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Giving VRE doubters the business Date published: 12/7/2008
A PLANNED POLL of Greater Fredericksburg businesses regarding the Virginia Railway Express will, it's safe to predict, find that most support VRE, and that its backers include the 400 Spotsylvania County firms belonging to the Fredericksburg Area Chamber of Commerce. Whence does this support arise? Not just from abstract civic-mindedness. The owners and employees of many Spotsylvania businesses surely use the commuter rail service on occasion to conduct commerce in Washington or elsewhere on the Fredericksburg Line. These entrepreneurs and workers aren't included in VRE's estimate of Spotsylvanians (between 952 and 1,000) who board its trains daily to get to work. But these travelers also benefit from (normally) efficient and comfortable transportation that precludes traffic stress, parking hassles, and vehicular accidents. What's more, many other Spotsylvania residents use VRE now and again, sometimes with kids in tow, on day trips to see the D.C. sights. Of the county's perhaps 125,000 residents, the number who ride in a VRE car sometime during the year might easily be in the tens of thousands. Yet, unlike similarly sized Stafford County, not to mention the small city of Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania doesn't support VRE with a 2 percent tax on its gasoline receipts. Thus, county residents get the benefit of a good transit system that their local government doesn't help maintain. The arguments for Spotsylvania to climb aboard the train are well-known. The 2 percent surtax Maybe a strong showing of support for VRE by Spotsylvania businesses will move one or more hesitant supervisors to vote to join the rail service. More of their constituents than they think may be on track to support that decision.
Even if the BOS were to decice to join the VRE, they ensured there would not be any way to get there. The site of the proposed VRE station is in the Crossroads Business Park. All access roads are within the Lee Hill District. After the public comment period on the comprehensive plan and Highway Corridor Overlay Districts (HCODS) ended, Mr. Skinner had every Lee Hill road deleted. It is nearly impossible to make a left turn out of Benchmark Road, John Morris Road, and Thornton Rolling Road in the morning
Keep us out!
Now if the supervisors would just get off their backsides and quit playing politics! We voted for VRE previously....what's the problem supervisors?
Over the last 4 years Stafford's per rider subsidy has increased more than 400%. More of the gas tax is spent on VRE than roads. Last year VRE got a biger increase thatn the schools. Spotsy residents should be banned from VRE parking lots in Fred and Stafford
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