George,

I've rootled around in my extensive Meadowcreek Parkway archive and I'd like to remind you and your readers that Caravati and Richards signed off on a letter from Council to VDOT in December of 2000 stating the conditions which would have to be met for the transfer of land to go ahead. This agreement was hammered out in long hard work sessions and they agreed just as much as Cox and Lynch did with these conditions NONE OF WHICH HAVE BEEN MET OR ARE EVEN BEING TALKED ABOUT as they try to railroad this land transfer through.

I quote (the letter is addressed to H. Charles Resnick and Reginald H. Beasley, Jr. and dated 12/11/00)

By way of introduction I'll quote this:

...the City is not yet willing to approve the major design features of that plan or sell the necessary right of way to VDOT until the design is further amended and necessary assurances given by VDOT and Albemarle County to comply fully with the comments contained in this letter... (p,1)

...The City's approval for the Meadowcreek Parkway design shall be and is contingent upon the acquisition of replacement parkland and green space by the city, the County, and VDOT... ...This new parkland and green space is intended to replace the land lost to the Parkway as well as the loss of use imposed on some of the remaining portions of McIntire Park... we suggest that 50 acres of land, contiguous to the existing park would be appropriate...(p3)

...While the council supports construction of a two-lane version of the Meadow Creek Parkway as described in this letter, Council has no interest in this Parkway becoming a defacto Eastern connector, ie being used by the public to travel from Route 29 North to Pantops-Route 20North ... To this end., the City's approval of the Meadowcreek Parkway is contingent ... [on a regional network]

...The foregoing items [of which there were 12] -- one by one -- are each in their own right important, crucial, elements in any final design that the City and this Council will support. These components were coupled together in order for Council to build a Consensus. (Emphasis mine)

What Caravati and Richards are trying to do is really shameless, --Blake was the mayor at the time and SIGNED THIS LETTER-- considering that they agreed to everything in the letter, but I guess they are counting on the fact that people don't remember what happened last week, much less three years ago.

Ask Blake where the replacment parkland is? ask Blake where is the regional network? or about any of the other "important, crucial elements" outlined in the letter. You can fool an awful lot of people and awful lot of the time, but eventually your luck will run out.

Mary MacNeil (electronic mail, November 24, 2003)