Community Corner
Mount Vernon News Facebook Page Draws Hundreds
Ron Fitzsimmons hosts a daily Facebook conversation with wit and vivre.
There may not be any coffee or pastries, but 1,400 local residents have found that a Facebook page called Mount Vernon News is an attractive place for neighborhood chatter.
The page’s founder, Ron Fitzsimmons, says the online community hub is part hyper-local news, part political sparring and part just-plain-funny repartee.
“People seem to like my weird, New York sense of humor,” he says. “And my dry, Irish wit.”
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The Facebook page, which began in April of 2010, tackles a wide range of issues from cell phone towers on Sherwood Hall Lane to the effectiveness of the Obama presidency.
Fitzsimmons doesn’t really remember why he decided to make it anonymous and while some people know he is the author, many have no clue.
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Fitzsimmons admits to feeling lukewarm about Facebook until his two sons sat down and demonstrated how it worked. While working on Mount Vernon Supervisor Gerry Hyland’s staff in constituent services, Fitzsimmons realized that the social networking site could help him with his job—by soliciting feedback from Mount Vernon residents and giving them updates about local issues.
And so the “Mount Vernon News” Facebook page was born.
Since the beginning he posts daily, either announcing news he’s picked up or asking a question to generate a conversation, such as:
“Should the county crack down on “cell phone soccer leagues” at our parks?”
“What do you think about folks climbing trees, waving flags, yelling “USA” in response to Bin Laden’s Death?”
“I think I’ll get my entire house painted—tomorrow. Any recommendations for painters?”
Paul Krizek, a Mount Vernon News fan and a life-long local resident, says he enjoys the diversity of opinions on the site. He adds that everyone posting seems 100 percent committed to building a strong local community and staying actively involved.
“It’s really clever,” Krizek says. “And while it’s not a news site per se, I have picked up some there.”
Krizek also compliments Fitzsimmons on keeping the conversation on an even keel.
Fitzsimmons says only two people violated the “civility” rules, and since it’s a private site, they got the boot.
He moved to Mount Vernon 19 years ago and had a long career on Capitol Hill, working for Congressman Herbert Harris in the late 1970s, and then moving to serve other members when Harris lost his re-election campaign.
Fitzsimmons started lobbying professionally and in 1990 he founded the National Coalition of Abortion Provider Clinics. He retired from the national scene about 14 years ago and caught the local politics bug, working for Hyland first as a volunteer and then as paid staff---a position he recently left to focus on starting a foundation for troubled children in Mount Vernon.
Fitzsimmons will continue the Mount Vernon News, at least for now. He says the site has been so successful because the conversation is “personal and personable.”
Even local politicians like Delegate Scott Surovell and Fairfax County Chairperson Sharon Bulova follow the conversations (Surovell even posts occasionally).
“It’s a great way to get feedback and opinions, “ he says. “People really love Facebook.”
This is the fourth installment in an occasional series about online communities in the Fort Hunt area.
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