Your browser (Internet Explorer 6) is out of date. It has known security flaws and may not display all features of this and other websites. Learn how to update your browser.
X

Posts tagged ‘Environmental Protection’

Quotes

Mudslide Mark on HOT Lanes

HOT lanes are a major part of the network of transportation improvements that are needed to help eliminate the gridlock.

Mark Dudenhefer

At a recent NAACP candidate forum, did Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer try to walk back his support for toll lanes by suggesting that he “had no vote on HOT lanes”? Was he now trying to suggest that he didn’t support them? Not quite. What he did was further reaffirm his strong support for them. He now claims that they will be a big boon for jobs.

The only big boon will be for the foreign entities that will now control our “public” roads. That’s right, we will now be paying foreign companies (i.e. Fluor-Transurban) for the privilege to use our “public” road system.

Worse yet, it’s taxpayers that may be left holding the bag. Assuming that the I-95 contract is similar to the Beltway one for HOT lanes, if not enough toll payers use the HOT lanes it will leave Virginia, and taxpayers, on the hook in providing financial compensation to these foreign entities. If carpooling increases, taxpayers will also be on the hook and have to pay.

If only Mudslide Mark afforded the same “safety net” to constituents in his Stafford County supervisory district, maybe those families affected by a recent landslide wouldn’t be left out in the cold. You see there are those who fund his political campaigns and those that do not.

You see Mudslide Mark has no interest in conducting a top-to-bottom investigation of the Stafford County permit office that can’t seem to find the inspection of a retaining wall for homes that have seen the ground below them steadily slide down a hill; or, in the developer who is avoiding answering questions on the construction of these homes.

This should come as no surprise, as Mudslide Mark wouldn’t want any sort of oversight to get in the way of business (or his campaign assets). “Oversight is just a buzzword for more government bureaucracy getting in the way of business,” said Dudenhefer.

Mudslide wouldn’t want oversight of a foreign company running our public road system getting in the way of there profits – would he? I’m sure that he wouldn’t be too concerned with making sure that traffic wasn’t being manipulated in any way to assure that a foreign company wasn’t squeezing every dime out of Virginia taxpayers.

Based on what has been purported, I have serious reservations about HOT lanes in Virginia. According to the Washington Times, “Virginia taxpayers are on the hook once again if, between now and 2087, improvements are made to free, non-tolled roads in the vicinity of the toll lanes. These ‘noncompete’ agreements ensure that the toll-road company will enjoy a monopoly at taxpayer expense because surrounding roads will grow increasingly congested in the ensuing eight decades. In other words, free roads will be neglected and not expanded to create congestion that will force motorists into tolled lanes.”

I suppose Mudslide Mark is ok with foreign companies enjoying a monopoly at taxpayer expense, so long as his campaign assets continue growing. It’s also no wonder why Mudslide has long opposed the indefinite postponement of toll lanes on I-95. Build, baby, build!

It’s bad enough that Stafford County raised the personal property tax on everyone’s vehicles by 25 percent, but now Mudslide is potentially asking a commuter who wants to avoid gridlocked roads to pay upwards of $33,280 each year. Not to mention that commuters who choose to use these lanes during off-peak times will now be charged a toll. Oy vey!

In the end, Mudslide is dead wrong when he categorizes HOT lanes as a “major part” of a solution to eliminate gridlock on our roads. A “major part” of a solution would be to extend rail within our area and bring more high-paying jobs locally. Simply increasing the volume that our roadways can handle will only increase traffic and not ease it.

As the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams explains, “if you build it they will come.”

October 12, 2011 2011 Election, Local Politics, Stafford County Board of Supervisors, State Politics, Virginia House of Delegates Marc Short URL
Video

Mark “Mudslide” Dudenhefer Shifts Attention to Delegate Campaign and Lets Constituents Slide

Stafford County Board of Supervisors Chairman Mark “Mudslide” Dudenhefer clearly doesn’t want to deal with the mudslides and sinkholes threatening his constituents’ homes. While these families are about to lose everything they own due to a catastrophe caused by a lack of county government oversight of developers and Stafford’s lax regulations over builders — Mudslide Mark is more focused on his political career advancement trying to grab the newly created 2nd Virginia House District seat.

Here’s a report from WJLA on a recent mudslide that destroyed several families homes in the Austin Ridge community of Stafford County:

At a recent town meeting with county officials, the affected families received few answers on the cause of the mudslide. The responses they received from Dudenhefer and other county officials were useless and the meeting seemed to resemble the late 70s game of Pass the Buck.

So the developer had a permit to build a retaining wall, providing support to what appears to have been a pretty steep slope, and county officials can’t confirm if it was ever inspected. If they can’t confirm it was ever inspected, can they confirm one was ever built?

As we recently tried to explain to Mudslide Mark, regarding our schools, accountability doesn’t come cheap.

As the ground steadily slides down the hill taking all the families assets with it, Mudslide Mark is more concerned with scrambling to cover his own ass(ets) then trying to help the families. Unfortunately for these devastated constituents, the best that Dudenhefer will offer is an anemic off-loading of responsibility. “The board will decide what can or can’t take place,” Dudenhefer said. He went on to say, “any perception that we’re ignoring or not dealing with it are not true. There’s meetings…ways to help.”

Meetings? That’s the best Dudenhefer can offer to these displaced families? How about a top-to-bottom investigation of the permit office that can’t seem to find the inspection of the retaining wall? How about rolling back the lax ordinances that allowed builders to construct homes on such risky sites? Oh right, Mudslide Mark is too busy gunning for a promotion and collecting big developer dollars for his delegate campaign to allow himself to be distracted with the real problems of his current constituents.

Let’s not forget, it was Mudslide Mark who was at the center of helping to overturn several county ordinances that dealt with maximum slope steepness and setback for resource protection areas (see Potomac Resource Protection District).

Mudslide Mark may not care about residents in his district, but he cares about his developer buddies. Someone’s got to fund his campaigns. After all, limiting what a lot yields (20 units vs. 100 units) would seriously dampen developer profits. Screw the homeowners who may one day see their piece of the American dream drift away into the mud.

In general, it is our understanding, that current county development ordinances prohibit building on slopes 35% or greater. As we just explained-due to the fact that most of the stable land in the county has already been developed-slope steepness is of great interest to developers trying to maximize profits in the county.

Other issues that arise from slope steepness are environmental (e.g. runoff) and safety concerns (e.g. mudslides).

In addition to the angle of the slope, ordinances must consider soil types when determining suitability for development. Ever try building a sand castle and then dumping water on it? Sandy soils are typically less stable then dense clay. Generally sandy soils on steep slopes require extensive engineering to assure stability of construction. Of course, this safety factor adds to the cost of construction and cuts into builder’s profits. When builders complained about this to Dudenhefer, his door and campaign war chest were wide open.

An issue of safety should never be subject to political back-scratching and pocket-filling. Common sense — and common decency — are needed. Mudslide Mark Dudenhefer is far too concerned with filling his campaign coffers versus finding a balanced approach that allows for future development, but also keeps residents safe and our environment clean.

It’s time to hold Mudslide Mark accountable!

 

October 1, 2011 2011 Election, Environment, Local Politics, Stafford County, Stafford County Board of Supervisors, State Politics, Virginia House of Delegates Marc Short URL
Post

SDC Chair Endorses Krystal Ball for Congress

As we learned from the last election cycle in Virginia, the perceived “safe” candidate doesn’t always equate to electoral success. This brings me to the 2010 race for Congress in the 1st Congressional District. Over the next several months, Democrats will decide on a challenger to Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st CD).

I believe the single most important factor in being able to win this race is the ability of our eventual Democratic nominee to energize Obama voters and get them to actually show up for this mid-term election. I’m under no illusion that the first congressional district is a particularly easy one for Democrats; however, I believe that Krystal Ball is the only candidate who can pull off a major upset. As she often states, this election will come down to “money, mobilization and a good message.”

Krystal has already raised more money than any of our immediate past Democratic candidates were able to raise throughout their entire campaigns. As of the last reporting period, she has raised more than a quarter of a million dollars; and it is likely from what I’m hearing that she will be approaching a half million dollars at the end of this reporting period (12/2009). To put this in context, this would be more than Shawn O’Donnell (D-2006), Philip Forgit (D -2007) and William (“Bill”) Day (D-2008) were able to raise combined throughout their entire campaigns. This huge cash advantage will allow Krystal to gather the necessary resources to get her message out.

In a recent interview with Blue Virginia, she listed education, environmental protection and technology based job creation as the issues she was most passionate about.

Being the husband of a public school teacher, I see firsthand what a vital role our teachers play in providing a quality education to our children. They are constantly being asked to do more with fewer resources. Krystal understands education. She understands that in order to maintain and grow an exceptional core of teachers that we must focus on “recruitment, retention and fair pay.”

Specifically addressing recruitment, I think that it is important to understand why professionals choose fields such as engineering over teaching. To me it is not simply all about the almighty dollar as it is about allowing teachers to actually teach. Teach not to a test, but allow teachers a bit more freedom in actually teaching. It seems to me that each year we are spending more and more time on test preparation, which directly impacts actual instructional time in the classroom. Why is this the case? Under the No Child Left Behind Act, the federal government requires us to conduct tests to measure students’ academic proficiency. If certain academic thresholds are not met, this impacts the amount of federal funding a school receives. And, by the way, the federal government mandates that this testing be conducted, but provides no funding to support it (a.k.a. the “Unfunded Mandate”). I totally believe that we need academic standards, but the system is fatally flawed and is need of a major overhaul.

Krystal strongly believes that the federal government should not be “putting legislative handcuffs on local communities” and so do I.  Krystal also understands that there are many folks in local communities who may have a particular expertise that could provide tangible benefits to students in the classroom; however, they do not meet licensure requirements. She has proposed alternative licensure programs to help attract these folks and deal with an aging teacher population that will result in significant retirements in the coming years. One thing is for sure; Krystal is the candidate who offers the most concrete solutions to improve our education system.

With regards to environmental protection and technology based job creation, Krystal understands that they are not mutually exclusive. She understands that in order to address the ever-widening income inequality gap in this country that we must look at creating jobs in industries which we have a comparative advantage, such as renewable energy. This requires bold leadership and a true understanding of business. As a successful small business owner herself, Krystal understands that once “the costs of environmental destruction are brought from externalities to business expenses” that industries such as renewable energy will become economically viable. This will help create high wage jobs that just so happen to provide an added bonus of being environmentally positive.

If all of this isn’t enough to convince you that Krystal is one heck of a candidate, look at a recent endorsement by Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Chairman, Committee on Veterans’ Affairs. In his endorsement he notes

“Krystal will be a strong champion of our armed service members and a fierce advocate for our veterans and their families, both inside and out of the district. I am impressed by her call to service and with her background as a CPA and small business owner. I believe she has a valuable perspective from which to legislate on economic issues, and will be the best voice for Virginia’s first district.”

As the Chair of the Stafford Democratic Committee, I have witnessed many successful and not so successful candidates and campaigns over the last two years. Krystal is one of the most intelligent, hard working candidates I have come across over this period of time and, put simply, is our best chance of winning a very difficult first congressional district race. She inspires people to want to work for her and produces a similar fervor amongst her supporters that was present in 2008 for President Obama. She is far from the safest candidate, a 28-year old first time candidate, but where did safe get the Democrats in the 2009 Gubernatorial race?

January 4, 2010 Endorsements, Krystal Ball Marc