Tempe TOD Zone Land Values Up 429%

Rezone the land, build the light rail line, then watch what magic the marketplace can do. In Tempe the areas rezoned for Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) have experienced increases of 429% in value this year. http://www.statepress.com/archive/print/node/7674

What does that have to do with Virginia Beach? We've already rezoned the Strategic Growth Areas (SGAs), and many have low-end uses of their land presently. Constructing light rail would make those uses economically obsolete, redeveloping the land without a Redevelopment Authority.

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!

It's The TOD Conspiracy

The latest poll asked the question, "When Reid Greenmun is declared legally insane, which conspiracy will he blame it on?" 65% thought the Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) Vice Chairman/Chairman of No Transportation will blame it on the TOD Conspiracy, 20% on La MEChA Conspiracy, and 15% on the Regionalist Conspiracy. A look at a few of his conspiracy theories:

1. TOD Conspiracy (65%) - Reid believes Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is part of a massive Marxist conspiracy to change voting patterns, and have the government take control of our transportation and housing. Greenmun claims Karl Marx was the father of modern urban planning, thus inferring "urban = Marxist."

2. La MEChA Conspiracy (20%) - Reid believes Hispanic immigration is part of a conspiracy by radicals to break the Southwest off the United States as a new Latin American nation.

3. Regionalist Conspiracy (15%) - Reid claims Hampton Roads is actually at least three different regions, and that Virginia Beach and Chesapeake should break off to form their own seperate Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). (He'd prefer Virginia Beach alone, but we don't have the population for a MSA.) Of course, the irony is lost on him that he's doing the very thing he attacks Regionalists for: cobbling together an artificial MSA. The funny thing is that means the VBTA's allies across the city line would also need to gain control of the Chesapeake City Council.

4. Oceanfront Conspiracy (0%) - Reid has stated that the Resort Area is the center of corruption in Virginia Beach politics, and he admits he's opposed every Resort capital project except the seawall. At the heart of Messnerism-Greenmunism is a blind rage at the Oceanfront.

Will the VBTA wake up and dump that raging lunatic from their Board of Directors after the election?!?

Enough of that for now. By popular demand, I ask for your top choice in the Virginia Beach City Council At-Large field. A few questions strike me at this point:

1. How do Dave Redmond and Rita Sweet Bellitto avoid sounding like tweedledee and tweedledumb? If I was on one of their campaign staffs, I'd be pressing to roll out a bold signature initiative that would define my candidate in the public's eyes.

2. Given the VBTA circle f*#!, will any of their candidates (John Moss, Bill DeSteph, and Wally Erb) break out of single digits?

3. How high is James Cabiness' name recognition? 5 of the other 6 candidates have been on the ballot before, while Dave Redmond (the other novice) should raise enough cash to get his name out. Will Cabiness finish ahead of any of the VBTAers?

TDCHR August 26, 2010

The Transportation District Commission of Hampton Roads (TDCHR), the governing board of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT), met on Thursday afternoon at HRT Headquarters in Hampton. The meeting ran about 100 minutes, long for a TDCHR meeting. (They usually run about an hour.)

The lengthy discussion was on how HRT finances it's operations. Federal aid normally doesn't reach HRT until the 11th month (August) of the Federal fiscal year. That forces HRT to take out a calendar year Line of Credit to borrow against the Federal funds until they arrive. Currently the Line of Credit is $20 million, but Light Rail will require about an additional $7 million. Also, the Federal government has a program under which agencies (like HRT) can apply to receive 5/12ths of their money early, but that HRT has never used before. Like with the Line of Credit, there is a cost involved in the 5/12ths program. Currently the cities are billed quarterly for HRT services, and one Commissioner suggested they pay 100% up front so that cash would be available until Federal funds arrive. However, given the financial state of our cities, they're unlikely to agree to such a change.

Commission recognitions were given to 4 Commissioners who recently departed: James Holley of Portsmouth, Randy Wright of Norfolk, plus Grace Routten and Paige Washington of Hampton. Wright and Routten were on hand to receive their plaques. Also, a video was shown, Randy Wright: The Mobilizer. Wright was chuckling at a few of the older photos of himself in it.

Routten will now become an alternate Commissioner for Hampton. The two new Commissioners are George Wallace and Will Moffett.

Ridership was down 0.92% in July compared to July, 2009. However, July, 2010 had one fewer weekday than July, 2009. Given that HRT carries 50k passengers on an average weekday, that in itself could explain the 13k drop.

HRT finished July $905,699 ahead of Budget, but interim CFO David Sullivan warned against getting too excited over the first month in the fiscal year.

Norfolk light rail is 91% complete, with HRT in discussions with the contractor who is to electrify the track through downtown.

A contract with TMD for the efficiencies study was approved. The study will look at Resource Effectiveness and Resource Use Efficiency with service, scheduling, and Operators. It is hoped to have a minimal impact on current riders. The target figure is $3 million in efficiencies, the same amount a fare increase to $2 would have brought in.

In turn, should that much in efficiencies be found, a fare increase can then be pursued primarily as a means to improve our region's sorely inadequate bus service.

Commissioner Charles Whitehurst of Portsmouth called for the TDCHR to hold a Retreat, and Chairman Paul Riddick of Norfolk was asked to schedule one "in a couple of months". The TDCHR's last Retreat was in November, 2008 at the Marriott in downtown Norfolk.

45th Annual Freedom Fund Luncheon

The Chesapeake Chapter of the NAACP will hold their 45th annual Freedom Fund Luncheon on Saturday, September 25. It will be held at Noon at the Chesapeake Conference Center.

For further information, e-mail NAACPChesapeake@yahoo.com

Vendor and Exhibitor opportunities are available.

Anyone Still Have A Copy?

Over on Virginia News Source, the 2008 City Council Campaign Manifesto for Virginia Beach Taxpayers Alliance (VBTA) candidates, written by Ben Krause, has become a topic of discussion again. While Ben is feigning support for better bus service as an alternative to light rail, a couple commenters have pointed out that Ben had called for an elimination of Hampton Roads Transit (HRT) service in Virginia Beach.

I never saw it myself. One person who read it no longer had a copy to forward me. Therefore, if anyone still has a copy, forward it to vbtasucks@yahoo.com and I'll publish it on this blog.

While no VBTA candidate ever officially embraced the Manifesto, no candidate ever repudiated it, either.

No One Rides The Bus?

Yes, they do - even here in Virginia Beach. This was on the Inbound Route 20 this afternoon, just after we left the stop beside Haynes Furniture (about 3:45 P.M.). The bus was SRO, with me stuffed back in the rear left corner.

A couple things here of note. First, the afternoon rush hour Cutback buses on Routes 15 and 20 start at 3 P.M. in Norfolk, but there are no Cutback 20s in Virginia Beach until 4 P.M. (That's on my Third Shelf if Virginia Beach had more bus service hours to work with.) Second, were Virginia Beach light rail in place, I could have taken the train around this. It would have been the train to the Military Highway Station, then the Route 23 bus to Walmart.

Sorry for the picture being a bit blurry, but it looked better on my smartphone.