Taking Little And Making It Less
By Greg L | 6 February 2008 | Virginia House | 9 Comments
HB 304, offered by freshman Delegate Paul Nichols, advanced out of a subcommittee this morning with amendments and will soon head to the floor of the House for a vote. This bill would limit the number of unrelated persons which can inhabit a single family residence, and essentially takes what is in Prince William County’s code and makes it a state law.
One of the amendments made to this bill limit it’s effect to Prince William County only, which would make it’s effects absolutely nil. It’s not like this bill was going to make much of a difference anyways, since the problem of overcrowded houses rarely involves persons who admit to being unrelated, but people who falsely claim to be related to zoning inspectors who then have little if any ability to obtain evidence to prove or disprove such claims. Limiting this to Prince William County turns a bill with minor impacts into a bill that does absolutely nothing.
I’d really like to know which Republican on the House Counties, Cities and Towns Committee was so interested in effectively gutting this bill that they offered this amendment. Was this delegate incompetent, wrongly partisan, or simply interested in helping promote residential overcrowding in the Commonwealth?
Or was he or she just teeing up a nice piece of do-nothing legislation for Dick Saslaw, so he can later claim he’s actually trying to address the issues when he’s only interested in passing bills that don’t solve our problems? Hmmm.
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“Or was he or she just teeing up a nice piece of do-nothing legislation for Dick Saslaw, so he can later claim he’s actually trying to address the issues when he’s only interested in passing bills that don’t solve our problems?”
Pulling a page out of Colgan’s book. Suckers. Amnesty ‘09 - I wonder if we can get some bumper stickers made up with that slogan…
Speaking of Colgan; I thought he was going to issue a statement re the defeat of his e-verify bill. Maybe he forgot to remember to forget. (Sounds like it could be the title of a song?) Maybe he can submit it as the VA state song!
HOT lanes: A bad idea for Prince William County
GUEST COLUMN
Del. Paul F. Nichols
DelPNichols@house.state.va.us
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Everyday our highways are absolutely packed with anxious drivers trying to get to and from work. The massive amount of traffic that must be moved during the morning and evening four-hour rush period is staggering. But, drivers and commuters all along the Interstates 95 and 395 corridor have dealt with this issue for 30 years by establishing a non-governmental solution: “the slug lines.” A unique phenomenon, slugging is now under attack by a well healed Australian company, Transurban, and our own Virginia Department of Transportation, with the proposed High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes on I-95 and I-395.
The Virginia Department of Transportation and Transurban are hastily moving forward with a proposed agreement that may be devastating to the I-95/I-395 corridor. Under this short-sighted and poorly thought out plan, the Commonwealth of Virginia would turn over the taxpayer funded HOV lanes on the corridor to Transurban for 80 years. In Phase 1, Transurban is proposing to convert one of the shoulders of the HOV lanes into an additional lane that would be used by HOV and HOT commuters. According to recent studies there will likely be an immediate fall off of 20 percent cars available to “slugs” because commuters currently picking up slugs will pay to use the HOT lanes rather than pick up slugs. Further, the ill-conceived agreement being proffered by Transurban indicates that the speed on the HOT/HOV will not go below 45 miles per hour, ensuring that 45 mph will become the norm for the entire distance from Dumfries to the 14th Street Bridge. Through the perverse nature of the “deal” with the state, Transurban only makes money if the HOT/HOV lanes are full. As congestion increases and traffic slows to 45 or below, the tolls increase from 10 cents per mile to as much as $1.00 per mile, with the average toll during the rush period being $5.00. And Transurban makes more money as the traffic slows due to the tolls’ increasing .
Transurban touts increased vigilance and reduced violators on the HOT/HOV lanes by using futuristic infrared sensors to determine how many passengers are in a car and which cars are HOV and which are HOT. Transurban freely admits that the reliability of its infrared enforcement is about 50 percent, so it’s correct half the time, with as many false readings as correct readings. The current HOV enforcement results in about an 18 percent violation rate.
Further, Transurban brags about the success of HOT lanes in other jurisdictions, but in no place other than Northern Virginia does a “slug line” exist. Additionally if the proposed HOV lane conversion fails, there is absolutely no contingency plan, the commonwealth will have turned over a taxpayer-funded road system to a private company for 80 years with no contingency for failure. VDOT hopes this “public-private partnership” works. The conversion may have such a devastating effect on our daily commute that we can not rely on unproven technology and an unproven solution based on the “hopes” of VDOT.
Northern Virginia is the only place in the entire country with a slug system. It is the only place in the whole country where people get together with strangers to save gas and time. It is a sacred institution of our district and if we let HOT lanes be put in place, we threaten to end slugging completely.
I have introduced a bill, HB 135 that would prohibit HOT lanes on I-395 from the Potomac River to the Springfield Interchange and from the Springfield Interchange south on I-95. This bill faces a massive lobbying effort opposing it from both the Virginia Department of Transportation as well as Transurban, their $6.2 billion partners in this unwelcome plan.
Let’s be responsible with our transit. Let’s not tie our hands behind our backs for nearly a century on a whim that this will work. We need to preserve our slug system and keep HOT lanes off our roads. We all paid the taxes to make the HOV lanes. We all paid for the highway. Don’t let VDOT take our highways away from us.
Del. Paul F. Nichols, D-Occoquan can be reached at DelPNichols@house.state.va.us.
999,
That was what Billyboy reported to us. He hasn’t been around since last week though. Patty said she got a call from Chuck last Friday, I think.
Patty,
Give us an update.
Billyboy,
We’ve patient here. Do you have any idea what happened with the statement from Chuck? I know/understand it’s a busy time of year for the GA.
BTW-Where you in Mama Mia’s last Friday or Saturday night?
I have a call into Colgan’s office this morning.. I’ll let you know what I hear…
The HOT lanes are the republicans answere to traffic problems. The private industry will step up to the plate to solve our issues if it can make a buck! What ever happened to “family values”! Explane to your son why dad can’t take him to soccer practice because of the free market! Thats right!,we chose to live out here so its our fault that we sit in traffic caused by outside counties in the state! Living is more than just being alive people, it’s a quality of life issue.
Nichols bill (HB 304) that codified # of unrelated folks living in a house was just killed along party lines with the Republicans voting to kill the bill. So it looks like the Republicans now are the advocates of the illegals, after the vote the illegal advocates were high fiving out in the hall. Interesting turn of events…
Billyboy,
Do you have anything for us yet?
I would think a man in the know such as yourself would’ve gotten a swift response. Yes, yes I know it is the busy time of year down in Richmond.
Do you did NOT answer my Mamia Mia question! A simple yes or no will do.
Also, please give Lady Dolph the clearance for your email.
Thank you. I hope you are doing better. Take care.