I've been attending meetings of the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), the governing board of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), for over four years now. The past few years I've normally been there as a rule. I've never seen Kerry Dougherty at a meeting.
Yet in today's paper she throws a pathetic gutterball. Among her New Year's Resolutions she lectures "members of the Hampton Roads Transit Board" on meeting attendance and behavior in such meetings. From her comments, the average reader probably believes she actually knows what goes on in TDCHR meetings. Impossible when she's never there.
Let someone who is actually there tell you. Most Commissioners do attend most meetings. They ask very pointed questions at times. Many more questions in their committee meetings. What happened with Norfolk light rail didn't happen because they were inattentive, but rather because staff was feeding them reports on the project that were flagrant lies. Being at the meetings, I received copies of the meeting packets. Everything looked pretty nice on paper. For all Kerry and other Flat Earthers are demanding, more only could have been done had Commissioners hacked the computers of senior HRT staff.
Then, Kerry and her ideological twins at the extremist Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) don't give a damn about the truth. They'll throw every bit of mud they can dream up at light rail and mass transit in general. If they haven't noticed, the Norfolk Southern Right-Of-Way was purchased on terms that make light rail in Virginia Beach inevitable. It's not a question of if we build such a line, but when and how do we do it? They can continue to live in denial and (urinate) into the wind, or they can play a constructive part in moving our city and region forward. Given their track record, only a fool would bet on the latter.
5 comments:
Doesn't matter, the VBTA is clinically dead and Kerry will soon figure that out.
AA:
You are not entire accurate. The state grant was a conditional award, by legislation, with the provision that the award be used to further the Norfolk segment. If Virginia Beach abandons the project, which would be the prudent thing to do, Virginia Beach is on the hook to return 20 million to the state. Alles das ist.
Wally,
You and 1,082 other people believe that would be "the prudent thing to do."
Given the Comprehensive Plan and the $20 million payback requirement, there's no way the City abandons the NS ROW.
In your post you “slam” Kerry Dougherty for having an opinion on the Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads with not having attended a meeting. Later in the post you “slam” the Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance, so I think it’s fair to ask-“How many meetings of the Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance have you attended?
Joe,
You have to be in a TDCHR meeting to observe the Commission's behavior.
You don't have to be in a VBTA meeting to hear and read the anti-LRT rants of the VBTA and it's Board members.
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