Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Paul Riddick To TDCHR Chairman?

With the election results largely in for the Norfolk City Council, Randy Wright has conceded while Paul Riddick has apparently won reelection. Those two have been Norfolk's Commissioners on the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), the governing board of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT). That in combination produces a very interesting situation.

The Chairmanship of the TDCHR rotates by city. For FY 2010 it should have been Norfolk, but Randy Wright passed, wanting the gavel when Norfolk's Starter Line came online. Wright has served as Vice Chairman to Virginia Beach's Jim Wood. The Chairmanship is now slated to go to Norfolk in FY 2011. However, Wright now won't be a City Councilman come July 1.

That leaves us with a situation where either Norfolk keeps Wright on as a Commissioner after he leaves Council (Virginia Beach did with Will Sessoms at first), Riddick becomes Chairman, a Norfolk newcomer takes the gavel, or Norfolk passes again. This should be fun!

11 comments:

Avenging Archangel said...

I had someone point out to me via e-mail that Riddick's abysmal attendance record at the TDCHR may make other Commissioners reluctant to make him Chairman.

Anonymous said...

Oh HELL NO to Racist Riddick (btw: I'm Aferican-American and I feel he's racist against whites, I wish this wasn't so)

Anonymous said...

Whoops, spelling error (blog author: feel free to correct it)

Avenging Archangel said...

I can't edit a comment; I can only delete them.

thesh00ter said...

my concern is with Wright gone period. i'm going out on a limb saying this (because i don't know much about his past) but how is the mass transit movement going to be w/o him? i know u answered me b4 on a similar question Henry, but Wright was a major player

thesh00ter said...

i also meant to say that it seems Norfolk REALLY doesn't care about LR or the fact it's coming to them

Avenging Archangel said...

Shooter,

Norfolk still has a pressing need to extend the Starter Line even without Wright on City Council. Probably the most interesting question for the new Council is "Who gets Wright's TDCHR seat?" Mayor Fraim has championed LRT, but who now joins Fraim by trying to fill Wright's shoes?

Anonymous said...

Riddick as HRT Chair would be as bad as bringing back Townes. The guy is a total joke.

But hey, he did get lots of taxpayer-financed trips to Europe from HRT, right?

thesh00ter said...

i understand now. i guess it is a bigger issue that he's no longer going to be the chair for the TDCHR

too bad Fraim can't be the chair

Avenging Archangel said...

Shooter,

Technically, Fraim could become Chair. However, he has such a full plate now that I doubt he wants to add TDCHR duties to it.

Avenging Archangel said...

FYI, the only Mayor currently serving on the TDCHR is Holley of Portsmouth.