Minutes 04/22/2008 - Laserfiche WebLink

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April 22. 2008 WHEREAS, this determination that HRTA's principal funding source is unconstitutional now creates an abyss in which there is no source of funding whatsoever to meet the critical transportation needs of the Hampton Roads region, thus not only causing undue inconvenience and expense throughout the region, but also jeopardizing the state economy and having a negative effect on national security; and WHEREAS, the entire Route 58 corridor, which commences or terminates at the Midtown Tunnel, has long been envisioned as a statewide Trade Corridor funded primarily by the state, and yet the state has failed to provide critically needed state funding to expand the Midtown Tunnel portion of Route 58. WHEREAS, it has been clear for over four hundred years in Virginia, since the arrival of English settlers at Jamestown on May 13, 1607, that providing an adequate state highway and transportation system is a state responsibility, as evidenced in part by the following representative events and conditions: · In September of 1632, the Virginia House of Burgesses adopted the very first highway legislation in America. · In 1772, the Virginia General Assembly authorized the first toll road in America, to-wit a toll road in Augusta County over the mountain between Jenning's Gap and Warm Springs. · In February of 1816, the General Assembly established the nation's first state board of public works and created a fund for internal improvement. The board was given the unprecedented power to appoint a "principal engineer" to deal in part with public transportation needs of the state. · The James River and Kanawha Canal was conceived of by George Washington as a trade route between central Virginia and the Ohio Valley, and it was commenced in 1785. · The Northwestern Turnpike was constructed in 1827 beginning in Winchester and connecting Virginia with profitable trade in the territory northwest of the Ohio River. It is known today as Route 50. · In November 1919, the Commonwealth Transportation Board enacted the first four-year plan for the construction and resurfacing of state highways. · The Virginia Department of Transportation exists today for the sole purpose of having responsibility for "building, maintaining, and operating the state's roads, bridges, and tunnels." · Throughout modern history, numerous Interstate and limited access highways, roads, bridges, and tunnels have been constructed all over Virginia, with funding provided primarily on a state basis. WHEREAS, in failing to provide adequate state funding for regional transportation needs and instead unconstitutionally delegating that responsibility to the region and the localities in the region, the House of Delegates (the Senate and the Governor concurring) has abdicated its responsibility to the Commonwealth of Virginia and all its citizens to provide an adequate state highway system; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Portsmouth, Virginia that the Virginia House of Delegates, together with the Senate and Governor of Virginia, are hereby called upon to meet their shared responsibility to the Commonwealth of Virginia and all its citizens by providing an adequate source of state funding to complement local and regional funding for needed regional transportation improvements in the Hampton Roads region." Ayes: Heretick, Moody, Psi mas, Randall, R. Smith, Holley Nays: D. Smith - City Manager's Report - 08 - 213 - Adoption of an ordinance accepting and appropriating the Hunt-Mapp Middle School Fire Insurance Settlement of $2,291,732 to the Risk Management Fund. Vision Principle: Bold New Directions.