Letter to the Editor

LTE: MWAA’s Cost-cutting Excuse Don’t Add Up

NoTollIncrease.org members question Airports Authority’s ability to manage Metro Silver Line project.

The evidence of poor management by the Washington Metropolitan Airports Authority (MWAA) grows by the day. Elected officials continue to scold them, even for misdeeds that those same officials were alerted to but chose to ignore. But take heart. There is a simple standard of performance this seemingly unaccountable bunch should conform to. According to the 2006 Dulles Toll Road Permit and Operating Agreement, MWAA is required to make “best efforts” to complete the project by Dec. 31, 2015. How do you measure best efforts? Schedule would be a good place to start; and in that area, MWAA’s report card is looking pretty bad, and their excuse for long delays might as well be to blame the family dog for eating the schedule. Recently, in a letter…

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Public Hearing Set for Metro Tax Districts

Revenue from proposal would fund construction, operation, maintenance of Silver Line in Loudoun.

Moving forward with the hope of creating a tax district by Jan. 1 to pay for Metro’s Silver Line project, the Loudoun Board of Supervisors has set an Oct. 17 public hearing for residents to weigh in on the proposal. The tax district plan actually calls for three districts: one overall district to pay for construction, operation and maintenance, and two smaller districts, which will remain in place after construction is completed to pay for ongoing operation and maintenance expenses. The prososed maximum tax rate for the distrcit is 20¢ per $100 of assessed value. For the most part, existing residential homes are not part of the district, but future homes close to rail stations planned at Routes 606 and 772 will be taxed. Loudoun County is …

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Letter to the Editor

LTE: Speak Up on Tolls or Lose Big

Loudoun resident makes the case against raising tolls for Metro.

What happens when you complain to MWAA about Dulles Toll Road tolls? That depends on what you say and whom you say it to. First, don’t be surprised when you go to a public hearing to find out you are being treated to a Dulles Rail, MWAA, Dulles Toll Road promotional presentation. [The first of three MWAA hearings on proposed toll increases to pay for Metro’s Silver Line is set for Sept. 6 at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.] NoTollIncrease.org will be there to give you an opportunity to send a personal video message to the Virginia legislators who are hiding behind MWAA. Here are a few points you may want to make if you are opposed to toll increases: We also recommend that you demand answers from your Virginia legislators. Contact us …

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Ties to MWAA Woes Cut Both Ways

Examiner: GOP was aware of an insider deal with outgoing board member before politicizing it.

As the legal wrangling continues over one Democrat's seat on the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s Board of Directors, the contract given to another outgoing board member recently opened a new political battle over the group that is tasked with constructing Metro’s Silver Line project. Gov. Bob McDonnell recently failed to persuade a Fairfax Circuit Court judge to seat his new appointee to the panel, while Dennis Martire disputes his removal by McDonnell. Earlier this year, after Republicans criticized MWAA for pushing a project labor agreement requirement on the second phase of the Silver Line, information surfaced that members of McDonnell’s administration were aware of PLA negotiation. This week, the Washington Examiner found…

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Bob Bruhns

9:28 am on Sunday, September 9, 2012

Excuse me if I'm a bit politically incorrect here, but weren't BOTH political parties happy to cover up this case of big-shot favoritism? How many of the taxpayers and toll payers, who have to pay the nearly double price of this rail project that was so carelessly overseen by this clown circus of a Board and executives, would get this kind of health care compensation? I've read about trips to …   more ›

Loudoun Chamber Backs MWAA Reform Bill

Congressman Wolf’s proposal would place control of board clearly in Virginia’s hands.

The Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday threw its support behind U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf’s (R-10) legislation to reduce the membership of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority Board of Directors and allocate two-thirds of the seats to Virginia. MWAA has come under fire in recent years, particularly since it took control the Metro’s Silver Line project, which would extend rail to Dulles International Airport and Ashburn. The chamber supported the rail project, but now joins those who have raised concerns about MWAA’s existing board and Virginia’s influence over it. MWAA operates Dulles and Reagan airports and the Dulles Toll Road, all of which are located in Virginia.  “Given the MWAA Board’s ongoing challenges and the …

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Silver Line Phase 2 Bidding Begins

At least five groups have surfaced so far with plans to bid on Metro’s project to extend rail to Dulles and Ashburn.

CORRECTION: Five groups have already begun assembling teams to propose bids, not four as initially reported. All five teams are listed at the bottom of the story. Initial story: Hundreds of people representing contractors and subcontractors hoping to be part of the winning bid to construct the second phase of the Metro’s Silver Line to Dulles Airport and Ashburn attended a conference Thursday to learn more about the process and meet construction teams planning to bid on the project. At least five groups have already begun assembling teams to bid on the $1.4 billiion to $1.5 billion “Package A” of the construction project, which includes everything except the rail yard and the five parking garages that may never go to bid. If all goes as …

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Bob Bruhns

5:47 am on Monday, December 31, 2012

I just happened to notice that I made a mistake. The Dulles Rail Phase 1 Design-Build contract is actually here: Design-Build Contract (7.87 MB PDF) http://www.mwaa.com/file/p1dcmcontract_7_25_08.pdf   more ›

Metro: Loudoun’s In, Now for Tax District

Despite critics, businesses and landowners appear either enthusiastic or silent as proposal for new assessment heads for hearing.

Now that Loudoun has opted in to Metro’s Silver Line, work will begin on creating the tax district the Board of Supervisors hope will pay for it. Just before the all-Republican board’s divided vote to opt in, supervisors directed staff to begin the process of establishing the ordinances needed to create the tax district, with a public hearing prior to Nov. 1 and an implementation date of Jan. 1, 2013. The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, the entity tasked with building both phases of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, announced last week that it has issued Requests for Qualifications from potential contractors, marking the first move forward on the estimated $2.7 billion second phase project since Loudoun’s July 3 vote. By …

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Bob Bruhns

4:22 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012

This ripoff was sold to the swing voter Ken Reid, on the basis that the costs would essentially be borne by the businesses and property owners right around the stations, where benefit is maximum. Of course, Dulles Rail has been a parade of lies for the past ten years, so maybe we shouldn't expect this story to be honored the next day, when nobody remembers anything that happened.   more ›

Letter to the Editor

LTE: Thanking Kaine for Metro

Algonkian supervisor candidate, husband pleased with rail vote.

Dear Editor, If there’s one thing everybody can agree on these days, it’s the need for a stronger economic recovery, and here in Loudoun, we’ve got a great opportunity to make that happen. I’m talking, of course, about Dulles Rail. Since we are no longer commuting into town every day, we won’t be taking Metro to get to work but there’s another reason people like me and my husband are so excited that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors made the right decision and opted in to Phase II of the project: economic growth. Dulles Rail will bring long-term, sustained economic development to Loudoun and all of Northern Virginia. According to George Mason Professor Steven Fuller, the numbers are almost unbelievable: with rail, the average salary …

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Bob Bruhns

3:56 pm on Tuesday, July 10, 2012

I believe there will be riots in January when the public wakes up to the ripoff that has been accomplished here. I wouldn't have as much of an issue with all of this, if the costly reality had been honestly presented, and if the constuction price had not been 1.8 times what it should have been. But instead, we were played. Now we will be paying a very VERY great deal, and in a surprise-a-minute …   more ›

Loudoun County Opts In On Metro

After contentious four months, a divided board stays with the project.

With more eyes on Loudoun County than likely have ever been on it, the Loudoun Board of Supervisors voted 5-4 on Tuesday to continue participating with the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, which will extend the now-under-construction Silver Line from Wiehle Avenue in Reston to Route 772 in Ashburn. “Well the day has finally come for this board to make the decision about the future of Loudoun County,” County Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large) said as the vote approached. “This will help our employers reach our employees regionally.” York and Supervisors Ken Reid (R-Leesburg), Ralph Buona (R-Ashburn), Matt Letourneau (R-Dulles) and Shawn Williams (R-Broad Run) voted in support, while Supervisors Suzanne Volpe (R-Algonkian), Geary Higgins…

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Metro to Loudoun Letters

Residents across the county have weighed in. Here’s what they said.

Many residents across the county have weighed in on Loudoun’s participation in the planned extension of Metro’s Silver Line beyond Dulles Airport to Ashburn. Here’s a list of those letters, divided into supporters and opponents. Just a review of the headlines is telling, but each headline is linked to its letter for review. Find everything Patch has published about the project here. For additional information about the project, visit the county's web page on Metro. In Favor Leesburg Resident for Metro Round Hill Resident for Metro Metro Sacrifice Brightens Future Willing to Pay for Metro Metro Creates Jobs, Eliminates Commutes Bring Metro, So We Won’t Have to Use It Metro to Loudoun 'Just Makes Sense' Time is Right for Rail to Ashburn …

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