THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 5, 1996 TAG: 9611050006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: 29 lines
The editorial flip-flop Oct. 14 on the stance of the Virginia Beach City Council re light-rail is welcome, and should be followed by an in-depth expose on two decades of consultants' surveys costing millions without the first spike driven. The current proposal for a $376 million project to move 7,000 people isn't about mass transit, it's about pork-barrel and lacks credibility as evidenced by setting a cost figure without agreement with Norfolk Southern, and now saying that the airport and naval base lines can be built at no additional cost.
The proposal doesn't compare with Portland, Oregon. It compares with Los Angeles, where only 6 percent of the city's riders use a billion-dollar light rail. The Virginian-Pilot has abrogated its journalistic responsibility by advocating this politically correct boondoggle without investigation.
Mass transit may be needed within the next half-century, when ridership mandates it, and light rail may not be the answer. As an interim measure, an agreement on the Norfolk Southern right-of-way could be reached. Meanwhile, Virginia Beach City Council is to be congratulated for cooling off the situation, and not approving the estimated $3 million to $4 million needed to perpetrate ``light rail'' as now proposed.
W.T. SAWYER
Virginia Beach, Oct. 18, 1996 by CNB