Dear West Springfield Neighbor / Friend,
Spring? Is that you? Daylilies and Crocus are up, trees are budding and our Yemeni Wonder Dawg “Sadiqi” is starting to shed her winter coat. Has to be spring; right?
It Ain’t Personal – please remember that these enews messages are addressed to myself with you and your closest friends placed on the BCC line. “You” is not just you, but instead all of you and me…
Republic Trash – Starting 5 March, Republic Trash will pick up household trash only once per week on Thursdays. That week and going forward, they will collect recycle on Mondays, Yard Debris on Wednesdays until just before Christmas and household trash on Thursdays. Our bill is to be reduced by $2.00 per month, but they want to charge you $4.00 per month to rent a second trash toter for those thinking they’ll have more than one toter’s volume of trash per week. After intense negotiations, they now say they will forgive that $4.00 per month if you call to request it from their customer service (703/818-8222). Worth the try; right? They also say they’ll forgive the delivery charge of that second trash toter. But, knowing that we all want to do our part to reduce trash - do any of us really need a second trash toter? Granted you may have more than will fit into your toter on a few occasions during the year and knowing that they will not pick up extra trash left beside your toter, why not coordinate to cooperate with your neighbors to use their not-so-full toter for your extra trash and afford them the same courtesy if/when you can accommodate their extra trash? My only expectations is that my neighbors securely bag their contribution so it doesn’t end up in the street instead of in their truck.
Glass bottles are still collected in the purple bin in the parking lot of the Springfield District Government Center on Rolling Road. If you can’t get your bottles to that collection point nor know of any helpful neighbors willing to also take your bottles, then put them into your trash container as last resort, but no longer into your recyclable container. Come sit on my porch if you why. Glass recycling a huge success with the glass being ground into useful construction aggregate for laying pipes or mixing with asphalt and for selling to glass recycle centers.
A while back, I mentioned that change be a’coming in trash collection and processing policies and procedures. We’ve seen some of that change, but soon, very soon according to Fairfax County Solid Waste – there will be a ban on using plastic bags for yard debris. That will force us to use paper bags or reusable containers or to compost grass clippings. If all this change helps reduce, reuse and recycle – let’s do it! Let’s do our part to help protect and save Mother Earth from us.
Storm Water Management - During and After Rolling Road Widening – had a very good question come up about storm water (SW) running down side streets off Rolling Road and either creating an overflow issue in our existing Storm Water Drainage (SWD) intakes & pipes or flowing to the bottom of Springfield Village Drive and other side streets and the causing a street flood that may also flood surrounding homes. You may recall that all of VDOT’s projects have to prevent such due to construction and post construction runoff. Virginia went so far as to declare Storm Water a pollutant to ensure compliance. Project Engineer confirmed their intent to prevent increased SW drainage down side streets and not to overwhelm our SWD system. Some of you may recall when SWD intake boxes were lifted from the ground at certain downslope intersections. And the spring monsoon rains can’t be too far off; can they?
Resource Protection Area – we have a few homes that overlap RPAs. That means more restrictions on home improvement projects such as decks, driveways and additions. Go to www.fairfaxcounty.gov and then search for Resource Protection Areas (RPA) to find more about those restrictions and which homes are affected. But, all of us have a responsibility to the watershed and our source of drinking water. Don’t dump waste of any kind in the watershed areas that feed into Pohick Stream and also into Accotink Stream. That includes the 39” SWD pipes and intakes. Take a walk down to the drainage that feeds into those streams to see that we aren’t doing enough to protect our water sources. If you feel compelled to put that bag containing your dog’s feces into the SWD intake, you might as well take it home and add directly into your water glass. OK, maybe that’s overkill, but take a walk down the watershed to the creeks to see that our halo has slipped.
Watershed Cleanup – Saturday, 4 April from 9:00 AM – 12:00 noon. Twice each year we gather to clean our section of the Pohick Stream Park watershed. This year and thanks to a concerned SVD resident, we will add a similar cleanup on that portion of the Accotink Creek watershed known also as West Springfield Park. Both efforts will be on the same day, 4 April; scout troops, school or church groups, sports teams and certainly all village residents will be welcome to join the fun. More to follow as we get closer to 4 April.
Yard Sale – This Saturday, 22 February from 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, 6509 Sydenstricker Road, Burke, VA 22015. Come shop for great deals and lots of treasures!
CPR Training – No qualification certificate, but free hands-on training at Fire Station 214 (Burke Bingo Hall), 9501 Old Burke Lake Road, Burke, Virginia 22015 from 1 – 4:00 PM, Saturday, 22 February. Questions can be directed to Battalion Chief George Robbins, Community Risk Reduction at 703/246-3801 or george.robbins@fairfaxcounty.gov.
Take care; stay safe.
John Cooley, CAWSV