"We have lost our ambition, our imagination, and our willingness to do the things that built the Golden Gate Bridge" - Barack Obama (aka President Malaise)
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Fortune Favors The Brave
By Greg L | 4 March 2007 | Prince William County | 5 Comments
First we have a proclaimed “zoning moratorium” which does little more than delay for twelve months the rezonings which will increase development. Then we have a rather incomplete and disappointing staff study in the costs of illegal aliens which is used to send an invoice which is certain to be ignored, to the federal government for the costs the county bears for illegal aliens. And now there’s talk of filing a lawsuit against the state because we only get about $0.27 back for every transportation dollar Northern Virginia contributes to transportation in the Commonwealth. These are all important points to make, and there’s arguably a case to be made that we need to raise the profile of these issues in the Commonwealth and the federal government, but are we grandstanding for publicity instead of making tough decisions?
I like that we’re putting on the spot those who are responsible for bad public policy that imposes severe impacts on Northern Virginia. Telling the General Assembly in no uncertain terms that the lack of authority to enact adequate public facilities ordinances really hampers our ability to control growth and development in the county is laudible. Demonstrating to congress that localities are bearing an enormous burden because they don’t have the fortitude or committment to adequately protect our borders is especially important given the amnesty proposals that are being considered. The distribution of funding under current transportation allocation formulas is patently unfair to Northern Virginia, and we need to shout it. Yet these complaints can easily be ignored, and despite a fair amount of important but temporary media attention that this generates, I’m not sure they will really accomplish much.
The telling component in all of these actions is that they really risk nothing. Sending congress a bill which we don’t in any way expect them to pay doesn’t change anything about the way we do business. Delaying rezonings during a residential construction lull is painless and of little real effect. Talk of filing an innovative (at best) 14th amendment suit against the state might have to be backed up with some minimal amount of legal work by county attorneys, but otherwise is easy and consequence free. I’ve seen in many of these issues that bold public policy changes involve political risk and hard decisions, and because that risk is accepted, the chance of reward is revealed. Risk nothing, gain nothing. We’ve seen this at least once before.
Perhaps we can put water & sewer connections on hold, and require new development to have wells and septic fields. Anyone who has been through the exercise of trying to engineer this will immediately realize how hard it is to densely develop when you have to drill wells and build septic systems. Or perhaps because of transportation pressures we can halt road interconnections for new developments, and new McMansions will have to now be served by gravel roads. We control the local utilities, so perhaps there’s an opportunity there. It’s risky in many ways, but it would actually impact development.
Perhaps we could actually enforce reasonable zoning ordinances that currently allow an insane number of people to inhabit a residential dwelling based on square footage. Or more strongly enforce current laws about employing “undocumented workers”. Or allow front-line law enforcement to process illegal aliens they encounter for deportation for serious traffic violations such as hit & run or driving without a license. Yes, there’s risk from the ACLU becoming a nuisance, but instead of whining, we’d be actually addressing the problem. Hazleton, Pennsylvania isn’t whining, they’re acting, and despite the challenges they face because of their bold approach, an overwhelming number of illegal aliens have removed themselves because they realize there are actually consequences for illegal behavior. It’s bold, it’s risky, but it’s actually delivering results.
If the state is going to continue it’s patently unfair method of allocating transportation dollars, there has to be some way of striking back that will actually cause pain rather than bemusement, and force the state to address our valid concerns. Push for the elimination of VDOT in favor of localities controlling their own transportation dollars. Albolish the state income tax in favor of localities collecting it and remitting a portion to the state, rather than having the state collecting taxes and redistributing revenue back to the localities. Shake things up so that the state returns more control to localities regarding revenue and spending. There’s got to be some opportunities to allow local dollars to be collected and allocated locally, and even the threat of this reasonable change might be enough to begin a constructive dialogue.
Most likely much of this is unworkable or is just going to piss off too many people. Yet if we’re going to actually do something, we need to be bolder in the strategies we use and dispense with weak public relations attempts to embarass higher levels of government into addressing the serious issues that many localities, not only in Northern Virginia, face. I’m hopeful that at some point our local legislators realize that it’s actually going to take more risk than is undertaken in what may likely be useless blustering to actually address the critical challenges we face. Right now, we’re not there.
Risk little, gain little. It’s time for boldness.
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It is the time for boldness! And most people know this. So why do we turn away or want someone else to be bold for us? Is it fear? Could it be selfishness?? To become bold can for a moment mean to set oneself apart from the great masses. Has the system we have grown up under paralized us from becoming? Perhaps. So how do we entangle ourselves from the giant chains of conformity? Could it be something that starts in our minds? It is said “knowledge is power”. What ‘if’ we began to make some changes in our thinking! This for many is a very present dangerous thought! To think we don’t know it all is a great barrier we all face in pulling down those illusions. It IS time for boldness!! The time has come for each of us to challenge our own thinking and take one step forward into becoming an independent thinker. To become one who inspires and gives courage to others to also become. And the possibilities from there are infinite! So let the call come to you ‘bravehearts’ out there to think outside the box.
A thoughtful posting - more insight than incite.
Notes:
- It is highly unlikely that any Southside elected
official will ever go to Richmond - be shown the
facts of tax distribution and slap their forehead
and declare “By golly, you are right! I’ll vote
for more money going to Northern Virginia and
less to my district.” Imagine this won’t really
change much until after the 2010 census - sorry.
- As a former President noted “facts can be
uncomfortable things” - but some - right and
left - will ignore them to support their dogma.
It isn’t PC, but a cold hard fact is that massive
illegal immigration is especially costly to
LOCAL government. I challenge anyone to
add up the fiscal pluses and minuses in
Manassas City Schools and not come to that
conclusion.
I’m a small-town guy so my opinions may be somewhat colored by my experiences but I’ve got to believe that the place for bold action is in the State house.
We need to make sure that the people we are supporting locally share our priorities. Jackson surely does but do newcomers Lucas and Fitz? From her website, Julie appears to support 287g at the state level but we need much more than that. Bob doesn’t mention illegal immigration at all on his website.
An interesting posting - long on insight and short on incite.
Notes:
Doubt any Southside pol in Richmond will ever slap
their forehead and say “Yes, you are right, I’ll vote
to start sending more money to NOVA and less
to my home district!” I don’t see any real change on
the distribution formulas until after the 2010 census. Sorry.
Unless falsehood is confronted - it will start to be
accepted as fact. The PC view is that illegal immigrants
pay their share of taxes — the reality for LOCAL
government is that massive illegal immigration
doesn’t pay its fair share. The Manassas City School
system proposed 2007-2008 budget is a prime example.
(On average ESL students cost one third more to educate -
and that population is rapidly growing - only Harrisonbug
has a larger number of ESL students than Manassas in
Virginia).
Even allowing for the fact not all ESL students are illegal,
common sense would acknowledge that illegals put
a great stress on municipal budgets.
Darn, another double posting - sorry about that.
(Thought the first one got caught in the internet pipe -
Senator Stevens (R-Alaska) tells us that happens
sometimes, right?)