|
4
<br />
<br />APPROPRIATION
<br />e. : $18,000 – Highway Safety Grant (carried over)
<br />
<br />RESOLUTION
<br />f. : $29,306 – Health Department Carryover Funds
<br />
<br /> BE IT RESOLVED
<br />by the Council of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, that
<br />the Charlottesville-Albemarle Health Department is authorized to carry over the sum of
<br />$29,306 from Fiscal Year 2009 for the purpose of funding a temporary, part-time position
<br />to coordinate management of activities related to the H1N1 flu virus.
<br />
<br />APPROPRIATION
<br />g. : $1,500 – Charlottesville Police Foundation Contribution
<br /> (carried over)
<br />
<br />RESOLUTION
<br />h. : Passenger Rail Service from Charlottesville to Northern
<br /> Virginia
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, Charlottesville and the Central Virginia Region have enjoyed a rich
<br />history of passenger rail service
<br />connecting the region to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, the railroads were vital to the growth of Central Virginia’s economy
<br />and to the development, strength
<br />and diversity of its educational, cultural and civic institutions, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, these historical ties to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C.
<br />continue to be critical to the strength
<br />of our economy, to the health and vitality of our academic and research institutions, to
<br />our tourism industry, and to Central Virginia’s increasing role as host to federal defense
<br />agencies and their allied contractors, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, the Amtrak Crescent is the only daily passenger train connecting
<br />Charlottesville to Washington, D.C.
<br />and the Northeast Corridor, supplemented three days a week by the Amtrak Cardinal, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, neither of these Amtrak trains provides peak hour service to
<br />Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., nor do they, as part of Amtrak’s national
<br />system, provide a sufficient level of on-time performance to meet the needs of the
<br />business or non-business traveler who must arrive early in the day, arrive on-time, and
<br />return the same evening, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, in spite of these limitations, Charlottesville maintains one of the
<br />highest, most consistent ridership
<br />levels of any Amtrak station in Virginia, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce found that 63%
<br />of its member businesses
<br />regularly send employees to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. for business
<br />purposes, 84% of the time they travel there by car, and 66% said they would use a
<br />reliable passenger rail link if one were available, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, multiple state-funded studies over the past decade have identified
<br />Charlottesville-Washington as the
<br />route segment having the greatest potential for ridership growth in the US29/I-81
<br />corridor, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, in a 2008 report to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public
<br />Transportation (VDRPT), Amtrak
<br />recommended new service in the Lynchburg-DC corridor "as soon as possible,"
<br />describing it as "underserved" and "a route segment that frequently sells out." and
<br />Amtrak proposed a new service structure, along with a schedule, and
<br />
<br /> WHEREAS
<br />, both VDRPT and Amtrak expressed interest in providing peak hour
<br />service for Washington-bound
<br />
<br />
|