Tuesday, September 11, 2012
NoTollIncrease.org members question Airports Authority’s ability to manage Metro Silver Line project.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, September 11, 2012
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…
Thursday, September 6, 2012
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 …
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Loudoun resident makes the case against raising tolls for Metro.
- OPINION
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Thursday, August 30, 2012
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 …
Friday, August 24, 2012
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…
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
Congressman Wolf’s proposal would place control of board clearly in Virginia’s hands.
- GOVERNMENT
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Wednesday, August 15, 2012
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 …
Friday, July 27, 2012
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 …
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
In letter critical of Reid, the leader of Loudoun Opt Out says the Leesburg supervisor 'betrayed his friends.'
- OPINION
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Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Dear Editor, Leesburg Supervisor Ken Reid, as many know, voted to opt in to Metro despite a decade-long career of advocating against it. Ken justifies this last minute flip with confusing doubletalk that maintains his opposition to the project and support of it in back-to-back sentences. Ken does have both bases covered in the event of success or failure. Ken’s recent constituent email said this, “Although I was a staunch critic of the project, and am still quite skeptical of its benefits ... ” In this same mass email, Ken Reid stooped to a new low. After having betrayed his friends in the Opt Out group, whom he worked with for months to educate the public before he flipped to vote Loudoun into Metro, Ken is now using nonsensical claims …
Monday, July 16, 2012
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 …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Algonkian supervisor candidate, husband pleased with rail vote.
- OPINION
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Tuesday, July 10, 2012
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 …
Monday, July 2, 2012
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 …
joe brewer
2:52 pm on Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Hey Jack about that 3 hundred thousand dollars you are paying Ms. Reiley with benefits comes to about 9375 dollars a week. Services rendered? Who do she think she is Romney? If York was paying attention that's enough for 6 Babe Ruth Series, chunp change! more ›