Update: The Stimulus has passed the Senate, but without explicit funding for Transportation Enhancements (TE), which is where most bike-ped money comes from. Please contact your Senator now to keep Transportation Enhancements in the Stimulus.

Echoing former Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters’ ridicule of bike paths, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) has proposed a ban on all bike/ped projects from the pending Stimulus legislation.

Please contact your US Senator now, to urge them to support bike/ped projects in the Stimulus [continue reading…]

With the House Transportation Committee convening one hour early at 7:30 a.m.in order to get all their bills handled without having to work on Saturday, they had to be finished by 10:45 since the Full House convened at 11. At 10:50 Chairman May suspended the proceedings with 9 bills still unheard and declared that the committee would reconvene at 6 p.m. in a smaller room in the Capitol building, which was the only room available. As luck would have it, both of my bills were still unheard.

At 6, the committee was unable to reconvene since a quorum could not be mustered as a number of committee members were in two other committee meetings running late over in the General Assembly Bldg. While waiting for the needed members to show up, Champe & I were meeting in the lobby with the Chief of Planning of the Dept. of Rail & Public Transportation (DRPT), reps of CSX and Norfolk Southern, and reps of the Friends of the River, attempting to reach some agreement on House Bill 2088 which would require the railroads to grant public access across or along their tracks in projects where they were receiving $1 million or more in state grants. As uncooperative as ever, the RR reps were insisting [continue reading…]

…was Passed By Indefinitely (killed) this afternoon in the Senate Courts of Justice Committee.

In my ten years of observing the handling of bills in various committees of both the Senate and House, this one was easily the most poorly handled.

After earlier clearing the Senate Transportation Committee and going forward to the full Senate, it was re-referred back to the Courts of Justice Committee. Since Cross Over is looming next week and this committee meets only once more prior to that, everything was in hurry up mode. The bill had been bounced back from the full Senate with several amendments added exempting “Professional Drivers, Drivers with Commercial Licenses, and Ham Radio Operators”, in an effort to remove specific objections. It looked like these had been added without Sen. Ticer being familiar with them, and she didn’t have a copy of the latest version of the bill with her.

Naturally, committee members opposing the bill immediately started
asking her questions about these amendments. [continue reading…]

If you are a City of Richmond citizen and an outdoor enthusiast, now is the time to act! We need your support to help get the James River Conservation Easement passed by City Council. This easement will keep urban sprawl out of the 280 acre James River Park system. Even if ownership of the land changes, this easement will remain intact.

The vote is scheduled to be presented to the Richmond City Council in the next 4 to 8 weeks. To be passed, it will need 7 out of 9 votes. That is why we ask you to contact your councilperson. Please ask them to pass this easement so everyone now and into the future can continue enjoying the great outdoors that the James River Park system offers!

Thanks to Woody Elliott for this alert.