Trolley is folly

This week Roanoke city councilman Bev Fitzpatrick found out from a consultant that his trolley idea for downtown Roanoke might cost anywhere from $13 million to $17 million. He said on a WFIR radio interview that we might be able to get it for the bargain price of only $2 million to $3 million dollars if we get the federal government to kick in the rest. The trolley would run from downtown along Jefferson Street to the soon-to-be Carilion Biomedical Institute.

I like trolley cars, I like nostalgia, and I even like Bev Fitzpatrick, but I hope this idea never sees the light of day.

First of all, thinking that it’s great if the federal government picks up most of the tab is like thinking that it’s okay if your friend takes you to dinner and offers to pay with your credit card. Where does the federal government get the money to put into a project like this? From you and me.

Secondly, what does a trolley bring to the valley? Sure, it would be neat to have, but will it attract many more tourist dollars to Roanoke? If I wanted to tour somewhere to see a trolley, I would go to San Francisco. I doubt it would get enough service to pay for itself, so it would likely end up being subsidized by the taxpayers, just as buses and passenger trains are.

Finally, we have other bills to pay. We have two high school renovations that are already tens of millions of dollars over their original budgets; we have a stadium renovation or build that will cost us $10-$20 million; we have government debt that is more than $2,000 per man, woman, and child – exceeding city council’s self-imposed limit; and we have a declining population of taxpayers, which means that as government costs increase, they must be spread out over fewer people. Can you see the tax increase in our future?

Many people I have talked to would rather see money spent on jobs development for Roanoke – money to encourage current businesses to expand and new businesses to move here. That is economic development, trolley cars aren’t.

I hope Mr. Fitzpatrick rethinks this one.

“Personal responsibility” is not in her vocabulary

Recently, The Roanoke Times published a story about Roanoke’s attempt at “traffic calming” (also known as traffic congesting and gridlock causing) by narrowing streets and constructing jutting curbs in the Southeast part of the city.

A Bullitt Avenue resident and expectant mother was quoted in the article saying that she was worried about the effect on her unborn baby from the noise from the city’s jackhammers digging up the street. The article also included a picture of the very concerned mother-to-be standing outside her home with a cigarette in her hand, treating her unborn to a nice dose of nicotine.

The picture was so ironic that it got national coverage on libertarian radio talk show host Neal Boortz’s Web site.

Rep. Rick Boucher won’t show up to debates

Rick Boucher, neighboring 9th District Democrat congressman, has been asked to participate in several debates in his Southwest Virginia district for the past three months, but he has only signed up for one.

Although political experts concede that debates are not good for an incumbent because they give too much face time to a challenger and offer a chance that the incumbent might get cornered, debates are owed to the electorate. Citizens deserve an open discussion on the issues, and they should demand that all candidates – incumbents and challengers – face off in at least two debates, covering as many issues as possible.

Boucher’s challenger, Republican and former NASCAR executive Kevin Triplett, has pointed out that in Boucher’s newest campaign ad, he says, “This is Rick Boucher and I approved this message because Southwest Virginians deserve a positive discussion about the issues.”

Triplett says that is political doubletalk, because out of six debates and joint appearances the candidates have been invited to over the last several months, Boucher has agreed to just one on WDBJ-TV, Channel 7. A Southwest Times and Pulaski County Chamber of Commerce event was canceled just last week. According to the chamber, officials from Boucher’s office said his schedule was full until the election.

The icing on the cake is that in 1982, when Boucher was the challenger running for the seat he now occupies, he stated that Rep. William Wampler’s reason for not immediately accepting a challenge to debate “…can only mean that my opponent is afraid to discuss the critical issues of this campaign in such a large and public forum.”

DMV rules for “legal presence” might change as a result of this column

I wrote a two-part column in July and August about the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles’ new and very strict legal presence policy for obtaining drivers’ licenses and official ID cards. The requirements that the DMV imposed on citizens trying to prove they were actually legally allowed to live in Virginia were too strict, in my opinion. I wrote about senior citizens who didn’t have their original 80-year-old birth certificates and were therefore prevented from obtaining drivers’ licenses and IDs. This meant they couldn’t fly on planes to see family and friends, they couldn’t cash their social security checks in the local grocery store, and they couldn’t open bank accounts, among other things.

After hearing about the issue, Del. William Fralin, R- Roanoke, met with the commissioner of the DMV to draft a new piece of legislation that Fralin will introduce at the next General Assembly session in January. The proposed legislation will attempt to allow more forms of ID to be used by citizens to prove they are legal residents of the U.S., while still maintaining security over the process to prevent illegals from receiving drivers’ licenses.