McDonnell Visits Falls Church for Luncheon

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell had a full plate at a luncheon Tuesday.

Speaking to various leaders from the construction, commercial real estate and labor industries during a luncheon held by Hitt Contracting Inc., the governor answered questions on venture capital funds, unfair competition from prison labor goods and promoting the state on the international stage in countries like China and Japan.

Touting a 6.1 percent unemployment rate against an 8.7 percent national rate as reported by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics he urged local businesses to expand despite a cut in national spending and a slump in the construction business.

“I need you to invest in jobs and economic development and do things that will inspire small businesses to grow inspire the large corporations to stay or relocate to Virginia,” McDonnell said.

Despite state legislators’ failure to cap rising college fees, McDonnell revisited his campaign promise to raise the number of university degrees to 100,000 in 15 years and touched on other transit projects like the widening of I-66, construction of hot lanes around Tysons Corner and discounted the possibility of the construction of an outer beltway. He further restated his opposition to the underground Metro stop at Washington Dulles International airport saying keeping construction projects on track was his priority.

“I think it is irresponsible what everyone is done to the level to want to spend $350 million of your money to save you two and a half minutes of having to walk,” he said.

Director of contracting at Hitt Contracting, Elaine Gray, oversees the new ground construction, major hotel renovations and mixed use buildings as well as higher education. She said while the governor’s message was uplifting and his efforts reaching out to other countries noble, she hoped local interests in a frail economy are fairly represented as far as taxation and incentives were concerned.

“Construction as a whole lost 30-40 percent of its people and revenues over the last two three years in the recession,” she said. “That is a very tough thing to come back from in respect to opportunities so you need the growth and the stimulus to be able to get back.”

With the Metro expansion and hot lanes coming at the same time, Laura Morris of Kling Stubbins, an engineering firm in the district and the chapter president for CoreNet, a global real estate amalgamate

calls driving in her McLean neighborhood a disaster.

She has learned to walk around or avoid construction with a warren of back roads and cut-throughs. She however does not have any back roads to navigate the rising cost of college as her two children aged 9 and 11 start thinking about college. She said she has heard of students with a 1600 SAT score and a perfect GPA who cannot get into local colleges.

Originally from Atlanta, she said her nephew and other students with good SAT scores and grade point averages had state incentives to attend local colleges, unlike in Virginia. Although she has heard things are getting better she still hopes her children aged nine and 11 will not have to move out of state to attend college.

“I wish Virginia would look into something like Georgia because I feel like there is to much draw from out of state when a lot of students with incredible resumes and good records cannot get into good schools,” she said.