Va. Beach businesses raise cash for 'Light Rail Now'

VIRGINIA BEACH

The commanding view from the 17th floor of the Armada Hoffler building in Town Center is a pretty good sign that the meeting down the hall isn’t your normal grassroots gathering.

In the conference room of the law firm Williams Mullen this week, the group Light Rail Now held its first board meeting. It wasn’t just lawyers and the city’s business elite.

About 30 people from environmental, neighborhood, biking and running, housing, senior and church groups are on the board of directors. While the business community created and is financing Light Rail Now – $110,000 has been raised so far – it’s creating a broad-based coalition to support light rail, a sort of grassroots group building in reverse.

“The reality is most of these groups involved don’t have the financial resources to put it together,” said attorney Steve Davis, a board member of Light Rail Now and past president of Virginia Beach Vision, the business group spearheading the effort. “Where it goes from here is going to depend on the people involved and the direction they decide to take it. The business community has done the initial job to get this thing off the ground.”

City leaders and residents are trying to decide if they want to pursue a light-rail project that would cross the heart of the city and link to the Norfolk Tide line under construction. The city is trying to finalize a $40 million deal to buy a 10.6-mile unused rail line from Norfolk Southern. The City Council has not made a decision whether to support a light-rail project.

Virginia Beach Vision is a group composed of many of  the Beach’s influential lawyers, developers and businesspeople. It has long advocated for light rail, viewing it as a powerful and lucrative economic development tool. The group backed light rail in 1999 when residents voted it down in a referendum. One of the lessons learned from the defeat was that light rail needs appeal beyond the business community.

“What we missed was the information didn’t get to the general public,” Virginia Beach Vision Executive Director Martha McClees said of the 1999 effort. “What we decided we needed to do differently was to focus on the citizens. We’ve reached out to as many groups as we could.”

Virginia Beach Vision did the fundraising for Light Rail Now and hired the group’s executive director, Carolyn McPherson, a former Amerigroup executive who most recently was executive director of the Samaritan House, a Virginia Beach shelter for homeless and domestic abuse victims.

McPherson said she will report to the Light Rail Now board, not Virginia Beach Vision.

“Everything is going to get handed over to Carolyn and that board,” McClees said.

McClees would not say who has donated money to Light Rail Now because she said contributors were not told their names might be made public. She said 77 people have made contributions ranging from $10 to $10,000, with most donations in the $500-$2,500 range. The group has pledges of $109,860 and actual receipt s for $88,910. The fundraising goal is $145,000.

The Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce’s division in Virginia Beach has contributed money and is encouraging members to give.

“Business persons, more than most, can appreciate the value of transit oriented development as a stimulus to economic development …,” wrote Beach chamber chairman John Wilson in a fundraising letter to members.

Light Rail Now is a 501(c)(4), a nonprofit created to engage in advocacy, lobbying and political campaigns, activities generally prohibited for traditional 501(c)(3)s. Donations are not tax-deductible. Nonprofits are not required to disclose donors.

Davis and Thomas Frantz, CEO of Williams Mullens, headed the fundraising efforts as leaders of the Virginia Beach Vision’s Light Rail Task Force. Davis said the amount of money Light Rail Now will need depends largely on whether there’s a referendum.

“If there’s a referendum, it’s like there’s a political candidate we’re trying to get elected and the candidate is light rail,” he said.

Virginia Beach Vision also is lobbying the City Council to refrain from taking a position on a referendum for light rail until a study on the issue comes out next year.

McPherson agrees.

“It’s premature for the City Council to make a decision about a referendum until the study comes out,” she said.

Vision leaders say their goal is to convince the City Council a referendum is unnecessary.

While some council members agree, others, including Mayor Will Sessoms and Vice Mayor Louis Jones, say they support a referendum. Councilman Jim Wood, formerly a referendum opponent, now supports it, and so does a majority of the council. The result of the November City Council elections could change that.

Some Light Rail Now board members outside the business community said they don’t have a problem with a referendum.

Also, it’s not clear whether board members will reflect the views of the groups they represent. For example, Frank Gaillard, a Light Rail Now board member, belongs to the Virginia Beach Council of Civic Organizations. He supports light rail, but the civic group has yet to take a position on light rail.

“We’re just there to try and get information and take part in the process. That doesn’t mean we’re for or against it,” said Sam Reid, the group’s past president and chairman of the programs committee.

Tim McCarthy, a retired social worker on the board, said he thinks light rail could stimulate affordable housing construction and help seniors get around.

Some Light Rail Now board members have interests that go beyond light rail . The main interest of the Tidewater Bicycle Club and Tidewater Striders representatives is to get bike and running paths along any mass transit project on the line.

Bob Brunner of Tidewater Striders says his group is split on light rail.

“Right now, they’re more to the negative, but they don’t know all the details,” he said. “Personally, I’d like to see it. Hey, we’re a big city. I see it as a growth thing.”

Aaron Applegate, (757) 222-5122, aaron.applegate@pilotonline.com