January 1, 2024
Happy New Year!
- Modified Trash Pickup this week – Republic
- Neighborhood Safety
- Animal Shelter Vaccine and Microchip event Friday, January 5
- Winners of the Holiday Decorating Contest
- Looking for a cartographer or graphic designer to update the community map
- Looking for company to eventually remove, and possibly store, our community sign
- Last call for Civic Association Membership Renewal
- News from ECHO
- Calendar
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1 – Since I have Republic as my trash service and only know what they are doing, here is their modified trash schedule this week.
Monday (today)– no service
Tuesday – recycling
Wednesday – no leaves, but Christmas tree collection
Thursday – no service
Friday – regular trash pick-up
Next week will resume normal service, but there will be an additional tree pick-up on Wednesday.
2 – A reminder that if you are having people over that they cannot park their car in your driveway and block the sidewalk. Several houses had that happen the last couple of weeks. It creates an unsafe condition for pedestrians and is illegal.
Also, please warn people that are not familiar with our streets that it is hilly, curvy, and narrow with cars parked on both sides. I have recently seen a few near collisions for people going too fast at a curve and being in the middle of the street with on-coming traffic as far to the right as they can be. We have had accidents with parked vehicles from younger drivers in our community.
Please wear light colored or reflective clothing, or have a flashlight if you are out walking when it is dark out and when it is close to sunrise and sunset. If you are not wearing anything to make yourself more visible, take extra caution when crossing the street. Please do not stare at your phone and assume people can see you.
3 – There will be another Vaccine and Microchip event on Friday January 5, from 9:00 - 11:00 a.m. at the Fairfax County Animal Shelter's Michael R Frey Campus (4500 West Ox Road, Fairfax). The Fairfax County Animal Shelter offers County residents the opportunity to have their pet vaccinated or microchipped without the cost of a veterinary exam. Learn more about vaccine and microchip clinics on the Animal Shelter’s website.
4 – Here are the winners of the Annual Holiday Decorating Contest:
1st Place – 8135 Springfield Village Drive
2nd Place – 6805 Landor Lane
3rd Place – a tie between 6810 Bellamy Avenue & 7000 Elkton Drive
Honorable mention to – 6808 Ontario Street, 683 Brisbane Street, and 6908 Smyth Street
5 – I am looking for someone who would be able to update our Civic Association Community Map (the one in the middle of our Directory). Since we have expanded into neighboring subdivisions, I wanted to have it reflected in our Directory. If you have experience with creating a new map, or expanding the current one, please let me know if you are interested. If you have a child that might want to do this, it is a perfect opportunity for them to earn volunteer hours. Please send an email to president@westspringfieldvillage.org for more information.
6 – It will be several months before the work needs to be done, but I wanted inquiries/recommendations for a company to remove and eventually relocate the Community sign at the intersection of Rolling Rd at Barnack Dr before the road widening project begins. The last I heard from VDOT, the project will start this Fall. I do not have a deadline to have the sign removed, but I wanted to find someone now so it will be easier to schedule it later. I am in talks with them to place the sign close to the existing location when their project ends. If the company can store the sign for 1.5-2 years, I would like that in their proposal. If not, any resident that can store the sign would be greatly appreciated. The downside is that it is a lot bigger than it seems when you drive by it. Please email me at president@westspringfieldvillage.org if you are interested in the work or know someone who might be.
7 – This is the last newsletter reminding you to renew if you have not done it already. Thanks to the people who have emailed me asking if they need to renew. It seemed more people had not renewed when they were confirming how many years they had left than people who thought they needed to renew when they already had done so. Although it is good to renew for more than one year, there can be too much of a good thing. Multiple multi-year renewals throws the numbers off and creates more work for me to fix, so please email me to see where you are at. A few Holiday Decoration winners have not renewed, but I did not want to disqualify them since there is no prize.
You can mail cash or a check made out to CAWSV to PO Box 2204, Springfield, VA 22152. You can out cash or a check in the drop box in front of my house at 6919 Vancouver Rd (lift the lid on top of the box that says CAWSV on the side). You can also pay via PayPal.
o Renew for 1 year - $11 (FY24)
o Renew for 2 years - $21 (FY24 & FY25)
o Renew for 3 years - $31 (FY24, FY24 & FY26)
This is the last email. After a few weeks, I will check the renewal list and create the data file for the Directory. It will come out a lot faster than last year now that I have a better handle on how to prepare it.
8 - The list of ECHO’s needs is always on our website at echo-inc.org. Our Clothing Room especially needs sneakers (new or used, in good condition) for boys, girls, men, and women. The Housewares Department currently needs towels, shower curtains, bathmats, comforters, and frying pans. The Food Pantry needs canned meats or fish, spaghetti sauce, instant coffee, bagged rice, sugar, children’s toothbrushes, laundry detergent, and toilet paper. After the January 1 holiday, ECHO, 7205 Old Keene Mill Road, Springfield, will return to normal hours of operation: Monday - Friday, 9:30 am to 12:30 pm and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings, 7:00 to 9:00.
If your New Year’s resolution is to get more involved in your community, there are some important volunteer positions at ECHO that we’d like you to consider. In addition to a few vacancies working with donations in Housewares, Clothing, or Food, ECHO is searching for Grant Writers to support our efforts in securing funding to help our neighbors in need. Responsibilities include researching grant opportunities, writing compelling grant proposals to acquire funding, and working with our Finance Team to ensure we have sufficient funds for our operations. If you have experience as a Grant Writer or a similar role and would like to find out more, please email volunteercoordinator@echo-inc.org.
9 – Calendar
January 1 – New Year’s Day
January 5 – Vaccine and Microchip event at the Fairfax Shelter on West Ox
January 15 – Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday