Town Crier Articles

 

This weekend, May 3rd and 4th, you have two opportunities to support your New Town community and socialize as well.  And don't forget that the pool opens for the season on Saturday, May 24th. 

 

 

• Block sunlight by keeping windows covered with blinds and/or curtains.  
• Use a powered attic fan to vent hot air from accumulating.
• Reduce the use of heat generating appliances (stoves, ovens, washers, dryers, etc.) during the hottest time of day.
• Ensure the weather stripping around windows and doors is in good condition.  
• Consider the advance performance of routine air conditioner maintenance--to include cleaning filters, checking refrigerant levels, cleaning coils, etc.  
• Stay, to the extent it’s possible, on the lowest floor of the house.     

 

Did you know there is a Golden Wall in New Town?

There are nine yellow Lady Banks roses planted along a wall on Foundation Street. The roses were named in honor of the wife, Dororetha,  of famed botanist, Sir  Joseph Banks. The roses are located directly across from Manor On The Green on Foundation Street in New Town.

Started by Nan Powell, a former resident and landscaper of Foundation Square and completed by Janice Simmons, a current resident and landscaper of Foundation Square, the flowers are a living memorial to their late husbands.  Along with my dear friend and fellow landscaper, Sherrie Carroll, we completed the wall by adding more plants to create a beautiful floral display for all to enjoy.

The Golden Wall is a tribute to Nan's husband, Jody; and Janice's husband, Hoyt, in honor of their fiftieth wedding anniversary which neither couple was privileged to celebrate.  For that very reason, The Golden Wall was created as a living memorial. 

Each plant has a specific care plan given twice a year and every limb is tied with landscaping twine carefully attaching the limbs laterally onto the wall.

It is hoped everyone will make a special effort to see the beautiful golden blooms. Winds shorten the bloom time significantly but all the more reason to watch for the beautiful flowers each spring! March 31 of this year, hundreds of tiny buds had formed on each plant waiting to mature and burst open creating The Golden Wall.

Nan and I hope all will enjoy the golden display as a perfect wall covering and backdrop for mature crepe myrtles trees.  It is truly a Golden Wall dedicated to our loving husbands and our golden memories. 

 

To me, the roses are always The Golden Wall of New Town. Although the roses have no polished green leaves or blooms in the winter, when I look at the roses, The Golden Wall is never without golden blooms!

 

If you missed seeing Spring 2025's mass of golden blooms, please see photos below.

 

FREE music in Sullivan Square starts next week.  Here is the lineup and announced food trucks/restaurants for each concert. 

 

 

 

 

 

While developing the 2025 NTRA budget, the Board of Directors researched the quarterly HOA assessments for other associations in the Williamsburg, James City County area.  The Board realizes that this would likely be an apples to oranges comparison because services can vary greatly between associations.  However, the result provides information about what it costs to live in a homeowner’s association in our area.  We were also able to compare 2024 with 2025 and produce average HOA assessment increases by comparing each association’s 2024 fee with that in 2025.  This average should be less impacted by the services that a homeowner receives.  

 

The following is a summary of that research done primarily on the Mr. Williamsburg website.  A spreadsheet with the raw data is available on request.

 

 

 

Fiber sounds good right? Good for your diet – your gut health? Cable, maybe not so much. Seems most of us at some time or another haven’t tolerated what cable was feeding us. And then there’s 5G, the new kid on the block. Full disclosure I used to work for Verizon and was there when services were developed, trialed, and introduced to our employees, like myself and others, before being offered to our customers. And before we go any further, there are many factors as to why FiOS disappointingly was not deployed everywhere, primarily the cost of installation to go everything, everywhere, all at once. Oh wait, that was a movie!

All of the service providers are anxious to have your business, although when I recently cancelled my 1G Internet plan at the Cox store, they only asked to whom I was changing providers. I told them to 5G and they didn’t even try to save the sale. That was surprising. I chose Verizon 5G Home over T-Mobile. Both are available in our neighborhood depending on your address.

 

Cable companies are struggling to retain customers for both internet and traditional cable TV, and the space is going to get even more interesting in the next several years. But that is another topic all together.

 

Simply put, cable providers will tell you that their services are fiber networks. And to some extent that is true, but unlike a true fiberoptic internet provider like Verizon FiOS and Glo Fiber, and others, the cable companies’ fiber typically only goes so far to a pedestal somewhere, maybe not even to the one in your backyard. And then there is that orange cable running from the pedestal to your house, barely covered by the sub-contractors who buried it. And that’s not fiber to the home ! Typically, in the cable scenario you are sharing bandwidth with other customers because the cable service is not a dedicated fiber optic line directly into the home like a fiber optic service provider. Just for you. Not just to the “curb.” Glass fibers (fiber optics) have the capacity to deliver amazingly fast speeds up and down the spectrum and are future proof. Cable’s coax is an older network, like copper landlines. Old school. Great in their day. But times are changing. Fast.

 

Speaking of fast, that is what everyone seems to want. Fast and reliable and at a price they are comfortable with paying.

 

Because the 5G carriers offer free trial periods, I ordered Verizon’s latest modem after checking availability in my area. They offer two modems. I chose the basic one and followed the easy instructions to set it up. You should place it near a window, which I did, actually between my house and the neighbors, and instantly saw 2 out of 3 bars indicating single strength. Signal “Good.”

 

First, I disconnected the Cox Modem. You could also just unplug it. Next, and this is important, using the Verizon app, I renamed the 5G modem using the same Network Name and Password I had previously with Cox. This way you do not have to go from device to device to reconnect. Your network devices will come on-line automatically. I tried this without disconnecting service from Cox for about 2 weeks until I was sure I was satisfied. This is important because if you are not happy, you don’t want to lose your service. I did not have traditional cable, so not desktop devices, just internet streaming YouTube TV to smart tv’s. All my devices, thermostat, camera’s, etc., work fine. Now you are not going to get 1G speeds, but then I don’t need that. So be sure to see what works for you.

 

Be aware although your address may show the service is available, a strong signal is not guaranteed until you connect successfully. So, while I may have no signal issues, someone else may not have the same experience, and that is dependent on various factors. You may have to reposition the 5G modem, and they do have a tool in the app to also show you where the best signal strength can be found. The 5G signal reliably delivers all the speed I need and half the cost I was paying for 1G service with Cox. There are no contracts (never do a contract for service) and other perks are available such as reduced streaming services subscriptions to popular streaming services.

 

So while 5G Home service works well for me, you may prefer Glo Fiber if they move ahead deploying it in New Town. The choice is yours, and that is what it’s all about. So, what’s on the menu, Fiber, Cable, or 5G?

 

If you are on Facebook, please be sure that you take advantage of our community resource pages.

• New Town Residential Association is the NTRA’s Facebook presence where HOA activities and other timely messages can be found. This site is managed by volunteers, but we focus on Association news as well as what is happening in New Town and available to residents through the New Town Commercial Association (e.g. Santa photos, concerts, etc).