Kudos to Congressman Jim Moran. Yesterday, he got the House of Representatives to acknowledge the reality that if the Department of the Army moves 22,000 jobs to Fort Belvoir without investing significantly in infrastructure (read: roads and Metro), we’ll all be stuck in traffic forever.

This is an issue that hits close to home for us at 7 West. Many of the jobs that will end up in Belvoir (adjacent to the 44th District)  are coming from the 48th Legislative District.  And while over time, we both think this realignment will be a good thing for the economies of both our districts, we want the process to move at a more measured pace. Frankly, we also want the Army to take at least some of the responsibility for moving 9,000 people away from jobs with Metro access and into jobs that can only be reached by car.

The Base Realignment process is always difficult, because change is difficult. But sticking states and localities with all the enormous costs of this particular job move is both unfair and unrealistic.
Really,  just one trip down Route One will help you understand just how ghastly things will be if we don’t get some help down here. So thanks to the House for passing this important amendment.