Posted on 10/06/2016 10:09:47 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
There’s a famous old fable known as “Belling the Cat.”
For those who haven’t heard it, it goes like this: A bunch of mice are threatened by a vicious cat, and they call a council to figure out how to solve the problem. One mouse proposes that they place a bell around the cat’s neck. That way, they’ll hear the cat approaching and have plenty of time to run and hide.
The mice applaud the plan. They love the plan. It’s a great plan.
One mouse asks who’s going to volunteer to place the bell around the cat’s neck.
Suddenly, all the mice have excuses for why they can’t do it.
The moral of the story: A plan is only as valuable as it is feasible.
Over the last few weeks (and months and years), the Martinsville Bulletin has spilled a fair amount of ink concerning Interstate 73. Everyone seems to agree that I-73 would be a wonderful thing for Martinsville and Henry County. What eludes us is the actual way to create it.
On Tuesday, Sen. Bill Stanley spoke to the Henry County Board of Supervisors and Martinsville City Council and suggested a new plan to hasten the creation of I-73.
First, he mentioned the possibility of toll roads or using a private construction firm. With respect, I think those were the sorts of ideas that someone mentions so that their third idea sounds even better in comparison.
And the third idea is admittedly an interesting one. Stanley suggested that Henry County, Martinsville and other neighboring localities in Southside join forces to create something called a Local Regional Transportation Authority, just as northern Virginia and Hampton Roads have done.
This authority could then do what Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads have also done — round up the sales tax from 5.3 percent to 6 percent — and invest the new funds from that 0.7 percent increase into transportation projects.
As I said, this is an interesting idea, and when presented by a charismatic speaker like Sen. Stanley, it sounds fantastic.
But I also think it’s a bit like belling the cat: Maybe it’s a good idea on its own merits, but I don’t know how we would execute it.
Without retreading too much of what editor Brian Carlton said in a previous column on this topic, it’s going to be difficult to sell the people of Henry County and Martinsville on a tax hike — even a comparatively small one – much less the people of the other localities that would need to sign on in order to make the authority a reality.
One of the main reasons Stanley recommended the creation of the authority is because he said that Congress needs to see a certain level of commitment on the local level. In fact, he said, the comment he often hears from colleagues is that they didn’t know we were “serious” about getting I-73 built.
Considering the fact that the Henry County Board of Supervisors has offered to donate vast swaths of county-owned land for I-73 right-of-way — and also considering the fact that the county and city have been paying the advocacy group Alcalde and Fay a combined $2,500 every month since May 2015 to advocate for I-73 on the federal level — it is distressing to hear that Washington doesn’t think we’re serious about I-73. If they’re not convinced yet, I’m not certain the creation of a transportation authority would do the job.
There’s something else to consider here. On the state level, one of the main appeals of creating a regional transportation authority is that it would allow us to side-step the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s SmartScale road grading system.
Richmond, Stanley said Tuesday, often forgets that southwest Virginia was once the driving economic force in this state. When it comes to transportation dollars, northern Virginia and Hampton Roads are getting most of the pie, and we’re just getting a tiny sliver.
So why is that?
I’ve driven in northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. It’s a terrible experience. The level of road congestion is unreal.
SmartScale exists to grade road projects based on need. Two of the biggest factors considered are congestion and safety. That makes sense.
But for us, that’s also the problem. The reasons we need I-73 are based purely on future economic potential, not alleviating existing congestion or safety hazards.
I’m not saying this to bash I-73. I think the road could do tremendous good for our area. But we generally build roads to transport traffic that already exists, not to generate the industry that will create the traffic that will need the roads.
I’m reminded of another famous fable: That of the “Field of Dreams.” “If you build it, they will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner, but in the real world, it’s not an easy sell.
Plans are like your kids no matter how bad they are you still love them.
Think first is the first rule.
An interstate level road through Martinsville would be a good thing, they’re hurting economically and have been for years. US 220 is being upgraded to interstate standards south of the VA state line in NC for I-73. I’m surprised they’re still debating the matter there.
Raising the tax rate from 5.3% to 6% is an increase in the tax rate itself of 100*(6-5.3)/5.3 or 13%.
How many of us would characterize a wage hike of 13% as "comparatively small"?
Once raised, rates like this seldom get reduced.
Looks like it’s planned to make it easy for students from Virginia Tech and Liberty to get to Myrtle Beach. Other than that, it doesn’t seem to have much legitimate purpose, as the folks north of the Ohio River don’t seem to have much interest, and the folks in WV are going with a non-interstate quality alternative.
Big Yellow Taxi
by Joni Mitchell
© Siquomb Publishing Company
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel *, a boutique
And a swinging hot spot
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They took all the trees
Put ‘em in a tree museum *
And they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see ‘em
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Hey farmer farmer
Put away that DDT * now
Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please!
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
So much Virginia, so few funds . . .
Especially for poor old Southside.
There’s a major FedEx hub at the airport in Greensboro. Interstate level roads straight to Martinsville should lead to businesses locating there.
If I'm not mistaken, the I-73 thing has been talked about for 15 years. At least.
How long did it take for the entire original Interstate system to be planned and built back in the 50s and 60s?
Just another example of how we're not a serious country any more.
We talk about and plan things, simple things, for YEARS. Our ancestors actually DID things.
It actually took 40 years to complete the original interstate system. I-10, for example, was not completed until 1992.
Yes but the bulk of it was done years before that. There was no sitting around pondering what to do for decades.
If you pave paradise and put up a parking lot you will cut down on CO2 and reduce global warming.
The “blue route” through Philadelphia was actually built - and NIMBY people, some with real beefs, held up its opening for what? Probably another decade . . .
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