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Public hearing on VRE planned
Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors will take Virginia Railway Express membership to first public hearing in almost 20 years
Date published: 6/28/2009
BY DAN TELVOCK Spotsylvania County supervisors are one step closer to having their first vote on whether to join Virginia Railway Express. A public hearing is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Aug. 18. Supervisor Gary Skinner, a VRE supporter, asked for the special meeting to be held at Courtland High School, expecting a large crowd for the first public hearing on VRE membership in nearly 20 years. But Supervisor Gary Jackson is calling for an overhaul of VRE operations before he votes to have the county join the regional mass transit system. VRE runs from Fredericksburg and Manassas to Union Station in Washington. Stafford County and Fredericksburg help subsidize VRE, but for almost two decades the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors has avoided joining. VRE estimates that there are almost 1,000 riders who live in Spotsylvania, and neighboring localities have complained that they are subsidizing those riders. Supervisor Jerry Logan, who is the swing vote on the seven-member Spotsylvania board, recently held a VRE Summit at which numerous questions were asked about the service. On Tuesday night, Logan, along with three other board members, supported sending the VRE issue to a public hearing. Supervisors Emmitt Marshall and T.C. Waddy voted against having a hearing. Jackson was absent. Jackson said he left the meeting early for personal reasons. He said he plans to vote on VRE, and he's 98 percent sure he'll vote against it. "The public hearing is important to me, but we've been debating this for years so I am not sure what new revelations will come out of the public hearing," he said. The Board of Supervisors has had numerous closed-door meetings recently to discuss the VRE master agreement. Jackson said he is not confident that changes can be made to the contract that will satisfy his concerns. He said the way VRE is set up pits locality against locality and leads to arguments.
Read more stories about Spotsylvania Date published: 6/28/2009
buid - more commuter lots, and/or
(posted by
larryg
, June 30, 2009 9:10 am)
advance the paving of unpaved roads or extend FRED so
that more local folks can use it to get to work and back...
things along those lines - where the folks who are asking
what the 2% will do for them - they get an answer as
opposed to vague assurances that it will be spent on
"transportation improvements".
So.. we need a vision from leaders who are planning on
the 2% to be a real investment - one that citizens can look
at and believe that the 2% WILL benefit them also.
let's have a comprehensive proposa
so what assurances do we have that Spotsy
(posted by
larryg
, June 30, 2009 9:06 am)
might not take a similar approach? All I've heard so far is
vague ideas about how the remainder might be spent?
this is where I think the BOS can do a better job of selling
this by talking about specific priorities that will be in the
mix of what the spend the remainder of the 2% rather than
having it become essentially a "slush" fund that will be
spent for pet projects rather than projects that truly benefit
other citizens.
For instance, if the BOS proponents might say they will use
the money to build
that's the question for Spotsy Spotsylady
(posted by
larryg
, June 30, 2009 8:51 am)
The supporters of VRE for Spotsy are making that claim - that the 2% will benefit
others besides VRE while the track record of Stafford (the city does spend money on
FRED but not their train station) , demonstrates that they tend to favor VRE and their
other pet projects over direct assistance to others who carpool, vanpool and ride buses.
Some of their carpool lots that are full - and Stafford has been saying that they don't
have the money to buy additional spaces so they ticket and two instead.
It is not 2%...
(posted by
therestofthestory
, June 30, 2009 8:41 am)
it is or soon will be 2.1%!!!! With the price of gasoline on a 5 year uptrend why is it necessary to raise the percentage of the tax?
Oooh....
(posted by
spotsylady
, June 29, 2009 9:17 pm)
Ok, I got ya. The remainder of the 2% is supposed to be used for transportation improvements within that jurisdiction. Like the other article says, other members subsidize other forms of transportation, but Stafford and Fred choose not to. Why they are shafting others I don't know. They could. If they have money "left over" to improve a mostly private airport, then they could certainly at least look like they're thinking about other services as well.
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