Fiscal conservatives and environmentalist groups are setting aside their usual philosophical differences to find that they may have something in common.
The General Assembly reconvenes today to react to vetoes made by Gov. Mark R. Warner in recent weeks. Legislators said they are confident that Northern Virginia residents will get to decide in a November referendum on a possible half-cent sales tax increase from 4.5 to 5 percent to fund transportation projects in the region.
But environmental organizations and anti-tax groups now are teaming up in an alliance to oppose the chambers of commerce and other business groups to squelch the sales tax proposal.
"Our core objection to this is that throwing billions of dollars into transportation will be like pouring money down a hole," said Stewart Schwartz, executive director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
The Coalition consists of over 40 member organizations, including both environmental and anti-tax groups. Rallying behind the theme of "smart growth," Schwartz, a University graduate, said the tax increase would not only be fiscally irresponsible, but that it "would mean more suburban sprawl in outer suburban areas."
But business groups have rallied behind Warner's solution for what he has called a "transportation crisis" that could suffocate the state's economy.
"There's a crying need" for the transportation funding, said Brian Gordon, manager of government affairs at the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce. "The congestion is a clear inhibitor of economic development and the quality of life in the region."
Environmentalist and conservative referendum opponents both contend that the projects the tax money is designed to fund come without defined spending limits.
"It's going to be throwing more money at paving this part of the world without managing growth," said Josephine de Give, director of transportation at the Piedmont Environmental Council. "It's like putting a down payment on a house without knowing what the mortgage is going to cost."
Activists also argued that the additional funding would go to transportation projects whose effectiveness still is largely unevaluated and uncertain.
"You ask people if they want to do something about congestion and of course, they say, 'Yes,'" de Give said. "But we don't think this is going to solve the problem."
But citing a statistic by the Texas Transportation Institute that names the Washington, D.C., area as the third worst traffic region in the country, Gordon called it "ludicrous" to say that it would be ineffective or that it would exacerbate urban sprawl.
Gordon argues that the funding would go toward projects already in the works that would aim at loosening congested areas - not expanding suburbs.
"There are no new projects in the suburbs," Gordon said. "We're trying to provide help for the two million people who already live in the region"
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