Thursday, July 28, 2011

MEET & GREET

3:00 on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Centreville Library

     (haven't updated the video to say Sept. 10 )

Come between 3-4 p.m.  We can talk about my campaign and any issues you have.

Illegal SIGNS?

Went to Fairfax County Government Center yesterday to get permit for signs.
Wrote 2 checks and got permit but was told that the permit was just for signs on private property - that VDOT was in charge of all property along roadways.

Went on computer and attempted to determine VDOT rules but links didn't work.  Called VDOT and waited almost half an hour to talk to someone.  Was told emphatically that  "NO SIGNS are allowed along roads".  The Fairfax Parkway was specifically mentioned as a road where candidates blatantly disregard VDOT policy.

Do lawmakers in Fairfax County regularly break the law?

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

More Trains, Less Traffic


Dianne Blais has an environmentally friendly plan for her district’s, and Northern Virginia’s, severe traffic problems. She will strongly support efforts to extend metrorail’s orange line. In addition to this she plans to have light rail from Haymarket to the Vienna metro, or an express light rail into DC. This will take many cars off the region's overcrowded roads and highways, making traffic flow faster on the roads we will continue to work maintain. Metro expansion or light rail will encourage the creation of dense, walkable, and vibrant communities around the new stations which will allow people to live, work, and play without having to spend money on gas.

The beauty of mass transit is that not everyone needs to use it in order for it to be a benefit to the community as a whole. If one out of 10 of the residents in a region decide to use a service like metro or commuter rail to get to work, then the traffic is better for everyone. This is not the type of investment that requires everyone to use it for a benefit  for all to be gained. These diversified methods of transport will encourage development and make the entire region even more enticing to young individuals, businesses and families that will be the engine of future growth. This growth will expand the tax base far better than making a few new off ramps as the current legislature seems to be intent on doing.

The current government cannot, as a matter of reality, accomplish their transportation aims by expanding our car-based system. We have all driven on roads like Fairfax County Parkway in which new construction has widened the highway for a stretch only to narrow when development is an obstacle to continuing the widening, eliminating the potential benefit of the road work. The great thing about rail is that two lanes can move an order of magnitude more people than simple additional lanes to road. When development hits a certain population density, trains are needed to expand and grow the area. This is happening to Northern Virginia as we have grown to over two and a half million residents. Roads will always have a place in Virginia’s transportation spending, but rather than put all our eggs on one path, we need to diversify. We have a choice between following the road only development and permanent traffic jams of Los Angeles or the oftentimes more densely populated but still navigable northeast cities.

Dianne's opponent has received thousands of dollars from the powerful highway lobby. He has repeatedly supported new highway construction at the expense of mass transit that simply encourages endless sprawl with more people driving, degrading the environment. Highways only briefly solve traffic problems before they are clogged by the drivers from the new sprawl that they initiated. The development that is created through mass transit is sustainable and compact, attracting business and jobs close to where people live, resulting in less unorganized sprawl while still allowing for people to live and travel how they choose. Dianne Blais will work tirelessly to create jobs through a sensible transportation plan.

  -Post By Dianne Blais, Colin Dalrymple and Joe Gallant

Districts should be Compact, not Contorted

Redistricting is done every 10 years after the census when new magisterial, state and congressional districts are formed.  Voters should be outraged at how redistricting was done by the General Assembly this year and this anger should affect how they vote in November.

Districts just drawn for the upcoming Virginia General Assembly elections were gerry-mandered to protect the incumbents - similar voters were combined in each district.   The state legislatures chose their constituents!  

A major gerry-mandering tool is split precincts. A precinct is the smallest voting group and is basically the neighborhood that votes at a common location. These units are split up at a cost to the taxpayer so that one group of voters can be separated from another group of voters. Each split precinct is estimated to cost local governments $25K because counties have to buy extra eqiupment and assign new voting locations and procedures.  The newly-formed 2011 districts in Virginia have over 500 split precincts! 

Redistricting should be done by a nonpartisan commission.  If a commission had redistricted the state districts, an estimated $10 million would be saved because there would be no need to split hundreds of precincts.  But even more importantly, we would have compact, competitive districts in which entire neighborhoods had the same candidates.  Competitive elections are the bulwark of our democracy.  The increase in partisanship in the past decades is directly related to gerry-mandering.

Please realize that the contorted district shapes were preventable.  The House of Delegates has been lobbied by many groups and individuals over the years to vote for a redistricting reform bill.  Since 2007 the Virginia Senate has voted every year for this bill but the House would not approve it. The current delegate of the 40th district is on the committee that is in charge of redistricting and is in large part responsible for the horrible, expensive gerry-mandering that all Virginia will suffer from in the next 10 years. I will promise to represent low cost and nonpartisan solutions to this and other problems faced by Virginia. Please Vote November 8th for sensible independent action, Vote for Dianne Blais
 
-Post by Dianne Blais and Joe Gallant

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

The Dillon Rule

Dianne Blais, the independent candidate for the 40th delegate district, wants to see change in Virginia.  She stands by her campaign slogan “Greater say for the average Virginian!” it sounds nice, but what does it mean?  Virginia has a unique political structure, as we all know, but what you may not have known is that the structure actually takes away power from the citizens.  Virginia abides by the Dillon rule of law.  This means that every legal decision that is made goes through Richmond.  Whether your community is trying to pass a law mandating a certain length of grass for the neighborhood, or the state is trying to pass a budget leveling the state deficit, it all needs to be decided by the Delegates and Senators of Richmond.  To add to this chaos, all of these decisions need to be made in a two month period called the General Assembly.  The effects are staggering, so many decisions are made in such a short time, community members and constituents can’t effectively lobby for their positions. As an example, it can take up to three years to even get a new crosswalk.  But how do we right this flaw?  Candidate Dianne Blais wants to empower local levels of government, giving them the power to solve their own problems.  Dianne wants to make some amendments to the Dillon rule.  She wants to instill a petition form for citizens to take care of community problems within their own neighborhoods.  If localities could decide on these smaller scale issues, it would give the state delegates more time to focus on the issues that matter, like the economy.  This is an important issue facing Virginia, and she is one of the few candidates who have voiced a sensible position on the Dillon rule and local control of government.  It is imperative that we support these voices because our system needs work.  The status quo is unacceptable, and Dianne Blais is the delegate for change.
-Skyler King