I love living in the South. And I've always loved many of the things my home state has to offer. Then something like this comes along and sends my blood pressure off the charts...
Hopes For Group Home Dashed
A community service board in Northern Virginia dropped plans to set up a group home, pictured on the right, for adults with intellectual disabilities after neighbors complained vehemently to the local board of supervisors.
The Rappahannock-Rapidan Community Services Board (RRCSB) had proposed converting a foreclosed home in a rural neighborhood into a supervised group home for a handful of adults with developmental disabilities who had no criminal backgrounds.
Members of the neighborhood voiced concern that a group home would lead to decreased property values, compromised neighborhood safety, a violation of neighborhood covenants, lost insurance coverage, and safety problems for the residents with disabilities.
This newspaper editorial was excellent however.
I just cannot believe this cr*p happens. OK, yes I can, but I don't want to believe it.
This is an area where NY does it right. Neighborhoods are not allowed to discriminate in this way--statistics clearly show that property values do not go down (in fact they often improve) and problems other than traffic issues do not materialize. People who make threats are prosecuted. Bullies should not prevail.
ReplyDeleteIt is a shame. I worked with a student in a group home on a large piece of property in Southern Maryland. If the community had not allowed this to come in, I shudder to think of where this student would have ended up.
ReplyDeleteP.S. As a reporter in my early years, I covered a city council meeting until 2:00 a.m. of neighbors fighting to keep a similar home out of their neighborhood. It was also in Tidewater area...a little more south of you.
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