DATE: Tuesday, August 26, 1997              TAG: 9708260009

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   62 lines

VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN '97 TALK TURKEY

We have deplored editorially the conspicuous failure of the contenders for the Virginia governorship - Democrat Donald S. Beyer Jr. and Republican James S. Gilmore III - to address basic public-policy challenges that include, notably, overburdened roads and the shortfall in new-school construction.

Rush-hour, summer-weekend and holiday traffic congestion on major roads - especially in Hampton Roads and Northern Virginia - is severe and worsening. Thousands of Virginia youngsters attend classrooms in trailers and the prospect is that more will before the state faces up to school needs. Yet adequate transportation networks and adequate schools are essential to economic development.

Businesses shy from locales that seem to neglect schools. Businesses also look to schools to produce an educated or educable work force.

Commerce is impeded by traffic jams. Commuters should be able to breeze between home and workplace. Freight and service personnel should be able to move freely to their destinations. But road blockages are common in Hampton Roads.

The candidates ought to be talking to Hampton Roads commuters about the B-I-G shortfall in federal and state road funds. They aren't, so motorists are uninformed about the crisis. The candidates should talk about the need to expedite the projected third crossing of Hampton Roads, which becomes increasingly important as more and more trucks attempt to move commodities to and from the region's marine terminals. Motorists and the trucking industry should clamor for candidates to address the state's fast-accumulating transportation needs.

Morning and evening rush hours would be a good time to speak about transportation via radio.

``Virginians are stuck in traffic too often,'' candidates might say in commercials on the stations most popular with commuters. ``I needn't tell you that rush hour is hazardous to life, limb and peace of mind, and costly in time lost. The situation will worsen unless Virginia's leaders get busy. My administration - with your input - will aim for smoother commutes and movement for commercial vehicles. I will press for safer roads, too. Meanwhile, Virginia lags in road construction. Together we can pick up the pace.''

Many commuters would listen attentively to such a message while creeping homeward or workward, or while halted by a collision on expressway or crossing.

The time to talk to the electorate about the new-school deficit is also now, when parents are shopping for back-to-school clothes and supplies and children will be entering the classroom for the first time or returning to it.

Candidates could send a message such as this: ``Listen up, mom, dad, grandparents! Want a better physical environment for the young ones in your family? Far too many of our children attend class in mobile classrooms or in deteriorating, outmoded buildings. Do we Virginians want that? Of course not. School construction is a local responsibility. But here is how my administration would, with your help, provide state aid to localities. This aid would set the Old Dominion on the path to assuring that our children are schooled in safe, substantial buildings wired for the 21st century.''

Voters will prick up their ears for messages by candidates about real ills that elected officials with public understanding and support can remedy.

Promising tax cuts while ignoring already big problems that get bigger by the day frequently wins elections - at the expense, generally immense, of the common good.

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