Gross wants to focus on Annandale revitalization
Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross told the Annandale Blog at a campaign event Sunday that, if re-elected, one of her top priorities will be to work on plans for revitalizing central Annandale.
Now that the Annandale amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan has been approved, “I’d like to see that implemented,” she said. The amendment provides for more flexibility for developers who want to consolidate properties to create higher density, mixed use projects.
Gross also plans to focus on environmental issues, including efforts to clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed, promote “green” buildings and environmentally sensitive construction, and improve storm water management.
And, she would like to “make sure residents are engaged.” When she was first elected in 1996, Gross says, constituents mainly used phone calls and faxes to contact her office. Now the bulk of her contacts are through email. Technology has made it much easier for Gross and community residents to stay in touch with one another, she says. But while her campaign has a Facebook page, she hasn’t yet gotten into Twitter yet.
When asked about the recent incident involving the shooting of a dog in the Parklawn neighborhood by a Fairfax County police officer, Gross said it would be “inappropriate to speculate until the internal investigation is completed.”
Gross said this was the third dog-shooting incident involving the police in recent years in the Mason District. In 2007, police shot and killed a dog who had bitten a couple of children in Lincolnia. And in 2006, police fatally shot a pit bull who had attacked a 78-year-old women in the Glen Forest neighborhood.
The difference between those incidents and the recent shooting is that the dog killed by the police in Parklawn hadn’t attacked anyone, Gross noted.
When asked why the police didn’t use non-lethal means to control the dog, Gross suggested that pepper spray and stun guns often don’t work as well on dogs as they do on people.
9 responses to “Gross wants to focus on Annandale revitalization”
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How about getting rid of the countless Korean signs and the illegals harassing people? What good is it to revitalize an area if you still feel like you're not even in America? Whenever I tell people I'm from Annandale they always mention that everything is in Korean and the illegals lining Little River Turnpike.
I agree with that sentiment 100 percent.
to Anonymous, above: The international flavor is what defines Annandale today and what makes it special. If you don't like it, feel free to leave — you'll probably find an immigrant family willing to buy your house.
Dont think any of the comments above indicate they want Annandale to lose its international flavor – just run off ILLEGALS that have no right to be here and maybe have some English on a sign beside Korean. Have you read the crime reports for Annandale? Most of it is in areas where the illegal population is high. If internationalization means the crime rate is high like the third world I'll take a pass.
Oh please — What seems like thousands of Korean signs and illegal aliens do not an "international flavor" make.
I for one moved to Annandale precisely because of the rich diversity the city has to offer. I love that my children will have the privilege of growing up in a community where their friends and neighbors do not look exactly like them and they can be enriched by a variety of different cultures, languages and traditions. Perhaps by growing up in such an environment, they can be free from the hatred and xenophobia expressed in the comments above, and be open-minded enough to recognize that a person isn’t “illegal” simply because his or her skin is brown.
I dont know that wanting signs in English is a symptom of xenophobia. But I do think that people who are quick to level that charge and smug in their embrace of diversity, need a little lesson in tolerance themselves for people who hold opinions that are different from theirs.
Natalie just wants her cheap source of legalized slave labor aka illegal immigrants to continue. That way she can feel like she's helping them and making a difference while paying them a few bucks to do her yard work.
At this rate, most people won't be able to move out of Annandale without taking a financial hit, unless they live in one of the nicer neighborhoods.
Welcome to America.
I have spent most of my 59 years in beautiful downtown Annandale. Do I like the Asian signs?
No. Who do I blame?
Look in the mirror, I see my face and I didn't spend the millions of dollars to buy land and or businesses. I'm not going to comment on their practices or end use of the properties.
The Korean people are very nice generally, I'm sure there are related gangs. That's the problem of FCPD.
I do believe the police should strictly enforce immigration laws!! Not just sit there and make sure the crowd isn't too large. Fairmont Gardens, I believe is sec. 8 housing, how can they get away with renting to Illegals?
We are paying the bill, Penny Gross is ignoring this. A little Latino funding??