Bacon's Rebellion

It’s illegal to discriminate against minorities in U.S. housing markets. It’s illegal to discriminate against old people. It’s illegal (I think) to discriminate against people on the basis of sexual orientation. But it’s OK to discriminate against families with children. Indeed, it’s perfectly acceptable for local governments to institutionalize that discrimination with their zoning codes.

A case in point comes from Goochland County. This comes from the Goochland Courier:

COURTHOUSE VILLAGE — Not that long ago, when developers’ representatives presented residential rezoning applications, they told the Goochland County Planning Commission and the board of supervisors that the homes their clients planned to build would sell for more than $400,000. People who buy homes in that price range, they contended, rarely sent their children to county schools.

The problem, according to the Courier, is that things have changed. Houses in that price range are being purchased by families with children — and Goochland schools are coping with higher-than-expected enrollments.

Hmmm. Maybe Goochland supervisors can solve the problem by permitting only houses that cost $1 million or more.

When rolling out his legislative package for transportation reform, House Speaker William J. Howell criticized the Virginia Department of Transportation’s performance in negotiating new public-private partnerships. As the Speaker said in his prepared statement:

We will never effectively and affordably address this challenge without incorporating the lessons of the private sector, harnessing the power and creativity of the free enterprise system, and enlisting [it] in this process. Our plan, therefore, includes requiring that the VDOT Commissioner provide a detailed plan to increase the role of the private sector in meeting our Commonwealth’s transportation needs.

Despite Virginia’s pioneering Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995 having been in effect for more than a decade, the Commonwealth lags behind other states in utilizing these cost- and time-saving opportunities.

I’m not sure what Howell is basing his criticism on. In his press release, he said, “VDOT has taken too passive of a role in expanding private-sector involvement in public infrastructure, simply waiting for proposals to be submitted to them instead of soliciting private sector expertise to solve identified and prioritized transportation problems.” (My italics.)

I don’t speak with any authority whatsoever, but it was my impression that Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer, during his less-than-two-year tenure in the Warner and Kaine administrations, had acted more aggressively than any of his predecessors to solicit deals from the private sector. He has solicited private-sector bids to upgrade Interstate 95, the Washington Beltway and, most recently, U.S. 460. That’s over and above proposals for Interstate 81 and the Rail-to-Dulles project, which originated before he took the helm.

Perhaps that’s just not aggressive enough for the Speaker. Perhaps Virginia needs to move even faster. Fair enough. I’m all in favor of public-private partnerships as long as they are structured so that those who pay for the transportation improvements are the ones who benefit from them…. and as long as they support functional land use patterns.

I don’t like the structure of the Rail-to-Dulles project, which would transfer billions of dollars of wealth from toll-paying commuters on the Dulles Toll Road to landowners who own property near planned METRO stops. I do like plans for the Interstate 95 HOT lanes, which would be paid for by tolls from those who used the HOT lanes.

Action plan. Speaker Howell wants to create “a detailed Action Plan to increase the role of the private sector in the development of transportation projects in Virginia as well as the use of public-private partnerships.” As he explains, “This reform will require VDOT to become more pro-active in identifying opportunities for private sector involvement.”

Privatization has many advantages. The private sector is far more likely than even a reformed VDOT to complete road construction on budget and on time. Private sector involvement increases the odds that only economically viable projects are built — at least when investors put their own capital at risk. The private sector also is more likely to introduce technological, financial and managerial innovations.

Caveats. But simply privatizing a project doesn’t necessarily make it a good project. For instance, in the case of the U.S. 460 corridor (“The U.S. 460 Project Ain’t Peanuts“):

• Would a toll road accelerate the pace of dysfunctional human settlement patterns (scattered, disconnected, low density) out of Hampton Roads? What strains would such development place on the local secondary road network?
• What would a toll road do to the mobility of the people who live in the tiny towns — Wakefield, Zuni, Windsor, etc.) who rely upon U.S. 460 as their major thoroughfare?
• Has anyone examined a public-private partnership that would increase freight rail capacity out of Portsmouth?

Privatization is a big part of transportation reform. But only a part. More roads, even privatized roads, won’t do much good if they aren’t analyzed in the context of the transportation system as a whole and the human settlement patterns they are designed to serve.

The Daily Press editorializes today (‘Church and State, York County Schools try to better define the line’. Sep 15, 2006) about the York School Board changing its policy on Religion and Religious Instruction that “separation of church and state is a bedrock of our Constitutional protections, and public schools are one of the front lines where that metaphorical wall must be safeguarded. But that’s not to say that winter holiday pageants must be devoid of all religious content. After all, most of the winter holidays that are celebrated – Christmas, Hannukkah and the Muslim celebration of Eid-ul-Adha – are religious in origin.”

It’s not about religion. It’s about holidays.

(Actually, the Constitution is about Congress, not York County, not establishing a religion as the official state-church – not separation of church and state. I digress.)

The York County policy on Religion and Religous Instruction is just fine as it is. No need to change one word.

No parent complained about not having religion in schools. No parent asked the School Board to teach religion. They asked for relief from what the DP sneers is “the so-called war against Christmas.”

When Christmas trees, Santa Claus, ginger bread men, and the colors red and green are banned from a school in December – it is, indeed, a war against Christmas. The DP doesn’t report it as it is because it doesn’t fit their politics.

Winter holiday, Hannukah, and Eid-ul-Adha are not official U.S. and Virginia holidays. Christmas is.

The parents want all the Official holidays included in the instruction and observation – for their historical, traditional and cultural educational value.

The DP says the “proposed policy gives schools more throrough guidance, and that’s good.” Actually, the proposed policy screws up the section on religion and religious instruction by requiring instruction in ‘diversity’, where no religious instruction was mandated before. Also, the policy says that York County may compel persons to participate against their religious beliefs if there is reason enough. Define the reasons. Define diversity. What a can of PC worms.

If York would follow the Federal Department of Education and Virginia Department of Education guidelines, they would be fair and fine.

It’s not about religion. It’s the holidays.

Three multinational business groups have submitted proposals in response to a Kaine administration solicitation to upgrade U.S. 460, a four-lane highway that runs through peanut country between Suffolk and Petersburg. The project, which could cost in excess of $700 million, is deemed crucial for handling an anticipated surge in container shipments from a $450 million port facility that the Maersk shipping company is building in Portsmouth.

The three proposals demonstrate that there’s no lack of private-sector interest in investing in Virginia infrastructure. It will be interesting to see how the three groups envision paying for the project — through tolls, real estate ventures or other revenue sources. The Virginia Department of Transportation will make the proposals public in 10 days.

The Times-Dispatch has the story here.

Bart Hinkle, the libertarian-leaning columnist at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, has launched his own blog, Barticles. In his first few days of blogging, he has covered a broad assortment of topics: from the pontifications of Pope Benedict to Bob McDonnell’s advisory opinions on same-sex marriage; from the politics of redistribution to anti-American animus in Europe.

Hinkle has an inquiring and wide-ranging mind. I’ll be sure to add Barticles to my list of must-read blogs.

Attorney General Bob McDonnell has issued an opinion on the same-sex marriage ban, specifically upon the question of whether the proposed constitutional amendment would affect the rights of unmarried persons involving contracts, insurance policies, shared equity agreements and advance medical directives.

Money quote:

“The intent of the amendment is clear. The first sentence defines marriage as solely the union between one man and one woman. The second and third sentences collectively prevent attempts to establish same-sex marriage, or similar relationships that attempt to create marriage-like unions by any other name.

The General Assembly’s own official explanation of the Marriage Amendment, passed on May 12th of this year, clearly states that all other legal rights, benefits and obligations continue to be available to unmarried persons. I can find no legal basis for the proposition that passage of the marriage amendment will limit or infringe upon the ordinary civil and legal rights of unmarried Virginians.”

Somehow, I doubt this will settle the issue.

Part II of a Two-Part Series

In the world of Richmond media, Jim Bacon occupies a unique place. A former publisher of Virginia Business, the Media General publication that chronicles developments in the Commonwealth’s economy, Bacon launched an online magazine called Bacon’s Rebellion in 2002. That publication’s tagline is “The Op-Ed page for Virginia’s New Economy.” Bacon had a long history in traditional public affairs and business journalism, starting his career as a gumshoe reporter in western Virginia. Through his online magazine and blog, Bacon and his stable of writers (this writer included) offer up perspectives on politics, public policy, economics and the media. He also is the co-owner of the VA Newswire, a business “intelligence” operation that gathers and summarizes relevant corporate-focused nuggets from media sources.

With his combination of experiences and personal connections, Bacon speaks with some measure of authority on the local Richmond media market. Turning his eyes to his one-time colleagues, he asserts that “The Times-Dispatch is a middling paper that management is trying to make better. But management has an up-hill job – the newspaper is under tremendous pressure to cut costs to offset stagnant circulation and advertising revenues.”

Bacon believes that the daily paper gives the city of Richmond an inordinate amount of coverage compared to other localities in the metropolitan area. He says “city politics gets lots of ink – county politics gets ink only when there’s a scandal. I read the newspaper more carefully than most people, and I don’t know who my county supervisor is. I don’t know who the chairman of the board of supervisors is. Other than the occasional zoning dispute or the latest flap in the school system, I know next to nothing about the major issues facing the county (through reading the Times-Dispatch).”

He notes that, “to me, media bias, which does exist, is less a problem than the media’s unwillingness to cover key issues at all.” In the case of Metro Richmond, Bacon sees the mainstream press as slanted against folks south of the River and west of downtown. To him, “If there’s a bias, it’s in favor of covering the city and ignoring the suburbs.” Despite his criticisms, he is skeptical of the usefulness of a news council as a response to shortcomings in local news coverage. Bacon notes, “If other people want to form a news council, that’s fine for them. I’m not interested.” Bacon prefers an alternative medium to perform the watch-dog functions of a news council – blogs.

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The theme of the House of Delegates legislative package for the transportation special session is “transforming the delivery of transportation services in Virginia.” The reforms enumerated in the House Speaker’s press release yesterday would live up to that billing. At the top of the list of 10 proposals is the following: “Integrate performance measures, specifically on congestion, into the Statewide Transportation Plan.”

This reform will require Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) to focus transportation investments on projects designed to relieve traffic congestion. By directing funds to improvements that optimize the capacity of existing roadways and transportation infrastructure, VDOT will more efficiently use available resources.

By evaluating improvements based on performance criteria, such as delay reductions or travel time improvements (achieved through better traffic signal synchronization, faster accident management, more telework opportunities, or other means), VDOT can move beyond “on-time” and “on-budget,” and focus on delivering transportation improvements that achieve direct benefits for commuters and travelers.

This is fundamental. As it stands now, road improvements can be made for all manner of justifications, including the nebulous concept “economic development.” I’m all in favor of economic development, but not when it is used as a cover for opening up new tracts of land for development when there is plenty of underutilized land already served by roads and other infrastructure. This measure would focus scarce road improvement funds on projects that relieve traffic congestion.

With these new performance metrics, it would be much harder to justify building something like the $400 million Route 288 project southwest of Richmond. That project was financed on the basis of an economic development justification — attracting a Motorola semiconductor plant to the Richmond region — that never panned out. Route 288 has helped reduce traffic congestion in the short run (we’ll see what happens in the long run after it has induced scattered development on the metropolitan periphery), but that same $400 million could have eliminated a dozen smaller bottlenecks that would have provided far more congestion relief.

In a huge conceptual breakthrough, House seems to be broadening the definition of what constitutes a “transportation improvement.” Business As Usual has defined it as adding more lane-miles of road. But the House is willing to consider any kind of investment — traffic light synchronization, accident-response management, Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) — that increases the capacity of road networks. Such alternative investments have received short shrift over the years. Presumably, the House legislation would put them on a more equal footing for consideration.

Combine the elevated status of ITS projects with an increased emphasis on public-private partnerships (Number Two in the transportation reform Hit Parade), and this legislation can open up all sorts of previously unimaginable possibilities. Public-private partnerships might upgrade entire transportation corridors, for instance, with a mix of traditional road construction (new lanes), traffic light synchronization and mass transit — whatever combination of tools works most efficiently.

If there were a tool for combining that kind of flexibility with changes to local land use along the corridor — increasing densities, allowing mixed uses, adopting transportation management plans — Virginia could create some revolutionary possibilities.

House Speaker William J. Howell has released the House leadership’s 10-point legislative package for the upcoming transportation session. There is some very good stuff in here, though it falls fall short of the systemic reforms that are needed. You can view the press release here.

In addition to this package, we can anticipate plans from Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads to hike regional taxes for regional road-building programs, as reported by the Washington Post and Virginian-Pilot. Additionally, I anticipate a proposal for a congestion-pricing pilot project in Northern Virginia.

I will offer a more detailed analysis later. Suffice it to say for now, the package represents a big step forward.

Update: J.R. Hoeft interviews Del. Phillip Hamilton, R-Newport News, about the House’s transportation package of legislation. Indispensable background for understanding the thinking of the House leadership.

In a news conference yesterday, leaders of 21 Northern Virginia business groups made the case that traffic congestion will undermine the area’s prosperity and harm residents’ quality of life if additional money is not found to build roads. They backed a plan by Delegates Thomas Davis Rust and David B. Albo, both Fairfax County Republicans, that would raise $417 million a year for Northern Virginia Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties by hiking local taxes and fees.

Reports Washington Post reporter Tim Craig:

The plan, part of which would have to be approved by local officials, calls for higher vehicle registration fees and a 2 percent increase in hotel and rental car taxes. It also raises taxes on developed commercial and industrial properties in the region.

“It’s not a sales tax; it’s not a gas tax. It’s not an income tax,” Rust said. “These are very directed fees toward people who are using the transportation system and impacting the transportation system.”

Here are the questions I have for Delegates Rust and Albo:

• Where did you come up with $400 million? Is that the amount that you think you can push through politically, or does it have some connection with what’s actually needed?
• What projects do you intend to fund with that $400 million a year? Let’s see the kind of transportation improvements you have in mind.
• Is there a rational nexus between whom you’d tax and who would benefit from the road improvements? Put another way, would this plan, in addition to raise money, incentivize people to drive less, carpool or use mass transit? Would it encourage developers to build transit-oriented development and pedestrian-friendly communities? Would it, in sum, reduce the demand for new roads in any way? Or would it perpetuate Business As Usual?
• Is there a guiding vision behind the investment of this money? Would you invest it to increase connectivity of existing development — in other words, to promote infill and redevelopment? Or would you use it to open up new greenfields, perpetuating the pattern of scattered, disconnected, low density development that is the root of Northern Virginia’s transportation woes?
• Would you accompany this spending with any changes in land use? Or do you think that money is all that’s needed to improve mobility?

I have seen precious little indication that the business interests in Northern Virginia have given any attention to any of these questions. If they succeed in getting these taxes passed, here is my prediction: It won’t make a discernible difference in traffic congestion. Because the region isn’t addressing the root causes of congestion, Northern Virginia will wind up with terrible congestion and higher taxes. And the same poor, deluded fools will come back in a few years saying that $400 million wasn’t enough, let’s raise taxes again.

Now, there’s a real recipe for economic competitiveness and a high quality of life!

The state of Maryland has just set aside $18.6 million to upgrade two Baltimore sewage treatment plants that are major polluters of the Chesapeake Bay. The source of funds: a “flush tax” — $2.50 a month added to household sewer bills — that is expected to raise $60 million to $70 million per year.

In an editorial today, the Daily Press lauds the Maryland tax for providing a stable, ongoing source of funding for water pollution clean-up efforts. Although Virginia did manage to dedicate $260 million from the budget surplus to one-time projects this year, future contributions are subject to fiscal vagaries.

For once, I agree with the Daily Press. I would add one point to the reasoning proffered by the Daily Press’ pundits: To the greatest extent possible, government services should be put on a “user pays” basis. The Maryland system establishes a direct and rational nexus between those who consume sewage “services” and contribute to pollution, and those who pay to clean up that pollution. Virginia, by contrast, taxes citizens and businesses indiscriminantly.

Furthermore, I would suggest this: Any new tax to clean up the Bay should be offset by a reduction of taxes elsewhere. I don’t believe in adding to Virginia’s tax burden — just restructuring it along the most rational economic lines possible.

I’m a little late getting to this but don’t take my tardiness as apathy. I’m delighted to pass on the news that Will Vehrs, suspended from his state job for 10 days for participating in a blog caption contest during office hours, has been reimbursed for lost pay. Commonwealth Conservative broke the story here.

Vehrs filed a grievance, and the findings have been posted online. A key excerpt:

The [Department of Business Assistance] charged [Vehrs] with excessive personal Internet access. The agency has not shown that grievant’s blogging affected either his or any other employee’s productivity or work performance, that it adversely affected the efficient use of the computer system, or that he violated any other policy, regulation, law or guideline.

Vehrs did make comments that were “inappropriate and inflammatory,” the case hearing officer found, but “there has not been any showing that grievant wilfully set out to write comments he knew to be offensive. Rather, he wrote them in a somewhat cavalier fashion.” Also, noted the hearing officer, Vehrs immediately apologized when informed that people had been upset by his joke.

Finally, the hearing officer concluded that the DBA deprived Vehrs of due process during the disciplinary action. The state has filed the decision on the Internet here.

Update: The Associated Press ran a brief story. After all the negative publicity given the case, I’m glad to see that Vehrs’ exoneration is disseminated to the public.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has signed an executive order creating an Office of Telework Promotion and Broadband Assistance within the Office of the Secretary of Technology. The Office will encourage and promote telework activities for public and private employers, and work to advance innovative models that expedite the deployment of “last-mile” broadband technologies throughout the Commonwealth.

Said Kaine at the 2006 Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium held in Roanoke: “Telework is a family-friendly, business-friendly public policy that helps us recruit and retain a high-quality workforce in a competitive job market. It also protects environmental quality and promotes energy conservation by reducing traffic congestion and vehicle emissions.”

With portable computers, personal digital technology, and high speed telecommunications links, many employees today can work almost anywhere at least some of the time. The Virginia General Assembly has set a goal of shifting a significant number of jobs into alternative work schedules by 2010, which will involve expanded use of telework. State agencies are being surveyed to gather baseline data on the amount of telework currently conducted.

One word reaction: Bravo!

Part I of a Two-Part Series

Greg Pearson does not particularly care for the Richmond Times-Dispatch or NBC-12. Actually, Pearson is not a big fan of Media General or many of the corporate media conglomerates. The publisher and editor of the Chesterfield Observer, one of two community newsweeklies covering Virginia’s fourth-largest locality, Pearson believes that local news issues suffer a lack of coverage by such large media corporations. As a response, Person regularly uses his editorials and his “Media Watch” column to chastise the larger news outlets for what he considers to be shabby treatment of Chesterfield news.

In Pearson’s mind, the situation with Media General is drastic enough to mandate an institutional response. For quite some time, he has been beating the drums for the creation of an outside intermediary organization to serve as a watchdog for fairness and accuracy in coverage, especially of news in his hometown. Called a “news council,” this group would field complaints, conduct investigation and serve as a sounding board for citizen, business, and government criticism of the local press.

According to Pearson, “the news council idea is not an original one. I first inquired about it in 1997 when I heard about it and contacted the Minnesota News Council. I spoke with Gary Gilson (the Minnesota group’s executive director) who said it would be announced what markets are given a grant [by the Knight Foundation] to get a news council started.”

What Pearson is referring to is the Knight Foundation, a national grant-making institution founded by the men who started what the Knight-Ridder media empire. In June, Knight awarded two $75,000 grants to emerging news councils in Southern California and New England to assist with start-up costs. According to a Knight press release, “News councils are independent, nonprofit organizations that promote trusted journalism by investigating accuracy and fairness complaints against news outlets. They help determine the facts involved in these disputes, and provide open forums where citizens and journalists can discuss media ethics, standards and performance.”

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From Alec MacGillis with the Washington Post:

WestGroup, the biggest landowner at Tysons Corner, has urged Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D) to reconsider his rejection of an underground rail route through Tysons, saying a tunnel should be explored further at the same time as plans for an elevated track proceed.

In a letter to Kaine, WestGroup chairman and chief executive Gerald T. Halpin said he was “extremely disappointed” by Kaine’s “stunning reversal of direction” against a tunnel. On Wednesday, Kaine ruled out a tunnel for the four-mile Tysons stretch of the Metrorail extension to Dulles International Airport, after federal officials made it clear that switching to a tunnel would imperil the entire 23-mile, $4 billion project….

Halpin, one of the founders of Tysons Corner, wrote Kaine yesterday that the price of the project with an elevated track is sure to increase with time. Why not, he said, proceed with those plans but at the same time put a tunnel out to bid, to get a firmer price with which to compare designs? This would take only half a year and would cost no more than $7 million, which could be paid for by the private sector, Halpin said.

I’m increasingly uncomfortable with the way federal rules and deadlines are stampeding the Commonwealth into making critical decisions about the Rail to Dulles project. How much money are the feds contributing? About $1 billion of a $4 billion project? That money can’t be raised any other way? I’m feeling worse and worse about the way this project is unfolding.