Monday, July 21, 2025

dangerous John Marshall Highway (US 55/48) north of I-81

Travelling to and from Woodbine Farm Market on US 55 has become dangerous for tourists and locals. I sent a message to VDOT:

"
I want to inform you of the dangerous pavement markings at a culvert on Route 48 near Woodbine Farm Market north of Strasburg.


The posted speed is 55 mph. Truck traffic is substantial. Some damn fool passed me doing at least 70 mph when we were both at the culvert. I was travelling at the posted speed limit. The pavement marking is a broken line. This is insane. Please check this out. The pavement marking at and approaching the culvert from both directions should be a double yellow line.

Another time when I was returning home from Woodbine Farm Market, a damn fool in the opposing lane had crossed into my lane where Hockman and Back roads intersect US 48/55. I laid on the horn and the damn fool jerked his car back into his lane. another dangerous location on a curve with relatively high traffic and a 55 mph posted speed limit where damn fools are speeding to and from WVA. 

Since Corridor H is no more, VDOT should close the ramps at the US 48/55 interchange with I-81 that encourage these damn fools to speed. No access from US 48/55 to or from I-81, warning signs and a lower speed limit will eliminate some or all of these damn fools and make US 48/55 far safer."


Friday, July 18, 2025

lesson learned?

"A mistake made more than once is a decision." Paulo Coelho

What are the lessons to be learned from WM's failure to pick up the town's trash WEEKLY?
  1. if it happened once, then it can happen again.
  2. don't "spin" the failure in an attempt to make yourself look good.
  3. accept responsibility.
  4. sincerely apologize to those impacted by the failure.
  5. make restitution.
  6. correct the problem.
  7. don't let it happen again.
We KNOW that:
  1. BOTH strasburg and WM are responsible for collecting the trash.
  2. strasburg bills it's citizens for trash collection.
  3. strasburg contracted with WM to collect the trash WEEKLY.
  4. WM is unreliable. 
  5. in an interview with WHSV strasburg's mayor spun the problem in an attempt to make herself and town staff look good.
Have BOTH parties learned lessons from the failure to collect trash WEEKLY as promised to strasburg's citizens?

Time will tell.


attribution: evil nick and flickr



would strasburg residents be better off without town hall?

We moved to strasburg in January 2017. We bought a house here in November 2017.  I started Strasburg VA Underground in March 2020. Since then Strasburg VA Underground has documented many missteps and failures by town government. 

Residents of Strasburg pay taxes to both the town and Shenandoah County. Taxes during our time in Strasburg have increased substantially since we moved here. Has the quality of the services provided by the town increased proportionately to the increase in taxes? My answer to this question is a resounding "NO!".

Outside town limits citizens pay only county taxes. Maybe it's time to give the town back to Shenandoah County. At least we wouldn't have to pay twice for poor service.


Wednesday, July 16, 2025

typical strasburg

https://www.whsv.com/2025/07/15/strasburg-sees-trash-pickup-delays-amid-service-providers-staffing-shortages/

"Mayor Brandy Hawkins Boies stated that the delays are due to Waste Management’s staffing issues. She later shared that town officials are working diligently to ensure the situation is resolved promptly.

“We’re looking into all of our options right now. We’re taking a close look at the agreement that we have with them, and our staff has been working around the clock in constant communication with Waste Management, trying to go up the chain to find leadership to help us resolve this,” Boies said.

Staffing shortages being an issue and the business struggling to keep up begs the question: what if this were to happen again? Boies said the town is two steps ahead and already looking into possible alternatives for the future."

“Our contract with Waste Management is through next year, 2026, but we are having our lawyers take a look at our agreement right now to see if they are in violation and what we can do about it,” she said.

Some of those alternatives are the town taking things into their own hands.

“We are also researching our option of running our [own] trash service, so our staff is pulling all of the costs associated with that to see if that is a possibility in the future,” the mayor said. “We are also reaching out to additional companies to see if there’s anything else that we could partner with.”

As usual strasburg is a day late and a dollar short.

"We’re looking into all of our options right now." There aren't many options after the horse runs away. Where was the town's staff and lawyers before the contract was signed? 

WM is a BIG company. WM has lawyers too. WM sponsors a yearly PGA golf tournament, donates large sums to charities, and pays for expensive advertisements on TV that claim that they're the greatest. Yet WM can't meet its contractual requirement to collect the trash EVERY week because of "staffing issues"? the town and WM must think that their customers are stupid.

One thing is for sure--strasburg and WM can't get their act together.


attribution: Jason Taellious and flickr



Monday, July 14, 2025

OUTRAGE!

On Thursday, July 3 the town put out a message that trash might be collected on the normal day (Friday). ... maybe on Saturday? We, along with the rest of our neighbors put our trash out on Thursday evening.

WM didn't collect the trash on Friday or Saturday.

https://www.strasburgva.com/administration/page/trash-pickup-schedule 

It's now Monday afternoon. Trash for our entire neighborhood hasn't been picked up. After four days in the heat, it stinks. The town put out the following:

𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗨𝗽𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲 – 𝗠𝗼𝗻𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝗝𝘂𝗹𝘆 𝟭𝟰
Waste Management has notified us that they are unable to service Strasburg today due to ongoing staffing issues.
The plan moving forward is as follows:

Friday’s missed route from last week will not be collected until this coming Friday (7/18).
This is an OUTRAGE!!!

How stupid does WM and the town think that we are? WM is a BIG company that sponsors a yearly PGA golf tournament, donates large sums to charities, and pays for expensive advertisements on TV that claim that they're the greatest. Yet they can't meet their contractual requirement to collect the trash EVERY week because of "STAFFING ISSUES"? WM and the town must think that their customers are stupid.

WM and the town owe EACH and EVERY person in the neighborhood an apology and a rebate for their abysmally poor performance and breach of contract.

One thing that WM, Strasburg, and Shenandoah County have in common--they can't get their act together.





Thursday, July 3, 2025

step in the right direction



BRAVO!

However, I'm confused.

"Council also signaled support for a contract to repair a collapsed 72-inch storm drain near the former IAC building on East Queen Street. The sinkhole, which emerged during Hurricane Debby in August 2024, requires replacing 230 feet of pipe across the property and sealing the intact portion under Queen Street."

A 72-inch pipe is a HUGE pipe. Who installed it? When? Who inspected it? Did a single sinkhole cause the collapse of 230 feet of this huge pipe? That's a lot of collapsed pipe from a single sinkhole. Or, was it shoddy construction by the contractor who installed it that caused the collapse? 

If this huge pipe wasn't installed properly (including preparing the foundation for the pipe, pipe joints, sealing and back-filling it, etc.), then the town should be going after the contractor who installed it to pay for the repairs. 

Taxpayers shouldn't be charged for a contractor's shoddy work.