Ice Storm Anger Melts Away
It was quiet. Too quiet. In fact, the Waterford reception center in Springfield was dead quiet last night, except for the sound of water flowing in a fountain that forms the centerpiece of the entrance hall.
Moving slowly forward through the dimly lit corridors, alert for charging zombies, I found my way to the room set aside for the Virginia government's forum for public comments on the ice storm that froze the nearby Springfield Interchange on Feb. 12.
Inside, David S. Ekern, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Transportation, was reviewing how motorists came to be stranded for eight hours or more and what his department has done since then to improve its procedures and preparations.
He delivered a good talk to an audience made up mainly of VDOT officials who were there to assist in answering questions from angry citizens. There were about two VDOT officials per angry citizen. The handful of people who wanted to speak weren't even all there to complain about the ice storm.
This was a far cry from the angry crowd that surrounded Dennis Morrison, the former VDOT administrator for Northern Virginia, when he had to explain the HOT lanes program to sluggers in Woodbridge last July.
While the turnout could have led Ekern to believe that public awareness of the Feb. 12 debacle had faded, he promised that "I'll continue to remind myself and my staff of this." In fact, VDOT is developing a plan that will shape its response to stormy weather next winter.
By |
April 23, 2008; 8:00 AM ET
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Posted by: GMU92 | April 23, 2008 10:46 AM
Wait...zombies in Virginia? And I thought snakehead fish were an issue.
Posted by: VC | April 23, 2008 11:14 AM
The resulting incompetence singularity may swallow the entire city of DC.
How the hell is anyone expected to get to Springfield by 6:30 on a workday, unless they happen to work within 10 miles of the location of the hearing? Does VDOT not observe the traffic around here?
Attending VDOT's "planning to plan" meeting is pointless.
Posted by: Merge Metro and VDOT | April 23, 2008 11:31 AM
Why would anyone go to this? What a waste of time.
Posted by: | April 23, 2008 5:06 PM
Public agencies are required to have public meetings to keep the public informed. This way, you can't say you didn't have ample opportunity to voice your opinions.
Posted by: Woodley Park | April 23, 2008 7:40 PM
Yeah, have a public meeting, then make the decision you were going to make in the first place. Impressive.
Posted by: | April 24, 2008 10:24 AM
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Wait 2 months until everyone is distracted with who knows what (probably their 4 hour commutes), hold a mid-week Q&A session in a dimly lit office building somewhere in Springfield, roll out the plans to create a plan for increased "inter-agency cooperation" or "communications" or "etc.", and voila! Problem is solved. Ah, nothing like living here in Manhattan on the Potomac.