Four Billion Dollars (or More) for Nothing in Return
There are many questions that elected officials don't want to answer. One of them is: Why are taxpayers and Dulles Toll Road users being asked to pay at least $4 billion dollars to build the Silver Line extension of Metrorail in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties when the Commonwealth of Virginia's own data demonstrates there will be virtually no traffic relief? This probably seems counterintuitive, but it is true. Take a look at Table 6.2-2 from the Final Environmental Impact Statement (December 2004) for the Dulles Metro Project. A copy of the Table is shown. The Table can also be found online at http://www.dullesmetro.com/pdfs/FEIS_I/FTA_FEIS_Chapter_6.pdf. The Table is found on page 6.25.
Doesn't this seem absurd, even for Fairfax County? This table demonstrates that we, who live and/or work in Fairfax County, will face traffic congestion that is at least as bad as we have it today after spending $4 billion of taxpayer and Toll Road user money.
How can this be? Last year, an employee of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit was asked this very question. The response was: The Silver Line will certainly take drivers off the roads, but the rezoning of Tysons Corner and other locations near rail will add so many new cars to our streets that all of the gains from the multi-billion dollar project will be undone. That means we are spending billions of dollars to help bring more people and more cars to Fairfax County. Good idea?
Then, of course, there are the cost overruns that occur with any large construction project (Wilson Bridge, Springfield Interchange, Boston's Big Dig). How big will the Silver Line's cost overruns be? Who will pay for them?
This is stupid by any person's standards -- unless, of course, you just happen to work for one of the major Tysons Corner landowners or their contractors and agents.
Is Virginia that flush with transportation money that we can waste billions without improving traffic?
Doesn't this seem absurd, even for Fairfax County? This table demonstrates that we, who live and/or work in Fairfax County, will face traffic congestion that is at least as bad as we have it today after spending $4 billion of taxpayer and Toll Road user money.
How can this be? Last year, an employee of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transit was asked this very question. The response was: The Silver Line will certainly take drivers off the roads, but the rezoning of Tysons Corner and other locations near rail will add so many new cars to our streets that all of the gains from the multi-billion dollar project will be undone. That means we are spending billions of dollars to help bring more people and more cars to Fairfax County. Good idea?
Then, of course, there are the cost overruns that occur with any large construction project (Wilson Bridge, Springfield Interchange, Boston's Big Dig). How big will the Silver Line's cost overruns be? Who will pay for them?
This is stupid by any person's standards -- unless, of course, you just happen to work for one of the major Tysons Corner landowners or their contractors and agents.
Is Virginia that flush with transportation money that we can waste billions without improving traffic?
posted by Toomanytaxes at 3:36 PM
3 Comments:
Clearly the costs versus benefits of four Tysons stations is long overdue for review. Who benefits most from the current placement of four stations?
1) The West Group, Tyson's largest landowner and Connelly's former employer and biggest or next-biggest contributor to Connolly, Prov. Supervisor Smyth, and until recently Tysons Land Use Task Force Interim Chair Delegate Jim Scott;
2) SAIC, whose property is at site of a proposed station relatively far from the Dulles access road, is Connolly's current employer and until recently the employer of the Planning Commission's Transit-Oriented Development Committee chair Walter Alcorn (who is now a private consultant - who are his paying clients? - and he reportedly has a relative who is or was a leading official of West Group);
3) A batch of contractors, builders, consultants and lawyers who stand to make a boatload off of rail.
In contrast, the majority of the costs will be borne in one way or another by ordinary taxpayers (despite the special tax district, higher density = higher taxes, and higher debt as more bonds are issued for the resulting needs for more transportation, schools and parks), and of course toll road users.
In other words, a well-connected few reap the most benefits in the name of the community, who really end up paying the price.
This is all very reminiscent of New York's Boss Tweed, who along with his infamous Tammany Hall Ring including the Mayor and City Comptroller among others, would oddly enough just happen to buy up property on roads that were the first to be widened and paved. The city issued loads of bonds, which ended up burdening taxpayers for decades - a detail which by now is forgotten.
One Tammany Ring member famously defended this so-called "honest graft" thusly: "I seen my opportunities, and I took 'em."
It took the New York Times and Harpers Weekly a year of dogged reporting to get the truth out, even as they faced debilitating revenue shortages as the City refused to advertise in those publications. And even after the exposure, Tweed's allies, toadies and papers that got the most ad revenue cheered him by the thousands. He was also cheered by the small handful of property owners who also happened to benefit from the paving projects.
This new Ring needs to be exposed. The courage of the 1870's NY Times is badly needed once again.
Congratulations on your new blog.
Think we have worn out our welcome at Bacon's ?
Ray, we shall see how long my blogging career lasts and whether I attract much in readership.
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