Bacon's Rebellion

Without any notice and without giving commuters a hearing in Fairfax and Loudoun counties, the Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB), an unelected and unaccounted body, is scheduled to raise tolls from 50 to 75 cents at the main plaza and 35 to 50 cents at each exit on Feb. 16-17. This increase wil ostensibly finance the Dulles Rail project–which will not be built to Reston until 2011 at the earliest and which will not take cars off the roads to ease congestion. The new fares could be in effect as early as spring!

This means that for those who use the Toll Road every work day, their annual costs will jump from $204 to $400… Add that to the price of gasoline and tolls for the Greenway, and suddenly, Virginia is more than doublinng Northern Virginia’s commuters costs to get to work–but is providing nothing in return.

At least the Greenway, which is a private toll road, held hearings in Loudoun County on its fare increase in 2003. The same should apply to the Toll Road controlled by the State. The Toll Road was financed by the taxpayers of Virginia, who were promised that the tolls would be lifted once the road is paid off. Instead, tolls could eventually go to $2.25 each way to pay for Dulles Rail!

Commonwealth Conservative has a good round-up of coverage on the burgeoning state “surplus.” The comments section shows us that the various political positions don’t really even agree on what the surplus is.

… pretty soon it adds up to real savings.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has developed a teleconferencing capability as a tool to cut down on the expense of VDOT officials traveling to Richmond for meetings all the time. According to a recent communication I received from Commissioner Philip Shucet, the state has spent $1.025 million on teleconferencing technology since 2001. VDOT “conservatively” estimates a savings of $10.475 million in avoided travel and time costs. That’s a 10 to 1 ratio. Not bad.

Better things are to come. That $1.025 million includes significant upgrades only now being put into place to improve coverage as well as the quality of the video and sound equipment. Shucet may be in charge of building and maintaining roads, but he also believes that any rational transportation strategy includes implementing alternatives to using the roads.

There has been some discussion on this blog regarding the potential for squeezing more efficiency out of state government. If VDOT can save money through teleconferencing, so can most other state agencies. And teleconferencing is only one idea of many.

by Will Vehrs

Will Car Tax Can the Comity?



Back in December, Gordon Morse worried in the Daily Press that that the Governor and General Assembly might be too “lovey-dovey.”

Just last week, Virginian-Pilot columnist Margaret Edds noted that “camaraderie reigns” and wondered, “Can the good will last?”

After House Republicans unveiled a new plan for ending the car tax, the answer, Margaret, is “No.”

The car tax sets teeth on edge like no other issue and Gordon Morse was the first major pundit to signal, albeit indirectly, that the comity is dead. In the Washington Post, Morse wrote, “The folks pushing this deal don’t give a hoot about the numbers so long as they can once more sing ‘end the car tax’ into November.” Questioning the motives of your opponents is guaranteed to interrupt any tranquility that has taken hold in the General Assembly. More.

by Nikki Rovner and Mary Heinricht

Development is rapidly consuming Virginia’s farmland and forests. The Commonwealth needs to invest more in preservation of open space.

“It shall be the Commonwealth’s policy to protect its atmosphere, lands and waters from pollution, impairment or destruction for the benefit, enjoyment and general welfare of the people of the Commonwealth.”

–Article XI, Constitution of Virginia

Experts predict that if current trends continue, over the next 25 years Virginia will develop an area equal to that developed since the Commonwealth was settled by Europeans. The rate of loss is accelerating and is now more than two times faster than our population growth. Vitally important resources like prime farmlands are being lost at the greatest rate, with forestland loss close behind. More.

by Michael Thompson



The General Assembly is considering several bills that would improve the efficiency of state government. We’ll find out soon how serious legislators are about getting them passed.

This year’s session of the General Assembly, with a little luck, will continue moving Virginia toward the formation of a better, more accountable and more business-like state government. We’ll know a lot more in a few weeks when this year’s session ends. Right now there is lot to be excited about. More.

by Steven Sisson



The Blue Dog walks Chap Petersen and Leslie Byrne through the burning issues of the day, from transportation funding to state budge surpluses.

Del. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, and former state senator Leslie Byrne, both mounting candidacies for the Democratic nomination to run for lieutenant governor in the fall, recently interviewed with the Blue Dog about their prospective campaigns. More.

by Steven Sisson



Stop whining. If Tim Kaine is raising big bucks from out-of-state contributors, go out and find your own money. Or fix the campaign finance law.



It’s big news in the state. Tim Kaine is the “Five Million Dollar Man.”

Rumors had been floating around about a huge contribution windfall earmarked for Kaine’s gubernatorial campaign, which is looking more and more like the frontrunner in the race.

Contribution-wise, that is. More.

by Phillip Rodokanakis



State senator Russ Potts… for his memorable portrayal as a tax-and-spend liberal in the 2004 legislature, when he proposed $2 billion in new state spending.

Ronald Reagan is universally given credit for having reincarnated the conservative wing of the Republican Party. Unfortunately, a lot of he what he stood for is being widely ignored by a number of current Republican office holders. This is particularly true in the Virginia State Senate where the tax-and-spend Republicans outnumber the few fiscal conservative Senators by about 18 to six. More.

by EM Risse



Want better education for Virginia’s children? Then help change the size, location and funding of our schools.



Transportation is “the canary in the mine field” of scattered, low-density and unbalanced development. Typically, traffic gridlock is the first symptom of profoundly dysfunctional land use. Education is a close second as an indicator. Few factors affect the quality of education more than the size and location of school facilities, both of which are influenced by prevailing land use patterns. More.

by Trip Pollard



Public-private “partnerships” for transportation projects raise little private equity capital and undermine normal planning processes. The enabling legislation desperately needs to be updated.



Virginians need and deserve innovative solutions to their transportation problems. A more balanced and efficient approach is required to address gridlock and longer commutes, as well as the heavy toll that road-building and accompanying sprawl takes on our pocketbooks, health, farmland, and environment. More.

by Patrick McSweeney



The architectural standards of Virginia’s capital area have gone downhill ever since Thomas Jefferson designed the state capitol. It’s time to give the public more involved in planning.

The only thing uglier than some of the modern structures clustered around the Capitol in Richmond is the decision-making process that led to their approval.

As with most ugly practices, the decision-making about what will be demolished and what will take its place at the seat of government is carried out, for the most part, in secrecy–or at least beyond the view of average citizens and taxpayers. It’s time to let a little sunshine in. More.

by Patrick McSweeney



Steve Baril’s proposal to crank up borrowing and spending to build more roads would saddle Virginians with untold debt and do nothing to improve traffic congestion.



This is not the time or place to take sides in one of the Republican statewide nomination contests, but a recent proposal by Steve Baril, a candidate for attorney general, warrants a strong response. Baril’s Marshall Plan for Transportation is so ill-conceived that it should be buried without delay. More.

by Douglas Koelemay



Virginians like spending the tax revenues generated by Northern Virginia’s booming economy. But if they don’t invest in the region’s prosperity, the cash cow may run dry.

Correcting an overdependence on federal dollars and underinvestment in boomtown Northern Virginia are twin challenges for the Virginia economy in 2005.

Much attention this time of year is focused on the General Assembly meeting in Richmond through February 26 and rightly so. State government will enjoy double-digit growth in tax revenues in these first months of 2005 compared to 2004. The state budget won’t be nearly as penurious as in recent years past. Unfortunately, these positive developments hide vulnerabilities the Virginia economy faces in the years ahead, including the growing dependence of the state’s economy on federal government spending, and Virginia’s continuing under-investment in the Northern Virginia economy. More.

by Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman



Chartered status at Virginia’s elite universities will broaden access to higher education. Although general tuitions will rise, schools will set aside more money for financial aid for the needy.



The Virginia General Assembly has taken up the “chartered university” proposal that could restructure the relationship between the state and its public colleges and universities. Chartered universities would be able to make many important decisions on campus instead of waiting for decisions in Richmond. Most importantly, chartered institutions would control tuition. More.