By Aaron Applegate

The Virginian-Pilot
© March 22, 2010

VIRGINIA BEACH

The city is paying a local non profit $63,000 to run what the group is calling a yearlong “community conversation” on transportation.

The effort, which kicks off today, comes as the City Council wrestles with the city’s dominant transportation issue: whether to pursue a light-rail project to link to the Norfolk light-rail line.

Critics say the arrangement with the Hampton Roads Center for Civic Engagement is designed to build support for light rail. Center and city officials say the exercise, dubbed “Envision Transportation,” will include discussion of light rail but that it’s also about roads, bike and pedestrian routes, and accessibility for people with disabilities.

The dynamic of the debate is similar to one that played out over city redevelopment issues in 2005 and 2006, when critics accused Beach leaders of angling for redevelopment authority by putting on a series of public meetings.

While top city staffers and some City Council members are pushing for light rail, the council has not officially taken a position. Hampton Roads Transit, the regional transportation agency, is overseeing a study on a Beach light-rail project.

“This is about trying to put a propaganda spin on an answer they’ve already come to,” John Moss, chairman of the Virginia Beach Taxpayer Alliance, said of the transportation meetings.

“I would expect people to think that because light rail is on the public agenda, but that is not our intent,” said Betsy McBride, executive director of the center. “If we didn’t talk about light rail that would be ludicrous, but it is one of the choices that is going to come up.”

The first meeting is at

6:30 p.m. Monday in the municipal center’s building 19. The center invited about 100 people, including Moss, to the meeting, which also is open to the public. The center will build a Web site and bring in expert speakers at later meetings, McBride said.

“We could bring in a speaker who could explain how Portland makes its bike system connect, and what are they doing in Berkeley to make sure disabled people don’t get run over when they’re in wheelchairs,” she said.

Most council members said last week they were not aware of the cost and didn’t have a clear idea what the meetings would be about.

The money wasn’t mentioned at a City Council presentation last week by Jim Oliver, former Portsmouth city manager and president of the center’s board of directors.

However, the City Council unanimously approved the project and the $63,000 cost in a resolution passed in October, a vote most members said they didn’t remember.

“It wasn’t clear when Mr. Oliver came to talk to us what exactly he was referring to,” Vice Mayor Louis Jones said. “I need a clearer definition of what they’re going to do.”

“It’s always a concern spending money,” Mayor Will Sessoms said.

In 2005, the city created a group called “Public Voices on Redevelopment.” McBride, who was then working for the city, headed the effort. About 100 people were invited for meetings about how the city could redevelop.

Before the meetings finished, redevelopment authority opponents, led by the Taxpayer Alliance, got the issue on the ballot where it was defeated in a 2006 referendum. Today, Alliance members are calling for a referendum on light rail.

The Public Voices efforts went on to lay the groundwork for the city’s Strategic Growth Areas, eleven places around the city targeted for redevelopment. Many of the SGA s, including Town Center and the Newtown Road area, are near the rail corridor the city is hoping to buy for a possible light-rail project.

Moss said the transportation meetings are an unnecessary layer between the City Council and taxpayers.

“Nothing new is going to come out of this discussion,” he said. “There are no new facts. What we need to have is a discussion between the policy makers, the City Council, and the bill payers.”

Councilman Jim Wood praised the transportation group.

“Involving citizens in the process is a good thing not a bad thing,” he said.