Dear Village Neighbor / Friend,
Ask your forgiveness if I abused the Queen’s English; been a bit distracted.
1. What Do We (You) Stand to Lose? Consider what we have accomplished over the years since 1967 as a united citizens’ group with of a common goal and a unified voice. Also consider what may need to be done in the not-too-distant future. We may not agree all the time, but on certain issues that most of us now take for granted we have spoken as one.
- Next time you use your cell phone from anywhere in your home – thank the Village West Pool Directors (Eileen Gallagher) and to a lesser degree your CAWSV Board of Directors.
- The relief you must feel knowing that your child’s school bus driver can safely turn left onto Barnack from Rolling or from Barnack left back onto Rolling Road. You can thank your civic association and the RVES PTA (Deb Staron).
- And when you can see oncoming traffic instead of tall weeds blocking your view as you attempt a left hand turn onto Rolling from a village street or from that same village street left back onto Rolling – thank the collective voice of all those who join and pay their dues allowing us to contract the maintenance of the Rolling Road median. All benefit, but not all pay their dues! Is that what “privilege” means?
Are there more dragons to slay? Yes, there are plenty opportunities for future Board of Directors to improve our village life!
- We may have failed on our first attempt to get VDOT to bury the utility lines as they widen Rolling Road, but we know they have money set aside for this state-wide initiative. All we have to do is convince them of our high priority. In my mind - Rolling Road first and then the entire village. The Board of Directors can appoint a point person or group.
- We know that VDOT wants to set the speed limit on the widened Rolling Road to as much as 45 MPH. We fought the good fight and convinced them to keep it at 35 MPH, but good people – it won’t be long before they’ll try again to raise it.
- We expect a lot of cut-through and go-around traffic during the Rolling Road widening. We asked VDOT to include traffic calming devices and techniques along our side streets to stop those who will speed as our children head to or from school or their bus stops. That promise needs to turn into action.
- We see other jurisdictions raising electric costs and should be prepared to represent our interests at that public hearing if/when Dominion follows suit. Bob Lomax reports one area in Delaware that is considering a significant rate hike per kilowatt-hour (kWH) for their customers.
- And to keep this list short – we also have the annual to-do lists that include membership drive, social functions, community wide yard sale and possible community cleanup and more. Each of those could use an infusion of some younger blood and fresh eyes to enhance our success.
We need to identify a new President now while I am still here to help.
2. Membership Drive – Unusual request maybe but would like to have the drive completed ASAP for selfish reasons. Our Membership Chair certainly does not need my help other than these annoying messages, but still want to have one less issue to deal with during transition.
The FY23 Membership form is on our website (West Springfield Village) and can be found at our FaceBook Group. The form isn’t needed if you were and are still happy with your current directory listing. It’s up to you to report your listing instructions and correct spelling of names, email addresses, etc but you can also email me with your information. Here’s what we need:
- Name(s) – include in the next directory? (pick “yes” or “no)
- Address - list in directory - yes (if yes to names, it’s yes here also and similarly if no to names -it’s no here and no for phone and email)
- Phone Number(s) - list in directory? (yes or no)
- Email Address(es) – list in directory? (yes or no – your choice)
If you say no to listing or no to listing phone and/or email – it will not be, but we need it for association business.
Have you joined already? All have or will get an email receipt when you renew or join. Shouldn’t be any doubt; right?
Preferred payment method is to click “Here” to use PayPal to pay your FY23 dues but there you will pay an extra $1.00 ($11.00 total) to cover their transaction costs. You can use your online banking service or even snail mail to dispatch $10.00, payable to “CAWSV”, P.O. Box 2204, Springfield, VA 22152. Or drop off your dues at my 8131 Edmonton Court home. I can update your listing while you are here or via email if I miss you. You might want to also prepay for FY24 & FY25 at $10.00 per each Fiscal Year, your call. Please join or renew ASAP.
Rolling Valley East residents are invited to join us at the same rate and with the same privileges other than running for one of our director positions. Please advise your Rolling Valley friends of our invitation.
3. West Springfield Real Estate Market Report – (from Long & Foster) – in many categories the market shows a downward accounting from just a year ago: units sold, active inventory, new listings, current contracts, sold versus list price, median sale price, months of supply. But on a good note – days on the market is also down to about 6 days on average and median sale price is about the same as a year ago. Remember that this report includes all homes, not just single-family dwellings like in our village. See the report yourself at West Springfield Housing Market Data (longandfoster.com).
Of course, the market is turning from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market in some areas just after we purchased a home in Colorado. Just my luck!
4. Community Cleanup – No decision “go” or “no-go” has been made, but if we are to do a cleanup, it will be at our expense (monetarily and also the physical work)
If we can pull this off – it will happen during the second half of September (17 or 24 are most likely). But we have discovered the costs to be far more than we expected and what we paid last time we did one ourselves. In fact, as much as $2800.00 (which is double what it cost us before county started helping us). We continue to search for better rates but planning for the worst-case scenario.
So, if we do the cleanup – it will require supplemental payment by each who wants to participate and advance knowledge of your intent to use this service.
- If, on the cleanup date you have already paid your FY23 dues – your cost will be $10.00.
- If you were a member in FY22 or are a new resident since 11/01/21 but haven’t yet joined for FY23 – it will cost you $20.00 (covers your FY23 membership and use fee).
- If you were here, but not a member in FY22 – it will cost you $40.00 (also covers your FY23 and a prepay for FY24 membership).
Is this still a great deal – YES! But we still can’t include brick, cement block, rock, masonry, mortar, tree stumps, household trash and hazmat. Knowing the costs involved – are you interested? Let me know by COB (close of business), Monday, 22 August (john.t.cooley@verizon.net).
If we go with this event – those who have responded will be given priority in the queue to unload.
5. Street Repaving – ok most of the side streets should be done. Time is now to get your cars off your front or side yards and to clean the gutter in front of your home. NO! I sincerely doubt the asphalt company will come back to clean up what they left. No – I do not know who to call or email to get them to clean up. Reckon that will be up to each of us.
6. Calendar:
- 17 August – Free Concert featuring Speidel, Goodrich, Goggin & Lille (Rock) – see next article.
- 24 – Free Concert featuring The Colin Thompson Band (Blues Rock)
- 13 October – 7:30 PM, General Membership Meeting, Location TBD
- 1 November – FY23 Membership Drive Ends even though residents can still join anytime during the Fiscal Year.
- 13 October – General Membership Meeting (elect new Board of Directors, ratify FY22 Audit, Pass FY23 Budget with markups as needed.
7. Summer Concert Series – Free Concerts at Burke Lake Park. At 7:00 PM every Wednesday night until 24 August you are invited to the park to enjoy an incredible line-up of bands, food trucks, 2 Silos beer, and Peterson’s Ice Cream. The atmosphere is informal, so bring a picnic dinner, blankets, and lawn chairs, and relax with friends and family.
8. For Sale – Kawai Upright Piano – Kawai (bought new for $5K and still like new) with matching bench seat and lots of sheet music. You’ll find them online for much more than our asking price of $2,000.00. Interested? Email me at john.t.cooley@verizon.net or come see it at 8131 Edmonton Court. I have a neighbor with a truck and grown boys if you need help moving it.
9. Free – two twin beds, both suitable for toddlers given their side rails. Bed, frame, side rails, and stain-free mattresses in this package. Also, desks, chest of drawers, bookshelves, two each 4-drawer metal filing cabinets and more. Email me at john.t.cooley@verizon.net. My wife and I will have a ton of stuff to give away and maybe sell a few items. Come have a look to see what you may want at 8131 Edmonton Court.
10. Nextdoor – many of you also subscribe to Nextdoor and should also be amazed at what others often post from the sanctity of their throne in front of their PC. Ed Wyse and then I have been our community lead which means I vote about certain postings that may engage in uncivil discord or other violations of the “rules”. It only takes an extra minute or two to review targeted posts to vote “keep”, “maybe keep” or “remove”. Any takers?
John Cooley
CAWSV