Morning Buzz – Nov. 30, 2010

A daily digest of what’s going on in Fredericksburg, and what news from elsewhere is relevant here. Send suggestions to ebattle@freelancestar.com.

I don’t know about you, but I sure have a hard time getting into the holiday spirit if we’re not talking about building courts in Fredericksburg (emphasis on talking about). To continue the tradition, the city late yesterday posted a request for proposals for court-building plans on its website. The document asks for proposals for building space for all three city courts. It states that the City Council will consider proposals that coincide with the basic ideas in two of the plans put forward by Glave & Holmes (using the current Juvenile and Domestic Relations and General District court sites, along with the Princess Anne Street fire station) and the one presented this fall by the Herlong Associates architectural firm, with backing from City Councilman Fred Howe (using the Executive Plaza site on Caroline Street). The request for proposals outlines a selection process that would have the council selecting a designer and builder for the courts in July at the earliest. Look for more on this in tomorrow’s paper.

City leaders are getting a good deal of feedback before the $11,400 they agreed last week to spend on a citizen survey is even out the door. Among the respondents is former City Councilman Matt Kelly, who had this to say on his blog:

Fredericksburg is small enough where direct interaction between city representatives and residents through neighborhood meetings, public hearings, and even chats at the grocery store, should still be the primary approach the city takes in communicating with the community. We have a community infrastructure–Lets use it.