Hey, there's another election in Virginia next week. It's a special election to fill 3 empty seats created by the 2016 general election. While they're outside of my usual coverage area, I know some people from other parts of Virginia, like Richmond and Virginia Beach, read the blog. If you weren't aware of this special election, here's your call to go out and vote. Unfortunately, the deadline to register has already passed.
According to the experts, only one race - the one for House Delegate in Virginia Beach - is competitive, and neither candidate has any info about biking on their website (which is not really a surprise).
On transportation though, they both come out against congestion (the pro-congestion language must not test well)...
- Work alongside Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Transportation, Aubrey Layne, to reduce congestion.
- Increase infrastructure spending to improve our roads and traffic conditions to attract families and businesses to Virginia Beach.
- Work in a bi-partisan manner to solve our transportation needs
- Make sure tax dollars are spent wisely on projects that reduce traffic congestion
- Make sure that our laws and highway infrastructure keep up with technology
Update: But the more important race may be the one for the Virginia Senate in Central Virginia where Democrat Ryant Washington, running in Central Virginia’s Senate District 22 against Republican Mark Peake and independent Joseph C. Hines.
Gov. Terry McAuliffe is involved in the race because a Democratic upset in the Republican district would give Democrats control of the Virginia Senate.
"Increase infrastructure spending to improve our roads and traffic conditions to attract families and businesses to Virginia Beach."
Sounds like he wants to induce traffic congestion.
Posted by: twk | January 05, 2017 at 12:04 PM
Cheryl is a she.
I grew up in Virginia Beach. Not a whole lot of road construction could be done to alleviate traffic congestion, except perhaps in the southern part of the city. Elsewhere, sprawl is complete and there's not much left to pave over. Also, with some exceptions, you'd no more commute by bike there than you'd commute on Rockville Pike here.
It's possible Ms. Turpin means increased spending on things like transit, such as extending the light-rail system (the Tide) all the way to the oceanfront, but her site doesn't say that. Likely it's just vague buzzwords since, as washcycle implies, the pro-congestion electorate is quite small. "Work alongside Lt. Governor Ralph Northam and Secretary of Transportation, Aubrey Layne, to reduce congestion" is vague enough to not offend most.
Posted by: DE | January 05, 2017 at 01:24 PM