Dear Village Neighbor / Friend,
African Killer Bees? Murder Hornets? – No. It’s the “little fly” (AKA “Mosquito”). Mosquitoes transmit more diseases including Malaria, Dengue Fever, West Nile Virus, Yellow Fever and the Zika Virus than any other creature.
And, now with the summer heat and rain – they are back and looking for blood. Actually, only the females want your blood not for their own nourishment but as a source of protein for their eggs. Both males and females eat nectar and other plant sugars for their own nourishment. After she obtains a blood meal, the female mosquito lays up to 200 eggs directly on or near water, soil or at the base of some plants that can hold water. The life cycle can range from 4 days to as long as a month.
Mosquitoes need water to reproduce. Eradication or population-control efforts usually involve removal or treatment of standing water sources. It’s up to each of us to interrupt their life cycle by removing standing water and plants that can cup and hold water such as English Ivy.
COVID-19 Update – The latest from Fairfax County concerning the virus can be found here. Here is a snapshot of Phase III guidelines:
County Public Schools – And now, the FCPS Superintendent has recommended and the school board agreed - no classroom study this fall, virtual or distance learning only for at least the 1st quarter and maybe beyond depending on the Covig-19 situation.
Classroom Furniture Swap – Assuming many of you may need to set up a classroom environment in your home, Edie Moore (703/451-0055) offers use of their pickup to help move furniture into or out of your home. If you have such items that you no longer need, you are invited to advertise them in these enews messages and/or on our Facebook Group.
Broken or Uneven Sidewalks – We had at recent incident where a lady tripped over a broken, uneven portion of sidewalk and fell. It isn’t the homeowner’s responsibility to repair, but reporting it may save another accident. Here’s the county link to report an issue with a sidewalk: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/publicworks/report-walkway-problem.
Membership Drive – our Civic Association will kick off the FY2021 membership drive in August. We voted to keep the dues at $10.00 for the year. Once the dues amount has been set, you can send your dues early if you expect to be away during the active drive. We do need your name(s), address, phone number(s) and email addresses along with your directory listing instructions concerning what of your personal information can be listed in the village directory. Send your dues payment to “CAWSV”, P.O. Box 2204, Springfield, VA 22152. We will send you a confirmation email message and move you onto the list who do not receive the reminders. That ought to be reason enough to send in your dues, eh?
Why join or renew your membership in your all-volunteer civic association? Here are a few reasons: 1) representation of majority opinion at district, county and state (that’s how we got the traffic light at Barnack and Rolling), 2) weekly enews, 3) a professional website (https://www.westspringfieldvillage.org/), 4) our Facebook group (https://www.facebook.com/groups/westspringfieldvillage), 5) the Community Directory, 6) sponsored yard sale and 7) community cleanup, 8) professional maintenance of the Rolling Road median, 9) social functions (some co-hosted with the Village West Swimming Pool) during “normal” years, 10) two annual meetings; one in May, the other in October. All for $10 annual dues!
Why would you not want to join your civic association? But, if you do decide to not join or renew your membership, please let me know so we can save on hard-copy newsletters and postage.
FaceBook Group Moderator – We added this position to our CAWSV Executive Council. The Executive Council is appointed by the Board of Directors and often called upon to vote on issues that come up between membership meetings. Wendi Dorey set up the Group and has moderated it since its inception.
It is a closed or private communications medium, currently serving 583 group members. If you want to join the group – 1) go to FaceBook.com, 2) log in and then 3) search for “West Springfield Village” and then 4) request to become a member. That semi-formal procedure ensures our privacy and keeps out those annoying, unsolicited posts we often see on NextDoor or FaceBook. From my phone, iPad or PC – I can send a message out anytime day or night. If you aren’t in the Group – highly recommend you do join. There is no charge. Thanks Wendi!
Free – I have a couple of child/pet gates if anyone wants them. I will leave them on my 8131 Edmonton Court front porch. Just come take them.
Stay safe; stay healthy and please do join or renew your membership in our CAWSV!
John Cooley, CAWSV