Conduct yourself accordingly
I was seeing red when I read the letter to the editor attacking efforts to bring VRE passenger rail service to Charlottesville “Choo-choo-choose wisely,” Mailbag, July 12].
Since the writer of the letter admits that she herself moved here to get away from the wretched excesses of Northern Virginia (too many people, too many strip malls, too much traffic, too many town houses), I would like her to tell me how this rail service is connected to all these excesses. And Charlottesville cannot be compared to Gainesville, which had become a bedroom community because it is only 30 miles from the nation’s capitol, and has done so without benefit of commuter rail.
This proposed VRE rail service will really help the community. It will not bring any more onslaught of over development than what is already in progress.
I belong to the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons and the National Association of Railway Patrons, and in a small way helped to restore Amtrak’s Cardinal line when it was taken off during the Reagan Administration. There is no other form of transportation that can move as many goods and people as a train and use less fuel. And at this time, what could be more important with the shortage of oil?
I plan to take the VRE to D.C. often. I have been retired for many years and I don’t make the drive because it is dangerous and there is too much traffic. I’ve tried Amtrak, but the rains are always late and it is impossible to get a reservation. With better rail connections, I will have another way to get there.
We should work on controlling development with better planning for our region, not by denying the freedom to travel to people like me.
I hope the writer will think about this and join us to bring VRE to Charlottesville and help our community.
Robert M. Seaman
Charlottesville
“Best” behave
In your “Worst of 2005” piece [“Best of C-VILLE 2005,” August 2] it seems that you forgot one “Worst.” Worst Charlottesville citizen habit: making disparaging remarks about UVA and the students while secretly knowing that none of the things on the “Best Of” list would be here without them.
Andrew Garrahan
Alexandria
Font of wisdom
This letter is to the Rivanna Water and Sewer Authority [“So simple, it just might work,” The Week, August 2]. I could have saved the $1.1 million you paid to consultants: STOP THE OUT-OF-CONTROL HOUSING DEVELOPMENT! No development = water conservation problem solved. No charge for the advice.
Pattie Boden
Charlottesville