The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“LIVABLE COMMUNITIES IN VIRGINIA” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the House of Representatives section on pages H1417-H1418 on March 28, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
LIVABLE COMMUNITIES IN VIRGINIA
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mrs. Biggert). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 19, 1999, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized during morning hour debates for 5 minutes.
Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, this week there is a meeting in Norfolk, Virginia, of the unsung heroes of the efforts to promote Virginia's livability, the town planners and the citizen volunteers who are on the front lines doing one of the hardest jobs in terms of coping with the problems of growth and development and sprawl in Virginia, but sadly, they have fewer tools than almost any State in the country.
They know what to do, but despite those efforts, the State of Virginia has had unbalanced growth over the course of the last 15 years. The 1990s were a disaster. There was a failure in 1990 to adopt minimal State planning goals that would have helped provide form and direction.
In 1995, the legislature in Virginia overwhelmingly defeated Virginia's Strategic Planning Act. Today we have a State administration that is asleep at the switch, and a legislature that is not helping the people of Virginia. There is no tie-in between their transportation investments and land use. There is certainly a head-in-the-sand attitude regarding paying the bill.
Even if you are one of those people who still feel that we can pave our way out of traffic congestion, and that number is a smaller and smaller number across the country, because community after community has proven that we do not have enough concrete to pave our way out of congestion, but even if one believes that, in the State of Virginia there is no plan to deal with over $50 billion of transportation investments that are conservatively required over the course of the next 20 years.
The Virginia Department of Transportation, VDOT, which is behind the curve as it relates to many of the transportation agencies around the country, was seriously damaged in the 1990s. There were ill-conceived programs of downsizing which ended up having a number of people who were terminated as retired, only to be hired back at higher salaries afterwards to try and move transportation projects along.
But I am pleased to say that there are some signs that things are happening in Virginia on the right side of the equation. First and foremost is that the citizens at the grass roots level are pushing back. There is increasing concern about unplanned growth.
In Loudon County we saw a sweep of eight smart growth candidates into county office, four Democrats, two Republicans, two Independents. It was a broad bipartisan effort to try and get back in control of their community. There were other electoral wins in Fairfax, Prince William, in Stafford, in towns and cities across Virginia.
In the city of Suffolk there is an integrated comprehensive plan and zoning to direct growth towards designated areas that can handle it. The highly respected Mason-Dixon poll in March showed that growth is the number one issue in the Shenandoah Valley. Even the conservative newspaper, the Richmond Times Dispatch, has had a 180-degree change recently, and recently editorialized on behalf of planning smarter.
Madam Speaker, Virginia has given much to this country, the home of Thomas Jefferson, of George Washington. It was a leader in the democratic institutions for the entire world.
It is my hope that their Governor and that their legislature will stop denying the problem, will work with us in Congress, will work more importantly, with people at the grass roots level, all working as partners for livable communities. If they are willing to do so, to deal with those planners, with those citizen volunteers, with simple, commonsense steps and structure to make the planning process work better, Virginia communities will in fact be more livable and all our families can be safer, healthier, and economically secure.
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