Should Vienna Exist as An Independent Town?

Let's have a serious discussion of whether Vienna should even exist as an incorporated town. What benefits do Vienna residents get for the Town taxes we pay compared to what residents of (unincorporated) McLean get? McLean has a large police substation so they get excellent police protection. McLean has better athletic fields and will have as many as 10 all-weather fields by 2010. (Vienna has Waters and Madison HS.) Mclean's Community Center is much more attractive that Vienna's.

Vienna residents get extra trash pickup, but that is not worth much. Vienna has zoning authority, but how does that benefit us materially, other than spawning lawsuits? The Town Green is, was, and always will be about the plaque. TC members wanted their names on a plaque and they got it, at our expense.

Before TC supporters ask why we don't move to McLean if we like it so much, the answer is simple: Vienna has lower housing prices. After all, McLean is a more desirable place to live.

You hit the nail on the head. I will admit why I am still here (besides many wonderful friends & family) is I cannot afford the housing in McLean. A new house in McLean can be millions more than the same house in Vienna.

Totally different topic. I would like to see Vienna organize an e-cycle event. Residents of Vienna should not have to drive to Chantilly to drop off old electronics. Is this not what good politicians would be doing? I just unloaded all of my stuff in an event 2 weeks ago sponsored by the City of Falls Church.

Come on you all - get on top of something important. Stop proving time and time again you cannot do the most simplest of tasks.

Edythe, surely you could organize this event for your citizens? You have not gotten our water or cable tv but maybe you could start with this?

years ago i lived in a neighborhood that was under consideration for annexation by the town. Some people in the neighborhood did a cost/benefit analysis & found it worked against the neighborhood to join the town. I think the town government exists largely to serve the town government. Fx Co is consistently ranked as one of the best managed counties in the nation. why not just use our county government & delete the town overlay?

Vienna residents pay BOTH Vienna and Fairfax County taxes yet reap the benefits of less services. We moved here from Fairfax Co and we got two trash pickups in Fairfax Co. Only one here. Schools get priority with attention to growth in Fairfax Co, yet the Town Council voted to restrict the required improvements to Louis Archer, yet they voted to allow Green Hedges a massive increase in size and construction.

Fairfax Co spends 8x more funds and time putting in the required sidewalks so our children can walk to school, Vienna fails and there exists almost no sidewalks in and around Louise Archer, and many of the back roads our children need to walk safely to school.

Our town council voted themselves to take important commercial lands out of the tax basis so Maud could have her Town Park without any serious input from the residents, if any at all, whereas, Fairfax actually promotes commercial growth and improvements.

Need I go on...

So, Vienna Politics is corrupt, wasteful, and totally unneeded, and we would be better off under the eyes of real political leaders in Fairfax County. We still haver no TV station to promote anything unique about Vienna, when virtually every other local government in Northern Virginia does.

Have you ever asked yourself why? So the TC can behave and do things THEY DO NOT WANT YOU SEE SEE AND WITNESS.

THATS NOT GOOD GOVERNMENT.

WE WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITH 5TH GRADERS RUNNING THIS TOWN FOR ALL THE MESS THEY CAUSE.

Vienna Mommy, you could have saved yourself a trip to Falls Church. There's an e-cycle event at Madison as part of Viva Vienna:

http://www.vivaviennava.org/docs/ewaste.pdf

Don't expect much of Kelleher, she will be too busy installing speed bumps now that they purchased their own asphalt laying machine. Ms. Smith, before the annexation proposal was made to Vienna's surrounding neighborhoods the town propaganda was accepted by them. They all wished they could be part of Vienna. However, as you point out that was not true when the chips were down. In Minerva's part of town the residents in NE were almost annexed without even knowing it. They found out about it the last minute and stormed town hall.

Thank you, ecycle, for the information. Once again, a pretty much unpublicized event. A list of ecycle events were listed in the Post on April 26th. I would have noticed if this was in the paper.

Unfortunately, I was not going to keep all of my excess stuff sitting around when Falls Church is a 10 minute car ride away.

Well, the snow removal by the town is WAY better than Fairfax County. Our roads are always salted and plowed... the Farifax county maintained roads (especially the side streets) are always a mess by comparison.

This is Vienna, VA., maybe if we lived in Vienna, Austria; I would consider basing my government on snow. Although I like the job our Public Works department does when it comes to inclement weather, I do not believe services by the county would be that much worse. I have lived in a cul-de-sac within the Town limits and also a cul-de-sac within the County's jurisdiction, as far as snow goes, I am glad I have 4 wheel drive.

The fact remains that the current set of Maudites seem to focus on their own little projects and not on what is in the best interest of the Town.

I feel like I am in the movies Groundhog Day and Gone With the Wind. I find myself saying "after all tomorrow is another day" TC meeting after TC meeting after TC meeting...

....and you are willing to put up with all the other BS because the snow plow comes a few times a year. The money you would save in town taxes you could hire your own snow removal.

I dispute those who would say that the services are better for those who are just outside the town limits in Fairfax County... whether that difference is worth the price in taxes is another question. But I'd be against the town unincorporating.

"I dispute those who would say that the services are better for those who are just outside the town limits in Fairfax County... whether that difference is worth the price in taxes is another question. But I'd be against the town unincorporating."

Which services are better? You have mentioned snow removal. Our experience is better in TOV than when we lived outside, but that is simply because we live on a major street now instead of a cul-de-sac. I acknowledged that TOV may be better for trash pickups, but even that is not clear. We did not have the two special pickups previously, but we did have two trash pickups and one recycling pickup per week. Do you dispute the points about sidewalks and athletic fields? TOV is a good place to live in spite of TC not because of it.

THE NEXT TIME THERE IS A VIENNA ELECTION WITH SOMEONE BESIDES THE INCUMBENTS, THERE IS NO EXCUSE FOR NOT VOTING.

If persons can take the time to read "War and Peace" it is not too much to ask them to read Historic Vienna.com from start to date. All the questions regarding the towns existence and delivery of services is covered at length. Like reading a book you read it once to see if it is worth it, read it the second time to understand it and the third time to enjoy it. This should be done especially before going to vote in the next Vienna election.

The Vienna Town Council is run like a defunct homeowners association. Of course Fairfax County would provide better services with more experience. Fairfax County should annex the Town and then there would be money to put into the infrastructure instead of having it run down. Common sense doesn't even serve as a guide here with the people running things.

Complaining about the TC and complaining about the existence of the town itself don't seem like the same thing to me.

Obviously, I don't expect the people on here to agree with me... but in general, I think most people are reasonably happy with the services provided by the town... but I don't equate the TC with those services.

If there's one thing that HV has done, it's to make it clear that there's some problems with the TC. But I don't see the reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

And I don't see why people believe Fairfax County runs things better... they don't seem better just outside the town limits... it's not like I drive across the town border and see that things are better there. I think the services we get in the town are generally better than the county. The one exception is probably the water service, which doesn't seem to add much value.