President's Message

On behalf of the directors, officers and committee chairpersons of MVCA, I want to welcome all of our neighbors into the new year and share with you the dedication of the Board’s efforts in helping to keep our community one of the best livable communities in the Washington DC metro region. I am honored to serve as the MVCA President and look forward to working with the Board and our community members during the next two years to maintain our community’s character. Together we will work to confront the challenges and welcome the opportunities presented before us. I wish to thank our past President, John Skudlarek, for his dedication and tireless commitment of working on our behalf during his five year term and wish him the best in his future endeavors (John has agreed to continue his involvement with MVCA by serving as our Second Vice-President).

Some of the issues in which we are currently involved include traffic calming measures for Cherry Tree Drive, street conditions within the community and the continued monitoring of crime in our neighborhoods. A task force was established to deal with vehicular speeding along Cherry Tree Drive, especially in the immediate vicinity of Washington Mill Elementary School. To date, the task force has engaged our county supervisor who in turn has alerted county staff to provide our community with options to deal with this safety issue. Many of our community streets remain in need of repair and through the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Associations we continue to advocate for VDOT action. The MVCA neighborhood watch program continues to monitor our community through the volunteer work of more than sixty of our neighbors. Reports of crime and prevention efforts are shared at our community meetings, Board meetings and on the MVCA website. All of these programs are staffed by our neighbors and we invite you to contact the committee chairpersons if you encounter a problem or wish to volunteer as a member of a committee.

Our Annual Community Picnic has been scheduled for Saturday, June 9 at St. James Church. We invite all in our community to join us for great food, live music and family fun. Other dates of interest to our community include the 50th Birthday Grand Celebration for Whitman Middle School to be held on March 22 at the school (alumni students, staff, and families and current students, staff and families are encouraged to attend and enjoy the festivities,) and the Mount Vernon High School Mulch sale which will occur April 21 (please contact mvhsmulchsale2012@gmail.com or call (571)214-4348 to place your order).

The next MVCA general membership meeting has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 14 at Washington Mill Elementary School. In addition to our speaker, we will provide you with committee reports, current issues affecting our community, and invite those present to offer questions or comments for the community’s consideration. We look forward to seeing you there. The annual membership dues letter was mailed last month. We ask that you continue your membership (or join if not a member) and your support by completing the information form and mailing it with your dues at your earliest opportunity so that you may enjoy all that MVCA has to offer.

Thank you and feel free to contact me if we can be of service to you.

Paul Schray, President

Mount Vernon Civic Association