“Sic semper tyrannis” reads Virginia’s motto. Governor Glenn Youngkin would do well to remember that with his sleazy plan to ignore the will of the General Assembly and two-thirds of Virginians by pulling us out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. With just three days of public notice, his new members of the Virginia Air Pollution Control Board could attempt to issue a “declaration of emergency” and immediately send us back on public health and climate change.
The disastrous move would make Virginia communities less safe and less prepared for the next big storm. It’s also bad for business. As a Virginia Beach native, I am reassured to see how millions of RGGI funds have already been used to study and build coastal resilience and flood preparedness projects in places across Hampton Roads that I grew up in. using and enjoying such as the Elizabeth River and South Birdneck Route.
Rising sea levels and flooding from storms continue to threaten the beaches and bays that make this region healthy, safe and beautiful. We must prepare and adapt to preserve our quality of life, our ecosystems, our businesses and our future.
Over the next decade, RGGI’s proceeds could generate more than $750 million to invest in community flood preparedness and energy efficiency improvements. Join me in telling the Governor no to his disastrous attempt to get Virginia out and reminding him that it is the people through the General Assembly and not a tyrant from above who decides the laws of Virginia. .
Robert Barton, Virginia Beach
Regarding the Norfolk City Council’s intention to close the Lamberts Point golf course, with the expansion of the adjacent Hampton Roads Sanitation District sewage treatment plant as apparently the reason, as a golfer and frequent user of this facility, I am very upset. I know there are plenty of other golfers and school groups who would agree with me. If you look at a map, the golf course seems to be the cheapest option. But are there any alternatives the board could work on with HRSDC?
The Norfolk Southern Lamberts Point coal facility is also adjacent to the processing plant. It’s a huge amount of land. In a decade or two, will this coal plant be operational? And even if they do, they certainly won’t need the 20 or more tracks, many of which are currently used to store idle coal wagons. Again, looking at a map, the processing plant could expand using four or five immediately adjacent runways or other non-contiguous land on the Norfolk Southern property without needing the golf course. Alternatively, the Alexandria Wastewater Facility achieved additional treatment through innovative engineering on a very small footprint.
These options would surely require additional work and funding from HRSDC. The council has already closed the Wright Lake golf course for retail outlets of all things. This decision not only robbed the area of a golf course, but also contributed to the demise of the MacArthur Center mall. COVID-19 has demonstrated the importance of parks and outdoor spaces.
Robert Broom, Norfolk
Re “Boost public defender pay” (Our Views, July 5): As a public defender for the City of Suffolk, I was delighted and grateful for the editorial calling for a pay rise for public defenders. Recruiting and retaining good lawyers has become increasingly difficult for me and my fellow Hampton Roads public defenders. I must, however, take issue with one line of the editorial. “They (the public defenders) understand that they will be overloaded with business and will probably spend too much time with disreputable individuals.” This is no way for a newspaper like The Virginian-Pilot to refer to the prosecutors and judges with whom we constantly interact. Public defenders represent individuals, clients or, if you must, defendants. But one of the great joys of being a public defender is seeing the humanity in all of our clients, no matter what they’re accused of.
Others in the criminal justice system do not always have access to this luxury, or perhaps choose not to exercise it. Yes, public defenders know the job will have its challenges. But time spent with “disreputable individuals” is not one of them. In my office, our motto is that we are like firefighters: ring the bell and we will come. That’s what the job requires. Judgment is best left to others.
Jim Grandfield, public defender of Suffolk, Virginia Beach
Where was the “good guy with a gun” in Highland Park, Illinois?
Where was the “good guy with a gun” in Uvalde, Texas? Oh, he was in the hallway, scared to do the job he was trained to do.
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So much for the National Rifle Association’s inadmissible “good guy with a gun” response to America’s “bad guy with a gun” mass murder problem.
It’s time for the American people to face reality.
Ina Friedman, Norfolk
The extent of the discrimination against women inherent in the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade is breathtaking. And aren’t men also responsible for unwanted pregnancies?
Why aren’t they criminalized or demonized like women are and, more importantly, why are there no legal consequences for them?
What can we do about it? Vote Democrat.
Joe Puglisi, Smithfield
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