VB Dems

We’re in trouble! Virginia’s Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton told the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce that the McDonnell administration “will seek to find new revenue sources to pay for projects. These could include state royalties from off-shore drilling, as well as money from Governor McDonnell’s plan to privatize ABC stores.” (Source: Charlottesville Tomorrow)

If (and that’s a big if) the Feds were to share revenue from drilling with coastal states, it would be ten years before that money would be realized. Some think money would come immediately from the investment into drilling infrastructure from Big Oil (refineries, pipelines, etc.). Ummmm…. no. If Virginia is to a point where rigs are allowed off its coast (a regulatory process that’s also years in the making) so too are rigs allowed off the rest of the Atlantic coast’s states. Big Oil’s not interested in Virginia. There’s too little oil off our coast.

Privatization of alcohol sales conversely are a potential shot in the arm for transportation. From Tim Hughes, Washington Business Journal:

“The governor has estimated a one-time windfall from the sale of $300 million to $500 million … compared to $231 million in annual profits and taxes garnered on gross sales of $675 million. The loss of these profits makes no sense unless Virginians can expect huge increases in alcohol prices to cover new licensing fees imposed to replace these profits.”

I work from home and my husband’s employer for the last couple years has had the knack for picking up jobs in the nearby Croatan area. In other words, our jobs aren’t dependent on having to get anywhere in Hampton Roads on time. I feel so sorry for the thousands that do however. It’s one thing to deal with the traffic stress let alone the stress of knowing those in a position to possibly fix the situation are total stinking idiots.

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Area bloggers were invited to a private meeting with new HRT director Phil Shucet. I found myself quickly bored with the discussion that got almost exclusively mired in the ugly details (cost over-runs, who was going to pay for Virginia Beach’s study, embezzlement, “culture of fear”).

When new leadership steps on board, folks typically take a step back and again review the bigger picture of their work. From attending this so-called “discussion” on Monday, I sense none of that happening with HRT. My question that turned into a whiny speech attempted to take a stab at exactly what the end goal was with HRT.

With everything in life, don’t we always put big decisions or actions on a scale to weigh both the pros and cons? In business, isn’t that called a “cost-benefit analysis”? Why isn’t HRT doing that analysis now especially in light of the additional costs?

I wanted to both ask that question and at the same time point out that many of the benefits in that analysis could be overlooked. HRT has so far failed to recognized them and in turn failed to promote them to the public. Too many folks only weigh the costs of light rail to only the potential income from fares and the lessened traffic from fewer cars on the road. And for folks to continue to be so limited in their thinking about mass transit is surely the death of any chance for any light rail expansion to Virginia Beach.

A lot of the benefits are neither so obvious nor correlate to money in the bank. I mentioned this as one example. Hampton Roads has been designated as non-attainment for ozone by the EPA. We have to develop a plan to mitigate this pollutant or we risk losing Federal highway dollars. Expanding mass transit needs to be part of that plan. Why isn’t this potential benefit highlighted at all to the public?

Believe it or not, there are a lot of people in Hampton Roads that care about climate change. Why can’t HRT spell out to the public how many tons of carbon emissions are removed with folks opting to leave their cars in the driveway and taking mass transit to work?

While Virginia Beach has its own issues with outreach and education, mass transit plays an integral role in smart growth development. So few people have an understanding of compact urban development. They have no clue as to why we can’t continue the status quo of sprawl and car-centric patterns of living.

Always lost in the cost benefit analysis is our moral obligation to do the right thing for folks who can’t drive. There is, for example, the societal obligation to provide transportation to the disable who can’t drive. And with the economy the way it is, a lot of folks can’t afford to own and maintain a car. Public transportation is increasingly a must for getting to work.

I hope with HRT paying Phil Shucet $40,000 per month that we eventually do indeed get the “big picture.” Without it, HRT is doomed to failure.

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