success story

Bakery Owners Take Over Crabby Maggie's Seafood Restaurant | Shenandoah County | dnronline.com 

Congratulations, Jim and Gina!

Congratulations, Maggie and Steve!

Congratulations, Daily News-Record!

We discovered Crabby Maggie's before the pandemic--EXCELLENT seafood! During the pandemic Crabby Maggie's was our oasis. Maggie manned the window and Steve prepared the seafood. We looked forward to our lobster bisque, crab cakes, fries, greens and lime tarts every Friday night. Congratulations on your retirement, Steve and Maggie! We'll miss you. Good luck in your well-deserved retirement!

Congratulations, Jim and Gina! We're with you. We're so glad that you're carrying Crabby Maggie's excellent tradition forward. You're off to a great start.

Congratulations, Daily News-Record, on your article. We don't get much news from the town--good or bad. You'd think that the town would trumpet this good news story. Instead, the town sends out HUGE increases for property and real estate taxes and warns citizens not to miss the due date in a week or they'll be charged late fees. typical. 

SURPRISE!

WHAT'S THIS?!? 

answer: utilities' locations painted throughout the neighborhood. 

SURPRISE! 

a few days later we get an email from our community association president "concerning the upcoming Comcast project of adding service to the entire Town of Strasburg, a project extending over three years. ... the purpose of this venture, other than upsetting homeowners, is to give Shentel some competition in the Town of Strasburg." 

SURPRISE!

which begs some questions: 

1. not that it's a bad idea to give shentel some competition, but why didn't we hear this FROM THE TOWN BEFORE it became a fait accompli? (perhaps the answer to this is that it's the town's SOP is to keep its citizens in the dark.)
2. had the town bothered to notify its citizens of this venture in the beginning--pre-contract with comcast--then we may have had some questions. for example:
3. WHAT makes the town think that the town's citizens approve of this venture?
4. WHO came up with this idea?
5. WHAT is their REAL motivation--political or otherwise?
6. WHY did the town contract with comcast? 
7. did the town investigate other providers?
8. WHY the secrecy?
9. was this a sole source procurement?
10. if so, has the town violated government contracting laws and regulations?
11. IF the town's citizens had been polled, and the majority thinks that it's a good idea, then WHY is comcast not putting their fiber in PUBLIC streets instead of on private property--under private driveways and through private lawns and landscaping?
12. did the town consider that those who aren't interested in contracting with comcast for their services may not want comcast and their subcontractors tearing up their private driveways, lawns and landscaping?

but then, isn't this the way that the town always does things? instead of informing its citizens of their ventures BEFOREHAND, the town operates in secrecy and then rams their ventures down their citizens' throats AFTER the fact. 

SHAME ON YOU, town of strasburg!

to be clear, the problem here is the audacity of a local government that would enter into an agreement of this magnitude--that impacts every citizen of the town--without first informing its citizens--and allowing them to comment on the public record BEFORE the contract is executed. 

citizens of the town of strasburg,

VOTE! in the november election. let the mayor, town council, town manager and others in town government know that you're dissatisfied with town government. 

***** update *****

1. from the town's website:  strasburgva.com/sites/default/files/fileattachments/town_council/meeting/19545/town_council_9-14-21.pdf  --bottom of page 6 (page 7 in the .pdf document) and top of page 7 (page 8 in the .pdf document).
2. it should be noted that the header in the minutes shows the date as "September 14th, 2020". 
3. so, "comcast approached the town a few months ago".  if "a few months ago" was before 9/14/21 then that would mean that town hall has known about the comcast proposal for about one year. if it was before 9/14/20, then town hall has known about the comcast proposal for TWO years.
4. from "town of strasburg" facebook page. see post dated 7/1/22. note the comments--particularly the one from Adam Wilson. 
5. an unsolicited proposal? no competition? who reviewed the contract? were there negotiations? (it appears that there were none.)
6. why weren't the citizens of the town notified of the impending contract with comcast a year (or two?) ago? why weren't they notified until 7/1/22, by facebook, after the contract was a fait accompli? 
7. why is it that the town fails to realize that not all of its citizens follow facebook? 
8. why is it that the town fails to realize that some of its citizens may not have and/or want either a new or another cable tv and/or internet service--that will disturb their driveway, lawn and landscaping?
9. why is it that the town fails to realize that most of its citizens have neither the time nor the inclination to dig deep into the town's website or its facebook page to find out about important news that affects them?
10. this is outrageous! 
11. do the town's citizens want town hall to be making these important decisions for them without their input? I hope that all of the town's citizens remember this on election day in November.

BTW, citizens of strasburg, check this out: 

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comcast#Criticism_and_controversy 

"all that glitters is not gold" 

spectacle in the early morning sky

https://earthsky.org/tonight/rare-planetary-lineup-morning-june-2022/ 

I hope that you can see it with all of the light pollution. 

Light Pollution - International Dark-Sky Association