COALITION FOR SMARTER GROWTH

PRESS RELEASE
January 20, 2006

Statement on Transportation Funding Proposals

The following is a statement from Stewart Schwartz on the announcements from Governor Kaine, the Senate and the House of Delegates regarding transportation funding.

All text not otherwise attributed are direct quotes from Stewart Schwartz.

Stewart Schwartz, Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth said,

“Voters have made it clear that they want something done about poorly planned growth because they know it causes their ever-growing commutes.

More important than new money and where it will come from is the plan for using it.

In the year-end review of Virginia’s transportation spending, the primary conclusion of the state’s Auditor of Public Accounts was, “the Commonwealth lacks a coordinated transportation plan.”*

Without a plan and unless communities have the power to control their futures, more transportation money won’t solve their traffic problems. The Governor and the Senate have taken a step in the right direction with one or two land use powers in their packages, but these are no substitute for a much more comprehensive approach to land use which is still missing from the plans. Moreover, there is no sign that the existing long and still unaffordable list of transportation projects will be reexamined.

Kaine tapped voter sentiment when telling voters, “We can’t let runaway development clog our roads and ruin our beautiful landscapes.”

Voters will want to know how this increased spending will ensure runaway development doesn’t keep clogging their roads and ruining Virginia’s beautiful landscapes.

We believe that the Governor and General Assembly must come up with stronger land use and transportation planning reforms before writing more checks.”

* Auditor of Public Accounts Dec 2005 Report: http://www.apa.state.va.us/data/download/reports/audit_local/ctf05.pdf

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