Showing posts with label Dulles Corridor. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 31, 2012

MWAA bashing for Sport and Political Points

Stupid Dead Horse!

We've all heard this before:

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Albert Einstein

The question this brings to mind is whether MWAA's behavior is an unintended consequence or a calculated liability. Consider that Dulles Rail never was a bonafide transportation project , but for years land developers have smelled the profit potential of all the artificially induced development that local governments would release if the project went through, kinda like the sub-prime mortgage boom. These monied interests also learned how easy it is to manipulate inexperienced and ambitious politicians with campaign donations and to guide public opinion through the media.

However, in order to move a bad project like extending Metro westward into Loudoun, there were a few pesky problems that will not be easy to brush under the rug. Problems such as dealing with the "Who pays" and "Why is Traffic Worse" questions, and how to deal with all the ticked off folks who are affected by this scheme. No worries. Our political leaders have sharp instincts when it comes to dodging blame, so they decided to bring in a surrogate to manage the dirty work.

That is where MWAA comes in. By handing over the job of building the Dulles Rail and equipping them with the Dulles Toll Road as the cash cow, all that was left to do is step back and complain about how MWAA was spending too much and raising tolls too high.

Now, because of these shrewd maneuvers, politicians are picking up bonus leadership points by demanding accountability from MWAA instead of being held responsible for MWAA's gross mismanagement of our dollars. Oh, the game of politics. It allows the politicians to fail and then to take credit for the fix. With MWAA however, the fix is not happening. Follow these articles and decide for yourself if anything is really improving for the taxpayers.

IG Report Highlights MWAA Board Conflicts
read more here

Posted on May 15, 2012 In a letter to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-10, declared that he was “deeply troubled” by the findings, honing in on MWAA’s contracting practices, conflict-of-interest policies and recusal practices. Wrote Wolf:
Most egregious are the IG’s findings about MWAA’s contracting practices. … Particularly concerning are the number of sole source contracts issued. As you know, MWAA is required by law to fully compete any contract over $200,000, with limited exceptions. Yet the IG’s report states that “[d]uring the period of our review, MWAA awarded five sole source contracts that were over $200,000, but did not fall under any of MWAA’s categorical exemptions. These contract awards, which amount to $6 million, did not have Board approval.” Not only did MWAA abuse the exemptions permitted under federal law, they issued numerous contracts that failed to meet even these basic standards.

Airports board takes care of its own, including Jeffrey Thompson
July 30, 2012

"The day after Mame Reiley resigned for health reasons from the airports authority, overseeing the $6 billion Dulles Rail project, the authority quietly created a full-time job for her as a "senior adviser" to authority CEO Jack Potter and agreed to pay her $180,000 a year..." read more here

2007 Letter to MWAA from William T. Coleman Jr. Senior Partner and Senior Counselor of O'Melveny & Myers LLP

Read the entire Coleman letter here.

2012 Dulles rail project needs better FTA oversight, audit finds

Dulles Rail board denounced as 'dysfunctional'

Saturday, July 28, 2012

NOVA is strangled by traffic congestion

Northern Virginia is being strangled by traffic congestion and some of the highest taxes in America. In 2007, Governor Tim Kaine gave away your Dulles Toll Road (DTR) so it could be the cash cow for Dulles Rail. If DTR tolls start soaring to pay for the Dulles Rail Bailout, beginning January 1, 2013, 35,000 more cars per day will be forced onto already-congested local roads, causing increased gridlock to the region. Can you afford another $1,125 in tolls per year? Do you want to spend more time idling in traffic, wasting $4.00/gal. gas? Say No Toll Increase!"

Dulles Rail triggers more, not less, traffic congestion

Read the full article here

Dulles Rail doesn’t remedy traffic congestion and, indeed, triggers more development that, in turn, increases traffic congestion and causes a need for more road and non-rail transit improvements that will cost taxpayers billions of dollars more.
The Final Environmental Impact Statement for Phase 1, which was prepared by former Gov. Mark Warner’s administration in its waning days, shows (Table 6-2.2) that with the single exception of the Dulles Airport Access Road, no major travel route studied experiences an improvement in Level of Service because of Dulles Rail.
The additional traffic occurs despite the arrival of Dulles Rail; the construction of high-quality, mixed-use development at the four Tysons rail stations; the imposition of extremely aggressive Traffic Demand Management measures by the county and Tysons landowners to reduce volumes; and the availability of substantially more bus service serving Tysons. Yet, after 2030, the road network serving Tysons fails because of more automobiles and trucks. Therefore, between 2030 and 2051 — the end of the planning horizon — every new automobile trip to Tysons must be canceled by a new transit or pedestrian trip.

Comment from Reston Patch:

The Analyst2:26 pm on Saturday, July 28, 2012CC Mojo Wrote:
"We get better jobs, better commute, better living "
This comment epitomizes absolutely everything that's wrong with this Country. A collection of special interests, primarily developers and commercial realtors, presents a collection of unassociated prospects, ties them all together, presents them to the public, and the public believes them - not because there's a basis in fact, but rather because it's nice to believe it's true.
Rail has ->nothing<- to do with jobs. Companies are not going to spend millions of dollars relocating an office within the county to be near a rail station. Out of state companies will not relocate here at a cost of perhaps 10's of millions of dollars just because there's rail.
We heard similar arguments in the dot-com boom. "If we build it, they will come, because N.Va. is the self declared head of the dot-com industry." They built it - no one came, except some companies that were so poorly managed (stupid) they all went bankrupt. Many of the buildings are **still** empty.
I'm afraid we need some new leaders, and leaders that represent the people, not special interests. If you look into the backgrounds of the board of supervisors members, I think you will come to realize that some, if not most of them, have no business or even qualifications for making decisions of such scope. Special interests must surely find these people an easy target.
If the jobs don't happen, or worse yet they start leaving, don't say I didn't warn you.

Monday, July 23, 2012

“Nickled and dimed to death at the toll booth,”

AAA: Dulles Tolls Are “Reverse Robin Hood Syndrome”

Northern Virginia motorists are being “nickled and dimed to death at the toll booth,” Mid-Atlantic AAA charged today, calling the $6 billion construction of Metro’s Silver Line and the tolls that are financing it, a “silver bullet” aimed at the heart of motorists and consumers.

Ask MWAA to Drop the PLA... How dare you?

Thank you MWAA, for at least being consistent in a world where so few are. You are like the king we don’t have here in America, and kings do what kings feel like doing, consistently.

Whether MWAA is ignoring Virginia’s Right-to-Work Laws or letting a contract to the highest bidder, MWAA is, as the recent IG audit has confirmed, consistent and that is that. Using a union preference fits perfectly with how they operate. The general public wants to assume there should be some pretense of frugality, but kings aren’t frugal because it is not in their nature.

Think about it. The IG is whining about a round trip air fare of $9,200 for MWAA kings. That is a super deal compared to the rumored $200 million/day for our King-in-Chief to travel to India.

Here is the point. When MWAA decided that adding a $500 million union perk to the amount to be borrowed by MWAA as part of the total cost of the rail project, it is perfectly consistent with MWAA's way of doing business. By the time that amount is financed and interest is added, it will amount to the total revenue of many years of Dulles Toll Road income. But don’t waste your breath complaining because MWAA was audited in 2002 by the GAO and guess what, they were kings back then too. Nothing has changed.

"Stupid Potato"

The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority consistently has NO adequate checks on how it awards contracts....pays for travel....or checks on the potential conflicts among its members.

Talk about wasteful; hiring a full time IG as has been suggested by Congressman Wolf is wasteful. Would you hire a full time cop to write speeding tickets to diplomats who have diplomatic immunity?

When Congressman Wolf, the DCRA, the IG, the governor, or the Pope tell MWAA what to do... it is a JOKE. MWAA is consistent, they laugh at everyone, they swipe that toll funded credit card to pay for a $200 bottle of wine and a yummy $2000 dinner without a second thought because they are MWAA.

Spending $100’s of thousands extra to hire friends of MWAA is no different than paying $200 for a bottle of wine, so we ought to quit whining and accept our place as subservient cash cows, at least until a real leader rises up and decides to liberate us from this oppression.

"Thank You Toll Road Users"

One last thought is this; I’ll go out on a limb and forecast the obvious. Within two weeks, maybe three, the MWAA Board will meet to announce for the benefit of the Loudoun Supervisors, that the union preference is being dropped. Just keep in mind that if MWAA decides to revisit the matter in a July meeting, and reinstate the PLA, they will, because they are MWAA.

Tax Pig

Taxpayer advocate

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

The Most Senseless Transportation Project Ever?

...but Dulles Rail is the sweetest of real estate deals for a few influential land owners. When too much money gets in the hands of a few powerful elected people, the taxpayers get fleeced.

A little more history. Rail to Dulles was always contemplated. A wide median was left in the middle of the Airport Access Road (AAR) to accommodate rail. The original plan was to build rail solely in that median, with various stops along the way, including one at Tysons. There was concern the area to be served by rail was not dense enough to support heavy rail. To address that issue and also to enrich Tysons landowners, the plan was modified to run rail through Tysons with three stations being built. (Then chairman of the Fairfax County BoS and SAIC employee, Gerry Connolly, had the plan modified to add a 4th station stop in front of SAIC’s Tysons building.) But this left the "Who will pay for it?" unresolved.

Loudoun Get to Know Metro Before Saying "I Do"

Getting to know your new Metro partner: Part 1

Getting to know your new Metro partner: Part 2

Yes, the Metro is the same relic that Loudouners are told is the key to achieving Loudoun's economic destiny. Wow!

We'll need Metro advocate, Dr. Fuller (pronounced full-of-it), to explain how Tysons Corner became the 12th largest employment center in the United States without Metro. Fuller works as an advisor to the development community. Fuller has appeared on the scene recently trying to insert his unsubstantiated opinions by lobbying through Scott York with contrived info-nuggets from a yet-to-be-released study commissioned by we don't know who. Fuller's spectacular claims contradict the clear and credible forecast (RCLCO Study) that is in the hands of Loudoun officials. The Lesser study shows Metro to Loudoun as a financial disaster for Loudouns taxpayers.

Loudoun Supervisors Vote to Raise Tax Rate to $1.40

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"I thought Metro was free!"

Sorry if this articles subject line is annoying, but that is what our Supervisors will need to do if they Opt In to Metro because it is not free. I hope that by the time you finish reading this, that annoying feeling is ten times worse.

We have 9 self-proclaimed conservative supervisors currently on the Board. Some understand Metrorail completely, while others are waiting for the final numbers on the most unbelievably expensive scam in the history of Loudoun.

There is no need to wait because the real cost numbers have already been delivered to the last Board of Supervisors on April 15, 2011, in the RCLCO Study that removed any doubt as to how bad Metrorail is for Loudoun. The study estimates lifecycle costs; that means how much we would pay over time for being Metro's cash cows.

Update...$100 million per year, FOREVER

Update If you are driving in Fairfax or Loudoun and see the signs popping up asking for lower tolls and more state money, this is astroturfing. It is done by big organizations like unions or even possibly MWAA operating through unions, trying to look like grassroots activism. They are promoting a taxpayer funded bailout to pay for the Metro/Dulles Corridor business stimulus. As usual, they think the fix is more gov’t spending to support a project that cannot support itself. Move over Solyndra.

There are some Rail to Dulles cost numbers flying around that are really quite shocking. A recent Purcellville Gazette ad said Loudoun County would pay $100 million per year, FOREVER. Could this possibly be true? Yes it can, it is, and you can see the numbers here.

Does Loudoun County really have that kind of money on hand and ready to spend on this project? Let’s step back and take a look at how little is really known about this rail project.

$100 million per year, forever is an estimate based on the best cost information available, and it is a conservative estimate. No doubt it will be refuted, but if you hear someone question the accuracy, ask for a better estimate of the cost and ask where it came from and please share it with me. Cross my heart and hope to die, there are no real cost summaries out there, because rail's promoters know that if there were, this project would be deader than a proverbial doornail, period.

There is a drama going on of epic proportions, and few people in Loudoun even know about it, or care. Hopefully that will be changing in the weeks ahead. In just a few weeks, Loudoun’s brand new Board of Supervisors will finalize the single largest financial decision in Loudoun’s history; or I should say, they will decide whether or not to let stand a decision that has already been made.

Wake up Loudoun, you may be next!

Loudoun County Board of Supervisors

"Who Do You Serve?"

Please read the article below. It paints a pretty clear picture of how big business interests in Tysons Corners milked the taxpayer for every nickel they could. Like it or not, that's how the game is played, because some businessmen are shrewd people who know how to make money the easy way.
How? They just keep the campaign contributions, empty promises and press releases rolling, making sure the politicians are there to sign on the dotted line when it's time to close the deal.
If there is any doubt that rail is a financial scam that will roll right over trusting citizens, putting them deeper in debt while the winners take all, then look again. Just follow the money.

Sheep paying unfunded Costs - Reston Times 9-28-05

This is a portrait of a scam: The developer wants rail to come past his land so the value will soar. Business people think maybe some mega-bucks will spin off to them. Developer steps up and says I'll kick in 25 percent of the cost out of the kindness of my heart, BUT, the fine print says they will only pay a puny pitance of the actual costs. The developers share is fixed, and the taxpayers pay the rest. And know this; Big-Dig-No-Bid-Design-As-You-Go-Bechtel will bleed the job until there is nothing left.
Rail to Dulles and Loudoun is a scam. Face it, they win, we lose. The wheelin' dealin' developers just keep telling our local boys what a sweet dealio this rail thing is.

"I'm telling you son, a guy that works with us to make this happen will really look smart. This will be your county's key to the future, bla, bla, bla." The public is just too out of touch to see the big picture.

This looks and smells like a taxpayer funded stimulus for the business community...because it is.
Question to Loudoun Supervisors:

"Who do you serve?"

David LaRock
Hamilton Virginia

Friday, January 13, 2012

Best All Time Great Rail to Loudoun Quotes

Rail, in their own words...

Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli (R), who also addressed chamber of commerce members Jan. 25 in Richmond, said he opposes the Metrorail project's second phase because it is a "boondoggle." According to projections made for eight sample trips, half of them would be no faster than driving, he said.
"It is a real estate deal, not a transportation project,"

Former Virginia congressman and vice chairman of the MWAA board Tom Davis:
September 19, 2011 Davis: Phase 2 Will Bring Higher Density, Higher Tolls to Reston
"There are three certainties about Phase 2," said Davis, a member of the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) board. "It will bring higher density and higher tolls, and the county will have higher operating expenses.
"We are working to keep tolls as low as possible," he said. "No one can tell you with a straight face what the tolls may be."
Phase 2 is not getting federal money. About one-quarter of the price tag - which officials are trying to keep at $2.5 billion - will be paid for by Fairfax and Loudoun Counties and MWAA. The rest will come from Toll Road users, which has some people predicting tolls of $10 to $20. (one way)

"At the end of the day, I would bet my house that this will get done," said Davis.
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli,
"According to projections made for eight sample trips, half of them would be no faster than driving..." he said.
“It is a real estate deal, not a transportation project..."

Longtime Fairfax County developer Til Hazel,
September 19, 2011
said, at the (Biznow) conference, figuring out who is going to pay is a paramount issue.
"It's not being addressed by the political sector," he said. "It needs to be addressed much more than this enthusiastic 'we are going to build a train to Dulles!' Everyone says 'tolls will pay for it.' That is absolute nonsense."

MWAA Board member, Robert Clarke BrownMr. Brown said
SPECIAL BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING on page 3
Minutes of November 16, 2011
  ... he was grateful that Secretary LaHood had convened the
group and forced the parties to sit down and work out the issues. He
had long been a supporter of the rail project, as had Ms. Reiley. He was
fully supportive of the project. He was, however, disappointed with the
outcome after four months of negotiation. He had hoped that the
process would identify additional funding sources. He had thought the
MOA negotiation would have provided a forum to do so, and was
disappointed it had not. In four months, there had not been any
progress in reducing tolls. In fact, there had been some backsliding from
July.

Chairman York's Board of Supervisors Reports
4-01-2011
The Loudoun Board of Supervisors remains extremely concerned with the escalation of the project costs associated with Dulles Phase 2 Metrorail. In September 2010, MWAA announced that the project costs had escalated from $2.5 billion at the 65% design stage to $3.8 billion at the 80% design stage—a 52% increase.
...Fairfax County’s share stands at approximately 17.2% for Phase 2 only. However, our 8.3% share equates to hundreds of millions of dollars as evidenced by Loudoun’s estimated project share costs increasing from $240 million at beginning design to nearly $316 million at the 80% design stage—a nearly 32% increase. Furthermore, approximately 67% of the entire funding stream for the Dulles Phase 2 Metrorail will be obtained through tolls on the Dulles Toll Road by MWAA. Loudoun County believes that approximately 40 to 50% of motorists on this toll road are Loudoun County residents.
November 16, 2011
Loudoun got everything it wanted in the latest agreement, according to Loudoun County Board chair Scott York. "This was about reducing the scope of the project, in terms of the dollars," he says.

MWAA Board member Bob Brown
6:40 PM, Nov 16, 2011
The cost of the rail project itself has been brought down a billion dollars to $2. 8 billion. The other billion hasn't gone away... it's just moved, as board member Bob Brown explained, "The project scope wasn't changed, nothing was reduced, it just got pushed off to the counties." watch the video here at the 1:00 mark
Brown predicted that tolls could climb to $16.75 per trip in a few decades, compared with $2 now, as a 2009 study also showed.

Jim Burton, Former Loudoun County Supervisor,
The Blue Ridge District
from Jim Burton's website
But board member Jim Burton, one of the two opposing votes, says the funding still depends far too much on rising Dulles toll road revenues, which will mean more commuters looking for non-tolled roads.
"They will drop off the toll road, saturate our side roads, and we'll be left with some other way to try to bail out financially," Burton says.
Burton served on: •Finance/Government Services and Operations Committee. Served on this committee for 15 out of the past 16 years, serving as Chair from 2000 to 2004 and from 2007 to 2011. During my term on the committee, the County’s bond rating increased from Aa to Aa+ to AAA•Fiscal Impact Committee Chairman

Nick Samuels, Moody’s lead analyst for Virginia
Moody’s moved Virginia and all municipalities with a AAA rating — the highest possible rating — to a “negative” outlook in August
Dec. 9, 2011
“Virginia’s reliance on federal employment and the federal economy as a percentage of its GDP is significantly higher than the national average,”

Patrick Forrest, Republican candidate
Posted on Wed, 2011-09-07
The $17 (toll) number comes from an MWAA powerpoint presentation to USDOT July 11, 2011 that has surfaced recently.
Patrick Forrest the Republican candidate says he "completely supports" the rail project but that $17 tolls are "completely unacceptable." They will harm the economic viability of the region, congest side streets, and cost the average commuter $7,000/year. "It is a recipe to run business and jobs out of town," he says in a political ad, urging support for the petition against $17 tolls.
Another source for the $17 round trip toll is MWAA's finance chairman Robert Brown who wrote in a Washington Post opinion piece that these tolls would be needed by 2040. He said a "double digit toll" would be needed within ten years of the rail line opening.

Tony Howard, President & CEO Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce
In a July 5 Letter to the Editor----Given that 90 percent of Phase 2 of the Dulles Rail Project is funded by Virginia's taxpayers, commuters and businesses, I can not fathom why a Loudoun Supervisor would support this type of discriminatory treatment against Virginia's contractors and construction workers.
Consistently voted the top state in the nation to do business, Virginia enjoys this reputation in part because of our "Right to Work" laws that prohibit forcing an individual to join a labor union just to keep their job.
A mandated PLA on Phase 2 is completely contrary to these and other policies that have given Loudoun County an unemployment rate that is now below 4 percent, compared with double-digit unemployment that reigns in much of the country. There should be no confusion about that.

Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall
from Bob's website
Virginia officials, including then Governor Kaine, ignored a 2002 US Government Accountability Office report highly critical of MWAA’s secretive contracting practices and cost overruns. GAO questioned “whether the Authority obtained the best value in the marketplace for the goods and services that the Authority acquired through contracts.”
Of $408 million in contracts examined by GAO, MWAA failed to obtain open competition for 15 of 35 contracts. GAO said because MWAA fails to apply “generally recognized principles underlying the concept of full and open competition,” this “could convey an appearance of favoritism in its contracting decisions.” GAO’s review was severely limited because MWAA “did not have a centralized database of its concession contracts or documented procedures for awarding these contracts.” Also, since MWAA has refused to even comment on the GAO’s corrective procurement suggestions, GAO said MWAA would be reluctant on its own to correct the procurement problems: “This is particularly troublesome given that the Authority recently embarked upon a multibillion- dollar construction program at Dulles.” And this was before the multibillion dollar VDOT-MWAA memo signed March 24.
How can this happen?   MWAA is a creation of Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and the federal government.

Frank Wolf Member of Congress
from his website
Fighting these straightforward and bipartisan changes to the board not only adds to MWAA's expenses, but continues what a recent Washington Post editorial said is "a virtuoso display of tone-deaf politics, at least partly as a result of the lack of accountability by the unelected, 13-member board that sets policy for the authority."

I urge the board to immediately accept the changes in PL 112-55 so the region can once again have confidence that the airports and the Dulles Rail project have sound management.

Thursday, February 24, 2005
Joe May opposes implicit tax
(before going along with tansfer of Dulles Toll Road to MWAA)
May is chairman of the House of Delegates Transportation Appropriations subcommittee and has senior standing on the Transportation Committee.
"What VDOT and the Commonwealth Transportation Board are proposing for commuters on the Dulles Toll Road is, in reality, not a fee increase but an implicit tax increase," May wrote. "They are attempting to impose this tax while avoiding substantive public debate and preventing elected officials from going on the record."

John Locke
"MEN being,..by Nature, all free, equal, and independent no one can be put out of this Estate, and subjected to the political Power of another, without his own Consent. The only Way whereby any one devests himself of (gives up) his natural Liberty, and puts on the Bonds of civil Society is by agreeing with other Men to joyn and unite into a Community, for their comfortable, safe, and peaceable Living one amongst another, in a secure Enjoyment of their Properties, and a greater Security against any, that are not of It."

Thanks for the candor gentlemen.

David LaRock
Hamilton, Virginia

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Rail to Loudoun-Just build that big shiny choo choo train!

"Just build that big shiny choo choo train and then find out what's in it for you"

In the time I spend studying Rail to Dulles and Beyond, I am amazed at how weak the answers are to the why, when, how, and how much questions. In fact, the whole pro-rail push offers very little real information, say in the form of a feasibility study or ridership study. The MWAA team must have learned a while back when they commissioned an Environmental Impact Study in 2004 that showed how utterly worthless rail would be as a remedy for traffic congestion, that facts were better kept behind closed doors. This whole situation reminds me of the Nancy Pelosi advice on Obamacare; just pass it and then find out what's in there... you know, like a grab bag gift.

Believe it or not, our leaders are being lobbied with talk that sounds a bit like extortion or at least distortion to me. They ask, "Why not bring Loudoun into the Rail scheme, because if Loudoun opts out, DTR tolls will be even higher?" A fitting answer might be something like, "Because even if opting out meant a dollar or two more in tolls, staying in would not be worth a lifetime of financial bondage to Metro, feeding the money black hole named WMATA (Metro)." In fact the question is built on the premise that there is not a good choice open to Loudoun. There is! Opt out of Phase II, let them bring the rail to the airport, and pay $0...net savings, billions, tolls would not be affected.

Just lately, as I seemed to be getting a grasp of how outrageous this rail construction thing is, along comes the realization that the rail issue is not just about construction of rail, it also includes long term money commitments to WMATA (Metro's overseers).

"How do people get themselves into these messes?" Whether it is MWAA controlling the Toll Road or WMATA tapping into Loudoun for a lifetime subsidy fix,it all starts when somebody messes up big time and signs off on these wretched deals.

The kicker is that good guys like Delegate Joe May smelled the rat ahead of time with the Dulles Toll Road. He knew that in principle, something was wrong.

In 2005, Joe May certainly grasped the inequity of tolls being an implicit tax and spoke out against it...until he decided to go along with it. In 2005, one year before he supported the transfer to MWAA, he opposed tolls, calling them an implicit tax. Why then did he change his song and start favoring the idea of turning over the DTR to MWAA to use those tolls or taxes, to finance rail?

from connection news 2005:

Del. Joe T. May voiced his dissent in a letter to Whittington Clement, Commonwealth Transportation Secretary and chairman of the Commonwealth Transportation Board.
"What VDOT and the Commonwealth Transportation Board are proposing for commuters on the Dulles Toll Road is, in reality, not a fee increase but an implicit tax increase," May wrote. "They are attempting to impose this tax while avoiding substantive public debate and preventing elected officials from going on the record."
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=246861&paper=67&cat=104

Tim Kaine could have made the DTR a free road as promised, he instead, turned the DTR over to MWAA to redistribute the tolls from Va commuters to build a train they (the commuters) would,in all likelihood,never use. Tim's shortsighted decision led to what we have now, the threat of a $30 round trip Leesburg to DC.

The point is this; another wrong turn will not make it right. If we (Loudoun) buy into rail to save a few bucks on tolls, we are forever 'in' as shareholders in a broke, rundown, underfunded, union run, and underused transit mode. Why? Just to have an excuse to give away some density and stimulate development that would happen with or without rail, if at all (this is another popular false justification).

Joe May probably had a slick lobbyist explain to him why he should just go along with it, even though Joe knew deep down it was bad for his constituents. Joe did it anyway and he can never change that. Unfortunately, we will pay for it until we have a strong enough governor to undo it. If Joe had stood on principle with those opposing the transfer, others would have joined him, and just maybe we would not be where we are.

At least the price of building rail is a finite amount that in 30 years would be paid off, but buy-in to WMATA, that is a different scale of mistake,its forever.

David LaRock
Hamilton, Virginia

Saturday, December 31, 2011

“Good bye $150 million dollars”, “Hello to $17 tolls”

Governor McDonnell, on the Friday before New Years weekend, signed off on Dulles Rail, making it final, unless the General Assembly decides not to play along.

Washington Post article

"Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) approved a deal Friday to help pay for the $2.8 billion second phase of the Dulles Metrorail line..."

Why the RINO move?

Historians will be hard put to explain why politicians in the 21st century wanted to pour so much money into mostly 19th century rail technology that, in urban areas, operates at 25 mph at best.

...hard put unless the historians look at what ulterior motives exist. Virginians ought to be asking how Tysons and Dulles Corridor landowners have acquired so much influence with Governor McDonnell and other local politicians.

Recently elected Republican governors around the country have blown the whistle on wasteful passenger rail projects.

Will Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell join them, or will he let the Dulles Rail train wreck run over his conservative credentials?

This Dulles Rail scheme is not a complicated one. But will it can have a happy ending in spite of all the effort to ensure this "Doomed to Fail" project goes through?

Dulles Rail is worse than a complete waste of money. It is a financial boondoggle of higher taxes, soaring tolls and worsening traffic...a payoff to union bosses, influential donors and rich developers. The good news is, it’s not too late for Fairfax, Loudoun and Virginia to say, “Opt Out” and save billions.
Bob McDonnell should liberate the Dulles corridor from the schemes of Tysons Corner property owners who have already been rewarded with huge profit windfalls. Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton and Governor McDonnell bent over backwards and did triple somersaults to keep the tolls for the new Portsmouth Tunnel, now being built, below $2. Contrast that to the $17 tolls that will force Toll Road users back onto overcrowded roads along the Dulles Corridor.

Governor McDonnell should rescind the unconstitutional transfer of the Dulles Toll Road to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and revoke its unauthorized implicit taxing authority. It would be an easy decision.

If Metrorail riders want Dulles Rail, let them pay the majority of its capital and operating costs at the fare box. If developers want rail and the increased development potential that comes with it, let them pay.

How bad is this project?

Consider the key findings of WMAA’s 2004 report to USDOT:

§ By the project’s completion in 2025, traffic volumes on the ten highway links in the corridor would be reduced by only 1.5 percent compared to levels that would occur without the extension.

§ This negligible gain in traffic relief would be erased by 2027, given projected traffic growth rates. In effect, an estimated $6 billion (in current dollars) would be spent for two years of trivial traffic relief.

To put this in perspective, the Heritage Foundation estimated that the cost per new rider attracted from a car (daily rider annualized) exceeds $15,000. That is enough to lease each new Dulles rail transit rider two BMW 328i convertibles for life and still return a few thousand dollars back to the taxpayer. By this measure, the Dulles extension would be one of the most expensive new transit projects ever conceived.

The Dulles Metrorail extension will incur $22 billion in life cycle costs for planning, construction, financing and operation during the next 40 years. This amount is similar to the most recent cost estimates for Boston's infamous "Big Dig."

How these mega-projects are sold to trusting people is an outrage. Two New Studies show a pattern of bias against transportation modes such as buses and a pattern of distorting rail budgets and projections to sell rail to the public.

And the PLA scheme, “what a doozie.” You would think the idea of asking Virginia taxpayers and commuters to pay for jobs that are likely to be handed over to out-of-state union shops, would outrage Governor McDonnell who still promotes the importance of jobs as he did throughout his campaign. Bob McDonnell just isn’t talking about how the PLA will add hundreds of millions to the overall price tag of this project, money that would be picked from the pockets of commuters and taxpayers.

In this same Washington Post article Scott York, Republican Chairman of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors is quoted as saying,

…the governor had “every right to force the issue” on the project’s labor agreement…”

Rest assured that Loudoun County will not be sold out on the PLA issue, because Back in May 2011, York had this to say about ther PLA,

“I’m not going to be in position of telling those folks from Loudoun County … that they have to have union labor,”

Chairman Scott York and Governor McDonnell have a responsibility to block the move to employ a PLA which diverts Virginia money into a Stimulus Program for Maryland Unions, or better yet, please block the whole Phase 2.

David LaRock

Hamilton Virginia

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