4022 Ellicott Street
Alexandria, VA 22304
October 15, 2007
Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
We the undersigned are writing to request your help to make our families, homes and the Marlboro Estates neighborhood healthy and safe from crime and unsanitary conditions. The following provides background information and suggestions for actions we would like you and the City to take to address problems in our neighborhood and Fort Ward Park.
Since early September of this year the residents of Marlboro Estates have been communicating with you, City of Alexandria managers and police department officials about health and safety issues affecting our families, homes and neighborhoods. Residents from our neighborhood have been in contact with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and each of the City Council members, as well as the managers and officers from Fort Ward Park; Fort Ward Park Nursery; the City Department of Transportation & Environmental Services; the Alexandria Police Department; the City Department of Planning & Zoning; and the City Assistance Office.
Residents of our neighborhood have contacted your offices and the managers of the offices noted above over the last month to express concern and ask for help with crime, health and safety issues. We have expressed concern about two attempted house break-ins and the theft of an auto. We have expressed concern that at least one of the break-ins was attempted by a man who gained access through Fort Ward Park. We expressed concern that the neglected condition of Fort Ward Park has contributed to this and other illegal activities including public drug use and fornication. We have also expressed concern that the City’s two garbage dumpsters, located adjacent to where we live and where our children play, are creating food and habitat for rats that are now entering our homes. Photographs of these conditions are available should they be helpful to you.
We have appreciated the initial responses and assistance that we have received from your offices and those of the City and the Police Department. However, the problems that we have reported and discussed with some of you and City officials persist and we request your assistance to take the following actions in a timely manner.
Provide regular police patrols, either by the Police Department or the Sheriffs Department, within the Marlboro Estates area, and provide periodic park ranger foot patrols in Fort Ward Park. We think that regular patrols, along with our efforts to create a new neighborhood watch organization and conduct individual home security assessments with the Police Department, will help reduce crime in the park and our neighborhood.
Eliminate the garbage dumpsters within the Fort Ward Park maintenance area and clean-up all of the existing debris within the maintenance area, and maintain the area in the future. We think that the City’s use of this area as a collection station for garbage from multiple parks is creating a rat problem and a destination for residents from outside the city to discard their waste. We believe that locating garbage dumpsters next to residential properties, which include many children, is unsafe, unhealthy and inappropriate.
Regularly maintain the portion of Fort Ward Park between the intermittent stream, the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery, and adjacent Ellicott Street properties so that there area does not appear to be abandoned. We think that proper park maintenance, including mowing grass, removing tree limbs and trash, and pruning shrubs, will be a deterrent to crime and those park users participating in illegal drug and sexual activities.
4. Regularly maintain the quality of the property line
between Fort Ward Park and the neighborhood. The City’s failure to maintain this area has resulted in poison ivy, weeds, brambles, and other undesirable non-native invasive plants along the fence around the park. We think that proper park maintenance will help to improve the unsightly character of this portion of the park.
If it would be helpful we are willing to meet with you or your designees to discuss these concerns and the requests we have made. Please contact Glenn Eugster at 703-845-8947 to arrange for such a meeting, or copies of the photos, should you be interested.
We appreciate your commitment to sustaining the qualities that make Alexandria and the Marlboro Estates neighborhood desirable, healthy and safe places for our families to live. We look forward to hearing your reply to this letter and petition.
Sincerely,
Signed
___________________________________________
Alan and Barbara Anderson, 4011 Ellicott Street
Signed
_______________________________________________
Kevin and Yumi Belanga, 4019 Ellicott Street
Signed
_____________________________________________
Donald and Beth Campbell, 4031 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
Dennis and Lynn Carroll, 4018 Elicott Street
Approved. See attached.
________________________________________________
Lance and Sue Davis, 4006 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
J. Glenn Eugster and Deborah Weatherly, 4022 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
Steve and Sophia Phass Doulis, 4007 Elicott Street
Signed
__________________________________________________
Tom and Jeanne O’Leary Fulton, 4020 Ellicott Street
Signed
_______________________________________________
John and Judy Heffner, 4034 Ellicott Street
Signed
___________________________________________________
Harold and Barbara Hildenbrand, 2202 Ft. Ward
Signed
________________________________________________
Charlie and Mary Kathryn Horner, 2123 Marlboro
Signed
_____________________________________________________
John and Elizabeth Sulivan Kling, 4016 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________
Margaret McCormack 2206, Ft. Ward
Signed
______________________________________________
Betty and Larry Mucha, 2109 Marlboro
Signed
____________________________________________________
Jon and Cynthia Ingersoll Scheinbart, 4021 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________________
Bob Stoss, 4010 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________________
Graydon and Jackie Lose, 2122 Marlboro
Signed
_______________________________________________________
Jay Moore and Mary Donofrio, 4015 Ellicott
Signed
________________________________________________________
John and Karen Kilday, 2118 Marlboro
Alexandria, VA 22304
October 15, 2007
Dear Mayor and City Council Members,
We the undersigned are writing to request your help to make our families, homes and the Marlboro Estates neighborhood healthy and safe from crime and unsanitary conditions. The following provides background information and suggestions for actions we would like you and the City to take to address problems in our neighborhood and Fort Ward Park.
Since early September of this year the residents of Marlboro Estates have been communicating with you, City of Alexandria managers and police department officials about health and safety issues affecting our families, homes and neighborhoods. Residents from our neighborhood have been in contact with the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and each of the City Council members, as well as the managers and officers from Fort Ward Park; Fort Ward Park Nursery; the City Department of Transportation & Environmental Services; the Alexandria Police Department; the City Department of Planning & Zoning; and the City Assistance Office.
Residents of our neighborhood have contacted your offices and the managers of the offices noted above over the last month to express concern and ask for help with crime, health and safety issues. We have expressed concern about two attempted house break-ins and the theft of an auto. We have expressed concern that at least one of the break-ins was attempted by a man who gained access through Fort Ward Park. We expressed concern that the neglected condition of Fort Ward Park has contributed to this and other illegal activities including public drug use and fornication. We have also expressed concern that the City’s two garbage dumpsters, located adjacent to where we live and where our children play, are creating food and habitat for rats that are now entering our homes. Photographs of these conditions are available should they be helpful to you.
We have appreciated the initial responses and assistance that we have received from your offices and those of the City and the Police Department. However, the problems that we have reported and discussed with some of you and City officials persist and we request your assistance to take the following actions in a timely manner.
Provide regular police patrols, either by the Police Department or the Sheriffs Department, within the Marlboro Estates area, and provide periodic park ranger foot patrols in Fort Ward Park. We think that regular patrols, along with our efforts to create a new neighborhood watch organization and conduct individual home security assessments with the Police Department, will help reduce crime in the park and our neighborhood.
Eliminate the garbage dumpsters within the Fort Ward Park maintenance area and clean-up all of the existing debris within the maintenance area, and maintain the area in the future. We think that the City’s use of this area as a collection station for garbage from multiple parks is creating a rat problem and a destination for residents from outside the city to discard their waste. We believe that locating garbage dumpsters next to residential properties, which include many children, is unsafe, unhealthy and inappropriate.
Regularly maintain the portion of Fort Ward Park between the intermittent stream, the Oakland Baptist Church Cemetery, and adjacent Ellicott Street properties so that there area does not appear to be abandoned. We think that proper park maintenance, including mowing grass, removing tree limbs and trash, and pruning shrubs, will be a deterrent to crime and those park users participating in illegal drug and sexual activities.
4. Regularly maintain the quality of the property line
between Fort Ward Park and the neighborhood. The City’s failure to maintain this area has resulted in poison ivy, weeds, brambles, and other undesirable non-native invasive plants along the fence around the park. We think that proper park maintenance will help to improve the unsightly character of this portion of the park.
If it would be helpful we are willing to meet with you or your designees to discuss these concerns and the requests we have made. Please contact Glenn Eugster at 703-845-8947 to arrange for such a meeting, or copies of the photos, should you be interested.
We appreciate your commitment to sustaining the qualities that make Alexandria and the Marlboro Estates neighborhood desirable, healthy and safe places for our families to live. We look forward to hearing your reply to this letter and petition.
Sincerely,
Signed
___________________________________________
Alan and Barbara Anderson, 4011 Ellicott Street
Signed
_______________________________________________
Kevin and Yumi Belanga, 4019 Ellicott Street
Signed
_____________________________________________
Donald and Beth Campbell, 4031 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
Dennis and Lynn Carroll, 4018 Elicott Street
Approved. See attached.
________________________________________________
Lance and Sue Davis, 4006 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
J. Glenn Eugster and Deborah Weatherly, 4022 Ellicott Street
Signed
________________________________________________
Steve and Sophia Phass Doulis, 4007 Elicott Street
Signed
__________________________________________________
Tom and Jeanne O’Leary Fulton, 4020 Ellicott Street
Signed
_______________________________________________
John and Judy Heffner, 4034 Ellicott Street
Signed
___________________________________________________
Harold and Barbara Hildenbrand, 2202 Ft. Ward
Signed
________________________________________________
Charlie and Mary Kathryn Horner, 2123 Marlboro
Signed
_____________________________________________________
John and Elizabeth Sulivan Kling, 4016 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________
Margaret McCormack 2206, Ft. Ward
Signed
______________________________________________
Betty and Larry Mucha, 2109 Marlboro
Signed
____________________________________________________
Jon and Cynthia Ingersoll Scheinbart, 4021 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________________
Bob Stoss, 4010 Ellicott Street
Signed
______________________________________________________
Graydon and Jackie Lose, 2122 Marlboro
Signed
_______________________________________________________
Jay Moore and Mary Donofrio, 4015 Ellicott
Signed
________________________________________________________
John and Karen Kilday, 2118 Marlboro
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