Loudoun County in hot seat on approving Metro’s Silver Line decision

The Washington Post ^ | Saturday, March 24, 2012 | Fredrick Kunkle and Caitlin Gibson

[MinorityRepublican]

With the clock ticking on whether Northern Virginia’s two richest counties will go along with the next phase of extending Metrorail to Dulles International Airport, all eyes are on Loudoun County’s recently elected, all-Republican Board of Supervisors.

If the vote were held today, elected officials and business leaders in Fairfax and Loudoun counties say they would not be surprised if Loudoun’s board opted out of the second phase of a $2.7 billion project that would extend the new Silver Line from Reston.

Citing uncertainty over future ridership and potential costs, at least two members of Loudoun’s nine-member board have indicated their opposition. Three supervisors lean toward approval. The rest are undecided.

Several said they need to know more about the cost Loudoun will bear for Metro’s operating subsidy.

“All these years, there has never been any serious discussions between Loudoun County and Metro on what our subsidy would be,” said Supervisor Kenneth D. Reid (Leesburg). Reid, who wrote in a newsletter this month that he never liked the project, said county staff estimate that the annual operating cost for Loudoun will be at least $20 million.

But the most serious potential deal breaker hinges on whether unionized labor would be given an advantage in securing a piece of the project, which is being managed by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. In screening bids, the airports authority wants to give a 10 percent bonus to contractors who agree to collectively bargain work rules, under what is known as a project labor agreement.

A voluntary form of such an agreement has been in place for Phase 1.

[tanknetter]

If the Loudoun County Republicans now running things have any sense of fiscal restraint and ethics they’ll run like scalded dogs away from this POS.

For years I used mass transit to commute into DC, starting with picking up an express bus at the Herndon/Monroe Park and Ride that’s pretty close to the Fairfax/Loudoun County line and taking it into West Falls Church Metro.

Setting aside how TPTB have been slowly jacking up taxes, bus fares and Dulles Toll Road tolls to pay for building the “Silver Line”, I figured that if I was forced to actually use the thing I’d see my daily commuting costs go up about 50% (largely due to having to pay the confiscatory parking rates Metro charges for its garages) and an addition 20 minutes tacked each way onto my commute (since the Silver Line would run a lot slower than the bus due to the additional stops and the “detour” through Tysons).

AND I’d be saddled with Metro’s infamous reliability issues for just about my entire commute, rather than 2/3rds of it. Metro can’t manage the system it currently HAS, and treats it more like a Great Society welfare program (obscenely generous union contracts and all that) than a real transit business ... and they expect taxpayers and riders to just trust them to manage a 25+ mile extension out past Dulles?!?

It’s about time someone stood up and told them “NO.” Hopefully this new crowd in Loudoun will be the ones to do that.

[Uncle Lonny]

In some respects mass transit from big cities to the suburbs is like section 8 housing projects built in the suburbs. Crime rates can spike when they happen.

[fella]

Back in the 60’s before Dulles was truly operational but the access freeway was finished and open,my high-school buddies and me would “Rat” race out to there and back with speedometers buried at 120+. Of course back then that was out in the middle of nowhere and they still made ‘Fairfax County Bourbon’ in that area too.

[personalaccts]

Left NOVA6 years ago....moved back to NC where Iredell county rejected this crap

[tanknetter]

In some respects mass transit from big cities to the suburbs is like section 8 housing projects built in the suburbs. Crime rates can spike when they happen.

Indeed, when the Metro Green Line (servicing the U-St Corridor and the city South of the Anacostia River) opened there was a big spike - too big for the city, Metro and MSM to ignore. The most blatant case was a clerk working at the Hudson Trail Outfitters in Tenleytown who was robbed then killed via execution-style double-tap by thugs who'd made it up there via the Red Line.

We'll see what happens with the Silver Line. Any spike might end up being successfully masked and suppressed because Fairfax already has a fair numbers of issues out that way with Asian and Latino (MS13 is seriously active in Herndon, the area around South Lakes High School - which is near Reston and Fair Oaks Mall) gangs.