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Virginia Railway Express Summit will be first for Spotsylvania County
RELATED: N. VA. OFFICIALS: VRE WORTH COST
Date published: 6/6/2009
By DAN TELVOCK For the first time in Spotsylvania County, a Virginia Railway Express summit will provide residents with access to top officials who will answers questions about the commuter rail service. Unlike Stafford County and Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania supervisors have avoided joining VRE for almost two decades. Reasons for not joining are varied. Supervisor Jerry Logan, who organized the summit beginning at 6:30 p.m., Thursday, at Riverbend High School, said this will afford residents an opportunity to ask specific questions about VRE. On the commuter rail issue, Logan is a swing vote among the seven-member Board of Supervisors. Logan said this summit may be a decisive event for supervisors, who plan to vote on whether to join VRE this summer. Dale Zehner, VRE's chief executive officer, said he will have the regional transit system's lawyer, Steven MacIsaac, available to answer any legal questions. What Zehner will not do, he said, is debate county growth or try to sell VRE. "I do not intend to make some sales pitch for [Spotsylvania] to join," he said. "I am kind of out of that business and we've done that in the past. I think this is really a Spotsylvania issue on whether they want to join or not, and I know there are a lot of opinions out there." Logan said he wants the panel to supply factual information to the public about VRE. He said his role will be to follow-up on questions that he thinks might need more explaining. He said County Attorney Jacob Stroman also will be on the panel. "With the attorneys there, there is no reason we cannot get an answer to the questions posed to them," Logan said. The summit will help fellow supervisors make a sound decision when they do vote this summer, he said. "This could determine which way the county goes either for VRE or against VRE, so I think it is critical for the vote that the summit take place." Tim O'Donnell, University of Mary Washington's director of debate and associate professor of communications, will moderate the event with Ted Schubel, an news broadcaster for WFVA-AM. "I am there to both ask the questions that have been submitted in advance and to keep the speaker on track and on focus, and to ensure some equal time distribution," he said. Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Read more stories about Spotsylvania Date published: 6/6/2009
It would seem only appropriate that they make us just two promises. First, that VRE will live within its budget (operating and debt servicing) - that the participating counties are promised at least 50% of the fuel tax revenue each year. Of course, they can change the %, but the more they take the less support there'll be. Second, that they provide a clear and reasonable way for a participating county to leave VRE should it desire to do so. There's only one problem with this, I doubt they'd do it.
PRTC wants Spotsy citizens to promise to always pay all VRE bills, no matter the cost. In return? Well, in return, PRTC & VRE supporters make claims. They "claim" they'll control costs, then raise fees by almost 20% this year. They "claim" that significant funds will be left over for other county needs, but then claim more and more of those funds every year (87% to date, including debt servicing). Oh, and btw, they "claim" that we can leave VRE if needed, but make it all but impossible to do so.
If you work in DC, then move there. Building suburbs in Spotsy for workers that commute to DC is SPRAWL. The gas tax will be a drop in the bucket compared to the increase in our property taxes to pay for all the new freeloaders that will move here.
when times are tuff and local governments are cutting back on services to the retarded and homelessa and we are tightening our belts that the 1% of Spotsylvanias who chose to move to Spotsy and whose rides are already subsidized by Metrochek paid for by your tax $ would not be selfishly ask to spend even more $ for their convenience. They tell you that 2% taxes will be collected but no one will pay for it and will remove millions of cars from Spotsy roads (not I-95 to DC) but who believes that nonsense.
Like it or not spotsy will continue to grow. A basic tenant of smart growth is mass transit and communities that surround transit stations. By product is less roadsand traffic. The VRE station in Spotsy allows for future growth in the eastern part of the county near the station where plentiful land is available. The upside for ALL of Spotsy residents is that those high salaries that use VRE, contribute disproprtionaley higher taxes to while needing less infrastructure.
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