Many of you have come together because of concerns about never-ending highway construction, sprawl, traffic gridlock, rising taxes, declining property values, and the lack of time with your families that comes from the way we've built our communities. In Loudoun and Prince William Counties, in Chesapeake and Virginia Beach, in Stafford and Albemarle, citizens are telling elected officials that they have had enough of sprawl, higher taxes, and destructive highways. Still, many officials across the state do not understand the depth of the problem.
One reason: We have heard that many of our elected officials believe that developer John "Til" Hazel is the only person who has a vision for Virginia. Working through Virginia First -- a business lobbying group to push for more tax dollars for highways -- he has always profited from convincing politicians to build highways ever outward from Washington DC, building major developments nearby, and then moving out to the next location where he asks for yet another road. The result is such creations as Tyson's Corner, a gridlocked, unlivable, unwalkable satellite city. We all have paid the cost for this pattern of development. The top priority now for the Northern Virginia development industry as we all know, is the $1.4 billion Western Bypass.
Our elected officials need to know that we have a very different vision for Virginia. Our common theme is that sprawl and new highway proposals are harming our state, that we have a different vision for Virginia, and that we need our elected representatives' help in realizing this vision -- that it is time for smart growth.
The Coalition for Smarter Growth has drafted a letter that it will be sending to Virginia Senators and Delegates, to the Governor, Lt. Governor, and probably to the rest of the General Assembly. We ask that you too send letters to as many elected officials as you can.
Lots of letters from across the state will help to convince our representatives that the time has come to do things differently in Virginia. Thank you for your help and lets keep our statewide coalitions growing!
Or, you can cut and paste (and edit) the following for sending in an e-mail:
---------------------------SAMPLE LETTER---------------------------
January 14, 1998
Senator/Representative _______
(See addresses on previous page)
Dear Senator __________,
I am joining other citizens in writing to you of our overwhelming concern about the spread of sprawl development in Virginia and the destructive highway projects that help fuel that sprawl. Whether we live in Richmond, Charlottesville, Fredericksburg, Tidewater, Northern Virginia, or the Shenandoah Valley, sprawl is consuming our farmland and open space; it is overwhelming our natural areas and historic sites; it is shifting jobs and residents away from our downtowns; and it is creating traffic congestion and raising our taxes. Our quality of life is at stake.
Of particular concern to me are $67 billion in highway projects proposed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), with the support of Virginia First, to the Commission on the Future of Transportation in Virginia. Included are bypasses around Charlottesville, Richmond, Staunton, Roanoke, Lynchburg, Winchester, Washington DC, and Norfolk/Virginia Beach. These bypasses will spark still more sprawl development, increase our taxes, kill the economic life of our downtowns, and destroy the settings of our historic battlefields of Manassas, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. In the process, Virginia risks losing its scenic beauty, its historic heritage, its soul.
We have a different vision for Virginia. Our vision is that of a land where we have protected the economic vitality of our urban downtowns and our rural communities, where we have safeguarded our historic sites, our scenic beauty, and our natural environment, and where we have built livable, walkable towns and neighborhoods with a strong sense of community.
We need your help to realize this vision. As a state, we need to study the causes and costs of sprawl development. We must ensure that local governments have the tools, know-how, and political will to plan and manage growth. We must have stronger policies to protect open space, historic areas, natural habitats and farmland. We need policies to encourage growth where infrastructure already exists. We need to pay attention to studies that demonstrate that new highways do not relieve congestion. We need to stop the never-ending cycle of highway construction. In summary, we need Smart Growth in Virginia.
Sincerely,