In a new book I’ve been reading (“Three Days at the Brink,” Bret Baier) I noted a message to the New York State Legislature delivered on Aug. 28, 1931 by then-Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt that still resonates. Roosevelt remarked that “Our government is not the master but the creature of the people. The duty of the State toward the citizens is the duty of the servant to its master.” This is a message Virginia State Del. Kathy Tran and State Sen. George Barker should take to heart in advocating with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) to remedy the abysmal condition of Huntsman Boulevard (Huntsman) west of the Fairfax County Parkway.
I have lived in the South Run Crossing neighborhood represented by Tran and Barker for 20 years and it’s obvious to all who live and/or drive on this section of Huntsman that it is in desperate need of a complete overhaul, not the periodic, and completely inadequate patching of torn up pavement and potholes. Earlier this year VDOT completely repaved the east side of Huntsman, as well as a small section on the west side adjacent to the parkway.
As a cardinal lesson from Economics 101 is to take advantage of economies of scale, this begs a simple question: when VDOT had the equipment and crews in the area on two separate occasions this year why didn’t they simply complete the job in a cost-efficient manner? If history is any guide, it’s quite apparent that VDOT gives no priority to the South Run Crossing and Belmead neighborhoods on the west side of Huntsman. With winter fast approaching, it is incumbent upon Del. Tran and Sen. Barker to step up and effect a needed service for their Constituents.
Mitch Singer
Springfield