VRE Questions

Folks, the VRE Summit is this week and I’ve gotten a decent amount of e-mails but most are not questions; they are venting and opinions. If you want to know something about VRE then you need to e-mail a specific question. Tomorrow, I will be working on a story that explains how the forum will operate. The good news I will report now is:

The forum will be video taped. Supervisor Jerry Logan actually paid to have it video taped out of his own pocket, and I will give you a hint: it cost more than my kayak did.
Aimee Mann, the Board of Supervisors’ clerk, will be taking minutes so that every question asked and the answer is logged. This will be available to anyone (Larry, this is what you wanted, so send me some darn questions).
After all written questions are answered, the mic will be open for additional questions, but there will be a very strict time limit to it. Ask your question and then have a seat for the answer. If the question is avoided, hopefully a moderate makes sure it gets answered.
There is no time limit. It starts at 6:30 p.m. and there is to specific ending time. Folks, please don’t keep me there too late. I do have to write a story. Come prepared with your questions or send them to me ASAP. This is the only chance you have to do this.

If supervisors do decide to take a vote, it will likely be in August. Now, keep in mind that the vote is only to schedule a public hearing. That’s when you get your three minutes to express your OPINIONS. The forum is to ask questions. So, if supervisors in August take a VRE vote, it will be to have a public hearing and an official vote on whether to join VRE for the first time in the history of its existence will come after the public hearing.

Post tags: vre

Permalink: http://news.fredericksburg.com/spotsygovt/2009/06/08/vre-questions/

lgross

Does this mean that the questions and the
answers will be posted on the Spotsylvania
County Website for anyone who wants to see
them or does it mean that each person will have
to request them from the county?

I think you’d probably get more serious
questions and less venting if folks trusted that
the questions and answers would be made
available on the Spotsy website.

just my 2 cents.

If that is the case.. I’ll provide some questions.
lgross

I don’t understand this. In fact, I don’t
understand why the county is not broadcasting it
on their government channel.

If this is an important decision for Spotsylvania
Citizens then it certainly is worth a few bucks to
broadcast it and replay it for a few days or weeks.

Surely the BOS can find a few bucks to do this
without having Mr. Logan pay.
gramps

saying that the other six BOS members know exactly how they will vote after the public hearing. That is the only vote that will count. Mr. Logan is the swing man here.

Dan…I have not sent you any questions because I currently have none. The VRE Master Agreement you provided answered all my questions. This whole VRE issue is not a “pretty package.”
lgross

Dan is doing a good job but he’s unwittingly
become the “in-between” guy here.

He should have to go back and forth between the
public and the BOS/Logan.

The Spotsy Website actually already has a page
for polls and feedback… that they apparently
used to ask citizens about the zip code issue.

I see this as a plain issue of whether or not the
BOS actually wants to connect with their
constituents…. on a level similar to Matt Kelly of
the city who has his own blog.

there is absolutely no reason at all why the BOS
cannot put up a page with VRE questions and
answers and invite more questions that they will
promise to get the answers to and post them
also.

This whole dance leaves a perception not unlike
that of a political version of a fan dance.

At the end of the day – the BOS and Mr. Logan
need to be able to say to their constituents – “We
have ask for and received your views and we
have heard you loud and clear and now we must
do our duty and determine how to put together a
package that is responsible and fair to the
citizens”

The most important thing to most people is that
a transparent and honest public process is
conducted.

We should not be having to “convince” the BOS
to have such an open process IMHO.

at some point.. we may have to serious consider
putting up a “citizens” blog to do the things that
apparently the BOS is reluctant to do – like for
instance a simple poll … with some options to
see where some potential compromise
approaches might be possible.
lgross

Dan should NOT have to be the “in-between” guy.

I need to start taking the time to review my posts.
MAVRICKinc

Checked my postings and e-mails to Dan Telvock and the FLS over the past couple months and found three request for the FLS and Dan to step down from “moderating” this event since it understandably represented a serious conflict of interest and suggested they report the news rather than making it.

Dan is not the middleman or “in-between guy.” He’s really a guardian of the gate, disguised as the journalist equivalent of balanced reporting. He’s just doing his job. Have a problem with that, check with his editor’s desk on what made it to press, for our own protection and what didn’t.

Nothing goes to print for public consumption until it”s filtered through more than one editor at the FLS. After all, the FLS is the very foundation of this community, and accounts to only family values and members in good standing.

I believe Gramps and his tea leaves speak volumes to the fact he has no questions of Dan or the VRE panalist. He read his copy of the VRE Master Agreement and is able to conclude, “This whole VRE issue is not a ‘pretty package’.”

No matter which side of this equation you’re sitting on, along with the details and the fine print, it’s not hard to come to the same conclusion as Gramps.

Since this is one of my fun filled weeks of asking questions, without answers, I’ll return to this blog site with observations that connect VRE with UDAs and what FAMPO and its elected officials have in store for us in the coming months and years.

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