Watkins Abbit and High Bridge, Part II

When last I left you, we were listening to Watkins Abbitt talk about how the High Bridge Trail Park would be great, if he could only run things his way and start the construction of it in Farmville, which is not in his district, instead of Cumberland County, which is.

Whew! Got that?

The Editor of The Farmville Herald had an editorial on “The Little Idea That Really Can Open The Beauty Of Cumberland” on July 13th. More on that later.

The Herald : (from July 11, 2007)

Del. Hogan told The Herald on Tuesday that “I have asked to see their plan and the rationale for it and I will take a look at it…”

But the logical approach to me, is to try to construct first those sections that will get the most use”, Del. Hogan said. “Do it in a way that the most people can use it for the least public expenditure.”

I wonder when most Republicans and/or Independents (who vote with Republicans) became concerned with government efficiency? Does anyone really believe that is the reason Mr. Abbitt and Mr. Hogan are interested in changing things in an approved plan?

More from the article:

Del. Abbitt believes a key advantage, in addition to giving the trail a major launching off point in downtown Farmville, is the fact that the town has offered to build three miles of the trail inside their corporate limits.

“Farmville can build it ten times cheaper,” Del. Abbitt said

If the state appropriated %50,000, the town could construct the entire three mile section and Phase One could bring the trail from High Bridge to the town’s Corporate Limits.

But that isn’t the real reason, right boys?

Del. Abbitt said an important detail needed to be worked out between the Town of Farmville and DCR before the Farmville portion is constructed and that is, simply, providing a sub-surface right-of-way beneath the trail to the Town for water lines any other necessary infrastructure.

Doing so shouldn’t be a problem, according to Del. Abbitt. The Town can lease the thin three-mile stretch to DCR with the right-of-way provision.

But Del. Hogan cited what he called “institutional resistance” within the state bureaucracy to the Town doing that.

Delegate Hogan, that’s probably because it is a terrible idea. And Delegate Abbitt, why are you trying to take an instrument of economic development away from Cumberland County? And why do you and Delegate Hogan want so much to determine how DCR does its job? Especially since the only part of Farmville in your (Delegate Abbitt’s) district is on the north side of Appomattox River?

Does He Think This is Funny?

Apparently, Mitt Romney thinks this is funny. I would like to know why.

All hate, all the time.

H/T and a nod to these people.

Watkins Abbitt Tries to Run the DCR

The dust had no sooner settled on the big ceremony at High Bridge, a historical site in both Cumberland and Prince Edward counties, than Watkins Abbitt wanted to start changing the way the $1m that he claims as having got for this 59th District would be spent. Of course, what would a desire to take over the project from the Department of Conservation and Recreation be without his buddy Clarke Hogan chiming in as well.

According to The Farmville Herald, under a headline proclaiming, “‘Come To Farmville’”, the paper’s editor, Ken Woodley, quotes Abbitt as saying, “It needs to come to Farmville.”

The Herald goes on:

Work is set to begin, however, on the announced and approved Phase One leg, from Aspen Hill Road, in Cumberland, to High Bridge, with Phase Two projected to bring the trail to Farmville.

~snip~

Nothing else makes sense to Del. Abbitt, who says that he and Del. Hogan have spoken to state officials about changing the Phase One plan so it begins in Farmville, and will speak to them again.

There is a problem with all this however. One and a half precincts in Prince Edward County are in Abbitt’s district. Farmville is not among them. All of Cumberland County is in his district, and that includes Farmville in Cumberland County, however, this project is on the south side of the Appomattox River.

I have been looking at Abbitt’s record and his claims of accomplishments, as well as his fundraising and donations. He has donated to a lot of organizations around the district. Boy Scouts, hunt clubs, other charitable organizations. Problem is, he has donated this money everywhere except Cumberland County.

I wonder why Abbitt feels that the first leg of the new High Bridge Trail State Park should not be built in Cumberland County? He says he feels that the funding and planning of it was done in a way to ensure future funding in the legislature for the project.

If that is true, and Abbitt sits on the Appropriations Committee, wouldn’t he be saying he would be manipulating himself?

I think Watkins Abbitt needs to think of the needs of his District, the 59th, and realize that his seat is not a gift from someone, due to his family’s long political involvement. He may claim that he can get the DCR to change their minds, but under a Democratic administration, I wouldn’t think that would be very easy. Besides the fact that he is a legislator, not a parks and conservation expert.