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Council Asks Legislators For Tourism, Transportation and Higher Ed SupportBy Amber Lester Kennedy Thursday, December 02, 2010 The Williamsburg City Council’s wish list for state legislators includes support for tourism, transportation and higher education. Council shared its hopes with state Del. Bill Barlow and state Sen. Tommy Norment in a special meeting Wednesday at the Greater Williamsburg Chamber & Tourism Alliance building. Many of Council’s requests were familiar to the legislators, who were frank in their explanations of why some legislative priorities might get more traction than others. Transportation issues dominated the hour-long conversation. The city supports the General Assembly’s push to allow tolling major river crossings and to enact a statewide gasoline tax increase or other increases that could help pay for Virginia’s transportation needs.The city would also like to see improved reliability and frequency of passenger rail service between Richmond and Williamsburg, and supports dedicating some state funding toward passenger rail in hopes of obtaining more federal funds. City Manager Jack Tuttle said more than 40,000 passengers travel out of the Amtrak station in Williamsburg, yet the station has one of the worst rates for on-time arrivals and departures in the United States. Williamsburg also requested that the General Assembly makes widening the I-64 corridor between Newport News and Richmond a priority in order to alleviate traffic congestion. Norment said Gov. Bob McDonnell is looking “very arduously” for money to pay for the necessary transportation upgrades. It would take statewide tax increases to fund such projects, however, and legislators from other parts of the state want to use revenues for their own infrastructure projects, such as delivering broadband service to more rural areas. If the General Assembly approved tolling the river crossings, the revenue generated still wouldn’t cover the costs of maintenance and upgrades, he said. “The first dollar in is the first dollar out for maintenance,” Norment told the board. Barlow said transportation is a huge concern because it greatly impacts the region. “With a relatively modest sacrifice on the part of our citizens, I think we could get there,” he said. Council also asked the legislators to try to have more tourism revenue devoted to promoting Virginia as a destination. Norment said he has been a very fierce advocate for tourism in the past, but his enthusiasm has been tempered. Norment recently wrote a letter advising the Virginia Tourism Corporation not to approve the Williamsburg Hotel Motel Association’s request to get its visitor center recognized by the state. The VTC approved the WHMA’s request last week, however (read more here). At Wednesday’s meeting, Norment pointed to several upcoming events the state is throwing its support behind, including the Civil War sesquicentennial, the 2012 National Governor’s Association Conference in Williamsburg and commemorations of the War of 1812. Norment said the state was grateful when hotel and motel owners tacked a tax to bills to pay for the 2007 Jamestown celebration. “The Historic Triangle will have to continue to look at self help,” he said. “Nobody likes room taxes or transient taxes…we have to try to facilitate some cordiality across the leisure industry.” He added that when it comes to tourism marketing, industry players need to self-help, collaborate and promote positive messages. The city urged the legislators to require Internet travel reservation companies, such as Expedia and Travelocity, to collect occupancy tax on gross sales rather than net sales. Currently, localities collect taxes from reduced rates paid by online travel companies to hotels. Council members urged the legislators to tackle the issue at the state level. Norment said a senator from northern Virginia had tried to pass a comparable bill, but was surprised by the outcry from Internet companies, many of which are based in that corner of the state. He acknowledged that the Virginia Municipal League has taken on the issue. Mayor Clyde Haulman, an employee of the College of William and Mary for 42 years, advocated for more state support for higher education. In its legislative priorities, the city urged the General Assembly to support funding to construct the final phase of the college’s Integrated Science Center and renovate and modernize Tucker Hall for the English department. Norment, a member of the governor’s commission on higher education reform, said the funding model for the state’s higher education institutions is more complicated than it appears. He acknowledged William and Mary President Taylor Reveley’s repeated request to be left alone to fundraise more effectively by saying, “I wish it were that simple.” He added that construction projects at the college are dependent on the state’s ability to issue bonds, which is dependent on its debt capacity (currently 5 percent). “I wish we were smart enough to come up with something,” he said. To see the full list of the city’s legislative priorities, click here. The General Assembly will start its session on the second week of January. |
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Comments
Now Education is a whole other topic to long for this comment section.....but I agree.
The way we market Williamsburg is our biggest problem. Because of realities in society today, families want fun filled vacations, not education on vacation. Busch Gardens gets that because of their product, but CW still thinks everyone wants education on vacation. Why else would they STILL keep calling themselves a MUSEUM. Boy, that sounds like fun, I'm taking my family on a 6-8 hour drive to visit a LIVING MUSEUM. How about an ATTRACTION. Marketing 101 stuff!!
So basically, I agree with you and Sen. Tommy Norment that Williamsburg needs everyones cooperation to brighten Williamsburg's image, BUT, its a two way street and everyone has to be involved on equal footing otherwise you have what Senator Tommy Norment and CW want....Big Brother telling us all what to do, how to do it and when we can do it.
The Williamsburg brand has gotten old and tarnished. Partly due to factors more or less out of our control -- the dumbing down of American education for example. Less emphasis on American history means less demand for Williamsburg. But we, as a community, have also failed to keep Williamsburg vibrant.
So Norment is basically right, it's up to us to refurbish the brand.
I have no stake in this as a business owner - I am just a resident. But how can our elected official advocate for the thing he then tries to crush?
This smells of politics where there really should be zero political involvement. Let the market do its thing.