were handled, I know first hand of several incidents that could have been handled better. I think there were many errors made and I think there was testimony to that fact which was backed up.”
The City should have never set up a “overcrowding hotline” for anonymous complaints. Inspections were done based solely on anonymous calls. Not a good idea. Not your fault just not the best way to handle the issue.
“I never heard of one call being made about an overcrowded situation involving occupants that were Caucasian , Black, Asian or any other ethnicity. To my knowledge all the anonymous calls that were called into the hotline were against Hispanics. Maybe Former COM will have the stats since he was involved in the inspection process.”
Read the first sentence to see what I said-I never heard……. I believe I made reference that you would know the stats and you could provide them.
I see nothing that slanders you.
Well…I am really signing off now. You have a nice night, too.
Former COM,
It is frustrating when you try to engage in discussion on a defined subject, and it goes off the edge as the standard blind allegiance to those in the country illegally kicks in. Your description of the events is interesting and comes from first hand knowledge unlike the hear say that support most comments. Why people never honestly state their level of knowledge on a subject is beyond me. We all are guilty of quoting hear say, but when you know something to be absolutely true, and someone casually dismisses the information as rhetoric or bias, then it really gets to the point where you feel you’re wasting your time. Simple facts that if most overcrowding was being done by Hispanics, then obviously the majority of calls would involve Hispanics, but some try to turn harmless statistics into solid evidence of racial bias. It happens all the time. Example: The majority of people in prison are either black or Hispanic, so therefore we must be applying the laws unfairly. Never mind that they commit crimes to a higher degree. Same supportive argument. Keep it up though. I’d rather read fact over fiction. Fiction I can get from the political debates!
Former COM employee,
I was enjoying learning from your insider’s perspective until you started up with the threats of lawsuits.
We must never shrink from criticizing our public employees. Your lawsuit threats suggest that you are not be suitable to assume public trust.
Yes, I’m slandering you. Now sue me.
LESS LETHAL WEAPONS ARE STILL LETHAL.
Lethal weapons should only be deployed in situations where lethal danger is present.
How do we allow this to happen? What is wrong with us that we accept this situation? We pay our taxes at the point of a gun, so that the muscle hired by our tax dollars can toss grenades at us when we try to exercise our first amendment rights?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VppfmsLAJy8
Calm down Mackie, now you’re starting to sound like a radical. No, we should employe an overpowering level of potential force such that the the situation doesn’t escalate, because the perp feels he or she has a fighting chance. How many times do people in cars try to outrun the police, because they think they may be able to get away?
Segundo Alamo,
How is it radical to say grenades and chemical weapons are wrong to use against people peacefully exercising their free speech?
Individuals who engage in violence or destruction of property should definitely be arrested. But the point is that those individuals can be singled out and arrested.
I would even support the use of weapons if the crowd was executing a mass attack upon the police. But that is not what was happening here.
Workers stand up. And almost get beat down.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnK3I_zDuk0
SecondAlamo,
Maybe I’ve missed something but we haven’t been talking about illegals during this topic thread. Secondly, Marie clearly stated she too is a former City of Manassas employee so I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss her.
I feel dissed. We have white, black, hispanic and asian over-crowding in Prince William County.
Republican Doofus Gets Taken for a Ride
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqQYHBUlfg0
Robbery is wrong. But that doesn’t mean you can’t cheer for it.
New article about Duecaster in the Post. Duecaster posted as “Advocator” in the comments!
You can also find this info on http://www.raisingkaine.com, complete with comments from Eric Byler and others.
Mackie, I am sorry you feel that way. But I know that many of the people who post on this site and many who read this site know who I am. I really do not care that people know who I am, but I do care about my reputation. Since a reputation is really all a man has, i want to keep mine in good standing. Marie can try to spin it any way she wants, but her written words stand by themselves. I am no different than any other person, when you back them in a corner they come out fighting. My last words will be these on this subject, 1. the city council messed this up, they are the blame and no one else. 2. city employees did what they were told/forced to do. 3. the program was working fine before the council got to deply involved. 4. I put another idea on the table to solve the council’s problem with the program which was never presented to them. 5. my idea was to get other jurisdictions behind a statewide code modification on the occupancy limits of residential housing. 6. that idea would not have happened overnight and may not have ever happened, but we won’t know until someone tries. 7. when I say no one was ever hurt I mean no one ever had their constitutional rights violated while doing an inspection and no one ever lost any money because of the inspections. 8. finially and emphatically no one who ever did an overcrowding inspection from June 1, 2004, through may 19, 2008 ever mistreated a City of Manassas citizen. No matter what Marie may think she knows, she is dead wrong. Thanks to everyone for being open minded while I try to explain some of how this mess happened and let everyone know in my opinion, there are still options for what I consider a safety problem even with the current codes in place. I also enjoy listening to what other people have to say about this issue. And for the record, I don’t think anyone on either side of this situation has bad intentions and I myself do not have an answer only that I do believe the current situation is not working and will have to be solved on all levels of government.
The folks that have posted before me have made many interesting points regarding the ERC settlement. Please allow me to explain the reasoning behind my vote.
To me, this was ultimately a business decision to make. The choices were to settle now or to go into the deposition and ultimately trial phase of the case.
By settling now, we secured the backing of our insurance company who is paying the entire settlement cost and the bulk of our attorney’s fees. The actual financial cost to the citizens is very small.
By continuing the fight we ran the risk that our insurance carrier would cut bait on us. (They could actually agree to settle the case without approval from the City.) The cost in attorneys fees and staff time for the depositions and trial would be huge. At the end of the trial there would be the risk of a large damage award. And possibly most damaging is that if the other side prevailed in any one issue, the City would be liable for ALL of their attorney fees. That number alone would be in the millions. I could easily imagine a total cost to the City of over $5,000,000. And expense that would somehow have to be borne by the taxpayers.
We might have won. But the odds (and all legal advice) suggested otherwise.
I absolutely agree that there are times where it is vital to stand on principle (hence my vote on the BPL issue). I agree that a system where one part of the government provides funding to a special interest group to sue other parts of the government is flawed. But I could not ask the citizens of Manassas to run such a staggering financial risk to score debating points with the ERC, DOJ or HUD.
Mr. Wolfe, all though not a City of Manassas resident, I used to keep up on the politics because of my past employment. I must say I had my reservations about you before, but your very well written explanation for the reason you voted the way you did is what should be expected of all honest and respectful polititions. The citizens of Manassas should be proud to have a council member such as you. If the past members had used good judgement and not acted on an issue as this just because of public outcry, the city might not be in the situation they are in now. I hope that in the future, council members while listening to citizens, will take very seriously the input from the professioanl staff you have employed and entrusted to run the city before making such important decisions in such a haste.
Mr. Wolfe,
As a City Employee I commend you for making the correct decision regarding the ERC settlement.
I wholeheartedly agree with Former COM.
Thank you for the common sense reasoning.