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Family redefinition repealed


By ALEXANDER J. GRANADOS
agranados@potomacnews.com
Tuesday, February 28, 2006

"Family" just doesn't mean what it used to in the City of Manassas.

The Manassas City Council voted to repeal a controversial ordinance that redefined the term "family" Monday night.

"It in effect takes language regarding family definition back to language that was in the ordinance prior to Dec. 5," said Elizabeth Via, community development director for the City of Manassas.

The controversy began Dec. 5, 2005, when, in an effort to deal with overcrowding, the council passed an ordinance that changed the city's definition of "family."

The new meaning defined "family" according to the "second degree of collateral consanguinity," which limited those who could live together to the immediate family, grandparents and grandchildren of the "head of the household," and one nonrelated person.

The council received flak from immigrant and civil rights groups because the ordinance was seen as unfairly targeting Hispanics.

Mexican immigrant Gerardo Gonzalez attended the council meeting Monday, and he said he had first-hand experience with the ordinance.

Gonzalez, a construction worker, had been living with his wife, two children and two cousins, but after the ordinance his two cousins decided it would be better to leave.

"It's hard for me to pay rent now. My wife doesn't work," Gonzalez said.

Under the ordinance, his cousins wouldn't have been considered family.

Ultimately, City Manager Larry Hughes said questions about the legality of the ordinance prompted its suspension Dec. 27, 2005.

The council voted to repeal the ordinance Jan. 11 and the last step before it could receive a final vote was Monday's hearing.

Members of the public came out to the hearing to oppose and support the measure.

Lucille Comignani of Piney Point Court in Manassas said that immigrants were the backbone of the United States.

"We are a nation that is founded and built on immigrants," she said. "Are we now singling out some people we consider not to our standards?"

Other community members like Sharon Haugh of Sweetbriar Street in Manassas said that the redefinition of family would have protected some residents.

"Having multiple families is one thing," she said, "But when you have a group of five men who are out there harassing girls at the bus stop ... that's ridiculous."

The amended definition of "family" will go before the council for a second reading at Wednesday's work session.

After that, "family" will return to its pre-Dec. 5 meaning.

Under that definition of "family," two or more family members, immediate or extended, including aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews and cousins, could live together.