Town Crier Articles

 

 

When you are at a bakery and hungrily peering at yummy desserts, have you ever wished you could taste them all?  Now is your chance. 

 

The New Town Activities Committee is inviting all New Town families and friends to kick off the holiday season by joining us for a FREE Dessert Festival on Wednesday, December 7, at Legacy Hall from 6:00 - 8:00 to taste desserts from local Bakeries.  

 

Judging for the Bake-Off will also take place at this event. There will be drinks and seating provided for attendees to relax and enjoy the goodies.  We looking forward to seeing you.  

 

This event is open to ALL New Town residents. 

 

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This is the continuation of the Special Meeting of October 18, 2022, which was continued with voting on the proposed revised governing documents remaining open. The votes will be tallied and results announced at this meeting. 

 

 

 

The annual meeting will include reports on NTRA Committee business from 2022, comments from our management company (Chesapeake Bay Management) and the Board of Directors. The purpose of the meeting is the election of two Directors to serve on the 2023-2025 Board of Directors. In addition, Members will be asked to vote on 1) the disposition of any surplus 2022 funds (per IRS requirement) and 2) an amendment to the Amenities Use Easement and Agreement that currently obligates the NTRA and the New Town Commercial Association to use the same management company. 

 

Both December 14th meetings are open to New Town Residential Association Members only. Registration begins at 6PM.

 

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Give a child something to smile about this Christmas by donating a new, unwrapped toy. Toy donations are being accepted through Saturday, December 10, and may be dropped off here in New Town at Liz Moore & Associates at 5350 Discovery Park Boulevard, Williamsburg. Their hours are 9 am – 5 pm Mondays thru Saturdays and noon – 3 pm on Sundays.  A Toys for Tots donation box is in the lobby.  

 

 

Let the holiday races begin!  No doubt this is joyous time of year for many and while agendas become packed with old traditions to manage and new ones to implement, stress becomes a serious burden and many slide into January exhausted and a little dismayed. Please keep your wits about you, whether you’re shopping, cooking, baking, decorating, wrapping or traveling, no matter how short the excursion. The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) offers some fairly dismal holiday statistics on its website from candle fires to falls off roofs—and there are other websites that offer so many dangers from toys and games. Well, checkers seems like the only gift to give without a serious risk attached. Highway safety? Let’s not even go there. While it would not enhance our holiday joy to rehearse all the gloom here, it is wise to advise the reader to be careful out there. Try to avoid haste and exhaustion. Rest. Improvise or shorten your to-do list when time gets short or fast-curves are thrown. One less dessert for the table, a few gifts thrown into bags instead of individually wrapped, one holiday luncheon canceled won’t matter in the long run. In the end, there won’t be a holiday if you’re not around to greet it.

 

 

Holiday Riddle:  What was the first company to use Santa in its advertising?

 

Curious Info:  Christmas 1914--Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the informal cessations of hostility along the Western Front in 1914. The Germans placed candles on their trenches and on Christmas trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, small gifts were exchanged, such as food, tobacco, alcohol and souvenirs, such as buttons and hats. The artillery in the region fell silent. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Joint services were held. In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, continuing until New Year's Day in others.

 

Historical Fact:  Because the holiday falls near Christmas, it's a common belief that Hanukkah is the most important holiday in Jewish tradition, but it’s actually not. Those would be the High Holy Days: Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. 

 

Holiday Quote: 

"Hanukkah is about the freedom to be true to what we believe without denying the freedom of those who believe otherwise." —Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

 

Holiday Hack: Protect outdoor light cords by placing the plugs in a lidded plastic container; store small, fragile ornaments in an egg carton to prevent them from breaking; and keep holiday lights wrapped around a clothes hanger to prevent them from tangling.

 

 

 

Williamsburg Area Transit Authority (WATA) is soliciting feedback on upcoming route changes in your area. As a result of a Transit Consolidation Study, the proposed changes include restructuring WATA’s existing Route 5 and Route 14 services resulting in a new route that will go through your area: Route 12. In 2020, we discontinued our trolley service due to COVID-19. Route 12 will serve as its replacement, becoming a full-service fixed route. Due to the restructuring of the routes, WATA would like to hear your feedback on a couple of proposed new stop locations, especially the two inbound route options on Casey Boulevard in the residential community. 

 

On Route 12’s outbound trip beginning at the Williamsburg Transportation Center, WATA is proposing new stop locations in the following places: (as depicted in the maps below – Figure 1)

On Route 12’s inbound trip heading back towards the Williamsburg Transportation Center, WATA is proposing new stop locations in the following places: (as depicted in Figure 2 below)

or

These route changes will provide increased access to public transit by providing service more frequently to the New Town area. Each bus stop will be marked with signage only and buses will stop in the road.

 

These route changes are planned to go into effect as of November 14, 2022. (See Figure 3 for entire route through New Town.) 

 

Your feedback is important to help WATA ensure that the new stop locations provide safe and effective service to your area. Please email all questions and comments to Ben Goodill, Director of Planning and Administration at Info@gowata.org, no later than November 9th, 2022

 

Figure 1. Settlers Market Stops

 

 

Figure 2. Casey Blvd Inbound Options

 

 

Figure 3. Entire New Town Route

 

Applicants are needed to stand for election for 2023-24. Send a one-page application with: your name, contact information, neighborhood, background/suitability for the Board, reason for serving on the Board to the NTRA Board secretary – ntra.secretary@gmail.com no later than November 4th.

 

Committee Openings:

Send an email to ntrawebsitecommittee@gmail.com to express interest in any of these Committee positions and we will put you in touch with the Committee chair. 

 

The largest single cost for the New Town Residential Association’s (NTRA) is landscaping. This past spring we began a process for finding the best possible and affordable landscaping provider for the Association during the next three years. 

 

This process began with the Landscape Advisory Committee’s (LAC) development of a comprehensive Request for Proposal (RFP). They used their landscaping experience in New Town, past New Town landscaping surveys, and sample RFPs from other communities in the area to draft a new NTRA RFP. Next, the Board of Directors reviewed this document and ensured that it reflected the community’s expectations for landscaping services.

 

Five Williamsburg area landscaping contractors received the RFP and were invited to participate in a comprehensive tour of our community.  Each of our neighborhoods were visited during the tour and their specific landscaping needs were explained.  

 

We subsequently received four bids. The pricing and level of services of the four proposals were judiciously compared and evaluated.  The two contractors with the best proposals were selected for interviews.  The Board used these meetings to clarify services and pricing as well as communicate our community’s landscaping policies and expectations.  While the providers were preparing their best and final offers, each of their references were contacted for recommendations.  These recommendations and the contractors final submissions were evaluated and used to select the 2023-2025 NTRA landscaping provider.

 

During our October Board meeting, the NTRA Board approved James River Grounds Management as our next landscaping service provider. James River has been invited to meet the community at a meeting on November 21 in Legacy Hall.

 

One of the first services that James River Grounds Management will be providing is a comprehensive audit of the entire NTRA community. This will help prepare them for providing services to the community in 2023 and will also give the Association the information needed for the LAC to develop a draft five-year plan for landscaping improvements.

 

Hundreds of volunteer hours were spent developing the landscaping RFP and evaluating these proposals. This effort has resulted in the selection of the best and most affordable landscaping services for our community.

 

 

Knock Out Roses arguably have the most flower power of just about any shrub available in Virginia.  As reported in the July 2022 Town Crier, and first identified by VLL in February 2021, many of the Knock Out roses in New Town have become infected with the Rose Rosette disease which is carried by a tiny mite (Phyllocoptes fructiphylus) that travels by crawling, through air currents, or on clothing and equipment. The mites feed and reproduce on the tips of new growth of rose bushes. The disease causes deformation and discoloration of the bush as shown below if figure 1.  There is no treatment for this disease and trimming back the infected roses will have no effect as the virus remains in the stocks, roots, and in the ground.

 

Figure 1. Rose Rosette 

 

The LAC has completed an inventory of all NTRA homes where the disease is present. These homeowners will be formally notified to remove these bushes no later than June 1, 2023. 

 

The only solution is to completely remove the bushes and the roots of the infected plant. At this point, only the Knock Out roses in New Town have been infected, but this virus is also known to attack all Rose varieties.  No roses should be replanted in the area.

 

The NTRA will be removing all diseased Knock Out roses from our common areas. We have asked the New Town Commercial Association to similarly eradicate their diseased bushes.

 

Unfortunately this is not the only plant disease problem that we have in New Town.

 

 

Our community has also been attacked by crepe myrtle bark scale (Acanthococcus lagerstroemiae). See April 2022 Crier Article. While it is not a fatal disease, it really stresses the crepe myrtles. Infected trees bloom later in the spring and the blooms tend to be much smaller and fewer than trees that are not infected.  In addition, many of the limbs die and the and the black bark with the white scale becomes an eye sore.

 

The NTRA is now treating all crepe myrtles in our Association common areas. However, homeowners are responsible for treating their own infected crepe myrtles.  You can tell if your crepe myrtle has been infected by examining the bark. If it is black and has small white specks on it, it has been infected. You may also see snow white crawlers moving up and down the limbs.  If you crush the crawlers or white specks, they will turn blood red. 

 

Inspect your trees and treat them now! Crepe myrtle bark scale is treated by washing as many of the blackened branches as possible with a mild detergent and then spraying an oil on the infected bark. The soil around the crepe myrtle can also be treated with a soil drench of imidacloprid or dinotefuran when crepe myrtles begin to leaf out in the spring.  Fertilizer can also be applied at that time to help the tree remain healthy.

 

Working together as a community on both infestation problems will help keep our plantings healthy and beautiful.

Join us for a Dessert Fest & Bake Off at Legacy Hall, December 7, 6:00-8:00.  

 

 

For the most up to date information, check the New Town Commercial Association website, Facebook, or Instagram!

 

 

Gratus is the Latin word for thankful, each is reflective of a single word that denotes a state of mind—and for the wise, a perpetual state.  “Be thankful for what you have, and you will be thankful for much,” the saying goes. Maybe a little schmaltzy, but none the less true, as there are always great blessings in life for those who take the time to tally them. And we are now in the great gold and russet month of thankfulness and gratitude that ushers in that joyous time of year when, as Dickens wrote, “…Want is keenly felt and abundance rejoices.” Let the tally begin for our abundance is considerable. 

 

We are a flawed nation, but a great, none the less; and in comparison to the rest of the ranging world, fortunate, indeed. Our ancestors recognized this truth and saw the need to be thankful, just up the road on scenic Route 5, where the true “First Thanksgiving” was celebrated at Virginia’s Berkeley Plantation. The Plymouth Pilgrims, despite the media hype, trailed the First Virginians by years in celebrating a day of thankfulness and prayer--but both communities, while differing in religious scope, saw the need and honored it. So, our ancestors, and very near neighbors, seized this one day in November (well, okay, it was actually in December,) as one in which an “attitude of gratitude” was righteous and due.  Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

 

November-December Events:  

The New Town Residential Association (NTRA) Activities Committee is planning a Dessert Fest/Bake Off to be held on December 7th from 6:00-8:00pm at Legacy Hall. The entire community is invited to sample baked goods of the holiday and non-holiday variety. Visit the related Town Crier article for more information and to register as a contestant or judge!

 

A popular local publication, Next Door Neighbor Magazine, is a treasure trove of interesting people and businesses in our area and offers an online calendar of events for the city and county-at-large that is chockful of details for each event showcased.  All you need do is click on the link below to open the calendar, scroll through to each day for a list of that day’s events, and click on the event for details.  A special shout out here for Heritage Humane Society’s Holiday Bazaar on Saturday, November 19th, from 9-3 pm, at Bruton Parish Hall.

 

For information on holiday events offered by New Town Commercial Association, please see the article regarding the same in this issue of The New Town Crier and visit their website. 

 

Some Thanksgiving-themed entries for the month: 

 

Holiday Riddle: What is a mathematician’s favorite food on Thanksgiving? (Answer below.)

 

Curious Thanksgiving Info: An estimated 50 million pumpkin pies are eaten every November.

 

Historical Thanksgiving Fact: Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday on October 3, 1863. Sarah Josepha Hale, the woman who wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” convinced Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday--after writing letters to institute this day of national gratitude for 17 years.

 

Holiday Hack: Thanksgiving is about being grateful and spending time with loved ones. If your meal doesn’t turn out perfectly or the house is decorated on time, don’t let that spoil your enjoyment of your family and friends.  Don’t forget to relax and enjoy the holiday, too!

 

Black Friday Hack: Use a Credit Card, not Your Debit!  If you make a purchase online Black Friday without being totally sure of the seller, be sure to use a credit card. In general, you have zero liability to pay for a fraudulent transaction. Even if you hit one of the rare exceptions to this policy, federal law says you are not liable for more than $50. Remember: Using a debit card online gives thieves direct access to your bank account(s)—the funds from which you may be entirely responsible for despite being withdrawn without your permission.

 

 

Pet Care:  Cooked bones from any animal should never be given to your dog, but especially turkey bones or chicken bones. Any kind of cooked bone will splinter when your dog chews on it. Turkey bones and chicken bones are especially brittle, and will break into small, sharp pieces when they are chewed.                                                         

 

Riddle Answer:  Pumpkin Pi

 

On a recent Saturday afternoon, under a bright fall sky and mild temperatures, peals of laughter rang out across the Village Walk green, as a large crowd of New Town residents joined in the fun of an old-fashioned Fall Festival. Families with children, young adults and seniors wandered across the green, which was decorated by scare crows, ghosts, and pumpkins. They munched on popcorn, cookies, and apples and drank cider as they enjoyed a wide array of games and races, an obstacle course, pumpkin painting, and New Town’s version of a cake walk. Residents mingled and met neighbors, and parents enjoyed watching their kids burn off energy and have fun playing traditional games, often joining in themselves. 

 

At one location, children and the audience watching them loved the game, Pie Face Showdown, during which two kids competed at pounding a button to see who could be the first to get a lever attached to a hand to toss whipped cream on their opponent’s face. The “victim” often gratefully licked the whipped cream off their cheeks and begged to try again. The three sets of the New Town version of  the traditional cake walk were also a crowd favorite. Adults and children competed in the cake walk to win a giant cookie cake by walking to music in a large circle around fourteen numbered signs decorated with images of fall and Halloween. When the music stopped everyone scrambled for a number, with our smaller residents aided sometimes by volunteer Virginia Barch. Resident Rick Byrnes, who provided music for the event, called out a number picked from a hat, and the person who was at that number left the circle but was rewarded with a cupcake and a round of applause from the crowd.  Round and round New Towners marched to the music, starting and stopping fourteen times before the winner, the last contestant in the circle, won the cookie cake.  

 

 

Adults played cornhole and croquet, while children ran from game to game, collecting candy at each attempt at ring toss, bean bag toss, splash toss, shark toss and Halloween bucket toss. Kids and even several moms took on the obstacle course, which involved crawling through two tunnels, moving across a line of boxes without touching the grass and stretching themselves doing the limbo by bending backwards under a pole held by volunteer Eden Glenn. Little ones enjoyed  building and knocking down houses constructed with cardboard bricks and kids and even some grownups giggled as they raced each other in old-fashioned flour sacks and in a competition requiring pushing a ball with a broom into a bucket. Finally pumpkin painting appealed to residents of all ages. The fifteen volunteers, including members of the Activities Committee, who made the event possible, also had a fun afternoon. Volunteer Vicki Mahr shared with the  event organizers “some unsolicited feedback from Cora (8 yrs) – ace frisbee thrower! . . . “This is so much fun, I’m really glad we came!’”