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).
You've gotta love this one, by Crazy Ken Kookinelli, on a couple of levels.
First off are the reasons Cuccinelli lays out for his opposition to completing Metrorail to Dulles. In the audio from his appearance on WMAL, Cuccinelli points to: a) the "outrageous" tunnel at Dulles airport (I agree with Cuccinelli that the tunnel is unnecessary and too expensive, but it shouldn't be used as a reason to cancel the entire project!); b) Tim Kaine supposedly "[giving] that puppy away" to MWAA (Cuccinelli -- "we got nothing of value for that giveaway"); and 3) the "union-only contracts" (Cuccinelli says he's "hair-trigger loaded to deal with that") that threaten to rear their ugly (from Cuccinelli's right-wing ideological perspective) heads.
In sum, what we have here is a hodgepodge of objections by Cuccinelli to completing Metrorail to Dulles, in part based on cost-benefit analysis (if we can take Cuccinelli at his word on tha tone), in part based on ideology (Cuccinelli's rabid opposition to unions and public transit in general), in part as an opportunity to attack Tim Kaine; and in part as a way to get his name in the news (Cuccinelli loves being the center of attention, of that there can be no doubt).
Let's also consider the fact - left unspoken by Cuccinelli - that Metro specifically, and public transit in general, tends to result in the types of development (high density, far more urban than exurban, mixed use) that tends to lean Democratic politically, and we've probably nailed the overwhelming majority of reasons why our fine AG has decided to speak out so strongly against completing Metro to Dulles.
But all that's not why I REALLY love this story. For the best part, see the "flip."
DC's Metro system continues to go without a dedicated source of funding. Not coincidentally, DC's Metro continues to come up short on operating funds. So now the agency faces some unpleasant options: Cut service, hike fares, or go hat in hand to DC, Maryland and Virginia asking for more cash?
Metro is proposing a series of cost-cutting measures (PDF), including reduced service on several bus routes in DC. But as a Virginia resident, this is what caught my eye:
Rail Service
Widen Saturday headways from 12 minutes to 18 minutes until 9:30 PM and to 25 minutes after 9:30 PM until closing; and
Widen Sunday headways from 15 minutes to 20 minutes until 9:30 PM and to 25 minutes after 9:30 PM until closing.
As Greater Greater Washington has detailed, weekend and late-night service is no longer a perk - it's a key part of the system. Metro has shifted from a system mainly serving commuters & tourists to one that serves a mix of riders in all parts of the day. Ridership may be lower at these times, but given how valuable the service is and how infrequently trains already run, these cuts look like trying to squeeze blood from a stone.
You have several ways to let Metro know what you think of the proposal.
Because Arlington (and DC, Fairfax, etc.) continues to get failing grades for air quality that can be linked directly to excessive pollution from cars, SUVs & trucks.
Ground-level ozone, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide are especially harmful for senior citizens, children, and people with heart and lung conditions such as emphysema, bronchitis, and asthma. It can inflame breathing passages, decrease the lungs' working capacity, cause shortness of breath, pain when inhaling deeply, wheezing, and coughing. It can cause eye and nose irritation and it dries out the protective membranes of the nose and throat and interferes with the body's ability to fight infection, increasing susceptibility to illness. Hospital admissions and respiratory deaths often increase during periods when ozone levels are high.
DC and Loudoun got Ds for particle pollution, while Arlington and Fairfax got Cs. And what does that mean for your health?
I don't plan on making a habit of agreeing with Bob McDonnell, but in this case he's absolutely right. For starters, it's outrageous that an unelected board like MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) was ever given so much power over an enormously important, an enormously expensive, project like Metro to Dulles. Can we say "massive conflict of interest?" I mean, Dulles Airport/MWAA itself doesn't have to pay for this project, but it benefits heavily from it? And to make matters worse, the project was awarded on a "no-bid" basis to "Big Dig" Bechtel, a decision was made NOT to build a tunnel where it was badly needed (in Tysons Corner), and a decision was made - by unelected MWAA - that they'd spend $330 million of other peoples' money! in order to save a whopping four (4) minutes in travel time. Utterly pathetic. Anyway, I'm glad to see Bob McDonnell weighing in on this, and I hope that will be the death knell of this idiotic idea (now, if we could only reopen the entire thing to bidding, back up and do Tysons right, etc.).
Governor McDonnell Calls on MWAA to Reverse Metrorail Tunnel Decision ~Commonwealth Does Not Support More Expensive Route for Metrorail Project~
RICHMOND - Governor Bob McDonnell sent a letter to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) today, calling on its board of directors to reconsider its recent vote to pursue a tunnel alignment for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project through the Dulles International Airport. The Commonwealth and localities have expressed frustration regarding the MWAA vote to pursue a more expensive tunnel alignment for the project.
"The tunnel alignment has, by all accounts, been shown to be the much more expensive alignment through the airport, costing hundreds of millions more than the aerial alignment with relatively minimal positive logistical or aesthetic benefit," McDonnell wrote. "Taxpayers in Northern Virginia will bear the burden of this significant cost difference, which will make it difficult to achieve the Commonwealth's goal of reaching a total project cost close to the original $2.5 billion. I, along with the project's local government funding partners in the town of Herndon, and Loudoun and Fairfax counties, are very surprised and disappointed in the MWAA board's very costly decision and hope that upon further reflection, the board would come to the more fiscally sound decision to pursue the aerial alignment."
Way back in 1968, Richard Nixon got to the White House by promising America that he had a way to end the war in Vietnam. His "way" was to fight the war for seven more years. In 2009 Bob McDonnell got to the Virginia statehouse, in part, by promising that he had some wonderful "transportation plan" he would show us after he was elected. Instead, what we got was simply the usual borrow-and-spend, short-term GOP answer to a long-range, serious problem. His "plan" turned out to be nothing more than to sell a bunch of bonds, pray that the federal government won't cut future funds to the states for transportation, and saddle Virginia taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt service through 2035.
Since I really don't see how any solutions to the transportation mess we have are emanating from the toxic politics now in Richmond, I decided to try to think of a few myself. First, let's not even start with some idea that raising the gasoline tax will provide all needed future revenue. Yes, the state gas tax needs to be adjusted to account for its loss in real value due to inflation over the years, but that tax has its own problems. Greater fuel efficiency, the rising cost of gasoline, and greater use of hybrid and electric vehicles will - hopefully - reduce the amount of gas we buy. So, let's think outside of the "gas tax box" this time.
Since 2006, Oregon has experimented with a small trial system to collect transportation revenue based on a user fee calculated on miles driven. That prototype employs volunteers having GPS equipment in their cars, something that smacks a little too much of "big brother" for my tastes. However, in Virginia there would be an easy way to calculate mileage driven by vehicles in the state, using the annual inspection system already in place.
Bob McDonnell says some nice things in this video about how great it would be if we'd all consider alternatives to "driving alone" in our cars, SUVS, and trucks.
So what's the problem with the video? Simply this: Bob McDonnell mouths a few nice words about encouraging alternative transportation modes, but in reality - "where the rubber hits the road," to stick with the transportation theme -- his policies do absolutely nothing of the sort.
It's interesting to note that Gov. McDonnell touts merely the total number of projects that his transportation funding plan supports instead of focusing on the quality of the improvements to be made.
Instead of worrying about how many projects are being undertaken, it would be better to focus on making high-quality adjustments to Virginia's transportation infrastructure. One such adjustment would be high-speed rail, something glaringly absent from McDonnell's transportation projects.
What McDonnell also failed to mention was the cronyism that is rampant in the contracts being granted under the transportation funding plan. Not surprisingly, those who contributed to McDonnell's gubernatorial campaign are being given first dibs on highway construction contracts and other transportation projects.
Left out of these debates as well is the environmental toll that these new transportation projects will have and consequently, the economic impacts as well.
In other words, the McDonnell administration completely fails to "get it" when it comes to energy and environmental issues. Specifically, they don't understand that building more highways just encourages sprawl. In addition, they clearly don't understand that: 1) sprawl worsens our oil addiction, while harming our national security and our economy; 2) building more roads, as opposed to investing all-out in "smart growth" options, delays the inevitable - and crucial - transition from a 19th/20th century (dirty) energy economy to one suitable for the 21st century; and of course 3) all of this harms the environment, both locally and globally, not that the dirty-energy-funded, Pat Robertson-educated types like Bob McDonnell care about that, given that the Rapture is coming soon (so who cares what we do to the planet).
I just received the following press release from Rep. Jim Moran's office, on the subject of the Dept. of Defense IG's "damning" new report on the Army's planned move to Alexandria's "Mark Center," the "looming traffic nightmare" it poses, plus calls for delay and possible legal action to forestall this looming debacle. I commend Rep. Moran for his efforts in this regard, and I certainly hope he succeeds!
DoD Inspector General Releases Damning Report on Army's Mark Center Move
Moran renews calls for delay of occupation, suggests opportunity for legal action
Washington, DC - Stemming from a breaking report released by the Department of Defense's own Inspector General (DOD IG), Congressman Jim Moran, Northern Virginia Democrat, renewed his calls for a delay in the full occupation of 6,400 employees to the Mark Center in Alexandria and highlighted the opportunity for legal action against the Army as a new way forward to prevent a looming traffic nightmare.
The DOD IG report provides damning evidence that the Army mishandled its legal obligation to prepare adequate environmental analyses prior to its decision to purchase and construct the Mark Center facility. The facility will accommodate the 2005 Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) recommendation #133 endorsed by then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
"Unfortunately, the Inspector General's report proved what we have said from the beginning - the Mark Center decision was flat-out wrong," Moran said. "Clearly corners were cut and in some cases, what should have been obstacles to fast-track approval were ignored altogether."
Think that headline's hyperbolic? Well, first you might want to do a bit of research on the subject. For instance, I recommend this Leesburg Today article about the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors' strong opposition to "any attempt by the Commonwealth Transportation Board to create a Northern Virginia North-South Corridor of Statewide Significance." Translation: this would be an "outer beltway," with "initial reports indicat[ing] it could stretch from Stafford to a Potomac River crossing into Maryland between Rt. 15 and Rt. 28." This would be a horrible idea in so many ways it's hard to know where to start. Here are just a few, in part based on a conversation I had with an extremely knowledgeable person who's working to stop this thing:
1. Far from easing traffic in Loudoun County, the "outer beltway" would add tremendously to east-west traffic, producing even worse gridlock than already exists.
2. Despite the usual pro-sprawl suspects (Chamber of Commerce, Northern Virginia Transportation Alliance) supporting this monstrosity, this would NOT actually be good for business, other than perhaps gas stations charging $4 per gallon.
3. By having the Commonwealth Transportation Board designate this highway as a "Corridor of Statewide Significance," it apparently would FORCE Loudoun County - despite the strong opposition of almost the entire Board of Supervisors, as well most residents of the county - to put it in their plan. In effect, the state would be running completely roughshod over Loudoun County, completely taking away local control from the people who live there.
4. The Coalition for Smarter Growth explains what this is all about (it's truly shocking, you've gotta read it - on the "flip"):
So, in their infinite wisdom, our fine elected officials - and also the folks who run the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority - have managed to get things exactly backwards on the Metro to Dulles project. In the first place, they managed to punt on the serious possibility of running Metro underground through heavily built-up Tysons Corner, despite strong evidence that such an approach would have been far preferable in just about every way (faster, cheaper, smarter growth, easier access to the stations, better integration of Metro most effectively into the community) to the ridiculous, ugly, penny-wise/pound-foolish "aerial" approach that was selected. In sum, deciding not to run Metro via tunnel through Tysons Corner clearly was a huge mistake, one that we will regret for decades to come.
Now, the WashingtonPost writes, we've gone ahead and made the exact opposite mistake at Dulles Airport itself:
In electing to build a hugely expensive, financially reckless and utterly unneeded underground Metro station at Dulles International Airport - rather than an aboveground stop that would have sufficed - the board that runs the airport didn't just rebuff the pleadings of Virginia officials and the board's project partners, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. It also rejected the advice of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's own staff, which recommended the aboveground option. In doing so, the airports board heedlessly handed a $330 million bill to itself, to the counties and, most of all, to commuters on the Dulles Toll Road, who can expect to foot the bill in the form of higher tolls.
[...]
It's true that five years ago, all the parties agreed in principle to an alignment that included an underground station at the airport. But that agreement was based on a preliminary cost estimate for the Phase 2 extension that was $1 billion lower than the revised cost announced last fall. What's more, what may have looked affordable in 2006 is simply not affordable today. Local officials in Fairfax and Loudoun, along with toll road users, should push back hard against the airports board's profligacy.
Brilliant, huh? Actually, on both counts - the "aerial" monstrosity in Tysons Corner itself and the tunnel white elephant at Dulles Airport - these were both huge, yet totally avoidable, mistakes. Which does make one wonder: what's driving these constant screwups? Are the people making the decisions idiots? I doubt that. Do they simply not understand transportation, smart growth, etc? Possibly. Or, are there major financial interests at stake that keep pushing these decisions in the opposite direction of what smart policy choices, made solely on the merits, would have dictated? I vote for the latter. Anyway, I hate to say "we told you so," but the Tysons Tunnel folks and their allies - John Foust, Chap Petersen, Dave Marsden, Charlie Hall, and many others, including yours truly - warned against this over and over again back in 2007 and 2008. Did the "powers that be" listen to us? Of course not. Do they ever listen to the people over the powerful? As the recent redistricting fight, which ended up with politicians protecting themselves and choosing their own voters, totally overriding communities of interest or any other considerations that weren't motivated by pure power politics, the answer is "rarely if ever."
So, in their infinite wisdom, our fine elected officials - and also the folks who run the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority - have managed to get things exactly backwards on the Metro to Dulles project. In the first place, they managed to punt on the serious possibility of running Metro underground through heavily built-up Tysons Corner, despite strong evidence that such an approach would have been far preferable in just about every way (faster, cheaper, smarter growth, easier access to the stations, better integration of Metro most effectively into the community) to the ridiculous, ugly, penny-wise/pound-foolish "aerial" approach that was selected. In sum, deciding not to run Metro via tunnel through Tysons Corner clearly was a huge mistake, one that we will regret for decades to come.
Now, the WashingtonPost writes, we've gone ahead and made the exact opposite mistake at Dulles Airport itself:
In electing to build a hugely expensive, financially reckless and utterly unneeded underground Metro station at Dulles International Airport -- rather than an aboveground stop that would have sufficed -- the board that runs the airport didn't just rebuff the pleadings of Virginia officials and the board's project partners, Fairfax and Loudoun counties. It also rejected the advice of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority's own staff, which recommended the aboveground option. In doing so, the airports board heedlessly handed a $330 million bill to itself, to the counties and, most of all, to commuters on the Dulles Toll Road, who can expect to foot the bill in the form of higher tolls. [...]
The proximity and supposed ease of the underground station would yield a time savings of a couple of minutes, not exactly a game-changer worth driving the cost of Metrorail's Phase 2 expansion to $3.5 billion from $3.2 billion and adding six months of construction time. The board also overlooked the fact that 18,000 people work at Dulles, more of whom will ride Metrorail to and from the airport each day than airline passengers. For many or most of those non-passengers, the underground station will be less convenient, not more, since they may be commuting to and from a site other than the main terminal.
Brilliant, huh? Actually, on both counts - the "aerial" monstrosity in Tysons Corner itself and the tunnel white elephant at Dulles Airport - these were both huge, yet totally avoidable, mistakes. Which does make one wonder: what's driving these constant screwups? Are the people making the decisions idiots? I doubt that. Do they simply not understand transportation, smart growth, etc? Possibly. Or, are there major financial interests at stake that keep pushing these decisions in the opposite direction of what smart policy choices, made solely on the merits, would have dictated? I vote for the latter. Anyway, I hate to say "we told you so," but the Tysons Tunnel folks and their allies - John Foust, Chap Petersen, Dave Marsden, Charlie Hall, and many others, including yours truly - warned against this over and over again back in 2007 and 2008. Did the "powers that be" listen to us? Of course not. Do they ever listen to the people over the powerful? As the recent redistricting fight, which ended up with politicians protecting themselves and choosing their own voters, totally overriding communities of interest or any other considerations that weren't motivated by pure power politics, the answer is "rarely if ever."
Not to beat this subject to death, but I must say that reading this article really got me going this morning. The gist of it is this: with Metro construction well underway in Tysons Corner, there is still no good plan to move people efficiently and in a "smart growth" way to and from the Metro stations being built.
When the four stations open in 2013, none will have parking and only the Tysons East and Tysons West stations will have kiss-and-ride drop-offs. Some of the 100,000 people who work in Tysons will ride Metro there, and developers are seeking to add bridges, new doors and plazas connecting stations to their businesses.
But it will take time before the shopping and employment center redevelops into a mixed-use downtown with a mass of residents who can walk to the stations from home. For now, residents of nearby neighborhoods are accustomed to driving, and there are few firm plans for how people will actually access the stations.
Brilliant, eh? Obviously, not. As McLean homeowners association president Andrew Gutowski puts it, a meeting on this subject is taking place "about five years too late," leaving Tysons Corner with a "lack of planning for a continuous and seamless network of alternate transportation."
But isn't this Monday morning quarterbacking, you ask? To paraphrase Condi Rice, could anyone have possibly foreseen this debacle coming? Answer: yes they could, and yes they did!
Among the people raising the alarm back in 2006-2008, when it really mattered, were the folks at TysonsTunnel.org. I'm proud to say that I fought alongside TysonsTunnel.org (Scott Monett et al), as well as tunnel champions like Charlie Hall, Supervisor John Foust, Sen. Chap Petersen, then-Delegate Dave Marsden, Leslie Byrne, the Sierra Club, Vienna Mayor Jane Seeman, the Mantua Citizens Association, and many others.
A few recent items on the Metro to Dulles debacle, which appears to be worsening by the day.
1. According to Leesburg Today, Loudoun County supervisors are not pleased that the price tag for the project has soared by more than $1 billion, and have "made it starkly clear to the MWAA staff that they are unwilling to pay for [an underground station at Dulles Airport]." Also of note:
Loudoun's obligation doesn't kick in until Phase II and, technically, the Board of Supervisors still has an opportunity to opt out entirely. That is a conversation for which some supervisors have pushed and could be held next month when the MWAA team returns to Leesburg to provide a more detailed cost breakdown on the Phase II work...
Great, huh?
2. Along these same lines, WAMU reports, "Cost estimates continue to rise for the second phase of the Dulles Metrorail project" and "now Loudoun County may withdraw its share of the funding for the project." According to Supervisor Stevens Miller, "a majority of his colleagues on the Board think the cost of the so-called Silver Line is no longer worth it." What happens if Loudoun County withdraws its funding for this project? "...it's unclear what would happen next -- whether the Silver Line would simply end at Dulles Airport, or whether the entire second phase of the project, from Herndon out to the airport and beyond, would fall through."
3. The Washington Examiner reports that completion of the "Silver Line" has been delayed from 2016 until "the summer of 2017."
Even given how lockstep and hyper-partisan the Republicans are, I'm a bit surprised at how little criticism Gov. Bob McDonnell has received from his "base" for his recently-passed transportation plan. Why am I surprised, even a little bit? Because the plan's a classic example of Keynesian, "stimulus," borrow-and-spend economics, -- one that Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid (or any good liberal) would all probably love. In fact, as Jeff Schapiro points out, Democratic State Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw embraced this "debt-dependent" plan, ensuring its passage. So where's the outrage ("stop the spending!!!") from conservative bloggers and activists? Cue the sound of crickets chirping...
Meanwhile, a new report demonstrates exactly why countercyclical, Keynesian, spend-now-pay-later "stimulus" can make sense from an economics perspective, particularly in a recession and/or when interest rates are running low.
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell's $4 billion transportation plan would pump about $13 billion into the state's economy and create more than 100,000 jobs over the next six years, according to a report prepared for the state's Department of Transportation.
[...]
The $4 billion plan comes mostly from borrowing -- accelerating already approved state bonds and issuing about $1 billion in federally backed bonds. The report estimates that construction spending would total $7.2 billion after adding money that could be leveraged through public-private partnerships and leaving out money for previously committed projects.
Needless to say, this is almost identical, conceptually, to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act spending on "shovel ready projects," all paid for by borrowed money. A plan, by the way, which has worked almost exactly as it was intended (actually, most economists believe it should have been much larger). But why do Tea Party and conservative activists consider this a bad thing at the federal level - passed, as it was, by a Democratic Congress and Democratic president, with no Republican support - yet aren't complaining at the state level when the exact same thing is done here in Virginia, by a Republican governor? Read those last four words; there's your answer.
At last night's Democratic Party of Virginia's Jefferson-Jackson Dinner in Richmond, Terry McAuliffe - standing behind two of his cars (see photo after the "flip") - answers reporters questions on the 2012 U.S. Senate race and the 2013 Governor's race. According to McAuliffe, he's not interested in running for Senate in 2012: "the Senate's probably, really not the best thing for me to really help people here in Virginia." With regard to running for governor in 2013, McAuliffe says he "loved running for governor" in 2009, is "interested in it," and would consider doing it again in 2013 if he believes he "can make a difference...create jobs...move Virginia in a new direction."
P.S. I'll have more photos and video a bit later, as I get them processed...
Kudos to Rep. Gerry Connolly for challenging Bob McDonnell on this absolutely crucial issue. The question is, will Gov. McDonnell stand with extremist House Republicans as they rip Metro - and, in the process, northern Virginia - to shreds? Or, will he stand up for northern Virginia, and by extension, the entire Commonwealth? This one will reveal Bob McDonnell's true colors for sure.
Connolly Asks Gov. McDonnell to Join Fight for Metro Funding GOP Bill in U.S. House Cuts $150 Million for Metro Safety & Infrastructure
WASHINGTON - Congressman Gerry Connolly is urging Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell to join in the fight to restore $150 million in federal funding for Metro safety and infrastructure improvements.
In a letter sent today, Connolly urged McDonnell "to join me in opposing legislation that would eliminate the federal government's $150 million commitment for Metro, which would threaten the economic prosperity of the Commonwealth and undermine critical transportation investments on which we have partnered."
Connolly also asked McDonnell to reach out to the Republican leadership in the U.S. House of Representatives. "I also would encourage you to reach out to Speaker Boehner and House leadership to educate them on the irreparable damage this action could have on the Commonwealth's economy and transportation needs," he said.
The purpose of Blue Virginia is to cover Virginia politics from a progressive and Democratic perspective. This is a group blog and a community blog. We invite everyone to comment here, but please be aware that profanity, personal attacks, bigotry, insults, rudeness, frequent unsupported or off-point statements, and "trolling" (NOTE: that includes outright lies, whether about climate science, or what other people said, or whatever) are not permitted and, if continued, will lead to banning. For more on trolling, see the Daily Kos FAQs. Also note that diaries may be deleted if they do not contain at least 2 solid paragraphs of original text; if not, please use the comments section of a relevant diary. For more on writing diaries, click here. Thanks, and enjoy!
I don't plan on making a habit of agreeing with Bob McDonnell, but in this case he's absolutely right. For starters, it's outrageous that an unelected board like MWAA (Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority) was ever given so much power over an enormously important, an enormously expensive, project like Metro to Dulles. Can we say "massive conflict of interest?" I mean, Dulles Airport/MWAA itself doesn't have to pay for this project, but it benefits heavily from it? And to make matters worse, the project was awarded on a "no-bid" basis to "Big Dig" Bechtel, a decision was made NOT to build a tunnel where it was badly needed (in Tysons Corner), and a decision was made - by unelected MWAA - that they'd spend 
Way back in 1968, Richard Nixon got to the White House by promising America that he had a way to end the war in Vietnam. His "way" was to fight the war for seven more years. In 2009 Bob McDonnell got to the Virginia statehouse, in part, by promising that he had some wonderful "transportation plan" he would show us after he was elected. Instead, what we got was simply the usual borrow-and-spend, short-term GOP answer to a long-range, serious problem. His "plan" turned out to be nothing more than to sell a bunch of bonds, pray that the federal government won't cut future funds to the states for transportation, and saddle Virginia taxpayers with hundreds of millions of dollars in debt service through 2035.
Another 
Think that headline's hyperbolic? Well, first you might want to do a bit of research on the subject. For instance, I recommend 
So, in their infinite wisdom, our fine elected officials - and also the folks who run the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority - have managed to get things exactly backwards on the Metro to Dulles project. In the first place, they managed to punt on the serious possibility of running Metro underground through heavily built-up Tysons Corner, despite 
Kudos to Rep. Gerry Connolly for challenging Bob McDonnell on this absolutely crucial issue. The question is, will Gov. McDonnell stand with extremist House Republicans as they rip Metro - and, in the process, northern Virginia - to shreds? Or, will he stand up for northern Virginia, and by extension, the entire Commonwealth? This one will reveal Bob McDonnell's true colors for sure.
