Advance, but with caution

Through summer’s sleepy days, the Waynesboro City Council has been an island of languor in a sea of monotony. Blades of grass are more restive than most council officials. But ennui has lifted. Once-familiar acrimony has been roused over the absence of activity on the streets outside the stretch of West Main running between the Wayne Theatre and the aging building formerly known as the home of The News Virginian.

During a council work session Wednesday, the factions sparred over streetscape work and a greenway project that has languished since the days of the Clinton White House. For Tim Williams, Frank Lucente and Bruce Allen, the greenway is of uppermost importance. The minority duo of Lorie Smith and Nancy Dowdy lobbied for movement on the second phase of the streetscape, which would add new bricks, lamp posts, traffic signals and a curb extension on West Main from Wayne Avenue to Church Street.

Finishing that project would cost $350,000 to $400,000. The greenway would cost $600,000. Bond money to cover more than half of the cost of the latter is available. Virginia Department of Transportation grants could be obtained to reimburse the city for the remainder of the bill. The same grant program also could be used for the streetscape. But where to get the up-front cash? A rub rises.

Councilwoman Lorie Smith suggests dipping into more than $400,000 tucked in a capital reserve for special projects. Conservatives Williams, Lucente and Allen chafe at this. That money, they say, is a safeguard to cover sudden and more urgent needs that might arise, like, say, upgrades at the city landfill. Of course, there’s more.

Lucente can’t help but notice that the Wayne Theatre stands smack in the middle of the area targeted for the streetscape’s second phase. Dowdy can’t help but notice that the Wayne is a focal point of political angst. Some voters vigorously support spending city money on the theater; others bitterly oppose doing so. The conservative trio falls in the latter camp, something Lucente credits to that group’s seizing majority control last year. So here the council stands once more at the great ideological divide.

During work session sniping, Lucente said he backs the streetscape but doubts the people consider it a priority given the city’s budget constraints, which figure to only grow tighter amid the recessionary squeeze. In Thursday’s edition of The News Virginian, the story about the streetscape debate appeared below another piece, about an additional 40 layoffs at Mohawk Industries, one of the city’s major employers. Those stories were complemented by still another, about the state facing $1.5 billion more in cuts.

Both sides on the council apparently agree that the greenway project should proceed. We concur. This would add a network of trails and bicycle and pedestrian paths along the South River. The greenway is a vital step in turning the South into a city asset rather than a thing to be feared because of its infrequent tendency to creep over its banks.

Similarly, the streetscape project should be completed. To do this, the city needs to set a deadline for finishing the job and then it needs to abide by that commitment, as Smith urges. This is an important component for another thing we have urged, the revitalization of downtown.

But concerns about where to find money and whether to tap the special projects reserve are not inconsequential. In raising these questions, Lucente and his allies demonstrate conservatism in one of its truest senses, asking hard questions before acting.

Closer inspection of the options might reveal that the money needed to finish the streetscape is available and work can proceed with haste. But we want first to know, from where the money will come, what might be the hazards of emptying the projects fund and what will be the impact on the budget, namely will it affect taxes? Let us see answers on this, and soon, and then let the city set its course, starting in any event with a fair and reasonable deadline from which the council will not shrink in meeting. In other words, move, but move smartly.