Driving factors
I am writing in response to John Borgmeyer’s article on the Meadowcreek Parkway controversy [“A walk in the park,” Fishbowl, January 6] and his response to Mandy Burbage’s recent letter to the editor [Mailbag, January 20]. In his reply, Borgmeyer concedes that in 2000 a majority of City Council approved the Meadowcreek Parkway only if other conditions were met first. However, Borgmeyer asserts that the Meadowcreek Parkway is still bound to be built because the current Council majority wants to build it even without these conditions. In reality, the Parkway is far from inevitable.
In order to build the Parkway, Council must first transfer a portion of McIntire Park to the Virginia Department of Transportation. According to the Virginia constitution it takes four councilors, not three, to sell parkland. This supermajority does not exist. So the three pro-Parkway councilors are investigating giving VDOT an easement, instead of a sale, to get around this protection of parkland, which would not be in keeping with the spirit of the law. If the pro-Parkway councilors insist on taking this route, they will be leaving Charlottesville open to a lawsuit, which could prevent their attempt to evade the State constitution.
As Borgmeyer mentions, City Council approved the Meadowcreek Parkway only if the State funded a grade-separated interchange and an eastern connector highway between Pantops and 29N. Currently, VDOT cannot meet these conditions because of budget issues.
Another condition for Council’s approval is adequate replacement parkland to substitute for the portion of McIntire Park that would be lost due to the Parkway.
A pro-Parkway majority of three would like to build the Parkway now, even without meeting the aforementioned conditions. However, it is unconstitutional to sell parkland without a 4-1 majority. On its own, City Council can stop this road at any time and Council elections happen every two years. Many Charlottesville citizens have voiced displeasure with the proposed Parkway, and rightly so. The millions spent on the Parkway could support other transportation alternatives that actually serve Charlottesville citizens instead of sprawl developers. How about improving our public transportation? Charlottesville voters who don’t want their tax dollars spent on paving our central park still have opportunities to voice their dissent. The general election for City Council is this May.
Borgmeyer’s journalism should reflect the complex and unresolved nature of the Meadowcreek Parkway issue and not instill its readers with a false sense of hopelessness. The fight for a sustainable future is far from over.
T. Alex Davis
Charlottesville
Botched proposal
Two wrongs don’t make a right. Balancing your back page with opposite ideologues lowers you to Fox’s level. Their hyperbolic biases corrupt decent dialogue with brainless conflict.
Case in point: Rich Lowry’s piece on Bush’s marriage proposal [“’I do,’ welfare don’t,” Right Turn, January 20] was pure administration gibberish.
Fact: 1.4 million more Americans fell into poverty in 2002. Today, 34.7 million Americans live below the poverty line. America’s food banks are emptying. An America’s Second Harvest director says: “Last year’s food bank donors are now this year’s food bank clients.” In Virginia, one in 10 Virginians lives in poverty—and we’re better off than most.
Yet, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare recipients fell 4.3 percent last year, from 5.19 million to 4.96 million. Huh?
That’s how welfare programs work. They are devised to move people off welfare rolls—not move them out of poverty.
And that’s the thought (or lack thereof) behind Bush’s marriage proposal. A mother with two McJobs should wed any jerk with two McJobs so they can scrape together enough to be disqualified from welfare. Hey, it looks good on the books.
What happens when you kick people off welfare? A study by the Joyce Foundation reports that half of former welfare recipients were couldn’t pay for food or utilities. A tenth became homeless. Republican Douglas MacKinnon, aid to former Senator Bob Dole, says: “Anyone with an ounce of common sense knows: Most welfare recipients who left or were knocked off the welfare rolls are struggling to survive.”
It’s all a cruel ruse. And Bush and Lowry know it. Seriously, what fool thinks marriage leads to prosperity? It’s the opposite. Prosperity leads to marriage. And, likewise, poverty leads to divorce. A 2001 study found that whenever unemployment rises 1 percent, 10,000 couples divorce.
Want more proof? The Minnesota Family Investment Program helped families out of poverty through job training and child care subsidies. Guess what happened? Marriage rates rose among welfare recipients. Lesson: Want people to stay hitched? Give them economic stability first.
What’s the best precursor to financial independence? Education. Research shows that just one year of post-secondary education reduces poverty rates by half in single-parent households.
Here’s the real zinger: Bush’s thinly veiled come-on to the Christian Coalition diverts $100 million annually to churches…from TANF job training programs.
Please, stop publishing the rhetoric—from both sides. This nation’s problems won’t to be resolved by a shouting match, or a marriage certificate.
Brian Wimer
Charlottesville
Anger management
Ahhh, The Rant—a space of free opinion, chicken heads and painstakingly manicured arguments. This time around The Refuter was driven crazy by a ranter about a Humvee, seen in the anniversary issue of The Rant [January 27]. Although I agree with the ranter’s fury over the pompous joke of “Global Warmer” on the gas-guzzling Humvee’s license plate, what struck me was the thought of keying the car in an attempt to remedy their fury. So I’d like to offer the refute:
Hi. I just wanted to rant that I read an obnoxious rant yesterday—one with the license plate “Will Key Your Car If Need Be.” And I, uh, just wanted to say in case that person happens to read this, that I don’t think they’re cool and I think they feel powerless and I think they’re a red and green status symbol of envied spitefulness. I think they’re probably overcompensating for a very, very teeny body part—their parochial-minded brain. Although it is somewhat open since they don’t agree with the ill effects of gas-guzzling Humvees. Geez, why are there always two sides to the coin?
But to say the Humvee deserves a keying? First, your line of thinking perpetuates Americans’ desire to destroy what is not theirs (hint: think of imperialism). Second, they have what they possess and you have what you (don’t) possess. Put yourself in their shoes, would you enjoy having your car keyed? Third, you will never be that person and they will never be you, but if you were then you would be in a Humvee and would have some chicken head wanting to key your car. Understand? A keyed car only symbolizes the ineptitude of the perpetrator.
Taking your frustration out on America’s character of material-based, capitalistically driven bystanders does not solve or help the issue. Sure, the guy may be a pompous pig, but if the industry did not harbor such an identity then maybe he’d be driving your car, taking the bus more, or riding a bike instead. Take a look at the culture industry and its ramifications. But don’t key a victim of the industry, he’s just trying to live and buys according to what this image-driven society shoves in his face. How about instead of keying someone’s car, dear ranter, you key the industry that produces global warmers? They’re just asking to have their egos keyed. Cheers.
Joseph Reilly
therefute@yahoo.com
Blade runner
Regarding the shaving article “Smooth moves” [FLOW, January 27], I learned a little trick to keep my blade lasting longer. I store my Gillette Track II (blade only, not the handle) in a small Rubbermaid container of alcohol. The water and shaving foam degrade the sharpness of the blade when it’s being used. I found that storing the blade in alcohol is not only sanitary, but seems to help the blade stay sharper longer.
Richard Miller
Staunton
Correction
Due to an editing error, the chicken dumpling recipe included in “Food for thought,” an article about comfort cooking that appeared in FLOW, a January 27 supplement to C-VILLE, was incorrectly attributed. The recipe came from Gail Hobbs Page of the Mark Addy Inn. C-VILLE regrets the error.