Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Kerry Dougherty Crap

There's nothing like a Kerry Dougherty column to ruin your morning. This morning she crapped a big turd, with a column that could have been ghost written by Robert Dean. She attacked Virginia Beach's Strategic Growth Area (SGA) policy, and extolled suburbia.

1. "suburban sprawl".

Yes, Kerry, it's a real term. Most land planners now realize how post-World War II excesses have warped society today. One is unsustainable land use patterns, which force you to get in a car and drive 2-3 miles to do anything.

2. "Congestion...stress."

So you would lead us to believe that suburbia is congestion-free and stress-free? (So much for any credibility.)

3. "Pollution...Inconvenience."

"Pollution"?!? Pollution is the very thing Kerry embraces: all those Single Occupancy Vehicles (SOVs) driving forever in suburbia! "Inconvenience"? That's having to drive 4-5 miles to a shopping center to get anything.

4. "Until you've actually schlepped your groceries home on a city bus...."

I've been doing it for 6 years now, Kerry. There's a science to it, but its easily manageable and can be fun in itself.

5. "It beats riding buses - or trains - any day."

You know how much I get done on the bus because I'm not preoccupied driving? I read, write, make safe cell phone calls and send texts, etc. Last week I e-mailed in a commendation for a Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) bus Operator from my smartphone while still on her bus.

Most of the meeting write-ups on this blog had outlines written on the bus home from the meeting. I take notes in the meeting, write an outline from those notes on the bus home, then post at a desktop.

6. "Here's another: Why should the city continue to be bent on growth?"

For years Robert Dean has pushed the line that Virginia Beach can simply stop growing. That flies in the face of Virginia's tax code, which requires localities to rely on the Property Tax for local revenue. The Blue Ribbon Budget Task Force recommended that an 1% local Sales Tax and 1% local Income Tax be enacted, coupled with a revenue neutral cut in the Property Tax. The extremist Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) refuses to endorse it, wanting a higher Property Tax rate to use as a political football. If Kerry wants to slow growth, let's see her endorse the Task Force recommendations in her next column. (She won't.)

Also, it's not a question if developers build, but where? Last year we saw a developer attempt to encroach into the suburbia Dougherty pretends to champion, proposing to convert residential to office in Acredale. If the SGAs fail to bloom, it's at least as easy for them to do that as anything else. Let's call opposition to light rail for what it is: the VBTA/Dougherty "May 1,000 Acredales Arise!" Policy. They would destroy the very suburbia they claim to love.

7. "Seems there are nascent plans afoot that would redevelop chunks of the city on a distinctly metropolitan model."

Of course, the plans entered the Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Code in 2003. 7 years ago. We can't legally downzone, which Kerry has to know, being a judge's wife. She's playing a disingenuous game, trying to incite people to try to stop what she knows they legally can't.

With light rail and redevelopment of the SGAs, the vast majority of Virginia Beach will still look the same in 40-50 years. In fact, it's redeveloping the SGAs (with the transit prerequisite) that will preserve the very neighborhoods that Kerry Dougherty pretends to champion. With "champions" like Dougherty and the VBTA, suburbia doesn't need any enemies!

16 comments:

thesh00ter said...

light rail can't come soon enough to shut the mouths of these attention hungry saps

Anonymous said...

I noticed that you didn't address crime.

Avenging Archangel said...

Anon 11:16,

Ah, the "LRT is a crime magnet" bogeyman? There are statistics that show crime is lower in TOD zones. Too many people milling about, with eyes on everything.

Besides, anyone familiar with the security systems on a HRT bus knows no serious criminal would use one as a getway car.

Anonymous said...

lotta good that did for the teacher recently stabbed by teenage gang-bangers on the Baltimore LRT under the observation of four cameras on every station and a camera in every LRT car.

thesh00ter said...

well Anon 12:17 ur right, LRT attracts all vicious and malicous crimes/murders. i guess the man that decapitated his own son last year in VA Beach was so upset that LRT was being built in Norfolk and had the potential to be extended into VA Beach that he did something that henious. or the numerous other young people that are being shot and killed just being in the crossfires of many drug deals gone wrong, i suppose we need to say LRT has something to do with that as well. oh and don't forget the number of elderly inside there homes that are beaten and robbed. but no LRT or any other form of Mass Transit can be a "magnet" for that. Lord knows some of those elderly peoples homes where 20 or so miles from the interestate itself let alone near a future LRT station. so yes ur right, LRT is a magnet for crime. in fact i think VA Beaches perfect crime record will be tarnished if they build it.

Anonymous said...

Well Shutter:
Talk to that Mayor in Oregon where 82 percent of gang related crime and muggings are located within one-quarter mile of each of the LRT stations. And why after one-year ofthe opening of the LRT in Portland, the Governor had to place State Police in the LRT cars?

thesh00ter said...

look just admit it's an excuse ok. i don't care if the whole US didn't have mass transit ur not gonna prevent crime. be real. it's funny u want to target a particular location, heck u have WAY more locations then that to target in comparison to LRT. but yet a crime can still occur ANYWHERE at ANYTIME

Avenging Archangel said...

Yeah, if it wasn't for light rail, those communities would be crime-free utopias.

(I'm giving our troll all the serious consideration he deserves: zero.)

Anonymous said...

Shooter:
The difference is, it increases crime; more crime; get it?

Avenging Archangel said...

I refer you back to my first comment.

Anonymous said...

Ok! Show the statistical data and I'll turn to stone.

Avenging Archangel said...

HRT has the data.

Now go back to your VBTA cross burning.

Anonymous said...

Oh. No stone; back under the bridge for me.

thesh00ter said...

thanks for the back up there, lol

i know i should of ignored (her)

Anonymous said...

Truth is the population growth of Va Bch and indeed the entire region is fairly stagnant just go to US Census for info in fact they claim vb's pop went down early in this decade

Avenging Archangel said...

Virginia Beach's population is growing very slowly, but vehicle usage is up here and throughout the region (source: TPO). That's why we need an alternative to our overreliance on cars.