The House of No

Time to clean House. Apparently they think things should be handed on a silver platter free of charge. No one likes tax increases, but something needs to be done and I support Governor Kaine's plan. I would tweak it to include transit funding for Hampton Roads (Northern Virginia is getting funding for Metro and VRE in the plan). Howell, time for you to go. I've personally had enough of your nonsense.

Something tells me you're going to go down as the person who doesn't give a crap about congestion anywhere in the Commonwealth. Try riding the #61 leaving Wards Corner at 4:38 PM or 5:38 PM any weekday and tell riders that you don't want to pay for these projects. Don't be surprised if there's several angry passengers

Governor Kaine's Town Hall Meeting: VB Convention Center

I plan to be at the Town Hall meeting tonight to talk transportation. Couple of things:

A) The House of No: Get over your stinkin pride
B) I will be making a note that the meeting starts right as the last bus to TCC is leaving the Oceanfront
C) Reid: no one wants to hear your foolishness. I think Jessica Blaine put it perfectly: "want some cheese with that wine?"

To get home, I'm going to have to ride my bike from the Blvd & Rosemont. What fun.

Go Figure

I'm not surprised that several posters are attacking HRT and Virginia Beach over the new Gillig Lowfloor Hybrids that are replacing the antique trolleys. The only bus riders who are complaining are the riders who, like myself, are stranded after 7 PM and on Sundays (and we're wanting evening / Sunday service).

I think it's time to clean The House of No before the damage gets worse. Yes folks, (even you VBTA) it does cost money to do things.

As far as transit in Virginia Beach into the evening and Sundays, we're working on that. HRT President & CEO Michael Townes charged Henry Ryto and myself to lobby for mass transit dollars for Virginia Beach.

In the long range, I support these projects:
TRANSIT:

• Expanded bus AND light rail service
• A better organized fare structure for HRT (in the works according to HRT)
  
• Transit to ORF (there's a plan in the works for the next General Assembly session)
• Commuter Rail to Richmond (bi directional, see Trinity Railway Express, which is all day bi-directional commuter rail between Dallas and Ft. Worth, for ideas)
  

ROADS:

• Tolling (I used to drive from Ocean View Station to Busch Gardens and I would've been more than happy to pay a toll to cross - this is also the reason I gladly paid $0.75 to use the Jordan since there wasn't much of a line even at rush hour)
• Expanded HRBT (4 lanes per direction at minimum in the long run from U.S. 460/Wards Corner to U.S. 258)
• The "4th" crossing, if there's demand for it
• U.S. 460 between Suffolk & Petersburg
• I-64 3 lanes from Newport News to Richmond