Petroleum Association Bucks McDonnell and Asks For Gas Tax Increase

Anyone who commutes during rush hour in Hampton Roads or Northern Virginia knows that Virginia's transportation system is not only inadequate, it's also crumbling (e.g., the potholes on east bound Interstate 64 in Norfolk between the HRBT and the Granby Street exit that I drive each day  make the pavement look like its been bombed in places).  Meanwhile, the state's gasoline tax hasn't been raised in over a quarter century in keeping with the GOP's no tax increase mantra.  And rather than increase the gas tax, Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell wants to scrap the tax, increase the state sales tax, and raid funds for already stretched programs.  It's idiocy that so far has been blocked by the Virginia Senate.  Now, the petroleum association that represents gasoline retailers statewide has come out in support of an increase in the gas tax and displayed far more logic than Taliban Bob. Here are highlights from a Virginian Pilot article:

How desperate are Virginians for a statewide transportation funding solution?  Here's one example: a trade group that represents gas stations is bucking tradition and backing a higher fuel tax to pump new money into state road building accounts.

The Virginia Petroleum, Convenience and Grocery Association this week has expressed support for raising the state's 17.5 cent per gallon gas tax to 23.5 cents starting in July. More than 25 years have passed since the state's gas tax was last adjusted.

In a statement, the group cited the mushrooming maintenance deficit that has required Virginia to increasingly spent more of its road construction dollars to repair its decaying road network,
"Should this continue it will eventually impact the productivity of our membership and other Virginia businesses, and affect the quality of life for many Virginians," the Feb. 7 statement reads.

The association also said it would work toward "consensus legislation for the 2014 General Assembly session that adjusts Virginia’s cents per gallon rate along with the biennial state budget, to accommodate the increase in federal gasoline efficiency standards for all passenger vehicles."

The transportation funding plan still alive in the General Assembly is the House of Delegates' version of Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to dump the current gas tax and replace it by increasing the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent, among other plan wrinkles.

The transportation funding plan still alive in the General Assembly is the House of Delegates' version of Gov. Bob McDonnell's proposal to dump the current gas tax and replace it by increasing the state sales tax from 5 percent to 5.8 percent, among other plan wrinkles.  .  .  .  the Senate version of McDonnell's plan and several proposed amendments to it were defeated by Democrats who consider its revenue sources either unreliable or sacrosanct.

McDonnell needs to dump the GOP's failed approach on taxes and increase the gasoline tax and make sure all of the new revenues go to highway repair and expansion.

Will GOP Highway Funding Plan Kill South Hampton Roads Economically?

The GOP in Virginia will go to any lengths to avoid raising taxes and seems to always want to pursue "public/private partnerships" that will bring financial windfalls to the private players and increased costs to the rest of the public. The latest example of this insanity is proposals to address the ever worsening traffic bottlenecks at the bridges and tunnels that connect the south side of Hampton Roads to the Virginia peninsula and the rest of the state via Interstate 64. In addition to adding killing tolls, the plans continue to overlook the main cause of tunnel and bridge congestion: moronic drivers who refuse to maintain the posted speed limit - in the HRBT tunnel which I use daily, many slow down some 20-30 mph - and/or refuse to get out of the left lane even though traveling at under the speed limit. VDOT and the State Police do NOTHING to address these major causes of the problem. The Virginian Pilot has a story that looks at the GOP backed idiocy which would cause me to have to relocate my office out of Norfolk. Here are highlights:
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A map of Hampton Roads that depicts a ring of fire engulfing the region has made its rounds at city halls and in the community. The ring is connected by a series of new toll roads, bridges and tunnels that have been proposed to improve movement in and out of the area,
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The dynamics of all that are worrisome," Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said. "What does it mean for our economy? Has anybody thought through all this?"
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All the toll roads would be operated by private companies. The proposed rates: - $4-$6 on an expanded Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel as well as on the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel and the James River Bridge;- $2.17 on an expanded Midtown Tunnel as well as on the Downtown Tunnel;
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"My greatest concern is that it would appear that tolls of these levels would defeat our purpose for these projects - a lot of people won't be making these trips," said Dwight Farmer, executive director of the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization.
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Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton said Gov. Bob McDonnell will be rolling out transportation funding strategies over the next few weeks that will have "direct positive impact for projects contemplated for Hampton Roads." The state highway budget has dipped 22 percent since 2008, mostly because of dwindling gas tax revenues.
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James Koch, an economist and former president of Old Dominion University. "There are costs attached to doing nothing." Koch said "reasonably modest" tolls, similar to what is proposed at the Midtown Tunnel, would likely be beneficial because of the gains in mobility from the road improvement. Tolls as high as the ones proposed for the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel, however, "would probably choke off commerce," he said, adding that adjustments would be made in the long term, such as moving closer to work and using transit or carpools.
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For far too long, under the anti-tax mantra of the GOP, the Commonwealth of Virginia has done far too little to address highway needs *the GOP has held the Virginia House of Delegates for a over decade). Using these "public/private give aways will not solve the problem for most residents and will make the area even more isolated.

HRBOR June Third Thursday Networking Event - The Franklin Condominiums

Last month's HRBOR anniversary event was amazing with 200 or so people attending. This month's venue for the June Third Thursday Event on June 17, 2010, is equally stunning: The Franklin Condominiums located on Brambleton Avenue at Duke Street in downtown Norfolk which were developed by Worthy Capital and Development, LLC. The facility is gorgeous and has special meaning to me since that is where the boyfriend first asked me out to dinner at the July 2008 Third Thursday event which was hosted by Worthy Capital at the Franklin Condominiums. For local readers who have never attended a TT as we call them, I urge you to check HRBOR out. For those who do not own businesses, contact me about the Associate Memberships which are available when sponsored by a current HRBOR member. Here are details on the upcoming event:

Date: June 17, 2010
Time: 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Cost: Free to Members, Guest fee $15

Location: The Franklin Condominiums, 220 Brambleton Avenue, Norfolk VA 23510 (Brambleton and Boush Street)
Parking: Franklin Condo parking lot and Prudential Towne Realty parking lot next door. Please do not park in WTKR parking lot!

Hosts:

Jan Liu, NewTowne Mortgage
www.NewTowneMortgage.com/JanLiu
Michael Whitehurst and Sean Graham, Affordable Luxury Limousineswww.hrlimo.com
and Carl Johansen, Prudential Towne Realty www.GuidingUHome.com

Food and Bar Sponsors: Our three hosts
Featured Non-Profit: Hampton Roads Pride

PLEASE RSVP by emailing events@hrbor.org or by going to our website www.hrbor.org and registering for the event online.

Please Note: In an effort to go Green, we have member information on our slide presentation loop. Members and Guests are encouraged to bring any marketing materials you wish to distribute (ie: business cards, brochures and flyers) but please be prepared to take them with you when you leave.

Bob McDonnell and "No Tax" GOP Behind Traffic Woes

Yesterday this area experienced a major clusterf*ck traffic wise because a simple pump failure in the west bound tube of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel - one of the two main connectors between south side Hampton Roads and the Peninsula and Richmond to the west. Virginia increasingly needs major injections of transportation spending to improve its overburdened interstate highways and other main routes. Unfortunately, the GOP and its standard bearer Bob "Taliban Bob" McDonnell chant only one mantra: no tax increases. Highways do not build themselves without funding and a poor transportation system will ultimately strangle economic growth. But then, the Virginia GOP still has a 19th century mindset both in terms of social values - i.e., blacks and women new their place and gays were closeted or prosecuted for "crimes against nature" - and taxation. Here are some highlights from the Virginian Pilot:

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A broken water pump inside the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel set off a chain reaction of congestion. On the surface, the broken pump seemed like a tiny cog in the area’s complex interstate bridge and tunnel system, but what happened next was more than anyone had bargained for.

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While Virginia Department of Transportation crews pumped water out of the tunnel, detouring vehicles spilled onto alternate routes. Traffic at the Monitor Merrimac Memorial Bridge-Tunnel backed up more than 20 miles into Chesapeake. The Midtown and Downtown tunnel traffic was stacked up three to four miles into Norfolk, clogging city thoroughfares. The closures of some downtown streets for Harborfest compounded the fiasco.

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Local leaders and others expressed outrage over the way VDOT handled the crisis and called the gridlock a harbinger of what could happen during a major evacuation. They cited Thursday’s events as an example of a limited highway system and inadequate harbor crossings. “The entire region shut down for most of the day because of one pump,” Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said .

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Transportation, city and business leaders have pushed since the 1990s for transportation improvements to provide additional access to the region and better hurricane evacuation routes. Those projects include another crossing of the Hampton Roads harbor, expanding the Midtown Tunnel and upgrading U.S. 460 to interstate quality.

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But they will cost billions of dollars that current funding sources cannot cover. The General Assembly repeatedly has rejected proposals to raise taxes and fees for transportation funding. “We have listened to the members of the General Assembly long enough,” Fraim said. “The consequences of what has occurred is a direct result of their inaction to provide adequate funding for transportation.

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Fraim said the incident was reminiscent of Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, when the Midtown Tunnel flooded because of malfunctioning floodgates. “Had this occurred during an evacuation caused by an impending hurricane or major storm, I shudder to think of the consequences,” Fraim said.

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Virginia does not need the antiquated thinking of Bob McDonnell and the Virginia Republican Party. He and the other GOP candidates must be defeated in the November elections.