Prince William Times 07/22/2020

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HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS PLANS ANNOUNCED MONDAY: VHSL looking at 3 models. Page 10

July 22, 2020 | Vol. 19, No. 30 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

See PrinceWilliamTimes.com for coronavirus updates

Warning of an ‘eviction tsunami,’ faith leaders urge Northam to act By Daniel Berti

Times Staff Writer

As thousands of Virginians face the prospect of losing their homes during a pandemic, faith leaders are calling on Gov. Ralph Northam to halt thousands of evictions unlikely to be stopped by housing assistance programs that have yet to be fully implemented. Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, or VOICE, a coalition of faith institutions in Northern Virginia, requested Friday that Northam take action

to temporarily halt eviction hearings until the state’s housing assistance program can get off the ground. The Rev. Keith Savage, VOICE co-chair and senior servant of First Baptist Church Manassas, said more time is needed to inform people at risk of not being able to make rent and mortgage payments about the various programs. Savage said bold action is needed from the governor to “address this eviction tsunami.” “We need to allow time for better communication and outreach to ad-

dress the barriers that exist, including a lack of staff and partner agencies,” Savage said. “We need time to get this right.” In Prince William County, Manassas and Manassas Park, more than 400 eviction hearings have been scheduled for the month of July. All three locales have set up local rent, mortgage and utility relief programs using CARES Act funds to help people struggling to make their payments because of the pandemic, which has left thousands of

Students to begin the school year online

area residents out of work. The Prince William board of county supervisors allocated $8 million in Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act aid for housing assistance. But as of last Friday, only five households in Prince William have received funding from the housing assistance program out of a total 602 households that have applied for grants, according to the county’s Housing and Community Development Director Bill Lake. See EVICTION, page 4

U.S. 1 widening in Dumfries gets full funding Supervisors defer vote on Va. 28 bypass By Daniel Berti and Jill Palermo Time staff Writers

PHOTOS BY MIKE BEATY

Prince William County teachers rally outside the Edward L. Kelly Leadership Center to express their objections to reopening schools with in-person learning during the coronavirus pandemic.

School Board decision follows teacher objections to ‘hybrid plan’ By Jill Palermo

Times Staff Writer

Most Prince William County students will begin school with 100% virtual instruction -- at least for the first quarter of the year -- under a plan approved unanimously by the school board July 16. The final vote on the motion to reopen schools for the 2020-21 school year came at 1:47

a.m., nearly seven hours after the school board’s 7 p.m. meeting began, and after a vote to reopen schools with a “50%” or “hybrid model” failed in a tie. That plan would have allowed students to attend school two days a week in person and work remotely the other three. See SCHOOL, page 2

Support Community Journalism! Visit: piedmontjournalism.org INSIDE Classified............................................13 Lifestyle................................................9 Obituaries...........................................12 Opinion.................................................7

There were developments last week in two major local road projects that have been under discussion for years. In eastern Prince William County, a $116 million project to widen U.S. 1 in Dumfries from four lanes to six – allowing the stretch of road in downtown Dumfries to become a local street instead of a major thoroughfare – won $78 million from the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority. In western Prince William County, meanwhile, a $300 million proposed bypass for Va. 28 was put on hold for now.

Va. 28 bypass

The county board of supervisors voted July 14 to defer a planned vote to endorse a specific route for the bypass, a project that aims to relieve traffic congestion in Manassas and Manassas Park but would require the taking of up to 70 homes for right-of-way. The board voted unanimously to move the decision to the board’s Aug. 4 meeting at the request of Supervisor Yesli Vega, R-Coles. Vega said she would like to conduct more community outreach about the project before the board makes a final decision. See ROAD PROJECTS, page 4

Public Safety.........................................6 Puzzle Page..........................................8 Real Estate..........................................11 Sports.................................................10

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