On Thursday, firefighters from across the nation will convene in the city to honor fallen Alexandria paramedic Joshua Weismann. The memorial processional and service is expected to bring more than 200 fire vehicles with equipment and 3,000 additional cars into the city.

There will be massive street closures beginning as early as 10 a.m. and going throughout the day. At the request of City officials, and after much deliberation, ACPS will alter dismissal time to help ensure that students can safely leave school and be transported to their after school destinations in the midst of road closures and unprecedented traffic.

Middle schools, T.C. Williams High School and Douglas MacArthur Elementary will dismiss at 12:35 p.m. All remaining elementary schools will dismiss at 1:20 p.m. We have coordinated with Campagna Center after care programs and Power-On /Power-Up after care programs at City recreation centers to provide child care for families currently enrolled in these programs. In addition, recreation centers at Charles Houston, Cora Kelly, William Ramsay, Patrick Henry, Mount Vernon, Charles Barrett, Douglas MacArthur, Nannie Lee and John Adams will be open immediately following the early dismissal. An afternoon snack will be provided for the students that need to go to the recreation centers.


Traffic is expected to be substantially impacted between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. as the following streets will be closed:

• Janneys Road from King St. to Quaker Lane
• Seminary Road from Quaker Lane to Van Dorn St.
• Van Dorn St. from Seminary Road to Braddock Road
• Braddock Road from Van Dorn St. to King St.
• King St. from Braddock Road and Quaker Lane to Russell Road

City officials will allow and direct ACPS school buses in crossing over these routes during a narrow window between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m.

Stay away from the black roads.

Fallen paramedic. Are they trying to be funny? Fell while trying to hop from one roadway on I395 to the other. Fallen indeed.

I feel bad he died and allbut was he some sort of national hero or something?

Did he cure cancer?

WTF! How much is this going to cost?

RIP and all but this is just another big waste of $$$$

They should have shown the same respect for TIMMY!

Timmy deserved the dignity that this man is getting!

Timmy Slaw!

The paramedic put his life on the line for perfect strangers. He was a law-abiding citizen of Alexandria, Virginia, USA.

As for Timmy, I do not know NOR did I ever know of him personally.

All people deserve respect and dignity while they are still alive and dead (in their coffins) during funeral processions.

People do deserve respect when they're dead, but does the transport of their corpse have to snarl traffic?

CmonReally Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I feel bad he died and allbut was he some sort of
> national hero or something?
>
> Did he cure cancer?
>
> WTF! How much is this going to cost?
>
> RIP and all but this is just another big waste of
> $$$$

I'd guess with off-time, equipment, road closures and diversion costs, probably cost the taxpayers about $500,000 when everything is tallied up.

$$$&Cents Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> CmonReally Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I feel bad he died and allbut was he some sort
> of
> > national hero or something?
> >
> > Did he cure cancer?
> >
> > WTF! How much is this going to cost?
> >
> > RIP and all but this is just another big waste
> of
> > $$$$
>
> I'd guess with off-time, equipment, road closures
> and diversion costs, probably cost the taxpayers
> about $500,000 when everything is tallied up.

It never ceases to amaze me how much money is straight wasted in NOVA.
Lets close school early and block thousands of commuters because someone, who was in a knowingly dangerous line of work, died.

GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!!!

Imagine what would happen if someone in the FCPD died on the job.... Would they shut the state down?

I'd rather have my tax dollars spent on this than the War of Drugs, that's for sure.

Pondering Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The paramedic put his life on the line for perfect
> strangers. He was a law-abiding citizen of
> Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
>

No, he was just doing his job, surrounded by all those trucks with flashing lights to protect him. Yet violated a safety procedure and fell and died.

Putting his life on the line is what a soldier does. I'd love to see a thousand-person funeral for one of them.

I'm a little tired of this routine for these people. Don't they see how much it hurts their image with the public?

Pandering Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Pondering Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The paramedic put his life on the line for
> perfect
> > strangers. He was a law-abiding citizen of
> > Alexandria, Virginia, USA.
> >
>
> No, he was just doing his job, surrounded by all
> those trucks with flashing lights to protect him.
> Yet violated a safety procedure and fell and
> died.
>
> Putting his life on the line is what a soldier
> does. I'd love to see a thousand-person funeral
> for one of them.
>
> I'm a little tired of this routine for these
> people. Don't they see how much it hurts their
> image with the public?

+1

The money spent on this could have been used to put more section 8 housing in luxury condos.

“The last time I checked there was no plaque with the names of bankers who died in the line of duty. There are no statues of Wall Street executives who laid down their lives for total strangers.”

~ Mark McLees

Syracuse, NY Fire Chief

Food For Thought Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> “The last time I checked there was no plaque
> with the names of bankers who died in the line of
> duty. There are no statues of Wall Street
> executives who laid down their lives for total
> strangers.”
>
> ~ Mark McLees
>
> Syracuse, NY Fire Chief


None for postal employees either. More of them die violently on the job than paramedics.

Or 7-11 night-shift clerks. Another group of professionals who put their lives on the line every day to serve the public, for near minimum wage.