There’s nothing wrong with U.S. 29. That’s what a study from Meyer, Mohaddes and Associates—a firm hired for Albemarle County’s Places29 master plan—states.

Nope, nothing wrong with U.S. 29 at all. During busy hours traffic travels the 55-mph highway at 36.6 mph from Hydraulic Road to Burnley Station Road a few miles south of Greene County. It’s about a 15.5-minute drive morning and evening during rush hours. Those, of course are average times so my 22-minute experience last week going from Rio Road to Airport Road is at the high end of the scale.

Unfortunately, all of my trips seem to be at the high end of the scale.

It could be that my expectations are too high. Years ago, I could hop on the Harley and travel from my Corner Store area home to work in about 11.7 minutes doing pretty much the speed limit all the way in to town. In the evening after I passed Hollymead there was no traffic and all I had to do was get past Airport Road before I put my feet on the highway pegs, tightened the throttle screw and kicked back for a 60-mile-an-hour cruise home.

Yeah, well, times have changed. The Corner Store is no longer on the corner. That space now houses a Sheetz. I sold the Harley to buy a house in Charlottesville. There’s a Target where green fields used to be. An extra 200 homes have been built in the area where my dog and I hiked. So maybe the studies are right. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with 39 mph in a 55-zone. Maybe there’s nothing wrong with bumper-to-bumper all the way home.

Maybe my memories are slowing me down. 

Who owns your car’s secrets?

RICHMOND-- Part of what the General Assembly does every year is try to catch up—or keep from falling too far behind—what changes in technology have wrought since the last time the Virginia Code got a massage.

One of the best little bills to do this in the current session is Del. Joe May’s little black box bill.

May, R-Leesburg, invented the yellow line that tells football fans watching television where first-down territory lies. Now he’s safeguarding the privacy of car owners.

Millions of cars have little black boxes that record neat stuff like engine speed, vehicle speed, even GPS position on the planet during that past 100 hours or more down to the exact address of the driver’s girlfriend’s house or other places he might not want the world to know he’s been.

May’s House Bill 816 defines the vehicle owner as the owner of any data recorded on a device, such as the little known black box, installed in a vehicle. Three House committees, the House of Delegates, and two Senate committees have peeked under the hood at May’s bill, which is expected to pass next week.

The data in the box “could be very valuable to someone else,” May said Monday.

Del. Leo Wardrup, R-Virginia Beach and resident House curmudeon, pronounced May’s bill one of the best little privacy bills of the session.

Who do you want knowing what’s under your hood?

So they had the last ball at U-Hall. So they can’t agree on how to pay for the new roads that Virginia needs. The schools have new toilets, violence rocks on in Baghdad and Wise County is looking into cop corruption.

There’s lots to rail against. There’s lots to be upset about. To be honest, I’m more upset about my own problems with recalcitrant home repair folks and my own personal failings.

So, if you don’t mind, I’m going to back out of today’s effort. I’ll adjust my attitude and be back tomorrow.

Thanks.

Stuck in a session with no paved road out of the valley of taxes, the light brigades stew over coffee and scones.

By Bob Gibson
Daily Progress political blogger

RICHMOND--Half a page, half a page, half a page onward.

All in the valley of Shockoe rode the 600.

Forward the lightly dismayed, into the mouth of hell, through weeks of chatter and half-shell, rode the 600.

Republicans to the right of him, Republicans to the left of him, Republicans in front of him volleyed and thundered.

Into the valley of taxes, death’s evil twin, rode the 600. (OK, 140 lawmakers and sundry lobbyists, business types and various toters and touters of numbers).

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, the Democratic field general from Richmond, surveyed the valley, eyebrow raised, and spotting slightly higher ground, invited all sides in for months to talk over coffee and scones.

Forty-five days into a scheduled 60-day session, the General Assembly and Kaine are all talking overtime or special session instead of wrapping up budget business and transportation talk.

The basic problem, a failure to marry conviction and compromise out of fear, has House Republicans stuck on “No new taxes” and nearly everyone else stuck in an aggregate mix of less than tasty new taxes to provide a sustainable revenue stream that can fund long-term transportation needs.

It’s hard to make a change. For some of us, the very idea can turn internal organs into marmalade as visions of failure or love lost forever dance in our heads. The best among us make that change despite fearing the unknown.

Danielle Howard had a computer, a new car and a plan for a new start.

It’s hard to work hard. The best among us can see that their best efforts bring out the best in others, the best in the product, the best in themselves even if their best doesn’t translate to more and better money and jobs.

Ms. Howard’s coworkers described her in such terms. She went from entry level to manager at the office in a short period of time.

It’s hard to see the beauty and the joy, the promise in life. The best of us often express those facets in art, prose, poetry and random kindnesses, giving to others what others can’t give themselves. This makes them generous.

Ms. Howard’s family and friends saw in her those same traits.

There is no doubt that at 22 years old, Ms. Howard was among the best of us. Most of us didn’t know her. Most of us never met her. Now we never will.  She was slain on a Gordonsville street earlier this week.

Her killing is a tragedy for us all.