An Open Letter to Automakers from Tom Silvestri

As you plot your future, consider Richmond a partner.

Our city and region are perfect locations for pilot programs experimenting with alternative transportation solutions that pollute less. A special tip of the innovator's hat to Ford and General Motors.

Ford, we think your electric vehicle and Urban Mobility Network would find a nice home in Richmond. We know that you have visited here -- thanks to your manager of sustainable business development, David Berdish, who graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University -- and we are excited that Richmond could be a part of the company's return to glory.

GM, we know your PUMA project with Segway could soar here as well. The city's compact downtown and our region known for its distinct neighborhoods are perfect places for GM/Segway's two-person electric vehicle.

Many reasons exist why automakers should park pilot programs in Richmond.

We're a midsize city, so your experiment won't get lost. Experiments need focus. We have a vibrant business community, strong universities, a respect for the environment, and a community that's hungry to put its mark on a national effort that benefits a country on the go.

VCU, one of the nation's largest urban universities, would be a great venue to use more maneuverable electric vehicles to combat parking limitations and congestion.

We'd like nothing better than for Richmond, a state capital, to be viewed as a beacon of innovative thinking when it comes to new forms of transportation and new ways to move people. We're a proven test market with some of the most demanding customers anywhere in the country that can help any manufacturer improve a product before mass distribution. As we Richmonders like to say, if you can make it here, you can make it anywhere.

In the Richmond region, you already have leadership support and a pedigree of transportation breakthroughs ranging from canals to electric trolleys to early automobile makers.

In a letter to Segway's Carol Valianti, vice president of global communications, Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones wrote: "Given Richmond's strong pioneering roots in this industry, the city is an ideal venue for testing new and dynamic forms of transportation such as Project PUMA. The electric car trolley system, the template for urban transportation systems around the world, originated in Richmond. This distinction makes our city a good, historic testing ground for your innovative vehicle."

Heck, one of my favorite letter-writers to the

Richmond Times-Dispatch, Ralph Dombrower, actually received a patent with Fred Mayers in 1969 for an invention that "couples a scooter or motorcycle to an enclosed or semi-enclosed protective body with independently steered and braked front wheels and side-by-side seating for the operator and one passenger."

Ralph wrote us a year ago about combining small electric vehicles and light-rail trains. "My vision for the future of a vitalized Richmond: People will want to live downtown because they can have easy, economical, tiny transportation . . . up and down the hills to work and patronize businesses and entertainment. Light-rail trains will roll into downtown with special cars to accommodate small vehicles, which commuters drive on the cars for the train ride, then drive off to their downtown destination."

See, we are a font of ideas here.

An advocacy group is in place. STIR -- Sustainable Transportation Initiative of Richmond -- was formed to "put Richmond on the national forefront of the burgeoning transportation reformation and establish our city as a national leader in effectively integrating green vehicles and efficient transportation systems in our work and living communities."

STIR, headed by local Segway dealer Buck Ward, has the backing of the Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Richmond Partnership, the GRTC Transit System (voted the best bus transit company in the nation for 2008), and others with an interest in seeing transportation alternatives take off. (Disclosure note: I am a member of STIR and chair-elect of the chamber.) For more information, go to http://www.projectstir.com.

You already see the value here. A local community college has a regional Automotive Technology Program that includes the training of technicians for both Ford and GM. In addition, J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College recently received a federal grant -- one of two community colleges to be selected -- to develop technician training for hybrid and electric vehicles.

We have a strong power company with a penchant for innovation and programs that conserve energy. We can imagine Dominion Resources, the country's 10th largest utility, building a plug-in network so electric cars can expand beyond just a short-trip range.

We're eager to build more attractions for talented workers. We know your pilots would improve Richmond's ranking among places for young people, for example. Having more early adopters of this type of technology will pay dividends.

We're excited at the prospect of being in the middle of a disruptive innovation like the electric car. We know innovation can change an industry from laggard to leader.

Our editorial on Aug. 9 said it best:

"Certain forms of transportation depend on a mass Richmond lacks. Think of subways, for instance. On the other hand, the metro area's size makes Richmond a prime site for innovation. The city and its environs can assume national stature in the pursuit of new ways to get people to where they want to go. The commitment of STIR and the grant to J. Sarge resemble a green light."

Let's go. We're ready to start.

Tom Silvestri is president and publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He is among the founding members of STIR. Special thanks to Buck Ward, Greg Wingfield, Gary Rhodes, Kim Scheeler, and Jeff Jones for their assistance. Contact Silvestri at (804) 649-6121 or .