In the article on the Virginia governor's race, the captions for photos of Fairfax County residents Jeff Murphy and Alan Norris were transposed.
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Va. Voters Seek Jobs, Candor
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Snyder said jobs are plentiful, especially since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, which sparked federal spending on homeland security. But housing prices have skyrocketed -- a condominium can go for more than $400,000 and a single-family home can cost $800,000 -- sending taxes soaring.
Snyder also said she is inundated with residents' concerns about traffic congestion.
"The transportation issue is making life virtually impossible and incredibly miserable to live here," she said.
Jeff Murphy, an Army officer who drives a hybrid car to work in Crystal City, said he believes that the state could do more to solve the region's traffic problem if less of the taxes collected in Northern Virginia were diverted to other parts of the state.
"They are in danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg," Murphy said. "The answer is a better allocation of what is already sent [to Richmond]."
Alan Norris, a financial planner, said he wants the candidates for governor to talk about finding a more global solution to the imbalances between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state.
"You have a situation where there are no jobs in the south. There's an enormous amount of jobs up here," he said. "There's too many houses [here], but there's all this land in the south. There should be some way to take a look at all that and figure out how do we fix the state."
But Tucker Snyder, a financial adviser, is not expecting much from the candidates. "Saying versus doing is a big difference," he said. "I tell my wife I'm going to do things all the time."
And Kathleen Snyder (no relation) is not optimistic, either.
"The politicians are very good about getting up and saying, 'We can't promise you anything because Richmond doesn't give us enough,' " she said. "Everyone that lives here is getting real tired of that excuse."
In Tazewell
J.J. Fuller is leaving Tazewell, his home for all of his 26 years, nestled in the valleys of the Appalachian mountains near West Virginia. Unlike in Northern Virginia, Fuller said there are no jobs to be had here, no future.
"You can work here for minimum wage, maybe seven to 10 dollars an hour," he said. "That's not enough to raise my kids. Fifty to 75 percent of the people I graduated with have had to leave to find a job."
