The first of two public forums on transportation package for Hampton Roads was held last night. The Virginian Pilot coverage is here and the Daily Press coverage is here. Interesting quote from the Pilot article:
Authority members sat stonefaced while speakers took turns scolding them.
[…]
The forum was intended to give residents a chance to comment and ask questions – but authority members did not offer answers, even when some were familiar with the details.
Anyone who has attended a Norfolk Council meeting is familiar with this kind of response – or lack thereof – from our elected representatives. Why anyone expected anything different is beyond me. They do not take to heart the Thomas Jefferson quote which I keep in my sidebar:
I know no safe depositary of the ultimate powers of the society but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their discretion by education. This is the true corrective of abuses of constitutional power.
Expect more of the same tonight, as the second public forum is held.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 