To the Editor:
Representative Connolly’s commentary about the Zika threat [The Connection, August 10-16, 2016] is a perfect example of why we are fed up with career politicians. There is no problem big enough that can’t be solved by throwing taxpayer money at it. Zika virus in Virginia, no problem! We have a whole list of projects on which to “spend money responding to this growing public health crisis.” Fairfax County is currently spending 2.75ȼ for every $100 of our property assessments, to tear out efficient storm drains, replacing them with swamps and ponds to incubate mosquitos. That’s because the politicians thought that too much deer poop and lawn fertilizer was washing into the Potomac. Now we can fund research programs to figure out how to keep those swamps and ponds from producing mosquitos. Your editorial by Mary Kimm, on the same page, mentions the 1,063 structurally deficient bridges in Virginia and the “lapses” in Metro maintenance for 40 years. Where did all the funding go that was collected and programmed for those projects? Where did the gas tax money go? Maybe we should “develop” another lottery, like we did for missing education funds. Career politicians are the problem. No research or development study is necessary!
Gene Phillip
Great Falls