Leesburg News: Council continues talks on civic signs
Council continues talks on signs
Town council gave the go-ahead May 13 for civic groups to put signs on private property displaying their organizations' information.
Civic signs in the town were taken down in 2005 to avoid a possible lawsuit after the Sons of Confederate Veterans asked to put their information and a Confederate flag on the group's signs.
Some council members at the time said they did not want the flag on a town sign – which at the time was posted at all four of the town's entranceways -- because it could be offensive to some residents, Mayor Kristen Umstattd said at the May 12 meeting.
The council at that time decided it could not prevent one group and not others from displaying a logo. The signs were taken down.
Questions on whether these signs were on public or private property were raised during the council meetings May 12 and May 13. If the signs were paid for by the civic groups and taken from private property, then the town would either have to find them in town storage or pay to replace them.
Council directed town staff to investigate whether the civic signs are in town storage or if they were thrown out.
Details on the placement and restoration of the signs will be hashed out during the council's May 27-28 meetings.
More Leesburg news
Downtown study
Leesburg's Downtown Improvement Association is scheduled to present its long-awaited study on revitalizing the historic downtown to council May 28 at 6:30 p.m. The study was started in late January. A draft was presented to DIA members in March. The DIA has spent the last few months interpreting the study and making it fit for downtown Leesburg, said Lisa Capraro, executive director of the DIA.
Battlefield Parkway opens
Town council hosted a ribbon-cutting May 15, opening Battlefield Parkway between the Dulles Greenway and Sycolin Road. This section of the parkway was paid for by Keane Enterprises, the developer of Oaklawn.
Parts of Battlefield between Sycolin Road and Kincaid Boulevard, and north of Fort Evans Road, are expected to open to traffic sometime this summer.
Balch Library
On May 25 at 2 p.m. Thomas Balch Library hosts “William Wirt: A Presence in the Heart of Leesburg,” a presentation by Elizabeth Brand Monroe, associate professor of history at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
Monroe will speak on Wirt's experiences in Leesburg in the 1790s when he studied law under Thomas Swann. Wirt was President Monroe’s attorney general and a major figure in what American historians term “The Era of Good Feelings.”
A street in historic Leesburg is named in Wirt’s honor.
The lecture is part of a series of discussions in honor of Leesburg's 250th anniversary, which is in September.
Disability awareness
Loudoun ENDependence is hosting an event on the Americans With Disabilities Act and barrier awareness May 29 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Douglass Community Center in Leesburg.
Participants will use wheelchairs to become more aware of the barriers people with mobility impairments deal with daily, event organizers said.
For more information, call Elise Graves at 703-342-7651 or Bill Ward at 703-485-7381.