Hi friends,

I hope everyone’s Augusts are off to a great start! A few quick updates and reminders around the community and my campaign:

What’s Happening:

FCNP Mixer: I enjoyed meeting members of the community, small business owners, members of the Chamber of Commerce, and some local leaders at FCNP’s annual summer mixer last week. Photos from the event are posted here.

New Website Feature: Thanks to some coding help from Lucas, my website has a new blog feature! The blog is a good way for me to share more details about what I’m learning around town beyond shorter posts on my Facebook page. My current posts are at the bottom of my home page. Go check it out!

West Broad Small Area Plan: the draft of the 4th Small Area Plan for the City was reviewed at the Planning Commission and EDA (Economic Development Authority) meetings this week. I believe very few in the community know about Small Area Plans, outside of City Hall and passionate civic activists. They are important! Along with the Comprehensive Plan, these serve as vision documents for how we want development to occur in the City. If you’ve ever had an opinion or idea about development, this is a good way to influence and provide input. The West Broad corridor is especially important because it is adjacent to where 2/3 of the City’s population lives and where most of the re-development has occurred the past 10 years. I blogged about this in more detail here.

Save the date! I will be hosting a Campaign Kickoff event on Sun Sept 6 from 9-11 am at Cherry Hill Park. Come out and support the official start of my campaign and celebrate the end of summer! Kids are welcome to join and play at the park, and there will be light breakfast fare. Erin Gill, candidate for School Board, will be hosting her kickoff at the same time and place – so a great chance to support both of us. An invitation via Facebook will come soon.

Reminders:

Neighborhood Meet & Greets: I am starting to attend small neighborhood meet & greets. What a great way to meet citizens and get the word out about my campaign! Thank you to those who are hosting, have attended, or have RSVPd for upcoming ones already. Please let me know if you are interested in hosting one – I’d love to meet your friends and neighbors.

Back to school shopping: Tax free shopping weekend starts tomorrow! From Aug 7-9, back to school items, clothing, and emergency preparedness items are tax free for VA residents, for both online and brick and mortar stores. Save on back to school shopping and support your local businesses! And while you’re shopping, consider purchasing extra supplies to donate to the City’s school supply drive.

2015-2016 School Calendar and elementary schools time change: the new FCCPS school calendar is posted online. Note the time change for MD and TJ. Full days are now 8:50 – 3:50, 5 minutes later than last year. Per Dr. Jones, the change is to allow extra time for buses to arrive at schools due to construction and road closures around town. Parent drop off, walkers, and bus pick up times should not be changing. Official school communication is forthcoming, but please help spread the word so everyone can adjust their plans as necessary before school starts!

Thank you for your continued support of my campaign.

Best,
Letty