Find out how Cooch took $55,000 from the disgraced "U.S. Navy Veterans Association," in apparent exchange for his promise to get the Virginia Office of Consumer Affairs (which had "notified Thompson's group that it no longer qualified for an exemption from state registration requirements") off the group's back. Can we say "pay-to-play?" Find out more.
Until the Washington Post editorial board is willing to have an honest discussion of the history of the Gas Tax - and its role in destroying a bipartisan coalition on the issue - then the of citizens of Virginia, NOVA residents particularly, will continue be short-changed. The latest Post attack on Governor McDonnell is full of the same basic misleading analysis jump off point as in their attacks on other candidates and in that regard, their decision to saddle the Democratic Party in 2009 with Creigh Deeds.
So for those who actually want to try to solve the problem - as opposed to make points with voters/readers/whomever on the subject while knowing they are making it harder to get a solution - then let's have an honest discussion.
Contrary to folklore, the reason Harry F. Byrd Sr. became the leader of the Byrd Machine is not his opposition to taxes, as is commonly claimed today. Quite the opposite: he rose to power by championing a bigger gas tax increase than the sitting Democratic Governor! Indeed, once elected Governor, he supported several more increases in the gas tax!
By today's conservative standards, Harry Byrd was a flaming, pro-tax, big government liberal on fiscal issues!
But you say: Come on Paul, how can that be, Byrd a big gas tax guy?
Federal, state & local governments spent nearly $193 billion on highways in 2008, recouping only about $30 billion of that in toll revenue. That means highways lost $160 billion, money we spent with no expectation of ever getting it back.
Yet when Congress spends a little over $1 billion on Amtrak, why do Republicans expect it to turn a profit?
If Amtrak is expected to turn a profit, shouldn't highways be expected to do so as well? Why should Amtrak be asked to compete on an uneven playing field? It's like asking Starbucks to turn a profit if Dunkin Donuts is handing out free coffee next door.
UPDATE 1/10: Read more on the positions of Melissa Bondi, Libby Garvey & Kim Klingler on these issues in their Greater Greater Washington questionnaire responses (Peter Fallon & Terron Sims did not respond).
Every Democratic candidate running for Arlington County Board claims to support smart growth. But when smart growth runs up against single-family homeowners' interests, are they willing to make tough choices? At a recent forum, statements from most candidates weren't promising.
The board has an open seat since Barbara Favola was elected to the state senate in November. Arlington Democrats will select a party nominee (who's almost certain to then win the official special election) at 2 caucuses on Thursday, January 19th and Saturday, January 21.
Wednesday night, the Arlington County Democratic Committee hosted a forum with the candidates. The forum spotlighted the paradoxical views of Arlington Democratic voters: They want candidates to express concern about things like smart growth, affordable housing, and transportation, but may be reluctant to support the density increases, transit projects or higher taxes to pay for affordable housing programs that may actually deliver it.
I received an email from Bob McDonnell's office a few minutes ago with his "appointments to three Virginia boards and commissions." One that immediately jumped out at me was the following:
Caren Merrick of McLean, Partner with Bibury Partners to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority
All I can say is, if you thought MWAA was bad now (which it is!), wait until this unqualified right winger gets on there. Things won't get any better, that's for sure.
UPDATE: A Democratic friend of mine adds the following comments, which I think are both highly relevant and spot-on.
This is part of a long-developing pattern in which the dysfunction of the MWAA Board, and their poor decisions, not only has brought us those bad decisions themselves, but also has brought us an erosion of NOVA and Democratic control over MWAA. The McDonnell appointees are going to start "taking it" to the do-nothing mis-managers on the MWAA Board.
In addition, one of the biggest messaging failures of the MWAA board was their failure to agree upon, and relentlessly promote month in and month out, year in and year out, the need for a dedicated revenue stream for Metro. Episodically and periodically, they did this, but they were never willing to stick with it and explain in easily understandable terms exactly what was going to happen to the system if it didn't get this dedicated revenue stream: inability to replace capital assets as they wore out, etc.
UPDATE: My Dem friend adds, " The messaging problem as to this second point is primarily the fault of WMATA (not MWAA). However, the governance of both MWAA and WMATA has been dysfunctional; both have made poor decisions, and the poor decisions of MWAA have really come into focus with respect to its decisions about the Metro Silver line construction project."
The Coalition for Smarter Growth warns Gov. Bob McDonnell's transportation plans will only add more cars from sprawling new developments to Virginia's existing traffic problems:
The state is borrowing $3 billion in state and federal funds on top of their normal annual spending for transportation, and we'll be paying this back for years. We should be setting smart priorities, but instead, VDOT is:
Reviving the controversial Outer Beltway through historic landscapes at Manassas Battlefield -- the first ten miles of which could cost $250 million to $475 million -- instead of focusing on fixing existing commuter routes in Northern Virginia.
Shifting $200 million in statewide money to a bypass in Charlottesville that won't fix major local traffic problems.
Giving $750 million of our tax dollars to subsidize a private toll road (Route 460) through empty farmland southeast of Richmond.
Meanwhile, when asked to help fund critical Tysons Corner transportation needs, the Examiner reports that "Virginia's Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton warned Fairfax to look elsewhere for cash."
It's not surprising Bob McDonnell's pandering to developers - he's gotten more than $5 million in campaign cash from developers, real estate & construction, by a wide margin his biggest source of private sector contributions. The Coalition for Smarter Growth has a 10-step transportation agenda for Northern Virginia - really radical stuff, like "Bring our local elected officials back to the table in transportation decision making."
$30 million increase from original projected appropriation for road widening
Washington, DC - Congressmen Jim Moran, Gerry Connolly and Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner today announced the approval of $180 million for the widening of Route 1 through Ft. Belvoir to accommodate the influx of new military and civilian personnel and hospital traffic related to BRAC. This funding announcement marks a contract award stemming from the $300 million appropriation secured last year by Reps. Moran and Chris Van Hollen for BRAC-related transportation improvements. Construction will begin following an environmental study which Fairfax County has been conducting in anticipation of this award. The dollar amount is $30 million higher than originally anticipated, stemming from the cost of completing all three phases of the project.
"This is a big win for Northern Virginia as a region, the commuters along Rt. 1 and DoD employees at Ft. Belvoir," said Rep. Jim Moran. "Ft. Belvoir is home to a state of the art hospital and with full funding, patients and their families will be able to travel more safely and quickly to receive medical attention and visit loved ones. I'd like to specially thank the DOD's Office of Economic Adjustment for understanding the dire transportation needs of our community, Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment, for helping spearhead the effort at DoD, Senators Webb and Warner for pushing the measure through the Senate, and our local officials in Fairfax County, Chairwoman Sharon Bulova and Supervisors Jeff McKay and Gerry Hyland, for hitting the ground running on a project that means so much for the corridor."
A letter to the editor in the local Arlington Sun-Gazette begins by declaring "the concept of a world 'car-free day' truly odd," pooh-poohing public transportation and singing the virtues of the car. But the author then gets down to brass tacks:
In fairness, I should mention that I own three cars. One also provides me with a major source of social fun because I belong to a car club that requires you must own that make of car to belong.
Some of my favorite things to do are to take a Sunday early-morning drive in the country or to participate in rallies or social events with like-minded people. It would be difficult for me to imagine a bus- or Metro-owners club.
Oh, do you not own three cars? How unfortunate for you. And why would you choose a form of transportation that does not facilitate lunch at the country club with like-minded people? I mean, the Kennedy Center grows weary after a time, don't you find?
The always on-point David Alpert GreaterGreaterWashington nails Bob McDonnell, and deservedly so, for escalating his ongoing war on smart growth/transit-oriented development. What McDonnell's doing here is almost the exact definition of "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results," aka "insanity." It's also a guaranteed way not only to keep us addicted to dirty, expensive fossil fuels, but actually to increase that dependency when we should be moving in the exact opposite direction. Here's an excerpt from Alpert's article, but definitely read the entire thing:
...[Virginia's] making a U-turn as the Commonwealth Transportation Board threw out the new standards at a meeting last week.
This step is just one of many from Virginia statewide agencies in recent days that decisively push toward a 1950s view of growth, one which neglects established communities and crumbling infrastructure in favor of brand-new sprawl in the farmlands which ultimately creates even more traffic.
State officials are giving the thumbs down to Metro, light rail and bus transit in favor of highway lane expansion, skipping small but significant improvements that help neighborhoods or key growth areas like Tysons Corner to instead spend billions on megaprojects that drive the region farther apart, and lose focus on key repair needs while weakening the street connectivity standards.
I'm tempted to go, except that, appropriately enough, I have no desire to battle the insane traffic to get to this meeting. And if you think it's bad now, just imagine how awful it will be if sprawl-crazy, anti-smart-growth, ignorant ideologues and corporate tools like Bob McDonnell and Bob Chase's Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance get their way. Ugh.
The Richmond Times Dispatch reports that Virginia's localities are bracing for more budget cuts and even less support from the state government. With Governor McDonnell still unable to find funding, he is continuing to shirk responsibility and pass the burden from the state down to the local level. Chesterfield is one such locality:
"Education funding is especially worrisome to Chesterfield officials, who don't know what to expect from McDonnell and the General Assembly.
County Administrator James J.L. Stegmaier said, 'The biggest vulnerability we have is the apparent failure of the commonwealth to find solutions to its fiscal difficulties, and the tendency of the commonwealth to shift their budget problems to the local level.'
For example, localities are wary about state discussion of possibly requiring counties to maintain their secondary roads, using money from state maintenance funds for cities and towns.
And they're concerned about funding of the retirement plan for teachers, which has dropped below 60 percent in its funded status as the state deferred hundreds of millions of dollars in contributions last year in order to balance the budget."
Last month, Richmond won its bid to host the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, bringing the nine-day event to the United States for the first time since 1986. The elite racing series is projected to have an economic impact of $86 million in town, and $130 million in the region. But more importantly, bike advocates in Richmond, including its recently converted mayor, Dwight Jones, are hoping the event will prompt new bike infrastructure, new bike commuters, new jobs in bike-related industries, and even new businesses interested in relocating to a "bike-friendly" city.
Currently, Richmond only has about three miles of bike lanes, and just 2.2 percent of people commute to work by bike according to the most recent census estimates (Helmboldt, though, adds that he's cautious of census statistics on this question). The James River that cuts through Richmond also makes cross-town biking difficult. [...]
So the city has committed to building new infrastructure to accommodate the championships (which will run primarily through a 10-mile circuit within the city's urban core), but it's also planning to use the championships as an excuse to ramp up bike routes and programs not necessarily intended for the international cycling elite. By 2015, the region plans to have completed a 52-mile paved trail from the state capitol in Richmond to the old capitol of Williamsburg, so tourists will be able to take in the entire Virginia "Historic Triangle" without setting foot in a car.
Richmond also plans to expand the trails along its riverfront, knit together its existing greenways, and install more bike lanes and bike parking, all while rolling out outreach programs that will help translate cycling from an international spectator sport into a local commuting solution.
One-time events often don't have the impact their sponsors tout (see: the DC Le Mans fiasco in 2002). But if this race is an excuse to give Richmonders a cheap, easy, zero pollution way to get around, why not? Heck, I don't even own a bike, but a Richmond-to-Williamsburg ride sounds like a fun weekend. Will there be any brewpubs near the trail?
Conservatives love to paint personal vehicles as the pinnacle of freedom, fuel efficiency standards as the government boot on the neck of Lady Liberty, and walkable communities, car sharing & public transit as creeping communism. But an experience last weekend made America's oil-addicted transportation culture seem more constricting than liberating.
I was up in New Hampshire hiking the Boulder Loop Trail off the Kancamagus Highway in the White Mountain National Forest near the town of Conway. The trail walk to the top of Moat Ridge gave us beautiful views of the surrounding mountains as well as the Swift River running through the Passaconaway Valley.
We were hiking with a couple in their 20s who'd brought their 3-month-old baby along. Except for her request for lunch, we barely heard a peep from the baby the whole hike, she was perfectly happy gently bouncing along in her baby carrier.
As we got back to the parking lot, mom said she'd had a great time and wanted to hike more often for regular exercise. I suggested making a routine of it - finding a favorite spot and going for a hike, say, every Sunday.
"Well ... maybe every couple of weeks," she said. Why not more often?
In a debate with Janet Oleszek (D) and Corey Campbell (an "Independent Green" running as the self-professed true "conservative" in the race), Braddock District Supervisor John Cook (R) brags about his relationship with Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean Connaughton, how he can call Connaughton up anytime to talk about Fairfax's transportation situation. Yes, this is the same Sean Connaughton about whom the Washington Post writes in its lead editorial today:
The bad news is actually good news, enthused Mr. Connaughton, since congestion is a symptom of prosperity. We take his point, but as Mr. Connaughton well knows, the charm of traffic jams has its perils.
The Washington City Paper weighs in as well, sarcastically noting, "I really like Virginia Department of Transportation's spin on the fact that the Washington region has the worst traffic in the country," then quoting Connaughton as calling Fairfax's gridlock a case of "bad news is good news."
Since John Cook is obviously tight with Sean Connaughton, maybe he agrees with him that horrendous traffic gridlock in Fairfax County is actually "good news?" Somebody should ask Mr. Cook about that, perhaps the next time he brags about how frequently he talks transportation with Connaughton, McDonnell et al?
At exactly the time when governments should be working to meet rising public demand for transit, they're instead cutting back:
The economic downturn is playing havoc with the nation's public transit systems even as ridership remains near record levels: since 2010, 71 percent of the nation's large systems have cut service, and half have raised fares, according to a survey released Wednesday by the American Public Transportation Association, a transit advocacy group.
And in many cases, those fare increases and service cuts - made necessary by flat or reduced state and local aid - are being implemented on top of similar moves earlier in the downturn.
"It's compounding," Art Guzzetti, the vice president for policy at the transportation association, said of the repeated years of service cuts and fare increases. "I've been in the business 32 years. We've had a lot of ups and downs along the way. That's been the nature of the business. But notwithstanding that, this is the worst it's been in my time."
Since 2006, transit systems have been carrying passengers on more than 10 billion trips a year, a level not seen since the 1950s, the association has found. But on average, they get around a third of their operating money from fares. Most of the money comes from state and local governments, and with tax collections still struggling to get back to pre-recession levels, 83 percent of the transit agencies surveyed reported receiving flat or reduced state aid.
Two things. First, it kills me that progressives are reluctant to raise gas taxes to fund transit because of the myth that the gas tax is regressive. In reality, as ClimateProgress' Joe Romm has detailed, 1 in 4 low-income households don't even own a car. And "most, if not all" gas-guzzling SUVs & pickups are bought by mid- and high-income households. Makes sense - if you're barely scraping by, are you going to buy a Corolla or a Canyonero?
And second, for all the people who take to their smartphones to complain about Metro, how many have ever written Gov. Bob McDonnell to urge Virginia to finally give Metro a dedicated funding source? Who took action to support Democrats like Rep. Jim Moran & Rep. Gerry Connolly in their fight against efforts by Republicans like Rep. Eric Cantor & Rep. Frank Wolf to gut Metro funding?
To get updated on when you can take action to support public transit in the DC area, sign up for emails from the Coalition for Smarter Growth. Or for national news, visit Smart Growth America.
Is this Can'tor character unbelievable or what? On the other hand, at least he's honest in his "My corporate pals and I have got ours, so FU" philosophy.
Meanwhile, as Rep. Gerry Connolly pointed out a couple weeks ago, this shutdown is resulting in the "furlough [of] 4,000 FAA employees, including 975 here in our region." And, Connolly added, "None of that serves the public, and ironically, we're going to lose money."
Yes, WE are going to lose money, and our state and region are going to get hurt, BUT according to Eric Can'tor, it's just fine if the airlines pocket the $30 million a day that the FAA isn't able to collect. Apparently, it's also hunky-dory with Can'tor that thousands of FAA aviation employees -- engineers, safety analysts, etc. - have been furloughed; that $2.5 billion in airport construction projects are on hold; and that hundreds of stop-work orders were issued for projects to build and modernize airport control towers.
Oh, and why is the FAA shut down? One of the issues is labor organizing rights. According to MSNBC:
$140 million for the Columbia Pike streetcar that would give people a cheap, less-polluting way to get to work and draw people to a sorely under-utilized area? A waste of money! Spend it on something else instead! Anything! Like, uh, how about education? Clearly, if you support the Columbia Pike streetcar, you must hate kids!
$110 million to upgrade just one road interchange for drivers (Route 29 & Gallows Road in Merrifield), while leaving it insufficient for pedestrians and bike commuters? Still waiting to hear from the Washington Post editorial board on how that could be better spent on schools. Should be any day now.
My point is not that Columbia Pike streetcar is more worthy of funds than the Route 29 interchange. My point is that maybe at a time of crazy low interest rates when a lot of people need work, we should be doing every project we can. By the time we need to start paying it back, the economy will have recovered - and if it hasn't, we're screwed anyway.
And if you have to resort to "but what if we spent it on free health care for puppies instead?" to make your argument, maybe you should re-think your case.
Huge traffic changes are coming to Alexandria thanks to the Defense Department's Base Realignment & Closure Commission (BRAC), but little has been done to figure out how 6,400 federal employees will get to & from Alexandria's Mark Center.
The conservative Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial board rightly heaps a share of the BRAC blame on the slouched shoulders of Gov. Bob McDonnnell (R-VA) and his fellow Republicans who control a majority of Virginia's state government:
Virginia has known for years that base consolidation would bring more workers here. But it has failed to get ready, because state leaders - almost exclusively Republicans - have failed to take the necessary step: raising the gasoline tax, whose value has been greatly eroded by inflation.
To be sure: Contrary to the impression given by certain Democrats, raising the gasoline tax is not the only step the state should take to address road woes. Land-use planning needs an overhaul (Gov. Tim Kaine started work on that). Zoning rules need relaxing, and telecommuting, flextime and similar measures need encouraging.
Metro is adding a bus line, but that project is being supported by the Defense Department & City of Alexandria, not the state. And considering Gov. McDonnell waffled as his Congressional Republican friends like Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) tried to slash Metro's budget, McDonnell may actually be doing less than nothing.
Studies have shown that while people like to complain about traffic, most long-haul commuters don't do anything to change their drives. Today's Washington Post article is misleadingly headlined
Traffic science struggles to keep cars flowing on highways in D.C. and elsewhere - we know exactly how to keep traffic flowing, but drivers would rather pay less to sit in gridlock:
First, we don't hate spending time in our cars as much as we pretend to. How do I know? "Because building more roads doesn't improve traffic flow," says Chris Barrett, a Virginia Tech professor who constructs traffic modeling systems and was involved in the Los Alamos effort. "If you decrease the amount of time it takes to travel a certain distance to work, people just move farther away from their offices [for larger yards and cheaper housing, instead of staying put to reduce their commutes]. It changes behavior in a negative way."
Moreover, people have strongly resisted the best congestion-fighting tool that can be immediately implemented. Every traffic expert I spoke with pointed out the runaway success of London's congestion pricing system. Drivers who want to enter the heart of the city during busy times have to pay 10 pounds - about $16. The system has made a huge difference in reducing congestion, and the city is using the extra revenue to renovate the subway and add buses.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg tried to adopt a similar strategy in 2007, but the state government killed it. A congestion tax has never gotten anywhere in the D.C. area, which one recent survey found was first in the nation as measured by hours wasted stuck in traffic.
That's not a failure of science. That's a failure of political will. So instead of gridlock-busting congestion pricing that could be used to fix Metro, we get Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) trying to make it look like he's doing something by pushing terrible ideas like the Outer Beltway and Charlottesville Bypass that will cost taxpayers enormous sums of money without easing traffic.
Sometimes when a positive change happens, afterwards it seems so self-evidently a good idea, we forget there were people rabidly opposed to the positive change. The most obvious recent local example of the journey from the revolutionary to the mundane: Virginia's smoking ban, which opponents predicted would devastate Virginia bars & restaurants. Instead, smokers stepped outside, everyone enjoyed the cleaner air, and we all quickly moved on with our lives.
Arlington recently stopped subsidizing free parking at the former Department of Human Services garage at Wilson & Highland in Clarendon, where it's now $2 to park on nights & weekends. That rate is among the lowest in the neighborhood. The result? People continue to heavily utilize that garage, Clarendon continues to thrive, and the county is raising revenue while providing a nudge towards Metro/walking/biking.
It's worth remembering that while it was being debated, Arlington Sun Gazette editor Scott McCaffrey basically called the $2 fee an affront to humanity:
Metro officials are eyeing a Brown Line to join the system's existing palette.
The transit agency is planning for the future, looking at creating a train line that dips from Friendship Heights into the District and back up to Silver Spring and past White Oak. It's also studying a line along the Capital Beltway loop, diverting the Blue Line from its current route across downtown to create a midcity rail line, or running an offshoot from the Green Line to National Harbor.
None of the plans is funded or even firm. Engineering hasn't been done and land hasn't been set aside. But the transit agency is studying what it will need by 2040 to accommodate growth in the region and relieve pressure on the system.
Officials plan to discuss some possibilities with regional leaders Wednesday, then hold workshops in July to hear riders' thoughts. By next spring, Metro hopes to have a final plan identifying which projects it will consider developing.
In general, I'd support new lines that get people into & out of DC's center (serving both transportation needs and security purposes) over loop lines. In particular, a new midcity Blue Line could fill in major Metro gaps in places like Georgetown & Thomas Circle.
There's been revived talk lately of building an Outer Beltway, a large highway with a radius about twice that of the existing Beltway. There are plenty of reasons it would be a terrible idea, starting with how ludicrously expensive it would be. If adding HOT Lanes to the Beltway cost $2 billion, how much would a whole new Outer Beltway cost?
But as David Alpert writes at GreaterGreaterWashington.org, the main reason an Outer Beltway would be a boondoggle is that it simply wouldn't ease regional traffic congestion:
The mobility problems outside the beltway are primarily about getting to and from the core, plus the local trips tied up by inadequate local street connections. Yes, traffic is bad for many people, and that's something planners need to address instead of dismissing.
However, more beltways will only accommodate a small fraction of the trips involved. Most people will still drive toward or away from the job centers at or inside the beltway, in DC, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Tysons Corner, Arlington, and Alexandria. An Outer Beltway or three doesn't help with that at all.
That "or three" is no joke - road advocates NVTA envision no fewer than six Beltways (PDF).
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$30 million increase from original projected appropriation for road widening
The always on-point David Alpert 
