Kerry DoughertySOMETIMES you feel like a million bucks. Other times you feel like radio legend Paul Harvey.
This is a Harvey day.
Twice, The Virginian-Pilot has happily highlighted a Christopher Newport University poll on transportation. Twice, we reported that a majority of Hampton Roads residents are concerned about transportation and willing to spend more on roads.
Yippee! Higher taxes! Tolls!
To quote Paul Harvey, "H ere's the rest of the story."
Turns out that buried deep in that CNU study are few startling nuggets. So far, it's only attracted the attention of bloggers at Bearing Drift.
While pollsters discovered that locals are willing to cough up more dough for roads, they also learned that these same folks don't trust politicians not to steal it.
Maybe "steal" is the wrong word. Those polled believe that politicians will collect money for transportation and spend the loot on something else.
The questions about congestion were fairly predictable. Pollsters asked whether roads were more congested now than five years ago, and 77 percent answered yes. Anyone surprised?
They also asked whether the respondents would support more funding for transportation, and 67 percent answered in the affirmative.
Before the higher tax crowd starts throwing confetti, let's consider the CNU questions about trust,
I trust elected and appointed officials to spend new funding only on transportation improvements in Hampton Roads.
Strongly agree: 18 percent
Somewhat agree: 26
Somewhat disagree: 20
Strongly disagree: 33
Don't know: 3
Oops. Looks like most of us don't trust officials to do what they say.
I worry that new funding for transportation improvements will be diverted to other uses and not spent on transportation improvements in Hampton Roads.
Strongly agree: 4 9 percent
Somewhat agree: 29
Strongly disagree: 10
Somewhat disagree: 10
Math isn't my strong suit, but it seems as if 78 percent of us believe politicians will take our money and blow it on something else. (And they wonder why the transportation referendum failed six years ago.)
I want all new transportation funding to be put into a "lockbox" so that it can be used for transportation improvements in Hampton Roads.
Strongly agree: 67 percent
Somewhat agree: 20
Somewhat disagree: 5
Strongly disagree: 6
Yikes. According to this, 87 percent of us want some kind of ironclad assurance that politicians will keep their paws off our road money.
"I'm not surprised," said Del. Terrie Suit, R-Virginia Beach, on Wednesday when I told her about the poll. "People have seen what's happened with Social Security. They've seen the transportation trust fund tapped to gap the budget... W e need to get the trust of the public back."
Suit might have a solution. She's drafting a constitutional amendment for the next General Assembly that would fence off any transportation funds raised regionally. A local lockbox. "A constitutional amendment is the only way to 100 percent protect the money," Suit said, noting that other proposed amendments - to lock up Virginia's entire transportation fund - have failed repeatedly in the Senate.
This poll sends multiple messages. Motorists are mad, and they'll pay for more roads - as soon as the politicians cut out the financial chicanery, that is.
And that's the rest of the story. Good day.
Kerry Dougherty, (757) 446-2306, kerry.dougherty@cox.net
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Transportation
The real untold story is the fact that a constitutional amendment to protect the Transportation Trust Fund has consistently passed the House of Delegates only to be consistently defeated in the Virginia Senate. Why are Kerry and the other Virginian Pilot editors and columnists so afraid to focus on this fact. The Senate has proven its desire to increase taxes time and time again while Republicans were in the majority, it just didn't ever want to guarantee protection of the revenue for the purpose for which it was collected. Now that the Senate Rebublicans have governed themselves into the minority, maybe the Senate Democrats will understand the people's lack of trust for politicians and pass the constitutional amendment that Terrie Suit is going to submit.
I take it
I take it Reid likes sitting at Tunnels (I thought he was from Sandbridge). I remember happily chucking a quarter on Route 44 (I-264 to the newcomers). There used to be a $1.25 charge at Strawberry Banks to cross the HRBT. I bet if Reid had the final say, we'd STILL be taking the ferry. To this day, I happily pay $0.75 to cross the Jordan instead of doing it for free across the Downtown or Midtown. Yes Reid, I used to drive and I used to happily take the Jordan from Norfolk to Portsmouth via Chesapeake. At the time, I lived in West Ghent and I was going to Churchland. Yes, the Midtown is a shorter route, but at rush hour, the Jordan is faster. (and yes Reid, I am Michael Ragsdale of HR Transit Ideas)
It's the project selection
It's the project selection stupid!!! Christopher Newport University should conduct another poll, they should ask,
If you had 10 billion dollars to spend on roads "What road projects would you build."
They would likly get answers like;
widen Interstate 64 from Bowers Hill to Battlefield Blvd including new bridge,
new Jordan bridge,
new Gilmerton bridge,
widen Centerville Turnpike from Indian River Rd to Battlefield Blvd. including new bridge.
Double HRBT.
New Midtown tunnel.
We could build all of these projects and still have seven billion to spend. Wasting five billion on tunnels and bridges for the Virginia Port Authority is a bad idea. Take it out of the package, add projects like this, put local tax increases on the November ballot and voters will approve.
Put the "trust" in trust fund!
It has been 5 years since the November 2002 regional sales tax for the MPO's 6 projects. 5 years is about how long it takes to make a state Constitutional Amendment law. Talk about dropping the ball in Richmond! Had the General Assembly listened 5 years ago this would not be a problem now - but, they failed to "get 'er done" and here we are again - the same 6 MPO rojects we rejected in 2002 - and there is talk of the same regional sales tax hike. How many times do we have to keep saying "No!"? So, here we are - 5 years later and we still don't have any "trust" in the Transportation Trust Fund.
I wasn't born yesterday
Most taxpayers are not stupid. We have seen how the legislature has played fast and loose with lottery money. 20 years ago, they said the money earned was for education. We trusted them and approved the lottery. Then, instead of ADDING the lottery money to the education budget, they took the dollars they normally appropriated for schools & used it for other budget items. They then replaced these funds with lottery earnings. Maybe Del Suit can put in the constitutional amendment that any ADDITIONAL funds raised for roads will be added to the normal transportation budget, not replaced intentional funding shortfalls in a fiscal "shell game!" Taxpayers are tired of being jerked around by slimy politicians, Democrat AND Republicans.