Transportation, Traffic and Joe May

Leesburg Today has a good article about the state of affairs here in Virginia when it comes to traffic and transportation after the failure of the Assembly's special session to get anything done on these critical issues. Essentially, there's no state money for roads coming, funding for Rail to Reston is at risk, and more often than not, localities are being forced to pick up projects that have been otherwise abandoned to the politics of Richmond.

Some problems, Koelemay said, are more imminent. The Transportation Trust Fund, which was established in 1986 to fund capital improvements to highways, ports, airports and public transportation, is "likely to run out of money by the end of this year."

"That means projects might have to be delayed further because we don't have the federal money in our pocket," he said. - Leesburg Today

What Koelemay is referring to is the terms of funding for transportation from the Federal government Congressional highway appropriations are contingent on states themselves coming up with realistic and predictable sources for funding in addition to Federal money. Without a reliable transportation funding source at the state level, the Federal Government will not allocate money to Virginia. This is a real, imminent and critical problem that needs to be dealt with, now.

But don't tell that to the man who is in charge of the Transportation Committee in the House of Delegates, our own Joe May.

Del. Joe May (R-33), who is chairman of the House of Delegates Transportation Committee, told the chamber Virginia would do better, but that it might take some time.

"One of the things I like best about serving in Virginia is we never rush into things," May said. "But one of the things I like least about Virginia is we never rush into things."

May said he and the General Assembly were aware of the major transportation problem in Virginia, but "it didn't happen just last week or last year."

One of the biggest issues facing the General Assembly is how to address the specific problems of Northern Virginia, which May called the "economic engine" of the state.

"We need money raised in Northern Virginia to be spent in Northern Virginia," he said. "It is becoming rapidly apparent that we're at the point where if we don't address transportation in Northern Virginia it will start to affect the rest of Virginia."

May said the biggest progress made by the General Assembly during its special session on transportation in July was that four years ago no one could agree there was a problem with transportation.

"This July, everyone agreed we needed to help Northern Virginia, we needed to help Hampton Roads and we needed to address the statewide maintenance issue," he said. - Leesburg Today

First, a few clarifications for Del. May. It wasn't in July that "everyone agreed we needed to help." It was actually in April of 2007, when the Assembly passed a comprehensive transportation plan that included the NVTA and abuser fees. It was an ugly beast of a solution, but the fact that it passed indicated agreement in the Assembly that something needed to be done. The fact that nothing got done in the 2008 special session that followed the NVTA's rejection by the Virginia Supreme Court is actually an indicator that there is no longer agreement that something needs to be done.

Where was Del. May when the agreement that existed in 2007 fell apart by 2008?

Furthermore, Del. May complains about the pace of solutions development, even though he is responsible for developing the solutions. Del. May is Chair of the House of Delegates Transportation committee! It is his responsibility to come up with a solution. The Governor and Senate were in general agreement as to how to fix Virginia's transportation funding crisis during the special session. It was Del. May's own House of Delegates which stymied any solution. As the leader of that body's Transportation Committee, the failure of the House to enact a solution which would pass the Senate and be signed by the Governor must be laid at his feet. After all, Joe May is quick to take credit when there is a success, so must he take responsibility for such failures.

The blithe abdication of responsibility by Joe May may have dire long-term consequences. His lack of leadership in the special session puts not only Federal money for roads at risk, but also the Dulles Rail project, which is also contingent on state funding to match federal dollars. By his inaction on the critical question of transportation funding, Del. May has shifted a state responsibility onto localities who will build the roads that the state neglected to fund, because they must.

When Loudoun looks for who is to blame for higher local taxes to fund absolutely critical road improvements, it need look no farther than Loudoun's own Delegate Joe May. He had the power, position and authority to do something, and instead he chose to do nothing, and issue platitudes.

"One of the things I like best about serving in Virginia is we never rush into things," May said. "But one of the things I like least about Virginia is we never rush into things."

Del. May is clearly in no rush to help out his constituents, sitting in traffic in Loudoun County. Thanks Joe.