Yesterday's Washington Post had a fascinating article, entitled "On Road Funding, Kaine Finds Slow-Growth Camp Is No Ally." The article explains how Tim Kaine "was determined to woo the green and slow-growth groups to his side," but how it now "looks as though he has failed." According to the Post (Michael Shear, reporting):
With Kaine's proposal for higher taxes in limbo, the leaders of the Coalition for Smarter Growth and the Piedmont Environmental Council issued a statement three days before the end of the 2006 General Assembly session: "Far too much emphasis has been placed on increasing transportation funding and far too little on better growth management or transportation planning reform" at the Virginia Department of Transportation, said Stewart Schwartz , the coalition's executive director."Virginians are being asked to fund a number of projects that will not relieve congestion and will make sprawl and traffic worse," said Chris Miller , Piedmont's president.
That certainly doesn't sound as though they're working on Kaine's behalf. In fact, it sounds a lot like the messages they trumpeted for months before the transportation sales tax effort failed.
"To simply, blindly expand capacity, whether road or rail, with no connection to change in design of communities and land use is a complete waste of money," Schwartz said weeks before the 2002 vote.
It's not as though Kaine didn't make an effort with Schwartz and Miller. During his campaign, Kaine ran a radio ad that sounded as though it had been written by the pair. "As you inch your way home in traffic, ask yourself, is the problem that you don't pay enough taxes, or is it runaway development?" Kaine's ad said. "We can't tax and pave our way out of traffic."
Home run, right?
Once elected, the new governor appeared to be practically begging for their support. He appointed Scott Kasprowicz , a Piedmont board member, as deputy secretary of transportation. Kaine also submitted several land-use bills aimed at pleasing environmentalists and growth-management advocates.
So what happened exactly? According to Shear, "Kaine's signature proposal -- to give local governments the ability to turn down a rezoning if the road network is inadequate -- was overwhelmed by a massive lobbying campaign by homebuilders..." Then, "Kaine had one last opportunity to salvage that bill as the session neared the end." However, "just before a key committee vote, Kaine stopped pushing for the amendment," with the Kaine team feeling that "the bill was a long shot in the Senate and never had a prayer in the House of Delegates."
So, is it "no go" with the "slow growth" and environmental "crowds" - both of which I am a proud to call my own - as we move forward from here? I definitely don't think that has the case. On the environmental front, Kaine has a chance to gain major points in coming days by vetoing the offshore drilling bill. Then, Kaine has another shot at winning back the "slow growth crowd" if he fights hard for smart land use planning measures - and against the big developers - when the General Assembly returns on March 27. My strong hope is that Kaine will do both of those things, resulting in renewed support from his natural allies in the "green" and "smart growth" camps.