Saturday, January 31, 2009
Editorial: Short takes
Quick views on some of the week's news.
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Bet you think this bill is about you
"There are no grades of vanity, there are only grades of ability in concealing it" -- Mark Twain.
Virginians aren't about to conceal theirs.
Right now, across the commonwealth, 830,000 vehicles are decorated with vanity license plates, making our drivers among the most boastful in the nation. What prompts so many Virginians to wear their schools, professions and personalities on their cars? The price. The current fee for a personalized license plate is $10, among the cheapest in the nation.
That may double if a bill sponsored by Sen. John Watkins, a Powhatan Republican, continues to gain favor. It would boost the DMV's revenue by $1.5 million. Watkins told the Richmond Times-Dispatch it's appropriate to "gently move the price of those vanity plates up and make sure we all are as vain as we thought we were."
If we had our druthers, we'd amend his bill to double yet again the fee for people who create vanity plates that few can decipher.
State must spend money wisely
There are predators on the Internet trying to seduce young children. Virginia Commonwealth University's chief of police was just charged with that crime.
But a new report by the Center for Safe and Responsible Internet Use found that the danger to children has been overblown. The vast majority of sexual abuse of children is by family members or friends, not Internet predators. That reality, not emotional appeals by political candidates, should guide the state as it decides whether to pour more resources into task forces that seek out predators.
Gubernatorial candidate Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Bath County, wants the state to give $1.5 million this year to two task forces, including one in Bedford County, that got state funding last year. He brought out Alicia Kozakiewicz, a victim of an Internet predator, to press the case. "Even if it saves one Alicia, it's worth it," he said.
It may seem callous to argue with that statement, but in a budget year that is forcing the state to make very painful spending cuts, someone must. Should $1.5 million be spent to save the hypothetical "one Alicia" from an overhyped danger, or should it, just to take one example, be used to provide Medicaid waivers to provide community-based care for 50 very real mentally disabled residents?
A TransDominion Express train wreck
Rail advocates in central Virginia are aghast that state Sen. William Wampler has proposed a budget amendment to block state funds for any part of the TransDominion Express until "funding for all sections of the corridor from Bristol to Washington, D.C./Richmond is included in the Statewide Rail Plan."
Money is in the state budget for a two-year pilot program to run two passenger trains -- one from Lynchburg, the other from Richmond -- along the U.S. 29 corridor to Washington, D.C. The estimated cost: $17 million.
Fully realized, the envisioned TransDominion Express would provide passenger train service from Bristol, through Roanoke and on to Lynchburg, Richmond and D.C. Proponents of the pilot project fear the Bristol Republican's move would derail the project indefinitely. We fear they are right.
A little help from Virginia Tech
Everywhere you look these days, some public agency suffers under the state budget shortfall. K-12 schools and law enforcement have been making the most noise and receiving the most attention.
Meanwhile, colleges and universities have been more stoic. Virginia has been shortchanging them for years, and tuition is bound to jump again next year. Been there, done that.
Some students are more worried about this year. As the recession takes its toll and layoffs mount, some families find they can no longer afford to pay tuition at the state's schools.
Virginia Tech will help those young adults who suddenly find themselves going under. The school has set aside $500,000 in emergency loans for families that have recently lost income.
That's not enough money to help everyone, and it's only a short-term patch, but it could help some students survive to the end of the school year. Then they can reassess their financial situation and their options.
Kudos to Tech officials for finding resources to aid members of the campus community in need. Every little bit helps these days.
