Virginia

[Takumi]

Because putting it on the default license plate wasn't bad enough.

[NJRoadfan]

What is it with Virginia and white on black signs? Reminds me of the RADAR DETECTORS ILLEGAL signs (perhaps they should have incorporated it into the new sign!). The font screams 70s for some reason. Also, a welcome sign on the airport exit isn't all that unusual. NC has one at the exit from RDU for example.

[1995hoo]

Hideous. I've always hated that slogan, too.

[kkt]

"Single People Not Admitted"?

[mtantillo]

Yeah, I'm not particularly fond of a black background. This is a tourism industry initiative.

[NE2]

Very easy to spraypaint an S over the heart.

[Zeffy]

Virginia has a new "Welcome to Virginia" sign.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/dr-gridlock/wp/2015/01/06/millions-of-travelers-may-have-no-idea-dulles-airport-is-in-virginia/

I don't like it.

Neither do I. Then again, I don't like how much New York went overboard with the I <3 NY signs everywhere in the state, and the ridiculous TV commercials they air.

[oscar]

Because putting it on the default license plate wasn't bad enough.

And the current "Virginia is for Lovers" license plate makes that slogan much less conspicuous than on the old specialty plate.

You see a lot of "LOVE", in large free-standing plastic letters, in front of rest areas and visitor centers.  So the slogan is getting more of a workout than on welcome signs.

The slogan was once adapted for bumper stickers still seen in the wild, "Virginia is for Lovers, Not Liars", in a long-ago U.S. Senate race where the major party candidates were accused of being, respectively, a philanderer and a congenital liar.  (I held my nose and voted for the liar.)

[1995hoo]

I suppose "Virginia Is for Lovers" was amusing when Maryland used "Maryland Is for Crabs."

[NE2]

The slogan was once adapted for bumper stickers still seen in the wild, "Virginia is for Lovers, Not Liars", in a long-ago U.S. Senate race where the major party candidates were accused of being, respectively, a philanderer and a congenital liar.  (I held my nose and voted for the liar.)

Figures that Oscar the Grouch would vote for Oliver Fucking North.

[cl94]

I suppose "Virginia Is for Lovers" was amusing when Maryland used "Maryland Is for Crabs."

Hey, leave the sophomoric comments to a certain other user 

[oscar]

Figures that Oscar the Grouch

Hey, I resemble that remark!

[1995hoo]

I suppose "Virginia Is for Lovers" was amusing when Maryland used "Maryland Is for Crabs."

Hey, leave the sophomoric comments to a certain other user 

I wound up on the moderators' watch list for baiting a certain other user, so I shan't respond further to that comment.

I voted for the same candidate Oscar did in 1994, FWIW.

[hbelkins]

I realize that some are better targets than others for our resident malcontent, but picking on Oscar? That's territory I don't think anyone has ever entered into.

Next thing you know, Tom From Ohio (who recently re-emerged on Facebook to slam North Carolina for its propensity to sign interstates) will be asking Oscar to do us all a favor...

[oscar]

Next thing you know, Tom From Ohio (who recently re-emerged on Facebook to slam North Carolina for its propensity to sign interstates) will be asking Oscar to do us all a favor...

He already did, back on m.t.r.  I complained about how long it took for him to get to me.

[hbelkins]

Next thing you know, Tom From Ohio (who recently re-emerged on Facebook to slam North Carolina for its propensity to sign interstates) will be asking Oscar to do us all a favor...

He already did, back on m.t.r.  I complained about how long it took for him to get to me.

I didn't remember. It took him awhile to get to me, too.

[mtantillo]

I suppose "Virginia Is for Lovers" was amusing when Maryland used "Maryland Is for Crabs."

Hey, leave the sophomoric comments to a certain other user 

I wound up on the moderators' watch list for baiting a certain other user, so I shan't respond further to that comment.

I voted for the same candidate Oscar did in 1994, FWIW.

Only certain people are given a free pass.

[NE2]

holy crap liberal bias

[cpzilliacus]

Washington Post: Here's your chance to sound off on the proposed Dulles Greenway toll increase

The Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) is seeking input on a request to raise tolls on the Dulles Greenway.

Owners of the 14-mile toll road that runs between Dulles International Airport and Leesburg are proposing a 2.8 percent increase in tolls. For most drivers that would translate to a 10-cent increase— to $4.30 from the current $4.20. During peak morning and afternoon periods, the toll would increase 15 cents – to $5.25 from $5.10.

Written comments should be sent to the Clerk of the State Corporation Commission, Document Control Center, P.O. Box 2118, Richmond, Virginia 23218-2118 and should refer to case number PUE-2014-00129. People wishing to submit comment electronically should go to the SCC's Web site: www.scc.virginia.gov/case. Once there, they should click on the "Public Comments/Notices"  link and then the "˜Submit Comments"  button for case number PUE-2014-00129.

[oscar]

A reader column in today's Washington Post:  "The Confederacy on Va.'s Roads" (title in the print edition)  The author, from Arlington, suggests renaming all the highways in Virginia named for Confederate leaders.

I don't like the idea.  For one thing, highway names like Jefferson Davis Highway and Lee Highway are used in a lot of street addresses, since both highways are long and have lots of businesses and homes along them.  A name change would be painful for them.  But even leaving aside the practicalities, I think it's kind of neat that both of those highways come within spitting distance of D.C. 

The author, as an Arlingtonian, must know how pervasive are Confederate place names off the roads, even in rather Yankee-fied Northern Virginia.  For example, Arlington's own Washington-Lee High School (named in part for Robert E. Lee), and J.E.B. Stuart High School across the border in Fairfax County. 

[1995hoo]

Stupid. History includes things you agree with and things you disagree with and it's stupid to try to erase the parts you dislike.

[Thing 342]

A reader column in today's Washington Post:  "The Confederacy on Va.'s Roads" (title in the print edition)  The author, from Arlington, suggests renaming all the highways in Virginia named for Confederate leaders.

I don't like the idea.  For one thing, highway names like Jefferson Davis Highway and Lee Highway are used in a lot of street addresses, since both highways are long and have lots of businesses and homes along them.  A name change would be painful for them.  But even leaving aside the practicalities, I think it's kind of neat that both of those highways come within spitting distance of D.C. 

The author, as an Arlingtonian, must know how pervasive are Confederate place names off the roads, even in rather Yankee-fied Northern Virginia.  For example, Arlington's own Washington-Lee High School (named in part for Robert E. Lee), and J.E.B. Stuart High School across the border in Fairfax County.

Using the same logic as that presented in the column, should we then rename all the roads named after Washington, Jefferson, et al, because they wanted to fight against their own government in order to secede?   

[WashuOtaku]

A reader column in today's Washington Post:  "The Confederacy on Va.'s Roads" (title in the print edition)  The author, from Arlington, suggests renaming all the highways in Virginia named for Confederate leaders.

Well, it's an opinion piece for sure.  Don't agree with the person though and the choices for renaming the entire state routes with people/places from the D.C./Baltimore area is awkward and silly.

[1995hoo]

My wife read that column and pointed out that a number of those roads are not usually referred to by name anyway by most local residents. Jefferson Davis Highway is generally called Route 1 because said route changes names several times through Northern Virginia (Jefferson Davis Highway, Patrick/Henry Streets twinned one-way pair, Richmond Highway). Lee-Jackson Memorial Highway is usually just called Route 50. Of the ones the column noted, I've heard "Lee Highway" more often than the others, though I hear it less frequently than I did 30 years ago because people tend just to call it Route 29.

Semi-related funny incident.....back in the days when Lee-Jackson-King Day was celebrated on the third Monday in January, a guy I worked with who wasn't from Virginia asked who "Lee Jackson King" was. He had only heard the holiday referred to verbally and so didn't realize there were hyphens denoting three names. Of course, the same guy was incredulous that a city is named "Lynchburg." He was black and he was picturing a certain racist act from days before our time.....

[cpzilliacus]

I don't like the idea.  For one thing, highway names like Jefferson Davis Highway and Lee Highway are used in a lot of street addresses, since both highways are long and have lots of businesses and homes along them.  A name change would be painful for them.  But even leaving aside the practicalities, I think it's kind of neat that both of those highways come within spitting distance of D.C.

This self-identified liberal Democrat from the other side of the Potomac River strongly agrees with you.

Changing street names to remove the names of Confederate heroes at this point smacks of Stalinism, and should not be done.

As I understand it, those roads were given the names they bear when there were still a lot of people in Virginia that had personal memories of the Civil War/War Between the States/Lost Cause.

And there's the practical problem associated with same, as Oscar points out above.