Back here at home, Johnny 'Roadblock' Joannou is taking a cue from his White House pals and has apparently pled the fifth rather than explain his own failure to lift a finger to solve our traffic woes.
Now, with Tim Kaine's proposed changes to the pending transportation bill the subject of public debate, 'Roadblock' Johnny is still A.W.O.L. - absent without leadership. Maybe he's gotten lost in a traffic jam in the Midtown. Or maybe it's just the same behavior drivers and voters in his district have come to know and loathe.
Last fall, the Virginian-Pilot had this to say about 'Roadblock' Johnny as citizens and taxpayers banded together to find a solution to the traffic
congestion:
"Memo to organizers of the Hampton Blvd. gridlock summit. Don't leave Del. Johnny Joannou off the VIP list. That's if you want to get something done.
Forget about venting to the City Council.
Ditto for VDOT. It's broke.
What about all those lawmakers you send to Richmond? Good thinking.
But that's like singing to the choir. Every one of them is on the same page as you are.
Everyone, that is, but Democrat Joannou....
Like every other delegate and senator who represents Norfolk, Joannou believes that the quickest way to break the Hampton Blvd. bottleneck is to add another tube to the Midtown.... But unlike every other delegate and senator who represents Norfolk, Joannou is alone in resisting every reasonable plan to pay for it.
Because he is so powerful in Richmond, he has exercised a virtual veto over the tunnel for 10 years. More than any other reason, that explains the gridlock on Hampton Blvd....
Fixing Hampton Blvd. is not all that hard. Just win Johnny over to your side. Without him, you're just wasting your time.
Instead of a community summit to fix Hampton Blvd., perhaps a community summons - to Del. Johnny Joannou - makes more sense." (Virginian-Pilot, November 21, 2006)
Johnny 'Roadblock' has opposed every transportation solution put forward by Tim Kaine and Mark Warner before him. With one of the worst records on traffic issues of anyone in the Virginia Assembly, maybe it's time for voters to go A.W.O.L. on Joannou, too.