Town Crier Articles

Kathy Mullins

This is a picture of one of the sweetest, little rabbits that has ever lived:  Siri, short for Sirius Black of Harry Potter fame.  I adopted Siri nearly 7 years ago from the Gloucester Matthews Humane Society.  He was then, just 2 years old and so timid that my vet deemed him “pathologically frightened.” It took me several years to get Siri to trust me and to allow me to rub his nose (the favorite delight of rabbits) and to pick him up when necessary.  

 

I lost my Siri suddenly in February of this year.  His favorite corners—and my heart—are empty.  He was the dearest little man, and I look forward to being with him, again, some day.  I simply refuse to believe animals go “poof” at death.  It would be contrary to the Nature of a Loving God.  And for those to whom it matters, the ancient Hebrews made no distinction between the spirit of man and the spirit of all other living beings.  The word they used to distinguish the life force of all creatures was ruach. They did not have a word for “soul.”

 

See you in The New Kingdom, Siri.

 

 

During the development of New Town, an error occurred that caused Savannah Square homeowners inadvertently to be subject to the commercial declaration of covenants for members of the New Town Commercial Association (NTCA), rather than the New Town Residential Association (NTRA). A number of lots in Savannah Square were never formally designated as being included within the Savannah Square Neighborhood. This error adversely affects those homeowners and needs correcting.

 

Our current declaration (Article II Section 2.2) has a process to add property to the Association with the consent of both the affected property owner and the developer (New Town Associates).  However, that authority expired on March 31, 2020 when developer-control of the New Town Residential Association legally ended. With the coronavirus emergency, 12 of the affected homeowners were unable to complete, notarize, and return the formal paperwork in time to be included with the correction made by the developer for 32 of the Savannah Square owners.

 

To correct this error now and in the future, the Board of Directors has proposed that the Association (through its new homeowner-controlled Board) be provided similar authority to add the remaining Savannah Square properties to the Association. To do so requires an amendment to the New Town Residential Association Declaration and the June special election provides the timeliest method to resolve this loose end. The NTCA agrees that this correction is appropriate.

 

Why should you care? Savannah Square residents have been paying dues, provided services and treated as a part of the NTRA for many years. This amendment ensures that they have the legal right to such treatment. It provides the new Board with the ability to correct an administrative issue that might otherwise negatively impact these homeowners. As a homeowner, wouldn’t you want your HOA disclosure documents to be clear and correct?

 

You may click here to read the text of the proposed amendment on the NTRA website. This amendment must be approved by 2/3 of the Association’s homeowners to take effect. Please help us correct this error – vote YES on Ballot Item #2 to APPROVE the First Amendment.

 

 

 

It always seemed like a thankless job – not quite in power, advisory to a Developer Board of Directors that could overturn whatever you planned or expected, acting as a sounding board for everyone’s complaints, and responsible for “day-to-day oversight” without the ability to actually task or hold our Managing Agent, Town Management, accountable. Yet since September 2010 New Town has been blessed to have had a group of residents who volunteered to serve on the Residential Advisory Board (RAB) as the eyes and ears of the community. Better yet, many of these members served for multiple terms!

 

The charter of the RAB described one of their challenging purposes - to “advise the Board as to the consensus of the Members on Association matters and bring to the attention of the Board matters of special concern.” Hmmm, there’s that word “consensus”…Consider some of the dicey issues the RAB had to grapple with:

 

With the new homeowner Board of Directors taking office this month, the RAB will no longer exist. So on behalf of all residents of New Town, THANKS to all who stepped up for your service through the years. We may not have always agreed and you may not have always felt community support, but we are glad you were there.

 

RAB members have included:

 

 

In line with the Governor Northam’s Phase 1 reopening of the Commonwealth, the banks of New Town have adjusted their branch operations. Generally, lobbies are now reopened. Enhanced cleaning, plexiglass dividers, enhanced cleaning protocols and mandatory mask wearing indoors are the rule.

Village Bank and Langley Federal Credit Union say they have added markers to their lobby floors to ensure proper social distancing. Langley customers will check at the front desk and will use a concierge to schedule phone appointments. Bayport Credit Union is allowing in a limited number of members at a given time and will have hand sanitizers available.

Appointments are required at TowneBank, 1st Advantage Federal Credit Union, Old Point National Bank and recommended at Village Bank (where lobby offices remain closed but some employees have the capability to work remotely,) and BayPort for loans, adding new products, notary requests, etc.

Branch ATMs at all banks remain accessible at all hours, also with enhanced sanitation practices.
Lobby hours are now reported as follows:
 

Monday-Friday 9am to 5 pm, Saturday 9am to 1pm

 

Monday-Thursday 9am to 5:30pm, Friday 9am to 6pm

 

Monday-Wednesday 9am to 5pm, Thursday-Friday 9am to 6pm, Saturday 9am to 3pm

 

Monday-Thursday 9am to 5pm, Friday 9am to 6pm
 

Monday-Friday 9am to 5pm

 

Monday-Friday 9am to 3pm, Saturday 9am to Noon

 

Banks recommend using online and automated services as much as possible, as all report high volumes and additional wait times as they address COVID-19 financial and safety issues.

New Town residents are fortunate to share this community with a phenomenal range of medical, healthcare and personal wellness providers. Some practices, closed during the shutdowns, are slowly reopening in Phase One. Even those that remained open experienced challenges as they endeavored to deliver services safely. These practices and providers have some things in common, such as maintaining clean, sanitized facilities. But many seized the moment and utilized available technology, launched creative programs or initiated helpful communication in effective ways. 

 

There are many stories – here are a few:

 

As we enter the summer season, it is a good time to introduce you to the members of the newly reconstituted New Town Pool Committee and bring you up to date on pool status.  As we write this, the water has been replaced in the pool, but we do not know when, how, or if the facility will open, as the Commonwealth crafts a response to address COVID-19 and a phased reopening.  According to Committee Chair Bob Byrne, another complication concerns the lifeguards, most of whom come from overseas. The US Department of State has not authorized the entry of these workers into the country.  If they do arrive, there is a two-week quarantine and mandatory lifeguard training.  We have been told that none of the pools in other locations that are managed by our pool management company are open at this time.  The Pool Committee will update the community as necessary preparations progress. In the meantime, the Committee has begun to meet and is hard at work addressing concerns, including the issue of improving the landscaping around the pool facility.  

 

Bob and his wife, Susan, built the very first house in Charlotte Park.  Before they moved in, the home was used as a model for subsequent buyers.  They rented the house initially and were planning to move in after they retired, but they liked being here so much that they accelerated their timeframe to move in five years ago and split their time now between Virginia and California. 

 

Bob loves attending William & Mary basketball and football games with the New Town crowd, playing the guitar and golfing.  He is a big fan and patron of the pool and says he is happy to have been asked to serve on the Committee.

 

Kathy and her husband, Phil, moved to Charlotte Park as soon as they could—December 26, 2014.  Kathy says they would have moved in when their home was ready on Christmas Day, if that had been possible.  Longtime residents of Hampton Roads, first with their family in Hampton, then in Newport News, they always loved visiting Williamsburg, where Kathy did her last six years teaching in the WJCC School District.  As soon as the New Town pool was in, they were hooked. When it is open, you can find Kathy at the pool daily, reading and taking a dip.  Phil swims laps.  Kathy would like to see the pool open seven days a week, with more activities to bring neighbors together.

 

The couple relocated to New Town four years ago to a townhome near Roper Park, after retiring from careers in Maryland.  Dave served on the Activities Committee when they moved in, before he and Lynn volunteered to help with the pool.  They are happy to have something to do together that involves meeting and getting to know their neighbors.  Spare time interests include traveling, visiting historic sites and riding around Williamsburg on their motorcycle.

 

The pool is Lyndi’s favorite part of New Town, which is why she is eager to serve on the Pool Committee. She especially loves to walk from her home in Foundation Square to the pool to enjoy what she describes as peace and quiet in a beautiful space. A Williamsburg resident for 25 years and a New Town resident for five, she grew up in and graduated from high school here.  Lyndi’s other interests include reading, jogging through New Town and enjoying time with friends in the outdoors.

 

Barbara and her husband, Brick, moved to New Town almost three years ago into a condo in The Bennington.  They are a family of four generations in NT, having moved from Colorado to be closer to the younger Strattons who live in Charlotte Park.  They brought with them Brick’s 92 year old mother, now in the great care of Edgeworth Assisted Living, according to Barbara.

 

Barbara considers the pool one of the best features of New Town living where she can meet with family, play with grandkids, hang out with her husband, or just enjoy a lazy afternoon by herself or chatting with a friend.  She hopes her service on the Pool Committee will help make the pool even better.

 

When not at the pool, Barbara favorite exercise is walking, and she and Brick play golf at WNGC.  She has also worked out at Ironbound Gym and has tried her hand at kayaking at Waller Mill.

 

Alex and his partner, Aneta Leska, have owned property in New Town since 2015, when they bought a lot near Roper Park and built their townhome.  Alex had been in Williamsburg a few years previous.  He works in international development/foreign aid research at William & Mary, so he enjoys travel to off-the-beaten path locales.  He also does some journalism, writing for the NY Times, NPR and The Atlantic, among others. When the pool is open, Alex uses it almost daily.  He feels strongly that the pool season should be extended, perhaps from May 1st through September.

 

We look forward to hearing updates from the Pool Committee in the coming weeks.

 

John W: “Making my health a priority, I will be moving to Patriot’s Colony by July. As you walk towards the end of your path in life, I always think “What is my last chapter?” Who knows, maybe I will write that book I’ve thought about, or finish my family’s genealogy. It will be something to give me pleasure. Don’t be surprised to see me around New Town though – I may even crash a pool party.”

There is arguably no worse situation for an animal lover and activist to be in than one in which an animal is in danger and there is little hope of helping it in time.  That was my dilemma, late one Wednesday morning, earlier this month.  I had just finished brunch and was successfully into reading a ghost story, when I heard really weird sounds outside my front windows.  I went out on my deck and heard what I thought was a squirrel trapped in my garage, as the sounds seemed to be emanating from there. It sounded as though he was banging on one of the garage windows in an effort to get out.  It would have been an easy rescue—but no such luck.  It was a squirrel, alright, but he was trapped in the front downspout off my roof.  My worst nightmare: an animal in distress and I had no clue as to how to help.

 

He was not happy.  Every time I tapped on the spout, I heard mad protests and hurried scramblings.  I tried everything to get him out.  The downspout fed into an underground corrugated drainage pipe, and he must have been stuck just short of the bend in that line.  I couldn’t disconnect the two pieces, and I couldn't dig the pipe out, because it was being held down by the root system of the little myrtle tree in front of it.  I pulled up a small root, then hit a big one and realized I could go no further.

 

I called Town Management in an absolute panic and asked if they knew of a handyman who could help me.  A lovely young woman, Kaitlyn, said she would ask around and get back to me, and in a few minutes (Bless her!), she called back with a recommendation from several people in the office:  Den Bledsoe.  She said he was a lovely man and would be sure to help me.

 

So, I called Den.  He was SO kind but said he was on a job in Gloucester and could not get back to me until around 4:30 or 5--a 3.5 hour wait, at that point in time.  I was so upset as I thought the squirrel wasn't able to breathe.  Den said he had a lot of experience with squirrels in tight fixes and assured me the squirrel had plenty of air to breathe.

 

But 20 minutes later, Den called to tell me he was sending two of his workers ASAP on an Errand of Mercy.  45 minutes later, two wonderful, young men, Jeff Tooley and Spencer Wilkerson, arrived and freed the poor, little guy—and they could not have been more assuring or kind as they did so. They popped the two pieces apart in a flash, and all three of us waited for the Great Escape.  Nothing happened. Though we could see the small tyrant in the lower end of the pipe, he was dazed and would not come out.   He was drenched and missing some hair on his head and had a small abrasion in the spot, but he would not budge no matter what we did to persuade him. I was intending to reach in and bag him with a towel and bring him to my vet's; but before I had the chance to go into action, he shot out of the pipe like a cannonball and was gone. 

 

We freed Willy, and I was so tremendously relieved and grateful to these two young knights.  I asked how much I owed them.  "Nothing,” they said.  “Just send some business our way, if you can."

 

So here I am, letting my New Town neighbors know that Den Bledsoe and his crew are conscientious, kind to a fault—and surely, by recommendations alone, can be trusted to know a lot more than how to free squirrels from downspouts.  Den is now my “Handyman of Choice,” and I will not hesitate to call him for all my future handyman needs.  He has earned my trust, and I hardily recommend him to my neighbors for their handyman tasks and projects.  Den Bledsoe’s number is 757-817-3152, or you can email his office manager, Rachel, at rachel.fixall@gmail.com.  Rachel also happens to be Den’s wife of 37 years.

 

Pictured are my “Squirrel Liberators,” Spencer and Jeff, standing by my downspout.  I wish I had gotten a picture of the squirrel for posterity’s sake, but he must have had an agenda that couldn’t wait.