The Dixie Pig

Weekly Column: Legislation Starts to Move & Speaking Out on Route 1

2012-01-26T09:00:00.000-08:00

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch on January 25, 2012:

Legislation Starts to Move & Speaking Out on U.S. 1

The General Assembly completed its first full week of work this week.

First, two of my bills have been passed by the House Courts of Justice Committee and are heading to the floor of the House of Delegates. One clarifies when an appellate court must calculate interest on remand of an appeal. A second bill makes it clear that a Power of Attorney automatically terminates when unmarried parents file for child custody or visitation or separated spouses file for support.

This week, I also presented a bill to adjust Virginia’s threshold between misdemeanor and felony offenses from $200 to $500. Virginia’s limit is the lowest in the United States and has not been adjusted since 1981. The value of $200 from 1981 is $549 today according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Governor McDonnell carried the bill when he was a Delegate. Attorney General Cucinnelli and the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys supported my bill for a number of reasons. The only opponents were Virginia retailers like Target and Walmart. The bill received one vote on committee. Richmond may be the only place where a Republican Governor, Republican Attorney General, the state prosecutors’ association, and a Democratic State Delegate can stand before a committee on a criminal justice bill and only get one vote. I will be filing it again next year.

I also presented legislation to block Governor McDonnell’s proposal to limit childcare subsidies in Fairfax County. Studies have shown that the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area has the highest childcare expenses in the United States - $18,000 per year for an infant. Fairfax County does not limit the length of time a parent can receive subsidies because our costs are so much higher than the rest of the state. We also provide local funds on top of state subsidies unlike any other locality in Virginia. My legislation was tabled on a party-line vote.

Childcare subsidies were created as part of 1990’s welfare reforms to encourage parents to work. I met parents while knocking doors who told me that they were barely able to make ends meet with the subsidies. The state’s action will push many parents in my district back onto welfare because they cannot both work and afford childcare. I am trying to revive the bill.

In the last budget cycle, Virginia cut its payments in half to house state prisoners in Fairfax County jails. Those cuts are being made up with local property tax revenue. I introduced legislation at the request of Fairfax County Sheriff Stan Barry to give Fairfax County the option of increasing the assessment on criminal convictions for courthouse security from $10 to $15 to replace the lost revenues. My legislation was also supported by the Virginia Association of Sheriffs. In some localities without police departments, they were forced to divert law enforcement resources to provide courthouse security. My legislation was killed on a party-line vote.

Finally, I spoke out about Route 1 this week. The Department of Motor Vehicles gave me statistics showing that since January 1, 2009, seven people have been killed and 55 people injured on the seven mile stretch of Route 1 in my district – that’s one death and eight injuries per mile. I think that’s outrageous. Route 1 in Fairfax County is probably the most dangerous stretch of road for pedestrians in Virginia.

On the floor, I spoke about how our lack of transportation funding has prevented any real action on Route 1. The condition of Route 1 affects our commutes, families, traffic, economic development, and jobs. People should be able to walk to the grocery store without having to worry about being injured or killed. You can watch my speech on my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.

Please go to my website and respond to my survey. Over 200 households have responded so far! You can also comment on legislation, set up a meeting or request a Capitol tour at http://www.scottsurovell.org/.

Good government requires your involvement so please be in touch or come visit in Richmond so I can best represent you in the General Assembly. It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

Demanding Action on Transportation

2012-01-23T08:06:00.000-08:00

Last week, I gave a floor speech on the status of new transportation funding and the consequences for us in Northern Virginia. Many of the solutions discussed involve funding options that will never be available to fund U.S. 1 improvements because it is not a road that can be tolled.

Earlier this year, I asked the Departmnent of Motor to get me the number of pedestrian accidents on or near U.S. 1. So far they have only been able to get me the data since January 1, 2009.

7 Fatalities

55 Pedestrian Injurires

I cannot imagine that there is another stretch of road in Virginia that is more dangerous to pedestrians.

I gave this floor speech on last week to bring attention to this and the lack of transportation funding in general.

The Age of The 44th District's Schools

2012-01-22T14:00:00.000-08:00

I'm a local history geek. One of the things I do is keep track of significant anniversaries in our local schools and draft commending resolutions for significant anniversaries.

Here's a list that I've compiled for the founding and closing dates for our area local schools. Woodlawn Elementary and Groveton Elementary are the oldest followed by Mt. Vernon High School. There's a great history of Woodlawn Elementary School here.

If you're talking about the actual buildings, I'm pretty sure that Woodlawn Elementary is the oldest in continuous use. The old Mount Vernon would be second if it were still a school. I'm pretty sure that either the Bryant Building (originally Groveton High School) or the older part of West Potomac High School (originally Bryant Intermediate) would be next.

I have some schools here on the bottom that have come and gone through the years including some from a very long time ago. The Gum Springs School and Springbank School were small black schools that preceded desegregation.

If you have any of the dates that I'm missing or any corrections, shoot me an email.

2012 Town Hall Recap

2012-01-21T12:22:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, January 14, 2012, I held a Town Hall Meeting with Senator Toddy Puller and Senator Adam Ebbin. The introductory statement I gave at the outset is in the video below.

I wrote a short recap of the questions in my weekly column last week which I posted below and Patch also ran an article.

Weekly Column: New Committees, Redistricting Rockets Through & A Town Hall

Sens. Puller & Ebbin, Del. Surovell Hold Mount Vernon Town Hall

If you were unable to make it and have any questions, please contact me.

The Dillon Rule & The Height of Grass

2012-01-20T06:46:00.000-08:00

Today, we took up a very controversial bill in Cities, Counties & Towns - the regulation of the height of grass and mowing of weeds. No, I'm not kidding.

Virginia is a Dillon Rule state. That means that a locality cannot exercise any power unless the state has expressly authorized it. Each year, we get a ton of bills that come through from localities asking the state for authority to do different things.

For example, in my first term, I introduced legislation that would add Fairfax County to the list of counties that could adopt a meals tax by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors instead of referendum. I also introduced a bill to allow Fairfax County to add a $4 fee to each traffic ticket to pay for an electronic ticket processing system that would eliminate the need for about 10 full-time employees and save the police thousands of man hours. An Arlington County delegate told me that he had to introduce legislation to allow his locality to issue paychecks twice per month instead of every two weeks.

One of my committee assignments is Cities, Counties & Towns and our subcommittee hears City and Town Charter changes which govern their authority. We also hear bills to give Cities, Counties & Town the authority to regulate the height of grass and weeds. This year, our subcommittee voted to the City of Hopewell, the County of Prince George, and the Town of Cincoteague. Last year we added James City County. In 2010, it was the City of Winchester, the City of Colonial Heights.

This year, Delegate Jim Lemunyon got tired of doing this every year and introduced legislation to allow any county to regulate grass height if they choose so they don't have to come through us. I cosponsored his bill.

Every one of these grass bills requires thousands of hours of government time to push through.

Each locality has a legislative staff that prepares their legislative agenda
It is vetted by a local board and delegation
The legislation is drafted by the Division of Legislative Services and goes through a series of reviews;
Legislation is then introduced and processed by various people;
We then consider it in a 7-person subcommittee with staff (and spectators);
It's then considered by a 22-person committee with staff (and spectators);
It's then considered by the entire 100-member House of Delegates with staff (and spectators);
Steps 5-7 are redone by the 40-member State Senate;
The Speaker & President Pro Tempore of the Senate signs it;
Then the Governor's Office vets the bill before he signs it;
Then it has to go to the people who draft the Code of Virginia who need to work it into the official Acts of Assembly and then incorporate it into the Code;
Then the Code of Virginia is republished and updates are sent out in paper form all around the state; AND THEN
Electronic databases are updated so that every version of the Code everywhere is current.
Then and only then, the locality can begin the process of amending its local ordinance which requires a who series of steps.

All that so each locality can regulate grass height and weeds.

Delegate Lemunyon's bill would eliminate steps 1 through 13 when it comes to a county's authority to regulate the height of grass and weeds if it chose to do so. His bill passed our subcommittee 5-4 and died on a 11-10 vote in full committee this morning. Sometimes the legislature gives you a headace.

Weekly Column: New Committees, Redistricting Rockets Through & A Town Hall

2012-01-18T19:00:00.000-08:00

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch on January 18, 2012:

New Committees, Redistricting Rockets Through & A Town Hall

On Opening Day, we were notified of our new committee assignments. I was reappointed to the Cities, Counties & Towns and Science and Technology Committees. As the largest jurisdiction in the Commonwealth, it is important that Fairfax County have effective advocates for local government flexibility and to guard against state government siphoning off more local government funds. The Science and Technology Committee will also enable me to continue to work with the fastest growing businesses in Northern Virginia.
Due to my increased seniority, I was also appointed to the Militia, Police & Public Safety Committee. This committee has jurisdiction over gun control laws, traffic offenses, jail and prison policy. I looking forward to being able to use my practical experience in the criminal justice system on the issues we face in committee to help keep our communities safe.

Another highlight Opening Day was a visit from about forty West Potomac High School Band students. We attended the 1812 Bicentennial Concert together and they took a tour of the Capitol. Listening to Tchaikowsky’s 1812 Overture took me back to Junior Year at West Potomac although back then our band director used shot gun blanks shot into oil drums to imitate the cannon shots (I don’t think that’s allowed any more).

As I predicted, minutes after we were sworn in, the Privileges and Elections Committee “met” in the corner of the chamber, passed the latest partisan redistricting bill with little debate, it was put on a supplemental calendar presented to us at the 7:00 p.m. State of the Commonwealth Address, and was “debated” on our second day. We asked for more time so that the public could comment, we could prepare amendments, and the sixteen freshmen could have time to consider the legislation before debating and voting on it, but our request was rejected. The legislation was passed on our third day in session and is now on to the Senate where it will likely be rocketed through and sent to the Governor.

The Constitution of Virginia requires redistricting to be completed in 2011. Many of us view the latest attempt to draw these lines as being an illegal partisan power grab. Upon passage in the Senate and the Governor’s signature, a court will have to decide whether it was proper.

The legislation passed puts my entire delegate seat inside the Eighth Congressional District. The new Eighth Congressional District would include all of Lee District except for Greenspring Precinct and a small part of the Mount Vernon District in the Lorton area. I continue to believe that we should enact nonpartisan redistricting so that the voters pick their elected officials. Elected officials should be divorced from the process of drawing their districts and setting their salaries and benefits.

On Saturday, January 14, fifty people turned out for our Town Hall Meeting. If you would like to watch thirty minutes of opening statements by myself or Senator Puller or Ebbin, you can watch them on my website at www.scottsurovell.org and email your comments to me.

Many constituents expressed concern about the completion of Mulligan Road and the lack of investment in our transportation infrastructure. Several expressed concern about voter suppression legislation such as mandatory voter ID laws, and support for allowing undocumented children to attend state universities so long as they obeyed the law and paid their taxes. We heard from constituents that wanted to help seniors to afford in-home care expenses, admonished us to avoid devolving into Washington D.C. style gridlock, and one constituent urged us to protect against a decline in government services so we can maintain our current quality of life.

We will start to consider legislation this week. I have introduced twenty-eight bills (so far) so I will be very busy. You can see summaries of my legislation on my website.

My constituent survey should have arrived in the mail. The online version is more comprehensive. I would appreciate it if you could complete it at www.scottsurovell.org/survey. Last year, we received over 700 responses.

Please also visit my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com, for more frequent updates. You can also comment on legislation, set up a meeting or request a Capitol tour at www.scottsurovell.org. Good government requires your involvement so please be in touch or come visit in Richmond so I can best represent you in the General Assembly. It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

Weekly Column: My 2012 Agenda: Transportation, Economic Development, Sunshine & Consumer Protection

2012-01-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch on January 5, 2012:

My 2012 Agenda: Transportation, Economic Development, Sunshine & Consumer Protection

On January 11, 2012 at noon, the Virginia General Assembly kicked off the 2012 Session. Last week, I wrote about an overall preview of the session. This week, I am writing about my legislation which you can view online at http://lis.virginia.gov or my website www.scottsurovell.org.

Congestion on U.S. 1, the extension of the Yellow & Blue Lines, and economic development is the top priority for our area. Congestion on Route 1 affects not just our commutes, but economic development, job creation, the neighborhood revitalization, local school performance, the quality of our local environment, and the value of our homes. Route 1 will not be improved until we get a fair share of construction funding.
The Commonwealth Transportation Board (“CTB”) decides which transportation projects to fund in Virginia. Ten of eighteen commissioners represent transportation districts based on 1930 congressional districts, plus a Northern Virginia District added in the 1980’s after they figured out it was time for us to leave the Culpepper District.

Today, 65% of the state’s population has 33% of the votes on the CTB. My legislation requires representation by congressional district. I have introduced this every year since I was elected. This year, two senators and three Republican delegates are copying my bill and introducing similar or identical legislation.

I have a series of bills on government transparency or open government. Virginia is one of fifteen states that does not have electronic or video recording of committee and subcommittee meetings. Most legislative work is done in committee. My bill would require committee business to be done on the record, recorded and put on the internet so that if can be accessible to everyone.

I have introduced bills requiring legislators to disclose any tax credits they claim so voters can connect the dots between votes and personal interests. I’m attempting to adjust gift and contribution deadlines so voters can see most special interest gifts received before an election and the start of session. Today, special interests can give a trip over the summer before an election and it is not disclosed until December 31. Someone can also make a contribution between January 1 and January 11 and it is not reported until April or July. That’s wrong.

The Governor has proposed to limit childcare assistance for low-income families to five years per family. Fairfax County believes this will throw thousands of our families off of childcare assistance. While cutting off families is one way to shorten the 20,000-family waiting list it is an unfair tactic that violates the spirit of the 1990’s welfare reforms which encouraged mothers to work. Childcare readies children for kindergarten and dramatically improves performance in school. Limiting childcare assistance will hurt hundreds of families in the 44th District.

I am re- introducing legislation to authorize Virginia to pay rewards to individuals who whistleblow on tax cheats and new legislation requiring homeowner associations to post their covenants, bylaws and rules on their website so home shoppers can see them without first having to make an offer on a property.

Finally, I am introducing legislation to encourage solar energy, facilitate mental health services at community colleges, streamline voter registration, provide no excuse absentee voting for seniors, protect consumers from predatory towing companies, prohibit the private publication of expunged criminal convictions, and protecting the benefits of our public safety professionals who are disabled in the line of duty.

TOWN HALL THIS SATURDAY, JANUARY 14 AT 10 AM

I hope you can attend my Town Hall Meeting with Senator Toddy Puller at the Mt. Vernon Government Center, 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria, VA 22306 on Saturday, January 14, at 10:00 a.m. You can also fill out my constituent survey at www.scottsurovell.org/survey, email feedback to me at scottsurovell@gmail.com or provide it via my website. You can always read more about my views on issues or what is going on at my blog The Dixie Pig – scottsurovell.blogspot.com – where I have posted over 260 articles over the last two years.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve for another two years. It is an honor to be your state delegate.

Announcing The Amundson Institute!

2012-01-09T06:00:00.000-08:00

In 2000, my predecessor Delegate Kris Amundson started her Young Leaders Program in partnership with Cox Communications. The program introduced some of the top students from 44th District high schools to state government to encourage them to continue their involvement in the state and their community.

A few of her prior classes were covered in the media:

Future Young Leaders Experience Government In Action (2004)

Amundson Brings Young Leaders to Richmond (2005)

Six Students Selected for Amundson's Young Leaders Program (2007)

After I was elected, I decided to continue the program and we had six students from West Potomac High School and Mt. Vernon High School participate. All of them had a great experience and had very memorable experiences and they were also covered by the local media:

Young Leaders Tour the Capitol with Delegate Surovell (2011)

The program is such a success and such a good idea, I decided that it needs a better name and I could not think of a better person to name it after other than it's founder. Starting this year, we are going to call this program The Amundson Institute in honor of Former Delegate Kris Amundson.

I am still accepting applications for this session. If you have questions, please send me an email at scottsurovell@gmail.com or if you are ready to apply, click on the link below.

Application Form for Amundson Institute

Weekly Column: Session Preview, Budget Shortfalls, Redistricting, Uranium & Social Issues

2012-01-05T08:00:00.000-08:00

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mt. Vernon Voice and Patch on January 5, 2012:

Session Preview: Budget Shortfalls, Redistricting, Uranium & Social Issues

On January 11, the newly-elected Virginia General Assembly convenes for a 60-day, “long” session. I expect it to be a contentious one.
The “money committees” estimate that Virginia faces a $1 billion shortfall due to many factors including the end of federal stimulus dollars, Virginia’s sluggish economy, constitutionally-required contributions to Virginia’s “rainy day fund,” required payments to the Virginia Retirement System because of no payments last year, and inflation. Despite the shortfall, the Governor has proposed several hundred million dollars of new initiatives to be funded with cuts to low-income preschool programs, Northern Virginia teacher salary supplements, other secondary education funds, and health care for children and seniors.

Congressional redistricting will also be an early battle. Redistricting was not completed in 2011 as required by the Virginia Constitution. The legislature’s leadership will likely try to pass new gerrymandered districts which will head to the courts.

The Virginia Retirement System (VRS) is now underfunded by $20 billion. Our entire two-year General Fund Budget is about $35 billion. This results from last session’s failure to make a $690 million contribution to the retirement system, a stagnant stock market and the General Assembly’s failure to follow the VRS’s Trustees’ recommendations in 14 of 16 years. Some legislators believe we should switch to a 401k-style pension. I believe we should continue and fund our existing pension system.

The media has spotlighted legislation to lift Virginia’s uranium mining moratorium which dates from the early 1980s. I am still strongly leaning against lifting the moratorium. I am not convinced that uranium mining can be done safely in Virginia or that the risk of permanently damaging the drinking water source for one-seventh of Virginia’s population is worth creating about 400 jobs in one area of the state.
Finally, with the likely change of party control in the state Senate, from Democratic to Republican, we expect to see a slew of social agenda bills. The first bill already filed in the House of Delegates would give a fetus the rights of a human being. Bills have been filed to allow college professors to carry weapons, authorize unregulated “Made in Virginia” firearms, repeal Virginia’s “one gun a month” purchase limit, increase state law enforcement’s involvement in federal immigration enforcement and limit people’s right to vote. I have a number of bills that I will carry and will discuss in my next column.

Young Leaders Needed
I am seeking applications for the Amundson Institute (formerly Young Leaders Program). Anyone who is a high school junior or senior and lives in the 44th District is eligible. Young Leaders come to Richmond for two days to see how the legislature operates. They meet policymakers, shadow me during committee meetings and floor sessions and present a project on state government. It is a very rewarding experience. Information on the applications and the boundaries of the 44th District are on my website or my blog, http://www.scottsurovell.org/.

The people of my district will soon receive my issues survey. Please return a copy or save a stamp and complete a more comprehensive survey online at www.scottsurovell.org/survey. It is critical that I hear the views and suggestions of the people of the 44th District. You can also always email feedback to me at scottsurovell@gmail.com or provide through my website. As always, you can also read more about my views and work on your behalf on my blog, “The Dixie Pig” – scottsurovell.blogspot.com – where I have posted over 260 articles over the last two years.

I encourage you to visit me in Richmond to share your concerns and see the legislature in action. Let us know if you are coming and we can schedule a tour of our historic State Capitol. Also, please give me your suggestions for commending resolutions for important community organizations, events or citizens over the coming year.

Town Meeting, Jan. 14
On Saturday, January 14, at 10:00 a.m., I will host a Town Hall Meeting with Senator Toddy Puller and Senator Adam Ebbin at the Mt. Vernon Government Center, 2511 Parkers Lane, Alexandria, VA 22306 to get your input and questions.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve. It is an honor to be your state delegate.

Let the Sun Shine on Virginia's Legislature

2012-01-01T12:08:00.000-08:00

Some of the most important work we do in the legislature takes place in committee. Bills are killed, amended, entirely replaced (substituted), or "rolled into" other bills. Unless you are there, you are left to guess about what was said and why it happened.

A couple years ago, a fight began raging over whether the General Assembly ought to at least require recorded votes in committee and subcommittee meetings. Today, recorded votes are the subcommittee are very uncommon. That issue will continue to bubble.

One issue that I have raised is requiring all of our business to be conducted on the record and we ought to use technology to improve the performance of our Government.
I am in the courtroom almost every day as part of my law practice. Court reporters are not required in Virginia and court proceedings are not automatically recorded. In my first session, I introduced legislation allowing automatic digital recording of all proceedings in all courts. That legislation was rejected, but Attorney General Cuccinelli wrote an opinion that legislation was not required and a recording system is now being installed in the Fairfax County Courthouse today.

We still lag behind in the General Assembly. House and Senate floor sessions in Virginia are live streamed and archived on video. However, Committee and Subcommittee meetings are open to the public, but only if you are there.

According to the National Council of State Legislatures, there are only 14 legislatures in the United States that do not have audio or video live streaming or digital archiving of committee and subcommittee proceedings. We are one of them.

Last year I introduced legislation requiring committee and subcommittee meetings to be digitally recorded and placed on the internet. It was tabled in Committee with directions to be studied.

The House Clerk's Office believes that it will cost approximately $85,000 to purchase the hardware and software necessary to at least provide archived digital recordings of House Commitee proceedings and about $4,500 per year after that for software licensing fees.

This is an insignificant expense compared with the benefit that it would provide to allowing the public to see and hear what goes on when most of the heavy lifting is done in public on legislation. I am introducing the legislation again and hope that this year, we will have better luck.

State Support for UVA Less Than 50% of 1989 Levels

2011-12-29T10:00:00.000-08:00

Some people joke that the the session really starts around December 1 of every year. Well, this time of year, we are busy getting innudated with briefing materials with various organizations showing us their importance to the Commonwealth. I was reading through a few sets of materials today and the package from UVA really blew my mind.

My parents both benefitted from an affordable high quality in-state higher education. Like my parents, I also benefitted from this attending James Madison University from 1989-1993.

First, today's General Fund inflation-adjusted appropriations for UVA is less than 50% what it was in 1989. The Commonwealth is investing $7,657 per student at UVA as compared with $16,846 per student when I attended college.

Second, if you compare the UVA General Fund appropriation from 1989 and apply the rate of inflation to it, it has gone from around $120 million down to approximately $105 million.

You can see from the chart that this trend began when I was in college - I really remember it. Right after I started at JMU, a recession hit and Governor Wilder insisted that he was going to balance the state budget without raising taxes (he was also talking about running for President). Higher education was one of the first thigns to be cut. You can see there was a slight recovery in 2001, but then things fell off the charts in 2001 after control of the General Assembly changed hands.

This has also impacted Virginia relative to the rest of the United States. Most people think that Virginia's higher education system ranks well with other states because of our high quality institutions.

This chart to the left shows that Virginia now ranks 40th in state appropriations per Full Time Student. We have the 9th highest per capita income in the United States and we 40th in higher education investments.

Universities have been left to made up this massive revenue shortfall with out-of-state students, and many have tried to shift the blame for the lack of spots at good universities on these schools.

After looking at these numbers, it is pretty clear where the blame lies.

VA State Parks Youth Conservation Corps

2011-12-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Virginia State Parks' Youth Conservation Corps is currently accepting applications through April 13, 2012 to help this summer at the state's 36 parks from kids ages 14-17.

Here's a description:

(YCC) - This is a three-week residential program. Crews live in the park for three weeks. Work generally takes place in the daytime, and environmental education and adventure opportunities fill evenings and weekends. Crewmembers work and live as a team. Crewmembers also complete several projects throughout their park. Recruitment is targeted to attract youth from diverse backgrounds. Young people with a strong background in environmental education are encouraged to apply, but young people who have never experienced a park setting are welcome as well. An executive director and YCC coordinator handle the recruitment and selection of crewmembers and supervisors. Selection is based heavily on the quality of responses given in the application. Site selection and project planning are handled by park staff.

The Virginia State Parks have more information at the link below.

Virginia State Parks Youth Conservation Corps

2012 Young Leaders Program

2011-12-25T17:54:00.000-08:00

This year, I will be sponsoring my second annual Young Leaders Program. Former Delegate Kris Amundson began this program in partnership with Cox Communications as an opportunity for selected high school juniors and seniors who demonstrate high potential in leadership to learn about legislative and public service careers through a job shadow experience.

The primary event will take place in Richmond during the 2012 legislative session. Students will come to Richmond for 3 days(January 20th-31st) and observe the General Assembly at work. They will also meet with leaders in state government. The program is an excellent chance for students to learn how state government works first-hand.

Each student will also complete a project, focusing on an aspect of the Commonwealth's government that they choose. After the legislative session, students will present their projects and we may even find a way to make the projects available to the community. Cox Communications may interview students about their experience.

The program will be open to juniors and seniors who live in (or attend a school in) the 44th District. We will be working with several sponsors so that there will be no cost for the students.

Delegate Amundson created this program in 2000 and many Mount Vernon area high school students have participated. Last year we had a fantastic group of students and I'm looking forward to meeting more of the 44th District's high school leaders.

Application forms are available online here.

If you'd like a hard copy, please contact my office at 571.249.44TH(4484). Applications are due no later than December 30, 2011. Students selected for the Young Leaders Program will be notified during the first week of January.

The Birth of WePo & The Return of Red Dawn

2011-12-22T16:14:00.000-08:00

Now for a bit of local history.

Back when I was in 7th and 8th grade, the southern end of the county endured an epic battle over the closure and merger of Fort Hunt High School and Groveton High School. I'm not going to revisit that, but after the decision was made, the students were asked to make some decisions.

I was in the Class of '89 and in the Fall of 1984, I started 8th Grade. My class (and possibly others), were tasked with coming up with the name, colors, and mascot for the new high school. My brother was in 6th grade, and the pyramid 6th graders got to work on the "new" intermediate school.

I have a vague recollection of the choices. I remember that Gunston High School was in play and I have a fleeting recollection that a "Heifer" was one of the mascots on the table, but maybe I'm just confusing rumors with reality.

In the Summer of 1984, the big movie was Red Dawn featuring Patrick Swayze, Jennifer Gray, C. Thomas Howell, Lea Thompson, and Charlie Sheen's big screen debut (see trailer below). It was about a group of high school kids who fought back the Russian invasion of their town by retreating to the Rocky Mountains and fighting their way back with hunting rifles and RPG's. Every time they blew up a Russian convoy they would scream at them about their school mascot - the Wolverines.

So our election came and everyone knows the outcome today - West Potomac High School was born with Blue and Gray and of course, our mascot was, of course predetermined - We Are Wolverines.

Today, when I mention it to WePo students, they look at me like I'm some crazy fossil. You see - today's seniors were all born around 1994-95 (when I was law school). Patrick Swayze recently died. Jennifer Grey is that old actress with a bad nose job on Dancing With the Stars. C. Thomas Howell's career cratered after Soul Man, Lea Thompson was done in by Howard the Duck, and Charlie Sheen is.... well, Charlie Sheen.

So the other day, I found out that they have actually shot a re-make of Red Dawn that is scheduled to be released in the Fall of 2012 featuring high school kids defending us from an invasion by the North Korean Army (apparently it was originally the Chinese but they changed it after China threatened to keep it from being distributed in China).

So now that it's coming back, I think it's time for West Potomac High School to revisit it's heritage. I think both movies should be required viewing for all West Potomac High School graduates (along with paramiltary and survival training).

LONG LIVE THE WOLVERINES!

Nonpartisan Congressional Redistricting Options

2011-12-21T08:25:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year, the Virginia Redistricting Competition featured 55 teams of students competing for cash prizes to draw congressional districts based on nonpartisan criteria.

Here's what the winning maps looked like (click to enlarge) with links to the other documentation submitted with each entry.

I have also put copies of the Governor's Bipartisan Redistricting Commission maps below the page break here.

Competition Division - 1st Place - UVA Team 1

Competition Division - 2nd Place - UVA Team 2

Governor's Commission - 1st Place - William & Mary Law School

Governor/Commission Division - 2nd Place - UVA Team 1

Governor McDonnell's Bipartisan Redistrict Commission - Map #1

Governor McDonnell's Bipartisan Redistrict Commission - Map #2

Weekly Column: A Nonpartisan Redistricting Opportunity

2011-12-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

This column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette on December 22, 2011:

I have repeatedly advocated nonpartisan redistricting. I believe that our current redistricting system is at the heart of political gridlock in Washington and Richmond. Thanks to power software, today politicians pick their voters instead of voters picking their politicians. We also have a system designed to minimize public input and maximize incumbent protection. However, in January, a federal judge will have an unprecedented opportunity in Virginia.

Most people wouldn't know it, but the General Assembly is actually still in special session, but just in recess while we "consider" redistricting. The Governor signed legislation redistricting the General Assembly on April 29, 2011, but Congressional redistricting was never completed.

The last time we were actually physically in the State Capitol for a session was July 29, 2011. The House and Senate had previously approved competing bills regarding redistricting. On July 29, 2011, neither party had reached an agreement. Nothing was passed. We still sit today starting each other down with lame duck members of each chamber in office until January 6, 2012.
The House of Delegates approved legislation that was effectively proposed by the incumbent congressmen ("the Republican Plan") (on the right). Most observers believe it will preserve the status quo in Virginia. It contained some strange creatures - e.g. the Fifth Congressional District stretched from I-66 to the North Carolina border.

The Senate proposed a plan ("the Senate Democrats Plan") creates a "minority influence district" in the Richmond suburbs. Most observers believe it would endanger Congressman Randy Forbes. I have not carefully analyzed them, but it is my understanding that competitive seats are largely absent from both plans.

In terms of the 44th Delegate District, both plans would put the entire 44th District inside the 8th Congressional District. If you would like to see the plans, you can view them here:
Division of Legislative Services - Redistricting Maps

Article II, Section 6 of The Constitution of Virginia requires redistricting to occur "in the year 2011 and every ten years thereafter." The Constitution does not state what happens if it does not happen "in the year 2011." From my point of view it is an unprecedented opportunity.

The following is expected. First, we will return to Richmond on January 6, 2012 and all be sworn in. Then, the Senate will meet to approve its rules and committees and will deadlock 20-20 on "organizing" themselves. The Lieutenant Governor will vote to break the tie and give the Republicans a working majority in the Senate. The Democrats will complain and say that is illegal.

The House and Senate will then pass the Republican Plan and the Governor will promptly sign it. All that will occur in about ten days. Then, it will go to court and a federal judge will then need to rule:
Whether to adopt the Republican Plan (assuming it meets the requirements of the Voting Rights Act of 1965); or
Whether to have a three-judge panel adopt its own plan.
From my point of view, this is an unprecedented opportunity. Many of us have endorsed the concept of non-partisan redistricting. Although the State Senate has passed legislation and it was nominally endorsed by Governor McDonnell during his campaign, it has died every year committee. This situation presents an opportunity for a federal judge to actually do congressional redistricting on a non-partisan basis.

The work has already been done. Several Virginia Colleges held The Virginia Redistricting Competition last fall desigined to produce maps created to maximize competition or simply focus upon non-political criteria. Fifty-five teams of students submitted entiries. Four different teams were given awards for the Congressional District maps. (They don't look anything like the present maps).

Governor McDonnell also created a Bipartisan Redistricting Commission. It even included a Mt. Vernonite - Former State Board of Elections Chairman Jean Jensen. The produced three possible congressional district maps.

The bottom line is that the work has been done. If the Court wants to take a step that was truly in Virginia's best interest, they should reject the legislatures' partisan self-interested work product and adopt one of the independent proposals. That is the only action that would be in Virginians' best interest.

You can email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com. You can also stay informed by reading my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com. It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

Putting Some Sunshine on Tax Credits

2011-12-20T06:08:00.000-08:00

WAMU is running a story this morning by Michael Pope on some legislation that I am introducing next session regarding shining some light on tax credits.

During the last two years I have been elected, I have been astonished at the number of tax credit bills that I have seen go through my Chamber. Towards the end of last session, several of us were discussing these and the cumulative effect they are having on our budget - especially given how picky we are being about expenditures because Virginia's budget situation is so horrific.

For example, in the last two years, I have noticed the following:

A $4M tax credit for movie production;
A $40M tax credit for coal production;
A $4M tax credit for wineries;
A $2M tax credit for Virginia's ports;
A $2M tax credit for research & development (I voted for this one);
A $2M tax credit for telecommuting;
A tax credit for creating "green" jobs.

I'll be introducing my own tax credit bill this year to allow people to claim them for solar panels, geothermal heat pump systems, and solar hot water systems. Every state surrounding us already has them along with the federal government.

The list goes on. Virginia has other tax credits for donating land for open space, historic preservation, "major business facilities," day care facilities, etc. There is a great list on the Department of Taxation's website which is not exclusive. As you can see, they make for great brochures (e.g. grist for the legislative re-election mill).

They also make for great pork. From my point of view, many times these credits reward interests with the best lobbying teams and if I were an interest looking for an appropriation, it is a lot easier to pass if it were called a tax credit than simply putting a line item in a budget that says $4,000,000 to Steven Speilberg, $2,000,000 to Donald Trump (for his new winery), or $1,000,000 to Daddy Warbucks to keep 500 acres on his country estate free of development.

The fiscal reality of a tax credit is that they are a dollar-for-dollar credit against your taxes. The effect upon taxpayers is exactly the same as the government writing a check to someone unlike a deduction where you only get a benefit at your marginal tax rate (you get credit of roughly 20%-50%).

That's why I am introducing that requires the Department of Taxation to annually publish a list of every taxpayer who claims a tax credit along with the amount and credit claimed with some exceptions (e.g. the low income tax credit and the credit for tax paid to another state). All government expenditures are subject to public scrutiny - there is no reason that a benefit claimed from a tax credit should not be as well.

If any taxpayer is going to reap this kind of reward from taxpayers, there ought to be sunshine on the process so that if these things are the results of special interests, voters can connect the dots between political contributions and benefits and so that the effectiveness of credits themselves can be evaluated by the public.

Sunshine is the best political disinfectant. Let it shine on in.

NAS Study Highlights Risks of Mining Uranium

2011-12-19T22:05:00.000-08:00

Six months ago, I wrote about the coming fight this session over the lifting Virginia's thirty-year moratorium on mining uranium. You can read my article here:

The Dixie Pig: Uranium Mining - The Coming Battle (July 5, 2011)

This week, the National Academy of Sciences released its long-awaited report regarding this issue. The New York Times has a good summary here.

The full report has a fascinating section on Virginia's geology, weather, and ecology. For example, it points out that debris flows are some of the most destructive events in the Virginia's mountainous areas, account for more than 50% of erosion in Virginia mountainous area river basins, and recur on a 2,000-4,000 year cycle. (P. 30-31) Virginia is at a relatively high risk for flooding because we have a high precipitation rate and topography - much higher than areas where uranium has ever been mined before in the United States (P. 34).

It also points out that our experience with earthquakes only started in the 1700's and we just experienced the most serious earthquake event of the last 400 years just a few months ago that shut down the North Anna reactor for months. (P. 30-31).

The report also included this great map that shows how all this got started. Basically, in 1973, the U.S. Government decided to promote uranium exploration in response to the 1973 OPEC Oil Embargo. The conducted an airborne gamma-ray spectrometry survey to identify surface concentrations of radioactive minerals by measuring gamma ray emissions. The map is on the right and the site we are fighting about is right in the middle of the massive purple blob in Central Southside Virginia (see note I added to Figure 3.4 at right (click to enlarge)).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Click to enlarge Figure 3.4 and note that on this map, the 44th District, Alexandria and Arlington have practically no gamma-radiation (explaining George Washington's emergence as our nation's leader and making the 44th District one of the few locations in Virginia whose thoughts aren't regularly clouded by radioactive emissions (note tongue in cheek)).

The price of uranium has varied widely. This chart on the left show historical uranium prices.

You can see the spike in 1973 and then in 2006 when this issue picked up interest in Virginia again.

About 20% of the current U.S. uranium supply comes from decommissioned Soviet warheads. That supply is coming to an end shortly. Between that and demand from new reactors (yes, I know Germany is going in a different direction), the long-term price prospects for uranium must be good.

That's what I read in the first 100 pages.

I'll read the last 120 pages tomorrow, but here are some highlights I pulled from the Non-Technical Summary.

Page 11. There are 55 documented occurrences of uranium deposits in Virginia. Most are along the Blue Ridge and Piedmont (right). Thus far, only one has been identified as economically viable to mine.
Page 12. Open pit and conventional mining (tunneling) are the only viable methods of mining uranium in Virginia.
Page 13. The NAS did not have enough site-specific data to predict what mining or processing method would be appopriate for the Coles Hill site in Virginia.
Page 14. Use of industry best practices and a robust regulatory framework are necessary to mitigate the risk of radiation exposure to the general public from groundwater contamination or airborne radiation (radioactive dust or radon gas).
Page 15. Modern tailings management attempts to control tailings for 200-1000 years. VA is subject to "relatively frequent storms that produce intense rainfall" and "it is questionable whether currently-engineered tailings repositories could be expected to prevent erosion and surface and groundwater contamination for as long as 1,000 years."
Page 16 - Existing uranium mining regulations were typically enacted in reaction to bad events. Going forward, "A culture is requiredin which worker and public health, environmental resources, and ecological resources are highlyvalued, continuously assessed, and activelyprotected."
Page 17 - Virginia has not needed to regulate uranium mining in the past. "At present, there are substantial gaps in legal and regulatory coverage for activities involved in uranium mining, processing, reclamation, and long-term stewardship."
Page 17 - Public participation is critical in the regulatory process before decisions are made. "[U]nder the current regulatory structure,opportunities for meaningful public involvement arefragmented and limited." Opportunities for public participation in licensing of specific mines is limited only to adjacent landowners. There is no guaranty that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission will hold approval hearings in the vicinity of the proposed facility. "Furthermore, there is no evidence at present that members of the public would be included in deliberations about post-closure plans at the time those plans are implemented."

Finally, there is this quote in summary on Page 19 (my emphasis added):

If the Commonwealth of Virginia removes the moratorium on uranium mining, there are steep hurdles to be surmounted before mining and processing could be established in a way that is appropriately protective of the health and safety of workers, the public and the environment. There is only limited experience with modern underground and open pit uranium mining and processing in the United States, and no such experience in Virginia. At the same time, there exist internationally accepted best practices that could provide a starting point for the Commonwealth if it decides to lift its moratorium. After extensive scientific and technical briefings, substantial public input, the review of numerous documents and extensive deliberations, the committee is convinced that the adoption and rigorous implementation of such practices would be necessary if uranium mining, processing, and reclamation were to be undertaken.

The summary of the report raises many serious questions and points to many flaws in Virginia's existing regulatory framework that need to be explored before proceeding. It also suggests that a "hands off" approach is not the best way to proceed when dealing with a substance as toxic as uranium and that implemention should involve a lot more than the simple repeal of a moratorium if we are to proceed while protecting the public.

I might write more after I read the rest, but in the meantime, I'm curious to see what the proposal is to overcome the "steep hurdles" identified in the report. It seems to me like this will require much more than just a repeal of a moratorium.

Medicaid on the Chopping Block in 2012?

2011-12-11T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Governor is set to announce his budget sometime in the next ten days. The word from Richmond is that we have an approximate $1 billion shortfall. One of the big drivers of that is medical inflation reflected in our Medicaid budget.

Medicaid is a federal-state health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. It is also the only provider of long-term nursing care for many Americans, since Medicare coverage and coverage by most private insurance policies is quite limited. Virginia has one of the most restrictive programs in the United States - you have to be very poor to be eligible. Most rankings put Virginia at 48th in Medicaid expenditures and 7th in per capita income. In other words, we are a relatively wealthy state and we do not help the poor much.

A significant portion of Virginia's Medicaid population are children, elderly and the blind. Here's how Virginia's 881,075 Medicaid recipients played out in 2008:

480,392 Children
177,755 Blind & Disabled
140,716 Adults
82,212 Elderly

This is where the rubber hits the road. Last week, I sat down with a doctor on Route 1. He pointed out to me that he is one of the few general practioners who is willing to see patients whose expenses are covered by Medicaid and there are quite a few Medicaid patients in my district. He explained to me that he had few options when he had patients who needed to see a specialist.

He said the closest Rheumatologist he can refer to is in Winchester. The closest Orthopedic Surgeon is in Richmond or Charlottesville. Specialists refuse to participate in Medicaid because they are paid close to $0.60 on the dollar for their fees.

This far, the Governor is promising to increase secondary education spending, take about $110 million out of the General Fund for roads, fund our Rainy Day contribution plus the our required replenishment of the retirement money that was raised last year without raising taxes. I can only see one way to do this - significantly cut Medicaid. I hope that's not the case.

Making the poor, infirm, and elderly travel 240 miles round trip for a routine doctor visit is just wrong. Also, every time we cut Medicaid hospitals make it up on the back of patients with private insurance. It's one of the reasons that healthcare costs are out of control.

Underfunding of Medicaid has been going on for years, especially in Virginia. This kind of budgeting is not sustainable and I hope that the Governor does not focus most of his cost cutting on Medicaid. If so, the 44th District is going to take it on the chin.

Coming Soon: Unwanted Solitications to Your Mobile Phone

2011-12-09T14:28:00.001-08:00

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA"). The TCPA was passed in 1991 and placed limits on robocalls, phone solitications, and unsolicited faxes. The current law prohibits companies from using robodialers to call your mobile phone.

There is currently legislation proposing amendments to the TCPA pending in Congress. The legislation is endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the American Bankers Association, the Air Transport Alliance, and the Mortgage Bankers Association. The rationale is that they want to be able to call you about a security breach, fraud alerts, flight cancellations, etc.

The legislation narrows the definition of a prohibited robocall or autodialer (instead of broadening it). It also provides that if you provide your mobile phone number to someone, that is equivalent to your providing consent to unsolicited phone calls. Third, it would allow someone to call you to provide "information" - e.g. tell you about a sale at Nordstrom's this weekend, your expiring warranty on your Jetta, or say.... when are your gonna pay your bill?!

This week, the Attorneys General of fifty-four states and territories sent a letter to Congress urging amendments to proposed legislation.

First, they argued that consumers should be specifically required to provide consent in writing - simply giving a business your phone number is not consent to be robocalled. There are many reasons for this one of which is so the cost of the phone calls will not be passed onto consumers. If you have a prepaid mobile phone (25% of all mobile phones) or minute limitations on your plan, these calls will eat up your minutes and pass the cost of these calls on to the consumer.

Second, they want the law to be clear that this new statute does not preempt or negate existing state consumer protection statutes. Virginia actually has an unsolicited fax statute. In 2009, Virginia also adopted limitations on robodialers being used in solicitations.

Common sense changes. Require written consent from consumers and don't overwrite state consumer protection laws. What's wrong with that?

So who were the two states who did not sign on? Nebraska and Virginia.

Now I've been frustrated with our Attorney General on a lot of things. He's filed suits over greenhouse gas regulation, CAFE standards, healthcare, academic research, and made clothing revisions to the state seal, but this one really leaves me scratching my head because the Attorney General is supposed to be the top Prosecutor and Chief Consumer Protection Officer in the state. While I've heard a lot about constitutional theory, state's rights, and the rights of businesses to operate free government regulation, consumer protection doesn't seem to be very high on his agenda.

Our Attorney General also opposed a proposed $20 Billion settlement proposed by the majority of Attorneys General to resolve the foreclosure debacle created by robosigning and fraudulent foreclosure practices because it was tantamount to "welfare."

I find it hard to believe that there's something special about Virginia that fifty-four other Attorneys General did not consider when requesting these small changes to the TCPA. While our Attorney General has always marched to his own drum, this one really puts us out there. Virginians do not want unsoliciated calls to their mobile phones just as much as everyone else.

Next time you run into our Attorney General make sure you thank him for all of those new phone calls on your mobile phone.

2012 Mt. Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce Business Awards

2011-12-08T20:36:00.001-08:00

I had a great night tonight at the Mt. Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce's annual awards dinner. The award winners pictured at the right were the following:

Large Business of the Year - Cox Communications
Mid-Sized Business of the Year - Mt. Vernon Athletic Club
Small Business of the Year - Commercial Lynks, Inc.
New Business of the Year - Walker's Grill
Citzen of the Year - Tom Harvey, Hollin Hall Automotive, Inc.

In my comments, I said that sometimes in Mt. Vernon it feels like Mayberry because we're such a tight community. Cox funds my Young Leaders Program, I played tennis daily at Mt. Vernon Athletic Club when I was in high school, I sat next to the owner of Walker's Grill at dinner the other night, and Hollin Hall Automotive is simply legendary.

They are all part of why we live in such a great community. My commending resolution for Hollin Hall Automotive is below.
Hollin Hall Auto 50th Anniversary Commending Resolution

VA General Assembly War of 1812 Bicentennial Concert

2011-12-03T08:01:00.001-08:00

On January 11, 2010, the General Assembly is sponsoring a concert to kickoff the state's War of 1812 Bicentennial activities. The concert is FREE, but is ticketed. Information is below.

If you are interested in coming or bringing a group, please click on the link below. If you have questions. You can email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com.

RESERVE TICKETS FOR CONCERT HERE

You can access more information regarding the Bicentennial on the webstie for the Virginia Bicentennial of the American War of 1812 Commission.

General Washington's Whiskey is Back!

2011-11-27T19:32:00.001-08:00

Last year, I wrote about the Mt. Vernon Estate's newest round of whiskey production. You can read more about it here:

The Dixie Pig: Rye Back of Sale At Mt. Vernon (Dec. 1, 2010)

I wrote about the history of General Washington's whiskey production and the legislative hurdles that were cleared to make it possible. Senator Toddy Puller was a big part of making it happen.

Last month, the Mount Vernon Estate sold their newest batch of rye whiskey made from General Washington's recipe (in the left picture, pictured on the left side, click to enlarge). The newest batch was aged which is why it is brown in color. However, General Washington did not age his rye - the stuff he produced was clear (in the bottle on the right).

The bottle on the right (the clear whiskey) costs $99/ea. The newest aged batch runs $185/ea. I bought several of each. Apparently, among liquor afficiondos, they are a very in-demand curiosity. They actually hand-number each batch so you can prove their authenticity. The picture on the left side of the page shows the numbering.

I'm not really much of a liquor drinker, so I can't really comment on how they taste. I tried the first batch and I thought it tasted kind of "grassy" compared to what I'm used to - I think that's why they call it rye.

As for my new bottles, I'm still trying to figure out when it's appropriate to drink something that costs about $20 per shot. If you have any ideas, let me know.

Keep your eyes open for the next round. Yet another part of our community that makes this area a unique place to live.

2012 Session Looms

2011-11-23T12:30:00.001-08:00

The 2012 Session awaits in January. "Prefiling" or the process to request legislative drafts and file them has started. Several bills have already been introduced.

The Budget continues to be in horrible shape. The money committees have told us to expect a $1 billion shortfall that we have to plug. The condition of the budget will have effects across all kinds of programs and issue debates.

Due to changes in the Virginia Senate, there are a lot of issues that are likely going to be coming up:

Bills on "personhood" for fetuses and abortion restrictions will be front and center.
Legislation to marginalize undocumented immigrants will be a hot topic.
Bills to remove restrictions on firearms will be coming. For example, legislation to allow a person to manufacture, sell and possess a gun in Virginia free from federal restrictions is introduced annually.
Removing the moratorium on uranium mining. I wrote about that here.
The Governor has made noises and changing Virginia's pension system to a 401K-style pension.
Legislation to limit people's ability to vote will be introduced again.
There is some talk about pushing some transportation responsibilities to localities.

The Division of Legislative Services has published a newsletter which is a fairly good non-partisan recap about what is coming and has some interesting statistics. You can read it here. In 2011, we considered 2,692 bills and resolutions and passed 890.

Personally, I have about 110 different ideas I've collected over the last eight months that I am narrowing down for the session. If you have any legislative ideas for me, please feel free to drop me a note.

Thank You 44th District Voters

2011-11-21T06:38:00.001-08:00

Things have been slow over here at The Dixie Pig over the last couple weeks. I've been busy engaging with my family, getting my law practice back up an running, and I had four-day trial last week.

Between September 27 and November 11, the Republican leadershrip invested nearly $200,000 into my opponent’s race. Here are the final results:

Surovell: 8,738 Votes (59.43%)
Barsa: 5,742 Votes (39.05%)
Glean: 223 Votes (1.52%)

Thank you.

I was also very pleased to see Senator Puller, Senator-Elect Ebbin, and School Board Member Dan Storck win by commanding margins as well while we held on to our majorities on the Fairfax County School Board. These results would not have been possible without the time and effort of hundreds of volunteers, and the financial support of nearly 1,300 donors.

If you are interested in how your precinct turned out, you can look up more specific results here. We won 15 of 18 precincts and the absentee vote.

We tried to run a positive, issues-focused campaign that focused on my record and vision for the future of our part of Fairfax County and Virginia. The voters of the 44th District rejected the overwhelmingly negative and nasty campaign of my opponent.

I never publicly responded to my opponent's attacks, but here are a few thoughts.

Route 1
My opponent said my only accomplishment on Route 1 was "a little brown sign." During my first year in 2010, Delegate Sam Nixon proposed legislation designating a portion of Route 1 in Chesterfield County as "Historic Route 1" as part of their Route 1 revitalization efforts. I lead a bipartisan coalition of thirty-two legislators who sent Governor McDonnell a letter asking him to designate the entire road. Governor McDonnell followed suit and the amendment was passed unanimously. I wrote more about it here:

The Dixie Pig, Historic Route 1 Signs Are Up

I've also led many other efforts on Route 1 since being elected including:

Passage & funding of the Route 1 Transit Study
Obtaining over 500 signatures demanding that Route 1 be added to the state's Six Year Improvement Plan (letter & signatures here);
Being only 1 of 2 Northern Virginia legislators to speak out at the Commonwealth Transportation Board public hearing on its Six Year Improvement Plan (watch video here);
Introduced legislation two years in a row to study the creation of a special Route 1 Transportation Funding District (legislation here);
I've also written countless letters and articles that you can access here.

"The Third Least Effective Delegate In Richmond"
My opponent cited a statistic published by Virginia FREE which surveys Richmond lobbyists every year regarding legislators' effectiveness. Virginia FREE is an organization that promotes business interests in Richmond. It provides us with a questionnaire every year that is designed by the state's largest corporate interests.

The Washington Post reported that although I had raised more money than any incumbent who won re-election in my Caucus, I raised less money from Richmond interests than any legislator in the entire legislature.

The Washington Post, Groups That Lobby Richmond Assembly Have Donated Millions to Candidates (Aug. 6, 2011)

On the other hand, my opponent has reported raising at least $193,000 so far. Of his total, $176,000 came from the Republican Leadership committees and he reported an additional $25,000 in late reported leadership money as well. These are largely funded by Richmond interest groups. He only raised about $10,000 (five percent) from people inside the 44th District. I have raised about $82,000 from voters in the 44th District over the last two years (approximately one-third of my total fundraising).

VA FREE's rankings consistently rank freshman Democrats very low. Nearly all of the bottom ten members are Democratic freshman. Freshmen in the minority are rarely given lobbyists' bills to carry and their bills are routinely killed by the majority.

Notwithstanding that, I introduced more bills than any freshman in the minority and passed more bills (seven) than any other freshman in the minority.

92% Partisan Voting History
My opponent said that I "voted with my party 92% of the time." His citation for that statistic was the entire legislative database. I have no idea what that statistic is based upon. Having said that, given that my chamber is controlled by the Republican Party, there are very pieces of legislation that come to the floor that I would characterize as being Democratic.

Meals' Taxes
My opponent also attacked me for attempting to undermine the will of Fairfax County's voters on the meals' tax.

Due to the Dillon Rule, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors cannot enact a meals tax. Counties only have the authority to enact a meals tax by referendum. Five counties (Arlington, Rockingham, Rockbridge, Roanoke & Frederick County) have been given the authority to enact a meals tax by unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors. In 2001, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors proposed a referendum on the meals tax. It was rejected by the voters.

Fairfax County's Public Schools faced a $180 million deficit two years ago. A meals tax is projected to raise $80 million per year. Meals taxes are also currently levied by the City of Alexandria, Arlington County, the City of Falls Church, the City of Fairfax and the Town of Vienna. I introduced legislation that would allow Fairfax County to be added to the list of jurisdictions that could enact a meals tax by a unanimous vote of the Board of Supervisors. Given that Fairfax County has three Republican Supervisors, enactment would require bipartisan agreement.

Negative campaigning did not work. At the end of the day, the voters of the 44th District have spoken and I am honored to have two more years to serve our community. Thank you so much for your support during the campaign and on election day. If I can ever be of any service please don't hesitate to contact my office.

$180 Million to Widen U.S. 1 Finally Released!

2011-11-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

Congressman Jim Moran has been working hard over the last three years to obtain federal funding to help mitigate some of the traffic problems caused by BRAC at Fort Belvoir.
I have written about some of his previous efforts here:

The Dixie Pig, Public Hearing on Route 1 Through Fort Belvoir (Oct. 3, 2011)

The Dixie Pig, The NAS Says the Feds Need to Pony Up for BRAC (Feb. 11, 2011)

The Dixie Pig, $150 Million for U.S. 1 Dies in U.S. Senate (July 29, 2011)

The Dixie Pig, U.S. 1 Funding Inches Closer (July 10, 2010)

The Dixie Pig, Working to Transform U.S. 1 (Feb. 25, 2010)

The Dixie Pig, Fighting for the Future of U.S. 1 (Feb. 23, 2010)

Today, the U.S. Army announced that it was awarding $180 million to Fort Belvoir. This is significant on a number of levels.

First, Route 1 is desperately in need of widening along this stretch of road due to current and future traffic and this will bring some relief.

Second, this lays the ground work for transit along this stretch of U.S. 1. The improvement will likely include dedicated right-of-way for some kind of future transit improvements.

Third, this project will have taken place due to the efforts of the federal, state and local government. Senator Toddy Puller initiated the Route 1 improvement process in 1994 with her legislation authorizing the Route 1 Centerline Study. Fairfax County funded the engineering design process last year with a $2 million appropriation. Finally, the Federal government has come through with the funding for the improvement.

Lastly, federal funding of a local transportation improvement validates the importance of Fort Belvoir to the United States Military and demonstrates that the Federal Government will fund local transporation improvements when they benefit a military asset like Route 1. This demonstrates why the Federal Government will be involved in funding the extension of the Yellow Line to Fort Belvoir once we have laid the groundwork for that as well.

My joint press release with Senator Puller is below.
RELEASE- Puller Surovell Applaud $180M for Rt 1-1

Big Slim's Neighborhood: Knocking Doors on Lockheed Boulevard

2011-10-24T20:18:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I've been knocking doors in apartments on Route 1.

Earlier this year, I wrote about knocking doors in Hayfield Precinct. I also wrote about a few people I've met including an artist named Pat Monk, and an old soldier named Samuel Ferguson.

Tonight, I had to coach our makeup game for my oldest daughter's soccer team until about 6:30 P.M. I wasn't able to start knocking until late. I swung by the campaign office, said hi to the volunteers, and I headed over to Lockheed Boulevard right up the street. Because I started late, I was only able to hit about twenty doors, but it was an interesting night.

The first door of the night had a really unusual name. It turned out to be a Cambodian family. I had not remembered meeting a Cambodian family in 10,000 doors. The the mother and daughter were registered to vote. However, the mother was unemployed and disabled. She told me she could mend my clothes and gave me a homemade business card which was an index card with an address label stuck on it with a phone number handwritten on it.

Her daughter was off at NOVA in classes and her other daughter was doing her homework on their one computer in the living room. She corrected her mother a few times when she was not picking up my english well (a common occurrence when I talk to immigrant families). A friend from Janna Lee was visiting, but she was not registered yet because she said she had not been able to afford the fee take her citizenship test yet. I encouraged her to take the test so she could vote next year. They all pledged to vote this year.

Next, I ran into a hispanic family whose door I knocked two years ago. Their forty-five year old son answered the door. He said he was staying with his parents because he was unemployed, but he used to live in Murraygate Apartments (behind Gold's Gym). His parents were at work (it was 8:00 pm). He assured me that they would make every effort to vote and he appreciated me stopping by.

I next knocked the door of an African family (maybe from Ghana). The mother opened the door with a few kids. At first she was kind of annoyed and then she had an epiphany - she said "you were here a year ago!" (two years ago actually). She said "we're voting for you," thanked me for stopping by and returned to her apartment.

Downstairs, I met another African man who I spoke to two years ago. He came out in his pajamas after his son at West Potomac answered the door. He said he remembered me and our conversation two years ago. He was really interested in getting more well-paying technology jobs in the Route 1 Corridor. His daily commute to Herndon was over one every day one-way. He said that he had never really voted before President Obama was elected, but that the President had inspired him to register and participate. He assured me he would find time to vote.

I walked up to the next building and ran into a tall African-American man outside who was kicking a soccer ball with a kid. No one in the apartment was registered and I asked him if he was registered. He said he used to vote where he lived before and wanted to register when he moved to Virginia, but they would not let him because of his felony.

We talked about how Virginia's restriction dates back to the 1905 Constitution that was specifically adopted to disenfranchise black voters and that Virginia was the last state in the country to have significant barriers for felons to vote. He said everything else in Virginia "was great" and he was really pleased at how things had been going for him, but that he really wanted to vote and could not. I told him I would help him with his restoration next Spring whether I was elected or not.

I went upstairs and knocked the door of a woman. She answered the door with three children. After I talked to her about expanding preschool, she told me about how she had been on the waiting list for subsidized childcare or Head Start and that only one of her children was able to get in. She was paying $300 per week for childcare for her youngest child and she was barely breaking even working and was thinking about not working because it was not really working out. She leaves for work at 6:00 A.M. every day and drops her children off at daycare so she can be home in time for school to let out.

We talked about the McDonnell Administration's recent proposal to limit childcare subsidies to five years per family. She said that would hit her hard. She can only earn so much with her job skills and was barely breaking even as is. She could not figure out how to make things work out with a five year cap. I talked to her about how important these issues were and told her she needed to vote. She said she would.

I knocked her next door neighbor. That turned out to be the sister of a high school classmate (who was in bed). I talked to her son who I had talked to two weeks ago at a West Potomac J.R.O.T.C. car wash. We didn't realize we had that connection. He told me that he would get his mother to vote.

For my last door of the night, I went downstairs to the last apartment on my list. The registered voter was a thirty year-old woman, but the door was answered by a 6'8" man who probably weighed 250 lbs. (his name was "Big Slim"), was holding a video game controller and was decked out in some kind of high tech X-Box head gear. The voter wasn't available so I asked Big Slim if he could vote. He also couldn't vote because of the prohibition on voting for former felons. We also talked about Virginia's Jim Crow Era prohibition, I took his information and we agreed to talk next Spring about getting his rights restored.

When he closed the door, it had started to rain and then pour so I called it a night.

I hadn't really planned on writing about knocking doors tonight, but I was really struck by how different each door was in this one complex. I've now knocked over 10,000 doors in two years. Obviously, tonight was a bit different from the 1,000 doors I knocked in Hayfield, the 5,000 that I knocked up and down Fort Hunt Road in 2009 or the 1,000 doors I knocked in Hollin Hills last month. I really enjoy it because there is no better way to understand who makes up our community. You never know who will be behind the next door and what perspective, story or issues they will bring to the table.

Route 1 is especially interesting because it is so different from the part of the district where I live. U.S. Senator Jim Webb always says that you measure a strength of a community at its base, not its apex, and when I first ran, I pledged to work hard to represent both sides of Route 1. Knocking doors helps me remember my pledge and keeps me in touch with everyone that makes up the community that is the 44th District.

At the end of the day, every person I met tonight was working hard, trying to make it in a tough economy, and trying to provide the best they can for their children to the best of their own individual ability. It is an honor to represent them.

Supreme Court Moves Forward On E-Filing!

2011-10-21T22:41:00.000-07:00

Virginia's Courts remain one of the few systems in the United States that do not have a functioning e-filign system. Legal papers still must be filed on paper signed by attorneys at the courthouse between normal business hours. This is not only unnecessary in today's electronic age, it is costly, inefficient, and results in thousands of wasted hours of productivity, wasted paper, and limits public access to information.

During the 2010 Legislative Session, I partnered with Fairfax County Clerk John T. Frey to introduce legislation to facilitate the adoption of "e-filing" in Virginia by eliminating a requirement that all e-filing be governed by the Rules of Court.

Due to its size, Fairfax County has very unique circumstances compared to the rest of the state. Our civil dockets make up the vast majority of our dockets - in most other jurisdictions, criminal cases are more prevalent in Circuit Court. Fairfax County Circuit Court also has a case volume that is much larger than most other systems.

My legislation was ultimately incorporated into several other bills, passed, and signed by the Governor on April 11, 2010. The purpose was to give localities the flexibility to adopt the systems most appropriate for their circumstances.

This week, the Supreme Court of Virginia announced new rules to facilitate electronic filing. The new rules are posted here:

Supreme Court Rule Revisions Posted for Comment

Proposed comments are due before March 30, 2012.

I am happy we are finally making progress on modernizing our court system. Electronic filing will ultimately save taxpayers and litigants millions of dollars of expenses and attorney's fees, plus make our system more open and available to the public.

Mulligan Road Delayed...AGAIN

2011-10-20T11:20:00.000-07:00

My constituents who live in both Hayfield, the Route 1 Corridor and Mt. Vernon are are very interested in the completion of Mulligan Road which will run between U.S. 1 at the Woodlawn Mansion and Telegraph Road. I previously wrote about the status Mulligan Road here:

The Dixie Pig, Mulligan Road Progresses (Mar. 18, 2011)

Most of the grading work has been completed through Fort Belvoir (picture at the right).

To complete the road, the connection to Telegraph Road needs to be constructed, land acquired from the Woodlawn Mansion, grading between Pole Road and U.S. 1 completed, some slight adjustments to the intersections of Old Mill (new Mulligan), Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, U.S. 1, and the Woodlawn Estate and then paving the entire length of the road.

Now that funding has been completed, the project was bid out. After the bid was awarded, a bid protest was filed, and the project had to be rebid. The project was posted on February 17, 2011, rebid, and the $10.2M contract was awarded on June 23, 2011 for the second time. Bulldozers were scheduled to start digging this month.

Last night, I attended the public hearing at the South County Government Center regarding the potential widening of U.S. 1. Before the meeting, Supervisor Jeff McKay and I spoke to a representative of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).

The representative advised us that yet another bid protest has been filed by a disgruntled contractor and that the project is currently on hold although utility relocation will proceed.

I have spoken with Supervisors Hyland and McKay and Senator Puller. The word "annoyed" does not begin to describe the level of frustration that we feel. This project will save tens of thousands of people hundreds of thousands of hours per year and help to alleviate Route 1 congestion and the effects of BRAC. Further delays with this project are not acceptable and I will do everything I can to make this project move forward.

I will post further updates when I have them. In the meantime, I'm thinking about introducing legislation renaming the road "Snakebit Road."

****UPDATE****

The FHWA has advised me that under federal bid protest contracting rules there will be no decision on the bid protest until at least January 20, 2012. Given timeframes for deployment, etc. the earliest possible construction start would be Spring, 2012.

***SECOND UPDATE***
The bid protestor in both cases was the Overland Corporation. If you are interested, you can follow the status of the bid protest here using Solicitation Number DTFH71-11-R-00009:

GAO Legal Decisions & Bid Protest Docket Search

Paving of Fort Hunt Road Begins!

2011-10-18T21:42:00.000-07:00

I was driving home from a meeting around midnight tonight when I came up Sherwood Hall Lane up to Fort Hunt Road. It looked like a spaceship had landed so I got out to look around. I blogged about the coming operation two weeks ago:

The Dixie Pig: The Paving of Fort Hunt Road to Begin Soon (Sept. 28, 2011)

The paving company had milled the pavement off the entire intersection in both direction, but was only working over the northbound lanes so that traffic could pass. The entire road was devoid of traffic, but it was also quite busy with spotlights and police emergency lights activated.

There were no spectators (except me).

The Fairfax County Police controlled the main intersection. They also had cars stationed at three different approaches. Officer Patton told me how he does this two or three times per week when he's not at the Northern Virginia Police Academy. It's a very specialized crew.

The paving company was providing a guidecar for all traffic to get through. It was very slow - not everyone coming up Sherwood Hall Lane was going the same direction.

There were probably ten six or seven dump trucks waiting for milled roadway or waiting to supply asphalt to the paving machines. The steam rollers were chugging along with the painting crew running right behind.

The paving of Fort Hunt Road is long overdue and has been delayed for years because of the lack of state funding. It's great to finally see some progress.

Samuel Ferguson: A Soldier From Gum Springs

2011-10-16T22:28:00.000-07:00

One of the reasons I like knocking doors is because you get to meet many of the amazing people that make our community so great. Tonight, I got to meet one of those people.

While knocking doors in Spring Garden Apartments, I ran into Sam Ferguson. Mr. Ferguson is 89 years-old.

While I was talking to him about my race and voting in November, I noticed the military certificates hanging on the wall and said something to him about being a veteran and then we got to talking.

Mr. Ferguson was born in 1922 and grew up in Gum Springs. He grew up "cutting corn" and "milking cows" around Mt. Vernon's farms. He told me about the farm where the Multiplex stands today and a man with 400 dairy cows back towards Mt. Vernon Hospital.

He listed off a litany of the places where he had attended school - Gum Springs, Woodlawn, "Springbank," and high school in Manassas before Fairfax County agreed to build Luther Jackson High School. That was the status quo in the days before Fairfax County's schools were desegrated in the 1960's.

I had never heard of a school at Springbank, so I Googled it when I got home and found a fascinating doctoral dissertation which discussed the history of the Gum Springs, Springbank, and Woodlawn schools along with the busing to Manassas.

Mr. Ferguson enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served during World War II. He also listed off all the places around the world he'd been, but I didn't take notes and couldn't remember all of them. He showed me portraits taken of himself in uniform in the Navy (on the left) that looked like they were from a different time.

After serving in World War II, he was the head shoe repairman at Fort Belvoir for 17 years. He also had pictures of himself at work (on the right) and other pictures of men watching him do his work.

He's not quite as spry as he used to be and he doesn't like to call attention to himself, but he still gets around. His apartment was a treasure trove of Mt. Vernon's past. He still had his childhood baseball mitt which was straight out of The Natural. I wish I could've stayed longer.

It's easy to forget about Mt. Vernon's rural past. My grandmother used to tell me stories about moving to Mt. Vernon in 1940 and having to deal with live chickens, cope with milk delivered via a milkman, and the stories about the rampant segregation that was the status quo in Fairfax County until the 1960's.

I'd never met Mr. Ferguson before, but he reminded me a lot of my grandmother's stories. There are also so few World War II veterans left, it's always an honor to meet one, hear their stories and gain some perspective.

It's also good motivation to keep knocking doors!

VA Sales Tax Holiday on Energy Efficient Products!

2011-10-07T12:06:00.000-07:00

Today marks the start of the third and final Virginia Sales Tax Holiday of the year. From now to October 10th, non-commercial purchases of the following Energy Star products:

Dishwashers
Clothes dryers
Refrigerators
Air conditioners
Compact fluorescent light bulbs
WaterSense products including bathroom sink faucets, faucet accessories and toilets priced at $2,500 or less

I have written before about how home energy efficiency can provide major savings. Whether it is regulation of home energy auditors, rebates for energy efficient appliances, or creating incentives for hybrid vehicles, I believe that Virginia must be a leader in adopting and developing green technologies.

You can find more information about the sales tax holiday here.

South County Youth Network Wins State ABC Grant

2011-10-03T20:43:00.000-07:00

Last week, I appeared with the South County Youth Network for the presentation of a $7,250 grant to promote zero tolerance of underage alcohol consumption by underage children.

The grant for SCYN was awarded to increase membership; hold six alcohol and drug-free events including “Stompout” and Friday night movies; develop and implement prevention trainings for the coalition; and organize three efforts to influence policy.

Public Hearing on Route 1 Thru Ft. Belvoir

2011-10-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

About three months ago, Congressman Jim Moran did an incredible job navigating a gridlocked Congress to secure $300 million to benefit transportation improvements for new military hospitals. Most expect $150 million of this funds to be used to widen U.S. 1 between Telegraph Road and the Woodlawn Plantation.

I wrote about it here:

Election Day: November 2, 2010 (Nov. 1, 2010)

Tax Holidays, U.S. 1 Funding, Paving & Potholes (Aug. 3, 2010)

$150 Million for U.S. 1 Dies in the U.S. Senate (July 29, 2010)

U.S. 1 Funding Inches Closer (July 10, 2010)

Working to Transform U.S. 1 (Feb. 25, 2010)

Fighting for the Future of U.S. 1 (Feb. 23, 2010)

The Federal Highway Administration has announced a public hearing on the improvement for:

Wednesday, October 19, 2011
6:00 to 8:00 p.m.

South County Government Center

8350 Richmond Highway, Room 221

Alexandria, VA

The public notice is below (click to enlarge). Anyone interested in U.S. 1 should attend!

Comment on Proposed Changes to Fort Hunt Park

2011-09-30T21:19:00.000-07:00

As I wrote in my column in the Mount Vernon Gazette, the National Park Service is considering major changes to Fort Hunt Park including:

The demolition of 4 of 5 picnic pavillions
The construction of a visitor's center focusing on the park's historic assets
Re-routing the road and separating bicycle and pedestrian traffic

Here is some information regarding the proposals:

You can read my column with my more complete views here:

The Dixie Pig: Weekly Column: Recognize Fort Hunt's History and
Keep Picnic Areas (Sept. 28, 2011)

I oppose the demolition of the picnic pavillions. Fort Hunt Park is a valued community asset used by thousands of my constituents. The current proposals significantly change the purpose of the park.

I have already spoken with the offices of Congressman Moran and Congressman Connolly. They are going to be in touch with the National Park Service.

The National Park Service is accepting comments on this proposal through October 6, 2011. If you have any feedback on their plans, you can enter it below. I will forward all comments I receive to the National Park Service, Congressman Moran, Congressman Connolly, Senator Webb, and Senator Warner.

***NOTE that the "Preferred Alternative" is the NPS' preferred alternative - not what I am recommending.

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UPDATED: Fort Hunt Road Repaving to Start Soon!

2011-09-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

The condition of Fort Hunt Road has been pretty abysmal for the last couple years - especially in front of Paul Spring Retirement Home. I have written several articles where I call it "rumble strips."

According to VDOT, twenty-five percent of all lane miles in Fairfax County have deficient pavement quality and that number is growing due to cuts in maintenance funding due to the lack of transportation revenue.

Last year, Richmond Highway was finally paved in Fall, 2010 after the pavement became incredibly pockmarked.

The good news is that repaving will start no sooner than this week and no later than October 7.

Repaving will start from Quander Road to Sherwood Hall Lane as shown at the right. Then, they will pave from Richmond Highway to Hunting Cove Place.

We are finally getting some attention.

***UPDATED 9/29/11***

Here is an email I received from VDOT this afternoon.

Garrett asked that I respond to your request in regards to the projected paving schedule for Fort Hunt Road. The following sections are tentatively scheduled for paving on this year’s schedule between 10/16/11 – 10/31/11.

Quander to Sherwood Hall Lane (both North and South bound lanes)

Hunting Cove Place to: Woodnut Road (North bound lane only)

Woodmont Road to Rte. 1 (North bound lane only)

Rte 1 Richmond Hwy to: Woodmont Road (South bound lane only)

These dates may be subject to change due to weather, so we appreciate your patience. The streets listed above are in the proposed “order” of paving that the contractor has provided us with.

Maps of Three NPS Proposals for Fort Hunt Park

2011-09-27T21:18:00.000-07:00

CLICK TO ENLARGE

Weekly Column: Recognize Fort Hunt's History and Keep Picnic Areas

2011-09-27T21:10:00.000-07:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on September 28, 2011:

Recognize Fort Hunt's History and Keep Picnic Areas

I have been using Fort Hunt Park since I was a kid. I spent time in the woods, I scrambled over the World War II gunneries, I played soccer on its fields and attended dozens of picnics and parties at its facilities. My father actually attended elementary school in trailers in Fort Hunt Park in the late 1940s while work was being done on Hollin Hall Elementary School. More recently, I taught my children to ride bikes on its oval, have held events there and organized picnics for the staff of my business.

In recent months, the U.S. National Park Service (NPS) has prepared a plan to strengthen the preservation and interpretation of Fort Hunt's many layers of history, from native Americans to George Washington's slaves to the World War II spy interrogation camp. On the latter, NPS officials have compiled an extensive history of Fort Hunt's contributions to World War II through interviews with Americans who interrogated German officers there and through newly-declassified documents. NPS has held two meetings in Mount Vernon, including one last week and they are now receiving public comments on four options until October 6.

The proposed plan, called their preferred alternative, out of four alternatives, would emphasize the historic assets of the park and de-emphasize the recreational uses. In the preferred alternative, NPS would build a new visitor center to help visitors better understand the history of the park. This proposal would also demolish four of five picnic facilities, leaving only the main pavilion area near the entrance along with bathroom facilities. It also would realign the road through some existing woodlands and separate car, bicycle and pedestrian traffic.

Fort Hunt Park is one of our community’s prized assets for many reasons. It is one of the few places to hold large, affordable, outdoor events, facilities not available anywhere else in Mount Vernon. Clearly, there is a need for picnic pavillions like those in Fort Hunt Park and the people of the Mount Vernon area have come to depend on these facilities.

There must be a way to structure the park so that its historic elements can be highlighted and some of the recreational uses can continue. The Mount Vernon area has played a key role in U.S. history. After all, our community was our first president's home. Some of his slaves lived on the land that is now the park. Enhancing the historic resources of Fort Hunt, like the Spanish American War tower and the World War II gunneries and explaining what happened there could highlight yet another significant historic resource in our community. I am confident that the National Park Service puts their mind to it, they can find a way to preserve and better interpret Fort Hunt's history and also provide picnic areas for large groups. Their proposal also should prompt the Fairfax County Park Authority, the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority and the state parks to provide areas for the types of activities held at Fort Hunt if NPS forces the reduction of the picnic and sports areas.

Several people have reached out to me to express their concerns s. Supervisor Gerry Hyland is also assembling comments to forward to our congressional delegation. I have contacted both Congressman Moran and Connolly to express my concern and they are meeting with the National Park Service as well.

I encourage you to read the NPS rationale and proposed options and to weigh in.I have posted links to them on my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.
If you would like to send me comments that I can forward to the NPS and our Congressional delegation, you can also make them on my blog on the same page. The public comment period closes on October 6 so please send me your feedback as soon as possible.

It is an honor to serve as your state delegate. If you have any concerns, please email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com or call my office at 571.249.44TH (4484).

Pat Monk: Hollin Hills' 90 Year-Old Picasso

2011-09-25T22:21:00.000-07:00

I've been knocking doors for the last month in the new parts of the 44th District. Although I've lived here pretty much my entire life, you never know what you'll find when you start walking around.

This past weekend, I was walking down Brentwood Place in Hollin Hills when I came across the home of Gaines "Pat" Monk. Mr. Monk is a 90 year-old retired nuclear physicist who was born in the coalfields of West Virginia in 1921.

Around the time I was born (40 years ago), he decided to get into modern art. In 1974 (when I was 3), he moved into the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria.

I walked into his yard which is pretty much a sculpture garden. It has a little sign out front next to the stump of a magnolia tree that he turned into a sculpture that says "Sculpture Garden is Open to All. Welcome." Pat said that he put it up because he was tired of people leering at his yard from the street and he didn't really care if they walked around.

We talked for a few minutes about why I was running, redistricting, and about how he had eeked out a living selling modern sculpture. He invited me to walk around, but I was in a hurry to finish out a few more doors because the sun was setting, but I came back the next morning and walked around. It was really astonishing. I've put the pictures I took below.

After talking to his neighbors, I poked around and found his website and read about his prior career working on the A-bomb at Oak Ridge, TN and infrared spectrometers.

Monk Website

Monk Video #1

Monk Video #2

You never know what you will learn by walking around and getting to know your neighbors. I hope I am lucky enough to have a 40+ year second-career after I turn fifty!

A Conversation With U.S. 1 Business

2011-09-19T09:37:00.001-07:00

I ran by Sheehy Honda to get my car fixed today and decided to use my time waiting around to talk to some business folks. It was an interesting discussion that says a lot about redevelopment efforts on U.S. 1.

I walked up the street to each of the three dealerships along the road. One manager told me about how their marketing reports show that they are hitting their sales metrics on all zip codes around their location except for one area - Springfield.

When I asked him "why is that," he said, "because they can't get here - it's more convenient to drive west to Fairfax, north to Alexandria, or south to Woodbridge, rather than to make the slog across the county to get to the Route 1 corridor.

If this one business is having this experience, you know that every business is having this experience. This is also why it took so long to attract any kind of high quality development to the Multiplex site. Most sites between Beacon Mall and Woodlawn are being held hostage to traffic.

Living between the Potomac River and the largest park in Fairfax County has its advantages. However, it also means that our area is not accessible to the same populations as other areas. Attracting the highest quality development to our community means we also must have high quality transportation infrastructure to facilitate movement.

All the more reason why we need to continue to fight to move U.S. 1 up on the County's list of priority transportation projects so that the state will fund it.

Knocking Doors in Hayfield

2011-09-04T05:06:00.000-07:00

I've been knocking doors in Hayfield Precinct over the last two weeks. It has been an eye-opening experience.

The Hayfield area is very different from the rest of my district. It is in a different school pyramid and is primarily served by Telegraph Road instead of U.S. 1. People in this area mostly shop and eat in Kingstown versus U.S. 1.

I've known Hayfield my entire life. Growing up, I volunteered at Huntley Meadows Park in blue bird counting studies with my brother. We spent a lot of time going into Huntley Meadows back entrance at the intersection of South Kings Highway and Telegraph Road and ran into a lot of people hiking in from the trails that run into Huntley Meadows from Lake Devereaux and Hayfield. The park is well-used asset for those communities.

Lake Devereaux is the newer part of the precinct that was built in the early 1980's. The neighborhood is plagued by the side-effects of congestion. Nearly every owner I spoke to complained about commuters using their neighborhood for u-turns due to the backup on South Van Dorn Street from Telegraph Road. It's a chronic problem.

Next, I moved into the Wickford-Welfleet neighborhood which was a bit older. I again heard about congestion and not being able to make a left turn out of the neighborhood onto Telegraph Road due to traffic volume.

For the last ten days or so, I have been knocking doors in the massive community of Hayfield Farms. This community was one of the early developments of legendary developer Albert VanMetre. I've met several original owners who have told me stories about the early days of the community as it was transformed from a hayfield into a 500+ home community centered around a community school.

I also knocked doors in Hayfield during and after Hurricane Irene. I've frequently reminded people that I can help with potholes, street plowing, electrical outtages, and phone problems but everyone says "living here is great - we have no problems like that!" That is very different from other parts of my district.

Congestion on Telegraph Road and the lack of investment to that road has been a constant theme. Many people have talked to me about the completion of the BRAC process in the next two weeks and their fear of traffic that will develop. Everyone is excited about the completion of Mulligan Road, but suspicious that it will really happen given that it has been under construction for over four years.

It has been an interesting two weeks as I get to know my new district.

Power Outage Information

2011-08-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

If you would like to see the status of Dominion Power Outages in Northern Virginia, you can click below for a larger version of the map:

Dominion Power Northern Virginia Outage Map

Currently Dominion expects to restore service to the majority of effected customers in the next 24 hours.

Information on reporting outages is in my post below.

Feel free to contact my office if you have problems:

Office 571.249.4484
scottsurovell@gmail.com

Hurricane Irene Information

2011-08-28T07:11:00.000-07:00

Here's the report I just received from the Virginia Emergency Operations Center at 10:00 A.M.

Presidential Emergency Declaration
· At Governor McDonnell’s request, Virginia received a pre-landfall federal emergency declaration. FEMA has made federal aid available to Virginia to supplement state and local response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from Hurricane Irene.
· The President’s action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster relief efforts in the counties of Accomack, Northampton, Isle of Wight, James City, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland and New Kent and the cities of Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia Beach and Williamsburg.

Impacts in Virginia
· Three fatalities, one in Newport News, one in Brunswick County and one in Chesterfield County have been confirmed in Virginia as a result of Irene.
· About 945,000 customers are without power statewide as of 9 a.m.: 884,723 Dominion; 58,793 co-ops.
· Residents in affected areas should be prepared for extended power outages of up to a week or more.
· No “sustained” hurricane force winds were recorded in Virginia. Hurricane ‘gusts” were recorded inland and not at the coast. Gusts: Mathews County/Gwynns Island – 83 mph; Williamsburg – 76 mph. Tropical storm force “gusts”: Henrico County – 71 mph; Virginia Beach – 69 mph; Wachapreague – 66 mph.
· Storm surge was less than forecast. The maximum reported surge was 7.5 feet at Sewells Point. Levels were .5 feet below the record 1933 surge.
· Heaviest rainfall occurred inland, not at the coast. More than 15” of rain fell between Franklin and Emporia in the Route 58/Route 460 corridor.
· River flood forecast: Blackwater River at Franklin will crest at 20.6 feet Tuesday (major flood stage); Nottoway River at Sebrell will crest at 20.1 feet Tuesday (moderate flood state)

Transportation Information
· People are urged to stay home so that emergency crews can clean up roads and ensure that they are safe for travel.
· Statewide, about 238 state-maintained roads are closed.
· The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel reopened at 7:15 this morning.
· The Midtown Tunnel in Norfolk remains closed. The Downtown Tunnel is open.
· VDOT has closed the Midtown Tunnel in Norfolk. The tunnel will reopen to traffic as soon as conditions improve and it is safe to do so.
· The Norris Bridge on Route 3 in Lancaster and Middlesex Counties is open.
· The Gov. Harry W. Nice Bridge on Route 301 between Maryland and Virginia is open.
· The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel is open.
· Real-time roads closures and traffic conditions are available by calling 511 or going to www.511virginia.org.

Preparing for Hurricane Irene

2011-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

You may have heard that yesterday, Governor McDonnell declared a state of emergency throughout Virginia in anticipation of Hurricane Irene hitting the Commonwealth this weekend.

The storm is projected to reach us sometime on Saturday, but there are several things you should do to prepare before then.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management has a website with some great resources on preparing for hurricanes(or any sort of disaster or emergency).

There are a couple key points on preparation:

Put together an emergency preparedness kit. A supply of non-perishable food, clean water and a flashlight can go a long way to help people cope with any emergency situation.
Communicate with your friends and family- come up with an emergency plan. Know whether or not you need to evacuate, where you can go and where you'll meet your family.
Stay informed. Make sure you're aware of any evacuations, where to go for assistance and what the weather conditions are expected to be.

In the event that you or your neighbors lose electrical service, call Dominion Power at:

1-866-DOM-HELP
(1-866-366-4357)

If you are experiencing extremely long outages, please do not hesitate to contact my office so we can contact our Dominion liason at:

571-249-44TH
(571-249-4484)

You can also contact my office by email at scottsurovell@gmail.com. My office will be monitoring any outages and emergency response during the duration of the storm and it's aftermath.

If you have any other problems after the Hurricane also feel free to contact us. For example, the Bureau of Insurance can help facilitate the processing of insurance claims. We also have liasons with VDOT and Verizon. Please contact my office with any problems.

As always, please avoid unnecessary travel during inclement weather and be sure to check in with your neighbors who may have difficulty dealing with the effects of the storm.

Primary Day in Virginia

2011-08-22T22:25:00.000-07:00

Today, August 23, 2011 in primary day in Virginia. It is also the day for all independent candidates to file their papers to run and for all parties to declare their nominees not decided in a primary.

Normally, Virginia primaries are in early June, but every ten years they are delayed due to legislative redistricting.

In Mount Vernon, there is a primary for the 30th State Senate seat. If you live in the following precincts, you need to vote.

Grosvenor, Belleview, Huntington, Bellehaven, Belleview, Marlan, Hollin Hall (partial), Waynewood, Fort Hunt, Woodley (partial), Whitman, Westgate, and Hayfield

If you need to check your polling place, you can check here:

Virginia Polling Place Locator

The polls are open from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Virginia's primaries are open to all registered voters.

My endorsement in the 30th Senate District race is here.

Primaries are your chance to have a voice in who your candidates are for public office. Make sure you vote tomorrow.

Weed Warriors Attack the GWP!

2011-08-09T04:00:00.000-07:00

Invasive species are really starting to clog up right of ways and county land in our area. The last few times I've hiked through Paul Spring, it's been a mess. It was much clearer when I was a kid. Parts of the County's Paul Spring property along Fort Hunt Road is also cloaked with invasives. The George Washington Memorial Parkway is also getting especially bad (see picture at right) and with the Federal Government budget situation, it is not going to get any better.

That's why I was excited to see the the Mount Vernon Citzen's Council's Environment Committee organizing a group to go through the U.S. Park Service's Weed Warrior Program on September 10 at 10:00 to 2:00 p.m.

Once certified, they are going to organize teams to head out and attack one of our community's greatest assets, the George Washington Parkway and Bike Trail. Flyer is below (click to enlarge).

Contact Betsy Martin at betsy@folhc.org if you want to carpool up or do the training with other friends from Mt. Vernon!

New Analysis Highlights 44th District Health & Poverty

2011-08-08T04:00:00.000-07:00

Two months ago, I attended the Medical Society of Northern Virginia's Legislative Breakfast and watched an excellent preview of the Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax's Community Health Assessment for Fairfax County. You can read more about it here. They recently came out with their final assessment that you can read here. I have cut and pasted a few slides below (click on them to enlarge).

First, to understand the statistics relative to the (new) 44th Delegate District you need to understand a couple datapoints. The 44th District is more diverse than Fairfax County. In Fairfax County, Black and Hispanic households are disproportionately affected by poverty and 13.8% of Fairfax County residents are living at less than 200% of Federal Poverty Level ($44K/yr. for a family of four). Therefore, in the 44th District, that percentage is higher. This is easy to see if you simply look at it graphically below (click to enlarge).
This translates to a higher uninsured population. Eleven percent of Fairfax County's foreign born citizen population does not have health insurance and thirty six percent of our non-citizen foreign born population. Five percent of Fairfax County's native born population is uninsured.

That translates in to more emergency room visits and more emergency rooms visits for non-acute illnesses for residents in the 44th District. People who have no way of paying for their health care often have to resort to hospital emergency rooms. This is one of the most expensive forms of health care and we all end up paying for it in the end. Patients do not have a regular doctor or "medical home" and do not get ongoing preventive and other care. See the next two charts.

In Fairfax County, Hispanic 8th-12th Graders reported feels of depression at rates 50 % higher than the rate of white children. Black children reported feelings of depression about 25% higher. Surprisingly, suicide rates among whites and blacks was double the rate for hispanics for individuals age 15-24.

Lastly, the survey has this chart regarding low birthweight clients by zipcode.

The bottom lines from the survey:

"Segments of the population experience a disproportionate share of adverse social conditions and poor health outcomes." Page 51

"Substantially higher emergency department use rates for basic medical services by residents from communities with poor socioeconomic conditions - Route 1 Corridor, Bailey's Crossroads/Culmore Area, Southeastern Fairfax County." Page 52.

Major communicable disease disparities (HIV, TB, STD's). Page 53.

Major maternal health disparities (teen pregnancy, neonatal deaths, low birth weights and infant death rates were higher in varous subgroups). Page 54.

Major cause of death disparities. Page 55.

Their next step is to identify strategic issues and to formulate goals and strategies. Their next meeting is September 27, 2011 at 4:00 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center, Conference Rooms 2/3.

Many people do not realize the breadth, depth, or consequences of the economic problems in my district. Some of these statistics really brought it home and demonstrate the importance of sustaining programs like Medicaid, TANFF, and Child Support Enforcement in Fairfax County along with continuing to support other private programs such as the Medical Care for Children Partnership that I blogged about here or the Healthy Families Program. Without them, the bottom would fall out of these communities.

This does not even begin to address the effects poor healthcare has on academic performance or long-term quality of life - they are all correlated. It reminded me of the Yale Medical student, Jorge Ramallo, who keynoted this year's MCCP banquet and by telling us how the health insurance provided by MCCP gave him and his siblings pediatric well-child visits and gave his mother peace of mind that allowed him to achieve his potential. If we would only seriously address these problems, we would go a long way to helping everyone in our community realize their full potential.

Potomac River Gets a "D"

2011-08-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Interstate Commission on the Potomac River is charged with protecting the Potomac River. The Potomac River Basin has 5 million people - 75% of which live in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area.

The 44th District is one of the few legislative seats that actually touches the Potomac River although the basin probably takes in at least one-third of the General Assembly. In other words, the 44th is one of the areas at the receiving end of everyone else....

The Potomac River's annual grading is done by Ecocheck which is a joint project of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Maryland for Environmental Science. They score the Potomac River on six metrics - three water quality indicators and three biotic indicators:

Chlorophyll
Dissolved oxygen
Water clarity
Aquatic Grasses
Phytoplankton
Bentic (bottom) communities

This year, both the Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River took a step backwards. The Potomac backslid from a C to a D and the Chesapeake went to a C-. It was both systems first decline in four years. The Potomac grade reversed because of severe storms and high streamflows during the spring and early summer resulting in significant sediment deposits flowing into the creeks. Every single indicator declined. Poor water quality, ruins biotic indicators which resultingly hurts our fisheries.

All of this underscores the importance of getting Virginia's stormwater management under control. I have written before on this blog about the quality of Mount Vernon's steams.

The Dixie Pig, Plastic Bags & Mt. Vernon's Watersheds (Nov. 18, 2010)The Dixie Pig, Cleaning Up Quander Brook (May 9, 2010)

Quander Brook is biologically dead. One neighbor calls it a natural toilet bowl because of the stormwater that hits it during rain events. Paul Spring has fewer fish in it than I remember as a kid. Little Hunting Creek and Dogue Creek are full of trash and you can barely see inches below the water surface.

During our last session, I also argued against hiding pollution data during the session, but we created a Freedom of Information Act exemption for compliance data provided provided by polluters.

Sooner or later we need to get serious about controlling water pollution or the Potomac River will continue to suffer.

Back to School Sales Tax Holiday

2011-08-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again - just as in previous years, the Commonwealth is sponsoring a sales tax holiday as parents and students begin to prepare for the start of another school year. The sales tax holiday will run this weekend, August 5-7.

Please be sure to go out and patronize some of our local businesses who will reinvest your capital in our community.

The holiday applies to the following items:

All school supplies priced under $20

Most clothing and footwear under $100

This includes the following: Binder pockets, Binders, Blackboard Chalk,Book bags, Calculators, Cellophane tape, Clay and glazes, Compasses, Composition books, Crayons, Dictionaries and thesauruses, Dividers, Erasers (including dry erase marker erasers and dry erase marker cleaning solutions), Folders; expandable, pocket, plastic, and manila, Glue, paste, and paste sticks, Highlighters, Index cards, Index card boxes, Legal pads, Lunch boxes, Markers (including dry erase markers and dry erase marker kits), Musical instruments, musical instrument accessories, and replacement items for musical instruments, Notebooks, Paintbrushes for artwork, Paints (acrylic, tempera, and oil), Paper; loose leaf ruled notebook paper, copy paper, graph paper, tracing paper, manila paper, colored paper, poster board and construction paper, Pencil boxes and other school supply boxes, Pencil sharpeners, Pencils, Pens, Protractors, Reference books, Reference maps and globes, Rulers, Scissors, Sheet music, Sketch and drawing pads, Textbooks, Watercolors, Workbooks; and Writing Tablets.

You can find a list of frequently asked questions on the Department of Taxation's website here. The sales tax holiday applies to everyone- not just those preparing for school, so be sure to head out and take advantage of the savings.

National Champion Tree in the 44th!

2011-08-01T07:39:00.000-07:00

Last week, the American Horticultural Society (AHS) announced that American Forests had declared that a massive Osage orange tree (maclura pomifera) at their headquarters had been declared a National Champion.

The AHS is located just off the George Washington Memorial Parkway just past the stone bridge along the Potomac River on East Boulevard Drive. It's property was originally the headquarters for one of George Washington's five farms - the one he called River Farm. It's a great property and open to the public during business hours. It's also where I was married! A picture showing where the tree is on the property is on the right.

The tree is 58 feet tall and has a crown spread of 90 feet and is at least 200 years old. Given that Osage orange trees are not native to Virginia (they are from Oklahoma through Texas) no one is sure how it got there. The former champion was at Patrick Henry's property in Hanover County. Some hypothesize that Native Americans transplated these trees before colonists arrived although our part of Fairfax County along the Potomac River was heavily populated by colonists by 1700.

You can read the American Horticultural Society's press release here. You can look the tree up in the National Register of Big Trees here.

Historic Route 1 Signs Are Up!

2011-07-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

In the 2009 Session, I was sitting on the floor one day when my former colleague Delegate Sam Nixon from Chesterfield County stood up and described legislation designating a portion of U.S. 1 through Chesterfield County, Virginia as "Historic Route 1." As soon as I heard "Route 1," my ears perked up.

I ran over to him on the floor to ask him what the impetus and intent was for the legislation. He indicated that Chesterfield County was concerned about the reputation Route 1 had in their jurisdiction and were focusing a redevelopment effort around the historic assets on their part of Route 1. They were also partnering with the City of Richmond to promote Route 1 travel throughout Virginia.

I thought this would be a great idea not just for Chesterfield County, but also for the Mount Vernon part of Route 1 and pretty much the entire state. When I lived in Arlington County for three years, I served on the Historic Affairs and Landmarks Review Board. Historic designations frequently improve the desirability of properties and promote economic development when they occur. I had also introduced legislation that session focusing on Route 1's historic assets throughout the entire state proposing that a special transportation district be created for Route 1 improvements to leverage these assets.

Our part of Route 1 has significant tourism resources. Mount Vernon is the #1 historic tourist asset in the state receiving 1,000,000 visitors per year - more visitors than Monticello and Colonial Williamsburg. We have the Woodlawn Mansion, Gunston Hall, and the Army Museum set to open just off the Fairfax County Parkway. The historic properties of Huntley Manor, Gum Springs, and Beacon Hill are close to Route 1. These are assets that our area should use to create jobs.

Given the stage in the process the legislation was at when I discovered it, we decided that we ought to ask the Governor to amend the bill. I drafted a letter which was ultimately signed by 32 legislators who districts contained precincts on Route 1 and Governor McDonnell amended the legislation.

A few months ago, I was driving along U.S. 1 in Fort Belvoir and noticed that the first signs had started to go up to promote this. One of the signs is above.

It's a small step, but it is progress as we seek to focus attention on the special qualities of the Route 1 Corridor that are frequently unappreciated.

WMATA Considers Yellow Line Extension

2011-07-21T05:46:00.000-07:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on July 19, 2011:

WMATA Considers Yellow Line Extension
There has been some talk in the papers lately about the Metro and the Yellow Line. This article is an update on some of the recent efforts by your state legislators.

First, a few months ago, multiple committees of Supervisor Hyland’s Visioning Task Force cited the extension of the Yellow Line from Huntington south towards Fort Belvoir as the number one economic development priority for our area. After the Washington Post reported that Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority (WMATA) was updating their Metro system map for the first time in 30 years, Senator Puller and I wrote to the WMATA Board asking that a Yellow Line extension be included in the new map. In response to our letter, Senator Puller and I met with WMATA staff here in Mt. Vernon to discuss the timeframe for extending the Yellow Line.

WMATA is currently in the process of revising their long-term plans. They are exploring extensions and expansions of existing metro lines, expanding bus service, trolleys, and bus rapid transit. Basically, everything is on the table as they try to plan for the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area over the next forty years.

WMATA made clear that their next map will not reflect any new lines until the proposed lines have cleared environmental studies, are included in a regional plan, and have been officially added by the WMATA Board. That step has not even yet occurred for the Silver Line.

However, WMATA is considering an extension of the Yellow Line – along with Blue and Orange extensions as part of their long-term plan. WMATA staff provided us with a map showing the homes of people who currently use the Huntington Station parking lots. Users are stretched from Lorton and Springfield to Prince George’s County although probably seventy-five percent are located between Huntington Avenue and the Potomac River in my district. I have posted the map on my blog.

Staff also provided us planning documents contemplating proposed Yellow Line extension with stations at Penn Daw, Beacon Hill Road, Gum Springs, Pole Road, Woodlawn, Fort Belvoir, Telegraph Road, and Lorton. I have posted the map they gave us on my blog as well along with a Powerpoint presentation regarding their long term plan and other contemplated extensions of the Yellow, Blue, and Orange Lines.

WMATA is currently studying the economic, engineering, and funding feasibility of these extensions by looking at ridership, system impacts, and trip impacts. Currently, the Route 1 Corridor is not zoned for the density of 10-12 housing units per acre at station locations necessary to support a Metro Line extension – that will need to change if we want a Yellow Line Extension.

Additionally, WMATA has a $6 billion maintenance backlog that is their present capital priority. Plus, they also are looking at ridership impacts to the core of the system which will reach maximum capacity by 2025-2030without any expansion. WMATA is considering express trains, double tracks in the downtown core and/or above-ground street cars. They are also looking at facilitating cross-county traffic by circumferential rail so that mass transit from Anacostia to Mount Vernon to Tyson’s Corner would be more feasible.

Most importantly, WMATA made clear that a Yellow Line extension must be a local government priority before it will happen. We are not the only part of the Fairfax County who wants to extend Metro lines. Orange and Blue Line extensions would benefit other parts of Fairfax and Prince William Counties and they are already starting to organize with the support of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors.

Moving forward, whoever is the most organized, has laid the most planning groundwork, has the most business and community support, and has the funding in place will get their line first. I am hopeful that our federal assets will put some federal funding on the table and move us up the list as compared with other extensions. However, a Yellow Line extension must be the number one priority for Fairfax County if it is going to happen before the Orange and Blue Lines.

The widening of U.S. 1 and extension of the Yellow Line is the most important way for us to bring revitalization, jobs, new retail, revitalized housing, and congestion relief to our area. Moving forward, I hope to be a leading advocate to make this possible along with Senator Puller along with Supervisors Hyland, McKay and Bulova.

If you have any questions, please send me email at scottsurovell@gmail.com. It is an honor to serve as your delegate.

Yellow Line Usage & WMATA's Long-Term Planning

2011-07-19T05:49:00.001-07:00

Two weeks ago, Senator Puller and I met with WMATA's long term planning staff to discuss where things were headed with the Yellow Line and the steps needed to get the Yellow Line extended. During the meeting, they shared two documents with us.

First, they gave us this document below showing the current dispersal of Huntington Metro Station Parking Lot users.

Second, they gave us a Powerpoint document reflecting their long-term planning discussions. If you look at page Page 41 Plan B runs, you can see the Yellow Line segments under discussion.

Huntington Metro Parking Users

WMATA June 2011 Long-Term Transportation Plan Briefing

Uranium Mining: The Coming Battle

2011-07-05T04:00:00.000-07:00

Things are starting to heat up in Virginia over uranium mining. The General Assembly is likely to consider a bill early next year to allow uranium mining. I have started to get emails on the issue so I thought I'd let everyone know where I stand.

To most people, this issue seems to have come out of the blue, but it has actually been around a while. In the 1970's, large deposits of uranium were found in Virginia along the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Companies purchased mining or exploration leases in several places, including several in Fauquier County and Prince William County at the head of the Occoquan River.

The largest deposit in the United States is believed to be located in Pittsylvania County in the southern part of our state and currently the mining companies are focused on that area.
View Larger Map

In 1982, the General Assembly of Virginia enacted a statewide ban on uranium mining, in part because of the 1979 nuclear plant accident in Pennsylvania, known as Three Mile Island turned public opinion against anything uranium.

With energy prices rising and pressure to transition away from coal and oil, some people are starting to look at expanding nuclear power again. In 2008, the General Assembly rejected a bill to authorize a study to examine the safety of uranium mining in Virginia. There are currently four separate studies underway, including one by the National Academy of Sciences.We expect them to be completed by the end of this year.

One reason the issue has become more visible recently is that Virginia Uranium, the company proposing to mine uranium in Pittsylvania County, offered to fly most state legislators to France to tour uranium mines. They maintain that visiting would be helpful because France it has similar climate to Virginia. It is my understanding that uranium has mostly been mined in dry climates like the arid Southwest U.S. and opponents of uranium mining say that Virginia’s wet climate and storm potential pose unacceptable risks for uranium mining. About 15-20 people (out of 140) have taken the trip. I did not go for a variety of reasons (that is an entirely different discussion).

Many of the communities near the proposed Pittsylvania mining site are very focused on this issue. So is Virginia Beach because they get their drinking water from Lake Gaston. Many others are starting to pay attention.

At this time, we do not know what the four studies will conclude. In theory, I assume almost anything can be done safely within certain assumptions and with enough money. The problem is that the assumptions are frequently wrong. Humans have frequently proven to be very capable of under-estimating risk until after the facts. Just consider the impact of the recent Pacific tsunami on Japan’s nuclear plants, 9-11, or flooding along the Mississippi or Hunting Creek nearby.

One key issue is the safety of storing the mining waste, waste that can get into drinking water and containing elements that have been linked to serious diseases. A critical question for me is what kind of storage is planned, whether than storage is feasible and whether it is safe. Some say the waste must be contained for one thousand years. Uranium itself is radioactive and highly toxic to human and environmental health.

Here’s a good example of an unanticipated natural disaster in Virginia. In 1969, Hurricane Camile came up the East Coast and then “parked” on top of Virginia for two days. It dumped 27 inches of rain on ruralNelson County in central Virginia in three hours. 153 people were killed and 133 bridges were washed out. It wreaked horrendous devastation throughout Nelson County, destroying homes, farms, buildings and lives. Nelson County is also right along the U.S. 29 corridor right at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A weather event like that on top of or near a uranium mine,would be truly frightening. Can any waste storage system or mining operation withstand that kind of powerful storm?

I've posted a map of old Northern Virginia uranium lease sites (places where companies received leases to mine, leases that have now expired) to the right (click on it to enlarge). You will see that several sites are near the Occoquan River which feeds the Occoquan Resevoir, the major drinking water source for most of Fairfax County. Mining a material that could permanently destroy the Occoquan River and impair the drinking water for millions is a non-starter for me. It is unacceptable to me to subject anyone else to that kind of risk.

Where do I stand right now? In fairness, I would like to see the various studies to be completed this year, but based on what I know so far, I am skeptical of lifting the ban. I've told that to the Virginia Uranium people. If I had to vote today, I would vote no.

However, I do owe the proponents and the opponents an opportunity to make their case. I have little to no experience with mining. I'm learning as much as I can right now to make an educated decision. I hope you will share your views with me by posting up comments here or emailing me at scottsurovell@gmail.com.

New Census Data Highlights Virginia Changes

2011-07-03T07:44:00.001-07:00

The Weldon-Cooper Center at the University of Virginia continues to put out some of the best scholarly information regarding changing demographic changes in Virginia.

Earlier this week, they issued a paper with a discussion of Virginia's changes relative to other states in the country entitled A Decade of Change in Virginia's Population. Here are some bottom lines.

Virginia is the only state in the nation where natural population growth and net in-migration contributed equal shares to population growth.

The article cites some examples like Michigan where more people fled than were born leading to population decline or states like Florida where 80% of its growth was from in-state migration.

Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Road accounted for 80% of population growth in Virginia and Northern Virginia accounted for more than 1/2 of the state's population growth.

Fairfax County, Loudoun County and Prince William County accounted for 40% of Virginia's population growth. In Richmond, most growth came from New Kent, Caroline, Goochland, Powhatan, and Chesterfield Counties. Richmond also gained population for the first time in 40 years. Hampton Roads grew only 5.7% affected by its five cities that had significant net out-migration. Accomack County and Danville led the list of population loss losing 13% and 11% of their population.

A growing number of localities are experiencing population loss and 55 localities had more deaths than births.

As younger population flees, only older population remains, and birth rates stall reinforcing losses. Rural areas of Virginia are poised for even more losses.

Hispanic population doubled to 7.9% of Virginia and Asian population increased 70% to 5.5% of Virginia.

There are some interesting side notes to this. First, hispanic population declined in only two localities (you'd never guess) - Arlington and Buchanan Counties. Northern Virginia has 60% of Virginia's hispanics. Hispanic populations are poised for more growth due to the populations lower average age. Asian population is clustered in urban areas and unlike hispanic population in academic centers - it is absent from rural areas.
Thirty-two localities have under-18 populations that are majority-minority. Virginia is poised to become more diverse.

White population is down to 69% of Virginia's population - the same percentage it was 100 years ago when blacks constituted 31% of the state.

People often forget about Virginia's past history by viewing it through a more recent frame of reference, but after Reconstruction, Virginia was only 59% white.
The article reinforces that Virginia's urban and suburban areas will continue to lead the state in job growth and population growth. Virginia will continue to become more diverse even without significant net in-state migration.

Our failure to uncork economic development problems in the rural parts of Virginia have them poised poised for even more long-term population declines. This translates to a myriad of different consequences in terms of education, transportation, poverty, crime,and health care - virtually everything we do in Richmond. So long as these trends are ignored and certain groups in Richmond continue to rally against them, we will not be properly maximizing our collective future.

Civil War Commission Publishes New Resources

2011-06-30T04:38:00.000-07:00

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the Civil War in Virginia and the state's Civil War Sesquicentennial Commission is coordinating the celebration over the next five years.

They recently posted up a new tool so that you can track your ancestors - I've posted the link below. It's very cool.

Civil War Sesquicentennial - Walk in their Shoes

For example, my Great Great Grandfather (my grandfather's grandfather) fought in Kemper's Brigade from Madison County otherwise known at the 7th Virginia Infantry. I had known he had survived Pickett's Charge and was captured eight days before Appomattox at Five Forks, but I had no idea they had seen action at Bull Run (#1) or Fredericksburg.

Unfortunately, you cannot search by name. I'm still trying to figure out one of my other grandfather's regiment so I can track him down.

They're encouraging anyone with information regarding the regiments to digitize their documents to consolidate source materials for the Civil War 150 Legacy Project.

Also, note that the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Bull Run is on Thursday, July 21, 2011. The Commission is sponsoring a commemoration at the Manassas National Battlefield from 9:30-10:30 a.m. If you're not stuck in traffic court like me, head on out!

VA Releases $5M in New Efficiency Rebates!

2011-06-21T22:16:00.000-07:00

Starting June 20, 2011, Virginia is releasing $5 million of rebates to make your home more energy efficient.

In March of last year, I posted about the prior program and what is covered here:

The Dixie Pig, Claim New State Efficiency Rebates (Mar. 22, 2011)

It includes rebates of up to $250 on home energy audits (about half the cost), or 20% of the cost of

applicance purchases, new windows, and weatherstripping up to $595 per house.

I also blogged about the wisdom of a home energy audit below and posted the results of my audit as well:

The Dixie Pig, Mt. Vernon's Delegate Gets an Energy Audit

Delegate Scott Surovell's Energy Audit

For more information, click on the link below and for the specific requirements.

Virginia Energy Efficiency Rebate Program

Claim your rebate before they are all gone!

Take Advantage of New DMV Rules

2011-06-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

In August, I turn forty years-old. Given the new DMV policy that started about 10 years ago, that also means I just got my driver's license renewal forms. Right on the front was a notice about our new fee structure.

Starting July 1, 2011, any DMV transaction that can be done online will cost an extra $5 if conducted at a DMV branch. If a transaction can only be performed at a DMV, then there will be no surcharges.

The hope is that this will shrink lines, manpower needs, and ultimately save taxpayer dollars. I will be renewing my driver's license by mail or online to save my five bucks.

Take note!

2011 Wrap Up & New Laws Effective July 1, 2011

2011-06-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

The Division of Legislative Services has published their annual summary of laws effective July 1. I have posted it below.

You can also read my legislative summaries previously published on this blog on the following links:

Delegate Scott Surovell's 2011 Sine Die Letter
2011 Legislative Highlights
2011 Budget Highlights
2011 Voting Record

New VA Laws Effective July 1

West Potomac's Old Band Director Roy Holder Steps Down

2011-06-10T05:45:00.001-07:00

The State of NOVA blog today has a post up about the retirement of its band director of twenty-three years, Roy Holder.

Back in 1982, I graduated from Waynewood Elementary and moved up to Stephen Foster Intermediate. My cousin was a year ahead of me and had joined band. I had played piano for five years and thought that sounded interesting so I signed up for beginning band. I wanted to play trumpet, but the band director made me play french horn.

I decided to keep it up in high school and in the fall of 1984, got the notice that all band kids had to show up two weeks early for infamous "Band Camp" (we have to get ready for football games, etc. which start up pretty quick).

That was the first year of West Potomac High School's existence. I had no siblings who had gone to Fort Hunt or Groveton and I had paid some attention to the fight going on over the merge of Fort Hunt and Groveton High Schools. I was unhappy about it, but I certainly didn't feel some of the strong feelings that many people had. It was a really ugly fight.

Before 1983, Fort Hunt High School had one of the top band programs in the country and when they decided to merge the schools, the band directors from both high schools moved on. This guy from Tennessee, Roy Holder, saw an opportunity of a lifetime and got the job.

Mr. Holder had the unenviable task of bringing two groups of leery students together and create new traditions while sustaining a high quality program. Things such as whether to march to Fort Hunt or Groveton's old drum cadence had tremendous symbolic significance to the students and parents. We had no uniforms. No fight song.

We had our first band competition that fall. We wore blue cotton rugby shirts, white Dickie's (got mine from Ross at Beacon Hill), black shiny shoes, and white styrofoam hats. I can still remember Holder beating us down in the parking lot and telling us stories about some of the tiny schools he'd led in Tennessee shocking the establishment and beating them all. We cleaned up at our first state competition winning top honors.

I went on to become first chair in my section my junior year and first chair in the Gunston Region for two years. Mr. Holder pushing me the whole way. It's also not like I was someone who always behaved - I got my share of tongue lashings from Mr. Holder and still remember many of them today. He had a way of pulling the best out of you and out of the entire group.

In my junior year, he announced that he was leaving us for Lake Braddock. To a kid who had seen two of his four schools shut down (Hollin Hall Elementary & Stephen Foster Intermediate), this was very disappointing. He had been such a uniting, stabilizing, and forceful presence in our school you worry, but there was no question Lake Braddock - twice the size of West Potomac - was a more prestigious program and a step up for him.

It's hard to explain, but today I believe that I learned more about leadership watching Roy Holder get 100 kids to do their homework, march around in straight lines, and play music together as a group than just about anything else I've done in life. The guy is one of those teachers that you never ever forget.

Last spring, I was a guest conductor at the West Potomac's Band's March Madness concert. I mentioned to one of their directors, that I had been at West Potomac while Roy Holder was there. He somberly said - "you were very lucky." His reputation is clearly larger than life among his colleagues.

A band director in a good program has over a hundred of kids as students every year. Given the description of his farewell concert tonight (alumni returning, sold out tickets, overflow rooms with live streams), Mr. Holder has clearly reoriented the trajectory of thousands of kids over the last three decades. Our world is a better place because of him and his retirement will leave a huge hole.

I wish him well in his retirement. He's certainly earned it.

Start Planning for a Yellow and Blue Line Extension

2011-06-09T04:45:00.000-07:00

This is a press release and letter sent by Senator Toddy Puller, myself and Delegate Luke Torian to the WMATA Board regarding the extension of the Yellow and Blue Lines.

Delegate Scott Surovell Calls for Yellow & Blue Line Extensions to be Considered

Adjusting Mt. Vernon's Precincts

2011-06-07T18:00:00.000-07:00

This Wednesday, Supervisor Hyland is hosting a public meeting to discuss proposed changes to Mt. Vernon District Precincts due to recent boundary line changes.

Precinct Line Adjustment Information Meeting
Wednesday, June 8, 7 PM

Mt. Vernon Government Center

2511 Parkers Lane

Alexandria, VA 22306

You can see the proposed changes at the links below:

Mt. Vernon Proposed Precinct Boundary Changes

Summary of Proposed Changes

In terms of the 44th District, the following changes are proposed:

Abolish Hollin Hall Precinct and combine with Sherwood Precinct and Waynewood Precinct.
Move small portion of Belle Haven Precinct into Belleview Precinct.
Move part Stratford Precinct voters east of Whittington Boulevard into Fort Hunt Precinct
Readjust lines in Belvoir Precinct. Move Fort Belvoir voters off Pole Road into Woodlawn Precinct and either leave the balance of the precinct alone or split into Belvoir North and Belvoir South.
Create a new precinct of 800 voters in the northeast corner of Woodley Precinct called "Riverside" Precinct.

I do not think all of these changes are necessary, but I am still thinking about it. Please email me any feedback you have.

Boundary changes in my Lee District precincts are still being discussed. There is no concrete proposal yet.

Greenway on the Highway - Energy Audits, Green Food & New Healthcare!

2011-06-06T04:00:00.000-07:00

Today, I went strawberry picking with my kids out in Loudoun County and when I got home, ran over to the "Greenway on the Highway" event put together by the Southeast Fairfax Development Corporation at the Woodlawn Mansion. It was an interesting event.

The event was intended to highlight new "green" enterprises, groups and charities in the Route 1 Corridor. It was a fascinating event.

First, the Woodlawn Mansion is a totally under-appreciated facility in our area. The estate was originally gifted by George Washington to his step-daughter Nelly Custis. It was designed by the architect of the U.S. Capitol. It's last resident was U.S. Senator Oscar Underwood of Lousiana who donated it to preservation group on his death who then made it the very first property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. A group that has gone on to do great things such as restore James Madison's Estate in Madison County, VA.

I was excited to see that two different Home Energy Audit Companies had booths at the event. Continuum Energy Solutions who did the home energy audit on my house featured on this blog (The Dixie Pig, Mt. Vernon's Delegate Gets a Home Energy Audit), and Home Performance Solutions of Burke, VA. This is an exciting growing industry and this year, I was able to pass legislation requiring them to be licensed by the Commonwealth so there could be minimum standards, required training, and some level of consumer protection. Get an audit done if you have not already!

Next, I ran into Earl Reed who just opened up Doctor's Express on U.S. 1 and talked to him for a while about his business. Their grand opening was featured in several local news stories. They have board-certified physicians, x-ray machines, their own laboratory, and they provide services at one-third of the cost of emergency rooms. It's the kind of place most people should be going for non-acute 24-hour care instead of the emergency room.

I also ran into the leadership of the Mt. Vernon-Lee Chamber of Commerce and one of the Fairfax County Planning Commissioners, Tim Sargent, and had a chat about my efforts to get the ball rolling on Route 1.

Finally, I checked out the new Arcadia Farms project in the rear of the property. Arcardia at Woodlawn is partnering with the Woodlawn Plantation to develop sustainable agriculture in the D.C. Metro region and to bring fresh fruits & vegetables to those most in need. The main Arcadia group site is here. They have a garden on the south side of the mansion house where they are demonstrating their techniques. I've included some pictures below.

Good things happening on Route 1.

Sales Tax Holiday #1: Emergency Preparedness

2011-05-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday marked the start of a week long sales tax (5%) holiday on emergency preparedness equipment. As we watch parts of the Commonwealth and the nation recover from severe weather, we should make sure we're ready to cope with hurricane season and other natural disasters.

Until next Tuesday May 31, many emergency preparedness items, including flashlights, first aid kits and bottled water are exempt from Virginia Sales Tax. The list can be found on the Department of Taxation website.

List of Tax Exempt Emergency Preparedness Products

This weekend is the time to buy batteries, bottled water, flash lights, portable generators, cell phone chargers, bungee cords, and tarpaulins.

There are two other scheduled sales tax holidays this year- for school supplies(in August) and for energy and water efficient products(in October). I'll be sure to mention them as they approach.

Autism Insurance Coverage & Making a Difference

2011-05-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

This year, we finally passed legislation that requires medical insurance companies that are regulated by the Commonwealth of Virginia to cover certain kinds of services for autistic children up to $35,000 called applied behavior analysis. These services can cost up to $50,000 per year for families, but they are proven to work and to reduce the need for services in the future.

Autism diagnoses are exploding and the pressure is mounting on Virginia's Community Services Boards as autistic children become adults. While not perfect, this legislation will provide some welcome relief to families who have been struggling to pay for these services.

The cost to insurance policies was predicted to be minimal, but the business community generally opposed the legislation for various reasons. The bill was also opposed by Tea Party groups due to their opposition to health care mandates.

From my point of view, the entire point of insurance is to spread the cost of sickness across our entire population so that people who have the misfortune to have an ailment do not bear the entire financial brunt of their condition. Excluding a specific proven therapy for children was inexcusable, especially in light of the exploding incidence of this condition.

I recently emailed a friend who has an autistic child to let her know the legislation had passed. The autism community is pretty tight and she already knew, but her email was still inspiring.

Hi Scott,

Thank you so much for the email and your support of the bill. I am
thrilled with the passage and confess that I am still holding my breath, too
good to be true:-)

Lucy is seven now and though we have always had what is considered great coverage, not a penny was ever covered by our carrier for ABA and Luci's autism needs.

We continue to live under the debt we incurred which was huge. That being said, if we had to move to a one room shack somewhere, it was worth every penny for the early intervention.

Lucy is thriving in first grade thanks to money well spent and will not be a burden of the State of Virginia when she is older because of what we did on credit
cards:-)

Your work is most appreciated and I hope you keep up the fight for not only our kids with autism but all of Virginia's children:-)

Emails like that help you remember that every vote we take in Richmond has consequences in real people's lives.

I'm glad we were able to get it done.

Virtual Tour of New Mt. Vernon Library

2011-05-18T19:35:00.000-07:00

On April 14, the Mount Vernon Estate held a formal ground breaking for their new $30 million library that will be constructed in the forest between the Post Office and Mount Vernon Memorial Highway.

You can read some data points regarding the library here.

They have also posted this virtual tour of the new library which is pretty cool.

Petition for the Future of U.S. 1

2011-05-11T20:26:00.000-07:00

During my election campaign in 2009, as I knocked doors throughout the 44th District, I kept hearing the same thing from people- we need to do something about Route 1.

The condition of Route 1 is not just a traffic problem. It's an economic development, environmental, jobs, and quality of life issue. The improvement of Route 1 is the most critical issue in our community.

This year, the McDonnell Administration thankfully agreed to fund the Route 1 Transit Study which is a legally necessary small first step, but there are many more legally required steps before the road can be improved or the Yellow Line extended.

This year, we passed legislation speeding up $3 billion of transportation spending. The Governor announced a proposed project list and there is not one single project involving Route 1 between Alexandria and Fort Belvoir on the Six Year Plan.

Unless this is changed immediately, the remaining planning to improve Route 1 cannot even begin until 2017 at the earliest. If planning waits for six years from now, engineering and right of way purchases would start some time after 2020 and actual construction would begin sometime after my four year-old son goes to college.

Your community needs your help right now. Last week, I was one of only two legislators at a public hearing - click here to watch my speech demanding action. Public comment closes on the next Six Year Improvement Plan on May 27. Here's what you can do.

Step #1 - Sign my online petition demanding that Route 1 be added to the V.D.O.T. Six Year Improvement Plan.

Step #2 - Write a letter to Governor McDonnell and Secretary Connaughton.

Governor Robert F. McDonnell
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218

Secretary Sean Connaughton
Virginia Department of Transportation
P.O. Box 1475
Richmond, VA 23218

Step #3 - Forward the petition to all of your friends in the Mt. Vernon Community.

The future of our community depends on it.

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

Tell the State to Improve U.S. 1

2011-05-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on May 7, 2011:

Virginia has announced the draft transportation Six-Year Improvement Plan, a plan that includes the $34 million long-delayed and long-needed widening of Telegraph Road , but there is not a single project or dollar listed in the 22306, 22307, 22308 or 22309 zip codes. Route 1 was left off the list yet again.

Last week, I was one of two state legislators who spoke at the Commonwealth Transportation Board’s (CTB) public hearing on the draft plan. (You can watch video of my comments on my blog, The Dixie Pig at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.)

I made several points. First, I thanked the McDonnell Administration for agreeing to fund the U.S. 1 Transit Study after a six-year wait. This is the first legally-required step to improve U.S. 1. However, none of the legally-required steps after that study were included in the Six-Year Improvement Plan at all.

The Route 1 Transit Study will take three years to complete. A Route 1 Centerline Study must also be completed to confirm the center line of the road. That process involves public hearings and environmental reviews.

Once these two studies are done, VDOT can do preliminary engineering and make right-of-way purchases. Then construction can start. VDOT has neither planned or budgeted for any of these steps.

I argued to the CTB that while there are dozens of million-dollar projects scheduled in the northern and western parts of Fairfax County, the eastern part of Fairfaxs has not and still will not be receiving infrastructure investments necessary to sustain our quality of life, not even a small study.

CTB is accepting public comments until May 27. I am gathering petition signatures asking the Commonwealth Transportation Board to add the Route 1 Centerline Study, preliminary engineering and right-of-way acquisition to the current Six-Year Improvement Plan. Please take two minutes and sign the petition online at www.bit.ly/route1petition.

I also encourage you to write directly to the Board. You can find information on the petition site or my blog The Dixie Pig (http://scottsurovell.blogspot.com/) as well.

Maintenance, Mowing Lag
By law, regular revenues in the Transportation Trust Fund are distributed to administrative costs first, maintenance second and construction last. The state gas tax is levied in pennies per gallon. As cars have become more efficient and gas prices have risen, people are using less gas per mile and generating less revenue per miles driven.

Plus, while today’s gas tax ($0.175/gal.) is still the same as when I was a sophomore at West Potomac High School in 1987 and gas cost $0.99/gal., now it's almost $4.00 and the cost of concrete, steel, asphalt and labor has gone up. Maintenance has completely consumed the highway construction budget.

Secondary roads are the ones numbered 600 and higher. The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) allocates funds to localities every year to construct secondary road improvements. Fairfax County’s secondary road allocation went from $28 million two years ago to $1,800 last year and $0 – zero -- this year. It will remain $0 into the future unless there is a new infusion of revenues. Additionally, road maintenance is being deferred. This includes paving, which is why Fort Hunt Road resembles rumble strips in some patches. Today, there are 2,500 and growing lane miles of substandard secondary roads in Fairfax County.

Spring is here, it’s been raining, and road medians are starting to resemble prairies. Because of funding shortfalls, VDOT has laid off 30 percent of its employees in the last three years and has cut way back on mowing.

One neighborhood association in Stratford contacted me asking to take over maintenance of a right-of-way. VDOT will agree to allow organizations to maintain medians if certain procedures are followed and a formal contract is signed. If your local association would like to look into this, please contact my office and we can connect you with VDOT.

It is an honor to be your state delegate in Richmond.

New Six Year VDOT Plan Skips Route 1

2011-05-04T20:17:00.000-07:00

In Virginia, the projects to be constructed are decided by the Commonwealth Transportation Board or the CTB. The CTB includes one member from each of Virginia's 10 transportation districts, plus four at-large members and a few others. The construction schedule is contained in something called the Six Year Improvement Program or the SYIP.

Over the last few years, the CTB has been taking projects off the SYIP because of declining revenues. However, this past session, the legislator approved $3.4 billion in new spending by accelerating planned bond sales. The CTB is now advertising a new proposed SYIP.

You can view a presentation on the new plan here or search for projects in the SYIP by clicking here. You can search by zip code or road.

Tonight, I gave public testimony which you can watch my comments or read (what I meant to say) by clicking below:

Delegate Scott Surovell's Public Comments Regarding Draft Six Year Improvement Program

2nd Annual Cinco de Surovell!

2011-05-03T09:41:00.001-07:00

CAMPAIGN KICKOFF
and

Saturday, May 7, 2011

2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

With Former DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe

Dos Equis on Tap, Food by Chevy's and Live Music With
Las Mariachi Estrellas

Donations Not Required But Appreciated!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

Paid for and Authorized by Surovell for Delegate

The New 44th District

2011-05-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

After passing one bill, a Governor's veto, and a weeks worth of negotiating, the General Assembly passed a new redistricting plan that was signed by Governor McDonnell on Friday. The plan will now go to the Department of Justice for preclearance pursuant to the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

The legislature put Westgate Precinct into Delegate Albo's district and Huntington Precinct into Delegate Sickles District. Kirkside Precinct (Gum Springs, Hollin Hills, Kirkside), Marlan Precinct (Bucknell, Marlan Forest, Villamay & Hollin Glen), most of Hayfield Precinct, and part of Belvoir Precinct (the main post plus Accotink Village) were added.

You can see the difference in the map below. The pink is everything that stayed the same. The red are new parts of the 44th, and blue are the parts that were removed.

View 44th District 2011 Redistricting in a larger map

I'm pleased that the new district keeps the Mount Vernon community mostly together. Many other communities were chopped in pieces. However, I'm disappointed to lose my constituents in Westgate and Huntington Precincts.

I've always thought high school boundaries are a good way to look at communities of interest. The 44th district loses one elementary school territory - Mount Eagle - and picks up Hayfield Elementary and Fort Belvoir Elementary School - the largest elementary school in Fairfax County. Plus, the 44th District picks up students that attend Hayfield High School.

From my point of view, the redistricting process is seriously flawed. Voters should pick their elected officials - elected officials should not pick their voters. The present system is designed to minimize public input and maximize incumbent protection. It is time to pass nonpartisan redistricting when the next redistricting is ten years away and no one knows how it will affect things.

It is nice for this to be over. I have been away from my job and family too much and it is nice to be back home.

Hollin Hall Automotive's 50th Anniversary!

2011-04-27T12:01:00.000-07:00

Today, the General Assembly passed legislation commending Hollin Hall Automotive sponsored by myself and Senator Puller. The text is at the bottom of this post.

Hollin Hall Automotive is a family run community institution in our community. The Harvey Family has run the station since 1961 at the corner of Fort Hunt Road and Shenandoah Road. They've employed hundreds of kids, sponsored hundreds of youth league teams, funded Mount Vernon's charities and simply run a top notch operation.

I blogged about it here about a year ago after Snowmageddon:

Why We Live in Mt. Vernon: Hollin Hall Automotive

Hollin Hall Automotive is having a 50th Anniversary celebration this weekend. Here are the details:

Saturday, April 30, 2011
11 AM to 3 PM
7926 Fort Hunt Road

Stop by if you can.

Hollin Hall Auto 50th Anniversary Commending Resolution

Possible Kings Crossing Intersection Improvements

2011-04-25T21:07:00.000-07:00

Ever since the new Walmart opened at Kings Crossing, there have been daily backups at the intersection of South Kings Highway and North Kings Highway due to southbound traffic queing down the hill in the short left hand turn lane for Walmart. The intersection is pictured below (click on the image to enlarge).

Unfortunately, the County could not require any significant traffic improvements as part of the Walmart development because it was a "by right" development and could be accomplished within the existing zoning classification.

About six months ago, I contacted VDOT to talk to them about the problem and whether it could be fixed. Before I called, they had adjusted light timing in order to fix the problem, but it had not solved the problem. Unfortunately, there is not much room in the current right of way to fix the problem. Since then, I have continued to receive emails from constituents unhappy about the traffic situation.

Recently, the owner of the property JBG has begun the process of trying to redevelop the front of the property. To achieve their objectives, this time they need the County's approval and the County can require transportation improvements as part of the redevelopment process.

Last week, I received the following email from VDOT regarding traffic improvements on the site.

[W]e had just completed a meeting with JBG Companies who want to develop pad sites in front of the WalMart store. The meeting proved to be very fruitful. Agreement was reached that the developer would commit to the following with their By-Right Site Plan entitled Kings Crossing Phase 2 parcels 1&2, Fairfax County Plan No. 16636-SP-001, pending concurrence with WalMart regarding impacts to their property.

1. Extend the existing left-turn lane into the site by reducing the dual left-turn lanes onto North Kings Highway. Our Traffic Engineering Section did not feel that this would have any serious impact on the existing left-turn movements onto North Kings Highway, but would certainly help the situation regarding the PM Movement into the WalMart site.

2. Provide alternative right-turn movement into the site by eliminating the service drive across the frontage of the property. This would reduce congestion and safety issues at the signal, and might even add a few more seconds of precious green-time by moving the outbound stop bar forward.

Obviously it may take some time for the plans to be prepared, submitted and approved. Unfortunately these changes would also increase congestion during the construction process, but the end result should provide a marked improvement.

As you have stated, the ultimate solution would be to rebuild the entire roadway, including realignment and/or closure of the connection to North King/South King Highway at this intersection.

If these improvements are required and accomplished, this will provide some relief. I am not confident that it will completely fix the problem, but it will certainly improve the situtation.

2011 Voting Record UPDATED

2011-04-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

The 2011 Regular Session is now concluded and the Clerk has compiled each of our respective voting records. I have posted it below. We took 1478 recorded votes. If you would like further clarification on the bills or votes below, you can look up individual bills here:

Legislative Information System

My 2010 Voting Record was previously posted here:

The Dixie Pig: Voting Record for 2010 Session (June 6, 2010)

Thanks to legislation introduced by Delegates Jim Lemunyon and Mark Keam co-sponsored by the entire freshman class last year and introduced again this year, this information will be posted online in future sessions.

UPDATED - I've updated this with my voting record through the Veto Session and the first part of our special session on redistricting.

2011 Complete Voting Record

Fairfax County's Exploding Senior Population

2011-04-15T04:41:00.000-07:00

As original owners in one of the first subdivisions in Mount Vernon dating to 1941, my grandparents were at the leading edge of this trend. As original and subsequent owners from Waynewood, Fort Hunt, Stratford, Hollin Hills, Riverside Estates, Mount Zephyr, etc. started to build, so did the senior population in Mount Vernon.

For the last decade, the Mount Vernon area has been recognized as the home to the largest concentration of elderly in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. In the past session, I introduced several modest budget amendments to provide seed funding for several new programs for seniors:

$10,000 to Mount Vernon At Home to purchase a van to transport seniors to appointments, activities, and daily needs.

$5,000 to Fairfax County for its Senior Center Without Walls Program

I also issued a press release that you can read here - The Dixie Pig, 2011 Budget Amendments: U.S. 1 Transit Study, Seniors, Tourism & Helping Virginia's Businesses. All of these amendments were rejected. Recently these efforts were the subject of a Letter to the Editor in the Mount Vernon Gazette that is below. Thank you to Suzanne Young for focusing on these issues.

Ever-Growing Senior Population
Thursday, March 31, 2011

To the Editor:

A fall can be a catastrophic event to a senior citizen. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report falls as the number one cause of injury deaths in the senior population. Yearly in the United States more than one third of adults 65 years of age and older have a fall; 15,800 people 65 and older died from injuries related to unintentional falls in 2005. Moreover, the incidence of fall-related deaths in the senior population has been steadily increasing over the past 10 years.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the senior population will more than double to 89 million by the year 2050. With the ever-growing size of the senior population, the fall numbers could increase drastically in the not so distant future.

Physical activity is a critical facet of health across an individual’s lifespan. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services states, "Being active is one of the most important steps that Americans of all ages can take to improve their health." Appropriate physical activity among the senior population can aid in a multitude of health issues. Senior citizens who engage in regular physical activity are more inclined to have a stable weight, lowered blood pressure, improved cognitive functioning, reduced osteoporosis, controlled diabetes, reduced heart disease, improved mood, improved arthritis, and less falls.

According to the CDC, senior citizens who participate in appropriate physical activity are less likely to suffer a devastating fall. On Jan. 20, Del. Scott Surovell announced his introduction of six amendments to the 2010-2012 Virginia budget. These amendments include a $10,000 allocation in state grant money to Mount Vernon At Home for the purchase of a vehicle and a $5,000 appropriation to the Fairfax County Senior Center Without Walls program. These amendments could make a difference in the important work of these two innovative endeavors.

Mount Vernon At Home is a nonprofit organization providing its members assistance to live independently in their homes for as long as possible. Transportation to recreational, educational, and social activities is one example of the numerous services offered to its members. The Senior Center Without Walls program is a public-private venture between the Fairfax County government, faith communities, and local businesses. The program provides recreational, educational, and social activities to senior citizens without the use of an existing senior center or constructing new facilities.

The senior population is growing at an immensely fast rate and the health needs of this population are growing just as fast. Initiatives such as Mount Vernon At Home and the Senior Center Without Walls program can assist our senior population with access to recreational, educational, and social activities. Specifically, these endeavors can provide access to physical activity, a pivotal key to improving the health and reducing the number of falls in our Mount Vernon senior population.

Susanne M. Young

Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist Master of Public Health Student, George Mason University

Cleaning Up Little Hunting Creek

2011-04-12T04:00:00.000-07:00

The 44th District is largely split between three watersheds - Little Hunting Creek, Dogue Creek and the Bellehaven Watershed (largely Quander Creek).

As part of the Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, I had the pleasure of helping Friends of Little Hunting Creek help cleanup trash at the headwaters of Little Hunting Creek where is passes under Janna Lee Avenue. Our team was led by Stratford resident Betsy Martin and included my oldest daughter Eva along with several Fort Hunt Elementary Students who were members of Girl Scout Troops 922, 716, 211, and 364.

Our team came in second place all of the Little Hunting Creek teams by collecting 40 bags of trash. Last year, I organized a creek cleanup last year at Quander Creek (see The Dixie Pig, Cleaning Up Quander Creek) but what I saw was this time was even more eye opening and heartbreaking. We worked over only 0.2 mi. of stream.

Just below the bridge, fallen trees has acted to capture floating trash. Here are some pictures of the consequences.

Aside from the plastic bags, beverage containers, styrofoam and plastic food containers, we picked up five shopping carts, table legs, a street sign for a youth league, over a dozen inflatable balls, two bikes, a base drum, a lawn mower bag, an intact champagne glass, about 10 used diapers, and a DVD entitled "Black Booty." It is important to note that the bulk of the trash was food container waste.

The kids were amazed at what they were looking at. None of them had any idea people treated their trash like this. In addition to the the trash, there was no evidence of any life in the creek at all. There were no fish, bugs, birds, or reptiles. Some of the kids said they thought they had seen a snake and a dead bird. Given the condition of the creek, I am not sure how anything could live in it.

Just below the bridge, there was evidence of a forest fire started around a homeless camp. Here is a picture to the right. The trees surrounding this area were all burned and there was a shopping cart off to the side. It looked like the County had cut down some of the trees after the fire due to the damage.

Trash and watershed management in the U.S. 1 Corridor is a major problem. My experience last summer and a constituent survey I posted last year (The Dixie Pig, Plastic Bags & Mt. Vernon's Watersheds) led me to cosponsor legislation regarding a plastic bag tax this year. This experience further reinforced that opinion.

The vast majority of the trash I saw was food container waste from fast food chains, convenience stores, carry out, and grocery stores. The penalties are stiff - littering is a Class 1 misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail under Virginia Law.

The County has adopted a Little Hunting Creek Watershed Management Plan. You can read it here. Interestingly, most of the plan is focused on stormwater flow impacts. The only discussion about trash related to reducing unauthorized dumping. Little in the plan was focused on enhancing the enforcement of littering, improving community education about watershed or trash issues, or pursuing legislative means to incentivize restaurants to minimize the use of the products found in our streams. I have been discussing this with several retailer groups here in Richmond. All are opposed to new taxes or fees, but prefer local educational programs or refuse collection operations at retail sites. I am going to continue those discussions.

At the end of the day, there must be a better way to get control of this problem rather than having our community invest thousands of volunteer hours each year picking up other people's trash. Send me your ideas.

Congressional Redistricting - Part II

2011-04-11T07:10:00.001-07:00

This afternoon, we are beginning debate on Congressional Redistricting. I have not been briefed on the status yet. State Legislatures have responsibility for drawing congressional district lines. It is my understanding that the following plans are out there:

Virginia's eleven incumbent congressmen have proposed new lines for their districts. It is my understanding that this is reflected in legislation introduced by Delegate Bill Janis that you can review here (CLICK HERE).

The Virginia Senate has proposed a different map that is identical for most Northern Virginia Districts - the 8th (Moran), 10th (Wolf), and 11th (Connolly) - but creates a "political influence" district in the Richmond suburbs that is largely, but not majority, African American. The map was up last night, but has now been taken down of the state website.

The Governor's Bipartisan Redistricting Commission has proposed its own set of maps (View Draft Plan Here (I can't find the final online)).

A competition of 30 college teams produced its own award winning sets of maps (W&M Plan Here - Other Award Winnning Plans Here).

It is my understanding that we are beginning debate and voting on these plans this afternoon. All of the new plans push the 11th Congressional District largely out of the Mount Vernon community and have us entirely in the 8th Congressional District - Mount Vernon's congressional district for at least the last 100 years until the 11th District was slipped into Mount Vernon's southern precincts in 2001. Here is a map of Fairfax County until the House & Senate proposals:

Please send me your feedback at scottsurovell@gmail.com!

Congressional Redistricting Proposals

2011-04-07T09:28:00.000-07:00

Delegate Bill Janis has filed a map that reportedly represents the districts agreed to by Virginia's eleven incumbent Congressmen.

I have posted a screen shot of the plan's boundaries in Fairfax County below (click on the image to blow it up). It consolidates all of Mount Vernon and Mason Neck into the 8th Congressional District where it was until 2001. If you would like to look at the entire state click here:

Division of Legislative Services - Redistricting Proposals

We are voting on these districts next week. Please send me any feedback you have to scottsurovell@gmail.com.

Weekly Column: Redistricting the 44th & Governor's Vetoes

2011-04-07T04:00:00.000-07:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on April 4, 2011:

This week, we returned to Richmond for a special session on redistricting and votes on the Governor’s vetoes.

The House of Delegates and Senate announced redistricting plans for their respective bodies about one week ago. Public hearings were held on about 3-4 days notice. Realigning district lines for elected positions is required because of population changes documented by the decennial census.

The House of Delegates’ Republican Caucus has proposed a redistricting plan for House districts. The House Democratic Caucus has not presented a plan although one member introduced an award winning nonpartisan plan created by University of Richmond students. You can view all proposals online by going to my blog, The Dixie Pig at scottsurovell.blogspot.com. I have posted links and instructions there if you would like to view the plans.

The latest version of the House Republican Caucus Plan proposes to slightly change my district, the 44th, as follows: Huntington Precinct would be moved to Delegate Mark Sickles’ seat. A small part of Bellehaven Precinct would be moved to Delegate David Englin’s seat, and Westgate Precinct (the area south of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway) would be moved back into Delegate Dave Albo’s seat where it was until 2001. Kirkside Precinct (essentially Hollin Hills & northern Gum Springs) and Marlan Precinct (Villamay, Marlan Forest and eastern Quander Road) would be moved from Delegate David Englin’s district into my my district. Most of Fort Belvoir north of U.S. 1 would also be added to my district, along with Hayfield Precinct.

Two weeks ago, I wrote that I liked the 44th District the way it is. The district is the closest to the target population number in the entire state without any changes. Thankfully, the proposal did not do significant harm to communities of interest in my district. Under the proposed House of Delegates plan, I would still mainly represent the same communities, the same high school pyramids and the bulk of the U.S. 1 corridor. I welcome some new constituents. You may recall that in 2009, I knocked on over 8,000 doors in the 44th district. When you go out, meet people face to face, into the “innards” of a community, and then fight for them in Richmond, you develop a deep sense of responsibility and ownership of “your turf.” It would be hard to let parts of my current district go. For sure, I will miss some of my current constituents if the current House plan is approved.

No plan is final. We will debate and vote on them in the special session. The plans must go to the Governor for veto or line-item vetos and then the U.S. Department of Justice for what is called a “pre-clearance” under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. There is always the possibility of a legal challenge as well.

Having said that, there is no question that this entire process is flawed. I support nonpartisan redistricting. Elected officials should not draw their own district lines – the People should. The Governor campaigned on bipartisan redistricting and then effectively ignored the issue for our last two sessions. He created a Bipartisan Redistricting Commission only with advisory power and then appears to be distancing himself from their recommendations. Both the House and Senate actually proposed their plans before the Governor’s Bipartisan Redistricting Commission even made its recommendations.

The House and Senate majority caucuses created a timetable that minimized opportunities for public involvement and maximized the ability of incumbents to protect their majorities. The districts that have been drawn are either very Democratic and very Republican. Competitive seats are virtually non-existent. No one is well served by the existing redistricting system except for incumbent politicians, lobbyists, and special interest groups. Fixing this will be a priority for me if the voters return me to office.

We also have a veto session next week. The Governor vetoed legislation requiring elementary students to participate in a minimum of 150 minutes of physical education per week. I voted no and will support the Governor’s veto. While I support encouraging children to be physically active, Fairfax County Public Schools estimates that this requirement will cost us over $18 million and the state is providing no funding. Several of our elementary school principals, music and art teachers also contacted me because this requirement would reduce time in art and music.

The Governor also vetoed three other bills including an agreement to raise Virginia’s medical malpractice cap, and increase civil penalties for pollution. I will vote to override those vetoes.

Please watch the news for any additional vetoes and contact me to share your views. You can email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com. You can also stay informed by reading my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.

It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

44th District Redistricting Update

2011-04-04T17:01:00.000-07:00

The House Privileges & Elections Committee has adopted a substitute bill which slightly changes the boundaries of the 44th District from what was originally proposed.

The primary change is that most of Bellehaven Precinct was moved in the the 44th District and Belleview Precinct was moved back into Delegate David Englin's District were it presently exists. Huntley Meadows Park was also moved back into Delegate Sickles' District and more of Fort Belvoir was moved into the 44th District.

In the map below, Blue is the old 44th District, Red is the new 44th District, and Pink is where they both overlap.

You can view the new lines as compared with the old lines below. You can also view the official maps here:

Division of Legislative Services Redistricting Map

Please email me if you have any feedback at scottsurovell@gmail.com.

View 44th District 2011 Redistricting in a larger map

MCCP Insures Fairfax County's Children

2011-04-03T04:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, I attended the 2011 "Dress Up With Grown Ups Gala" for the Medical Care for Children Partnership or MCCP. I had not heard about the MCCP Foundation before the dinner, but attended after I received an invitation and learned that a friend of mine was involved as a sponsor.

The MCCP is a public-private partnership that works with Fairfax County to provide health insurance to working parents without health insurance whose incomes are too high for Medicaid but too low to be able to afford healthcare - the cutoff is about $55,000. They work with Kaiser Insurance and private medical providers to provide services. Since 1986, they have provided insurance to over 86,000 Fairfax County children.

MCCP currently assists over 1,000 children enrolled including 382 in the Alexandria part of Fairfax County which is the largest population served in the County. There is a significant population of families receiving assistance on the U.S. 1 Corridor.

At the dinner, we heard from Jorge Ramallo whose mother received help from MCCP when he was a child. He ticked off all of the pediatric and other visits by himself and his siblings and talked about the peace of mind health insurance brought to his mother when they lived in the Springfield area. He's now a first-year medical student at Yale University.

Many people take health insurance for granted, but there is an entire community in Fairfax County where it is out of reach. This is an organization that is providing some needed services in the County and especially in the U.S. 1 Corridor. I was very happy to learn about this terrific organization.

UPDATED: The Wrong Way to Help the Homeless

2011-04-01T11:17:00.001-07:00

There was an article in today's Washington Post regarding a VDOT decision to clear homeless people from some road right-of-way.

VDOT decided to clear them in response to complaints from one of my colleagues who was concerned about people walking to their tents in the dark at night. A VDOT right-of-way next to an interstate exit was probably not the best place to camp out. However, from reading the article, it sounds like VDOT simply chased them off the land.

Homelessness is a serious and often overlooked problem in Northern Virginia. There has always been a significant homeless population in the U.S. 1 Corridor. On occasion, there have been efforts to clear people off homeless camps in our community.

However, when this has been done in the Mt. Vernon area, it is usually done in coordination with our charities on U.S. 1 such as New Hope Housing and United Community Ministries. In fact, one of these events was resulted in the creation of the Ventures in Community Hypothermia Outreach Program (VIC-HOP) that the General Assembly commended last year.

Homelessness is typically secondary to other problems in people's lives - frequently mental illness. Whenever the homeless are cleared from property, it ought to be done in coordination with case workers to ensure that as people are moved, they are not just pushed along to become someone else's problem, but are given an opportunity to receive services that might help them break the cycle of homelessness.

From the news reports, it sounds like this was done the wrong way.

UPDATED - Here is a some video from a Channel 9 News Story on the eviction.

Weekly Column: The New Proposed 44th District and Veto Session Approaches

2011-04-01T04:00:00.000-07:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on March 31, 2011:

The General Assembly will convene in a special session on April 4 in Richmond to adopt redistricting plans and vote on the Governor’s vetoes.

The House of Delegates and Senate announced redistricting plans for their respective bodies this past week. Realigning district lines for elected postions is required because of population changes documented by the decennial census.

The House of Delegates’ Republican Caucus has proposed a redistricting plan for House districts. The House Democratic Caucus has not presented a plan. You can view all proposals online by going to my blog, The Dixie Pig at scottsurovell.blogspot.com. I have posted links and instructions there if you would like to view the plans.

I support nonpartisan redistricting. I do not believe elected officials should draw their own district lines. The Governor also campaigned on bipartisan redistricting but did not actively work for it during our recent session. He created a Bipartisan Redistricting Commission, but it has no real power. It is advisory only. Both the House and Senate actually proposed their plans before the Governor’s Bipartisan Redistricting Commission even made its recommendations.

House of Delegates’ districts must have 80,000 people and State Senate seats 200,000. The House and Senate have adopted competing redistricting criteria ranging from .5 percent to 1 percent or +/- 400 to 800 people. Finalizing these criteria will be our first order of business.

The House plan proposes to change my district, the 44th, as follows: Huntington Precinct would be moved to Delegate Mark Sickles’ seat. Bellehaven Precinct (the area around West Potomac High School) would be moved to Delegate David Englin’s seat, and Westgate Precinct (the area south of Mount Vernon Memorial Highway) would be moved back into Delegate Dave Albo’s seat where it was until 2001. Kirkside Precinct (essentially Hollin Hills & northern Gum Springs) and Marlan Precinct (Villamay, Marlan Forest and eastern Quander Road) would be moved from Delegate David Englin’s district into my my district, along with the most of Belleview Precinct. Huntley Meadows Park would also be added to my district, along with Hayfield Precinct and a small part of Fort Belvoir.

No plan is final. We will debate and vote on them in the special session. The plans must go to the Governor for veto or line-item vetos and then the U.S. Department of Justice for what is called a “pre-clearance” under the Voting Rights Act of 1965. There is always the possibility of a legal challenge as well.

Two weeks ago, I wrote that I like my district the way it is. The district is the closest to the target population number in the entire state without any changes. Thankfully, the proposal did not do significant harm to communities of interest in my district. Under the proposed House of Delegates plan, I would still mainly represent the same communities, the same high school pyramids and the bulk of the U.S. 1 corridor. I welcome some new constituents. You may recall that in 2009, I knocked on over 8,000 doors in the 44th district. When you go out, meet people face to face, into the “innards” of a community, and then fight for them in Richmond, you develop a deep sense of responsibility and ownership of “your turf.” It would be hard to let parts of my current district go. For sure, I will miss some of my current constituents if the current House plan is approved.

We also have a veto session next week. The Governor vetoed his first bill -- legislation requiring schools to provide elementary students to participate in a minimum of 150 minutes of physical education per week. I voted no on the bill originally and will support the Governor’s veto. While I support encouraging children to be physically active, Fairfax County Public Schools estimates that this requirement will cost Fairfax County over $18 million and the state is providing no funding. We cannot continue to require Fairfax County to take actions without providing funding.

Also, several Mount Vernon elementary school principals also contacted me and said this requirement would reduce time in art, music and other classes. I do not support sacrificing academics and art and music for physical education, activities that can be done outside of school.

The Governor also vetoed three other bills including an agreement to raise Virginia’s medical malpractice cap, and increase civil penalties for pollution. I will vote to override those vetoes.

Please watch the news for any additional vetoes and contact me to share your views. This will likely be the last article to go to print before we vote next week. You can email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com. You can also stay informed by reading my blog, The Dixie Pig, at scottsurovell.blogspot.com.

It is an honor to serve as your State Delegate.

44th District Redistricting Proposal

2011-03-30T10:50:00.002-07:00

Here is a map comparing the new and old 44th House of Delegates District. I will post more later. The 44th District as of 2001 is in blue and the proposed 44th is in red.

View 44th District 2011 Redistricting in a larger map

View Redistricting Plans Here

Northern Virginia Public Hearing This Saturday Saturday, April 2, 2011 - 10:30 a.m. Fairfax County Government Center

Reckless Driving Statute Fixed

2011-03-23T09:19:00.001-07:00

Yesterday, Governor McDonnell signed my legislation that corrected an error in Virginia's Reckless Driving statute that effectively decriminalized passing a stopped school bus.

I previously blogged about it here where the problem is described in more detail:

The Dixie Pig: School Bus Fix Moves Towards Passage

My press release issued today is below. Thank you to Delegate Rich Anderson for his work on this bill, Senator Chap Petersen for adding the emergency clause, and Governor Robert McDonnell for signing it into law.

Press Release: Governor Signs Delegate Scott Surovell's Legislation Correcting Reckless Driving Law

Mt. Vernon Redistricting Blast From the Past

2011-03-18T21:34:00.001-07:00

My parents tell me that since I was a toddler I had a fascination with railroads and where railroads used to run. My grandmother used to also tell me stories about the old Mount Vernon Trolley although I'm not sure she ever saw it because it was torn up in 1933.

In 2001, the Mount Vernon Gazette ran a series of articles on the trolley and I cut them out and saved them. I was looking at them a couple weeks ago and noticed this Editorial below on the back of one of the articles from April 19, 2001.

I thought it was interesting given that we are about to go into redistricting in about two weeks.

April 2001 Gazette Redistricting Editorial

All of this just goes to show why bipartisan or nonpartisan redistricting would be a good idea.

Mulligan Road Progresses

2011-03-18T19:47:00.000-07:00

With the beginning of construction on the new Wegman's grocery store at the intersection of Beluah Road and Telegraph Road, many people in the 44th District have been asking me about what the status is on Mulligan Road.

What's Mulligan Road?

When I was a kid, Fort Belvoir was an open base and you could drive on Woodlawn Road and over to Beulah Road to cut across Fort Belvoir. After 9-11, Fort Belvoir changed their security policy and shut the base down. With the opening of the Fairfax County Parkway, there are no only East-West crossings from Mount Vernon to Kingstowne until you reach Lockheed Boulevard. This VDOT page describes it briefly.

The alleviate this problem, a $41 project to expand Mulligan Road is being constructed across Fort Belvoir. It is being financed by the Federal and State Government and Fairfax County. You can see where it is going in on this map below.
View Larger Map

The right of way has been cleared for some time now, but construction really seems to be lagging. Last week, I spoke with Fairfax County transportation staff and there are five things holding up completion:

Lack of complete funding (until just recently)
Need to acquire right-of-way to complete improvements (land on north edge of Woodlawn Estate)
Need to complete Telegraph Road intersection
Utility relocations are not complete
Remaining bridge work needs to be completed

There a little bit of discussion in this transportation briefing document. Wegman's is also going to widen Telegraph Road from Beulah Road down to the Mulligan Road intersection as part of a development proffer.

The Mulligan Road Phase II Project was posted for bid presolicitation on February 17, 2011. It was posted for bids on March 16, 2011.

The staff advises that this project is slated for completion in Fall, 2012. When complete, this will bring some significant relief for Mount Vernon residents - especially people who live south of Little Hunting Creek.

P.S. Roy Rogers will not be displaced.

Reopening The Carl Sandburg Planetarium

2011-03-12T12:40:00.000-08:00

Over the last six months, I've been working with Carl Sandburg Principal Terrence Yarborough to get the planetarium functional again.

If anyone knows any likely volunteers, please shoot me a note.

Here's a piece I wrote for the Gazette.

Reaching for Stars
Students need to be able to see them to imagine they can attain them.

Back when I was a student at Waynewood Elementary, field trips were always a big moment. Several stick out in my head — Jamestown & Williamsburg in 4th Grade, Philadelphia in 6th Grade, and one other — the Planetarium at Fort Hunt High School (Carl Sandburg Intermediate School today).

I remember learning the difference between the size and color of stars and planets in the sky, the changing of the constellations, and the corny picture of the arrival of Halley’s Comet in 1986. Coming straight on the heels of Star Wars IV and V, it was an amazing experience for a kid from Northern Virginia where the sky has never really been the best place to stargaze.

On one of the nights right before my election, I was out after midnight putting up door hangers in Hybla Valley and got a call while walking by a field at the back of some condominiums that backed up to Huntley Meadows Park. While I was talking on the phone, I started looking around and couldn’t believe how few stars there were due to the light pollution. It got me thinking about how kids in our areas probably do not see many stars between the light from Washington, D.C. and the U.S. 1 Corridor.

After I was elected, I had a conversation with a Fairfax County School administrator who was not even aware of the Planetarium’s existence — it hadn’t been used in years due to lack of resources to fund field trips and a lack of staff to run the equipment.

Fairfax County teaches astronomy units in 4th, 5th and 6th Grades. Fairfax County Public Schools also has eight planetaria — the highest concentration in the United States except for Dallas, Texas. Seven of them have staff and are operational. Carl Sandburg’s is the only one that is not functional.

Carl Sandburg’s new principal, Terrence Yarborough, is working on getting the equipment operational, locating volunteers, and staff willing to be trained. I’m also working on some funding. Hopefully, it will be back up soon so that the children in our community can benefit from the same things we did as a kids growing up in this community.

Weekly Column: Redistricting Looms: The 44th Changes But Also Stays the Same

2011-03-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on March 10, 2011:

On April 4, 2011, we will return to Richmond for a constitutionally-mandated special session to consider vetoes and draw boundaries for state and federal legislators’ districts. The Board of Supervisors controls redistricting for Supervisors and School Board seats.

The Constitution of Virginia requires every district to “be composed of contiguous and compact territory and shall be so constituted as to give, as nearly as is practicable, representation in proportion to the population of the district.” There is no requirement that districts be drawn to protect incumbents, consider the political implications of the lines, or yield to communities of interest.

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 also requires the General Assembly to take no step that effectively dilutes minority voting rights. Also, because of Virginia’s history of racial discrimination, all of our electoral activities are subject to the review of the Department of Justice before they become final.
The 2010 Census found that Virginia now has 8,001,024 people. Most of the population growth in Virginia has occurred in Northern Virginia, primarily in Prince William and Loudoun Counties. Northern Virginia is expected to gain 2.5 to delegate seats and one senate seat in the exurbs between Fredericksburg and Leesburg. Hampton Roads will lose a seat along with Southwest Virginia and probably Southside Virginia. This could give the more populous areas more leverage in the legislature.

I support bipartisan or nonpartisan redistricting. Elected officials should not draw their own districts. In the past two years, the State Senate passed legislation to establish bipartisan redistricting, but the House of Delegates killed it. The Governor also campaigned on redistricting reform but did little to press it during this legislative session. He has set up a bipartisan commission to make recommendations and appointed Mount Vernon resident Jean Jensen to serve. Feel free to send them your suggestions or ideas.

The House and Senate will propose their plans later this month and the public will have an opportunity to comment in writing and via public hearing. You can design your own plan, on this website - http://gardow.com/davebradlee/redistricting and if you would like it to be considered. All of the Virginia census and political performance data have been uploaded.

The General Assembly will vote on plans in the first week of April. The plans will then go to the Governor for signature or amendment and then on to the U.S. Department of Justice for approval. Political primaries will take place two-and-a-half months later than usual, on August 23.
Roughly speaking, the 44th District currently includes both sides of U.S. 1 to the Potomac River and from Huntington Avenue to Woodlawn minus the communities of Belleview, Marlan Forest, Villamay, Hollin Hills, and Kirkside which are represented by Del. David Englin. The 44th District, with 79,833 people, is the closest to the “ideal” in the entire state out of 100 districts. It is only “short” 127 people. Although no changes would be required, changes to other districts could affect the 44th District. The 45th District (Englin) to the north is 1,300 people short and the 43rd District (Sickles) to the west is 2,000 people short. Delegate Albo’s district to the south has too many people.

The district I represent, the 44th, has changed since 2000 although parts of it have stayed the same. The 44th has become majority non-white – 35,693 or 44.7% out of 79,833 are White. The 44th was 21% African-American in 2000 and is the exact same percentage today even with population growth. The Hispanic population has increased by 88% in the 44th – from 14.58% to 24.59%. Additionally, those identifying as Asian has risen to 6.9% still well below the 2010 average Asian population in Fairfax County of 17.5%.

Hollin Hall, Waynewood, Fort Hunt and Stratford Precincts rank as #2 through #5 as the least diverse precincts in Fairfax County out of 230 precincts. This is unchanged from 2000. Each is over 91.5% white. Westgate Precinct (around Mount Vernon Estate) ranks 16th. Fairfield Precinct (roughly the west side of U.S. 1 between the
South County Government Center and Little Hunting Creek) is the #1 most diverse precinct in Fairfax County and Groveton, Woodlawn, and Bucknell Precincts are in the top 20.

The rich diversity of our community is one of its important strengths. Given a limit of 80,000 people, I hope the boundaries of the 44th don’t change much. I like it the way it is.

If you have any comments or suggestions, send me an email at scottsurovell@gmail.com. Thank you for the honor of serving as your State Delegate.

Weekily Column: The 2011 Session Concludes: Five Bills Pass, A Unanimous Budget

2011-03-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

The following column appeared in the Mount Vernon Gazette, Mount Vernon Voice, and Patch.com on March 3, 2011:

The Virginia General Assembly wrapped up the 2011 Session this past Sunday around 8 p.m. It was quite a journey.
Five bills I authored are now sitting on the Governor’s desk waiting for his signature. I discussed those last week. I am especially pleased that legislation I drafted requiring home energy auditors to be licensed was passed by the House of Delegates on a very close vote with 29 Democrats and 28 Republicans in support. I worked hard both last year and this year with the Energy Efficiency industry, Dominion Resources, and the McDonnell Administration to put together a coalition of consumer groups, industry groups, and legislators from both sides of the aisle to get the bill through.
Senator Puller’s resolution authorizing the U.S. 1 Transit Study was unanimously adopted by the House of Delegates last week. Both Secretary Connaughton and the Director of Rail and Public Transit, Thelma Drake, have assured both myself and Senator Puller that they will move forward on the study with available funding. This is the first step in the process of laying the groundwork for an enhanced U.S. 1 transportation infrastructure.
We also passed a budget on a unanimous vote for the first time in anyone’s memory. Both sides made significant sacrifices to reach a budget that was mutually agreeable. During the budget floor debates, House Democrats were unified in saying that “transportation is important, but it’s wrong to take money from children, seniors, education, health care or public safety to pay for roads.” House Republicans heard our message and more than $117 million previously budgeted for roads are now dedicated to funding our schools, police, and mental health services including an additional $4.1 million in education funding for Fairfax County above the Governor’s proposal.
Around the Commonwealth, brave men and women put their lives on the line every day to protect our safety. Sheriffs will receive an additional $22.6 million over the biennium in the adopted budget. An additional $12.4 million is allocated for police through HB 599 funding. We must fulfill our responsibility to children from low-income families by funding the medical services they need. The adopted budget restores $12.5 million in children’s mental health services and provides $3.1 million for a pilot program aimed at managing the care of children in need of community mental health services.
We cannot turn our backs on our seniors when they need us the most. The original proposal to cap personal care services at 40 hours per week was draconian. The adopted budget caps personal care services at 56 hours per week and requires the development of criteria for exceptions to this cap including the level of care, activities of daily living and risk of institutionalization.
To move our intellectually disabled and developmentally disabled citizens from trainings centers to community based care, we established a trust fund of $30 million. This funding begins to address the serious flaws in the treatment of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the Commonwealth as identified by the Department of Justice.
We also passed a significant piece of transportation legislation. Three weeks ago I set out the reasons I opposed the legislation. Several of my concerns were addressed with the compromise legislation, but I still have significant concerns. I ultimately voted “yes” for the final transportation bill, but I want to emphasize that it is a very minor step and does very little to solve our transportation problem beyond 2011.
We are back in Richmond on April 4 for our special session on redistricting and the Reconvened or “Veto” Session. My next columns will discuss the redistricting process and changes that we have seen in our community since the last census, the new transportation legislation, and the other bills we passed this session.
I have also posted a summary of some of the more important votes along with my votes and a more detailed summary of the budget on my blog at scottsurovell.blogspot.com. I will also post my entire voting record on my blog once I have received it. I have also posted over 16 floor speeches and 180 articles in the last fifteen months containing my analysis on the issues facing the General Assembly and our community. You can also email me at scottsurovell@gmail.com if you have any feedback.
It is an honor to serve as your state delegate.