This morning, several Virginia bloggers - Virginia Centrist; Josh, Rob and me from Raising Kaine - participated in a conference call with Governor Kaine. Here are some highlights.Gov. Kaine is more optimistic with regards to the special session on transportation than he has been since June. According to Kaine, two things happened to cause this increased optimism: 1) the House leadership said they wouldn't deal with transporation until there was a budget, and now there's a budget; 2) virtually very day something happens - Loudoun County development, rail to Dulles, Ft. Belvoir, etc. - that emphasizes the need for action on trasnportation. According to Gov. Kaine, transportation "is big and it's not going away."
In Gov. Kaine's opinion, there are five basic elements to a transportation solution, and right now there's basic agreement on four of them:
1) Reforming and improving VDOT; enhancing public/private partnerships.
2) Better connecting land use and transportation planning.
3) Giving regions some autonomy to find their own solutions, raise fees, taxes, etc. This is not sufficient, of course, since it doesn't address the growing maintenance deficit statewide. Also, it's "not right to dump this" on the localities.
4) Using surplus dollars for transportation. The issue here is the parameters/conditions under which surpluses can be used, especially given the fact that we won't always have surpluses.
The fifth item - finding a reliable, long-term source of funding to maintain our current system and to expand transportation infrastructure - is the "toughest area," according to Gov. Kaine. For that, we need $1 billion of new money each year. What we need to do is to put pressure on the House of Delegates to keep their promise and to take action on transportation in the special session.
Gov. Kaine was asked about Metro to Dulles, and specifically the decision yesterday to go with the above-ground option rather than the tunnel. Gov. Kaine said that this was not the best option, but it was a good option overall. Kaine disagreed with those who say it's better to do nothing than to do the "aerial" option. Kaine reviewed the process by which he had come to this decision, including formation of an independent panel of civil engineers to study the issue, and their conclusion that the tunnel would cost $250 milion more than the above-ground option.
So what happened with the tunnel? Basically, the FTA funding process was difficult to get around. According to Kaine, everyone preferred the tunnel option, and "we were optimistic at the end of July," but it just didn't work out. Gov. Kaine feels that it is still possible to achieve some of the "smarter growth" goals for urban design in Tysons Corner. Kaine talked about the above ground line at King St. Metro and how well that area is doing. Time will tell.
Asked about California's recent, groundbreaking movement on global warming, Gov. Kaine said he was very interested in looking into that further. Kaine expressed his belief that states ought to be "laboratories of innovation," especially on issues like this one where the Federal government is completely failing to take action.
Asked about the 2007 General Assembly prospects, Gov. Kaine said, "I'm going to participate in 2007 as if it's my own race." Right now, Gov. Kaine feels that candidate recruitment is going well, with "a lot more candidates coming forward, wanting to run under the Democratic label."
All in all, it was an interesting and informative conversation with Governor Kaine. I very much appreciate his time and willingness to answer our questions.
[UPDATE: Ben has a scoop on transportation special session. Check it out!]
[UPDATE #2: The Hurst campaign blames Tom Davis for killing the Tysons' tunnel: "Governor Kaine, faced with a lack of support from Congressmen Frank Wolf and Tom Davis, was forced to opt for the elevated track proposal favored by Bechtel Corporation." The Hurst campaign adds:
It's painfully obvious here that Congressman Davis did the bidding of Bechtel when he withdrew his support for the tunnel...These facts are particularly concerning given Davis's involvement with the ICG scandal. There seems to be a pattern here where access and influence are sold to the highest bidder. Bechtel is obviously a high bidder.
Very interesting.]
Lowell Feld is Netroots Coordinator for the Jim Webb for US Senate Campaign. The ideas expressed here belong to Lowell Feld alone, and do not necessarily represent those of Jim Webb, his advisors, staff, or supporters.
That's BS. They're trying to make it look good for everyone, because frankly, everyone'e vulnerable on this.
But I believe the Kaine aide who told the Post reported that Davis and Wolf FORCEFULLY argued against the tunnel.
Bechtel was calling. More Democratic voters were being avoided. Federal power was being exerted over Democratic do-gooders.
The people of NoVA, who sink BILLIONS into the treasuries of VA and the federal government, got totally shafted.
KILL IT. Build bus rapid transit and serve more people and more areas for the same cost.
we absolutely need the transit system but we can get so much more with BRT.
the other issue with metro not often mentioned is the tunnel restrictions under the Potomac. as i understand it the tunnel capacity is over limit now and with the dulles line other lines will lose capacity.
the capacity of the Potomac crossing is 30 trains/hour. it is estimated that the dulles will take 10, Blue line will remain at 10 and AOrange will lose 50% of it's current 20 to 10.
metro estimates that fixing the tunnel issue under the potomac is about $6 Billion.
then there is the almost negligible effect on all of the other arteries like 66. VDOT estimates that most roads will maintain an "F" service rating.
then there is the fact that for the same billions of dollars we can get about 10 times the system to address many more problems.
AND,
seems like the republican controlled house of delegates does not agree with the Governor. the rules actually prohibited several bills that linked land use, growth and transportation.
b