FOUR Wasted Hours

I just got back from the Board of Supervisors meeting on phase one of Rail to Dulles (i.e. Tysons Corner).  What a tremendous waste of time.  The Board spent hours asking random questions and delaying until the over 500 citizens in attendance filed out around 2 p.m. 

With the smaller, more sparse crowd now present their tune significantly changed.   Dana Kauffman moved and Linda Smyth seconded a motion to delay any vote on this project proceeding on June 18th since the Board doesn't yet have the contract,  and a few days is not adequate to review the contract and the Board's options.  The motion also said the hearing would be replaced with a time for public comment on the issue.  With most citizens gone, the rest of the Board changed their tune considerably from earlier. Gerry Connolly vocally opposed this motion, something Tysons Tunnel said would be "irresponsible" in their handout today. The motion failed 3 in favor (Kauffman, Smyth, Frey) and 7 opposed (Connolly, Hudgins, Bulova, Gross, Hyland, McConnell, Dubois)
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I'm not sure if it was because of the primary next week, but this was Linda Smyth's best performance since being elected to the Board.   Worst performances were Gerry Connolly's diatribe on "all the public input we have already had" and asking Kauffman "What could we possibly hear" in regards to public testimony.  Ummm... this project has changed a LOT Gerry- I don't care if you have to sit there for 40 days and 40 nights- every citizen that wants to testify on this should have the chance. 

Also equally pathetic was Joan Dubois who said in regards to the second phase of the project (mostly in her district) that "If they don't want to pay, we just will run the train by them with no stations".  That's Herndon's ADVOCATE on the Board?  What a miserable bitch.   

Comments

[Isophorone]

OK, Ben, you first: How much do *you* want to pay? And what would be too much to pay?

[Not Larry Sabato]

I think the Tysons landowners offered to pay the difference between a tunnel and no tunnel- so I don't understand your question.

If you are talking about the project as a whole, I've never been a big fan of it.

[JMU Duke]

It's a shame that the Board can't operate itself with more transparency than this. Nice to see Smyth getting off her ass though, perhaps the next step will be to appear in front of the public at some point.

"What a miserable bitch?" I agree with you, Ben, but even for you that's an awfully low tone to take in political discussion.

[ZB]

I was about to make the same point. Can we try to avoid calling people names?

[Deborah Reyher]

There Were TWO Issues on the Motion!

Dana Kauffman stongly advocated hearing from citizens on this -- the single biggest public transportation project in the state. He suggested using 4/18, the date of the scheduled vote, for the type of modified Town Hall that WMATA employed to address public outcry regarding the sale of public land for MetroWest, since there was no time to advertise a regular public hearing.

It was the SECOND part of his motion to re-schedule the Board vote for a date following receipt of the FTA risk assessment (now scheduled for August).

While Linda Smyth seconded the motion and voted for it, her remarks were notable in that she did not ONCE mention the need to hear from citizens or verbally support that part of the motion.

Her ONLY concern was that the Board members would not have sufficient time to review the documents and confer AMONG THEMSELVES themselves before making their up/down vote

So, Linda may seek to preen over her overall support of the motion, but she did NOT support the part most important to citizens, which is to be included in the decision-making.

Of the Board member, only Dana Kauffman appears to understand the importance of conducting a public hearing.

Of the two candidates in the 6/12 election, ONLY Charlie Hall gets it.

[NoVAConservative]

Just in case anyone wanted to overlook the whole "sell my source down the river so that I can help my party pick up a Senate seat" incident, today we have "what a miserable bitch" to confirm that this blog has officially jumped the shark.

[Not Larry Sabato]

NoVA- Some of your points are good- but this idea that I am trying to help Karen Shultz is crazy. That district voted over 50% for Kilgore with Potts on the ballot. If Potts+Kaine can't get 50% of the vote in Pottsie's home Senate district- how in the world would some random woman with 1980s eyeglasses from Winchester do it? Vogel or Tate will make mincemeat of her.

Ben and I must have attended different meetings (and I don't have an ax to grind).

Connolly said he supports a tunnel, but also that Fairfax should not kill rail to Dulles Airport.

He also did not rule out postponing the vote at a later date.

Tell the truth...

[Deborah Reyher]

With the current construction bid only good until June 19th, does anyone really want to place a bet that the 6/18 vote will be postponed?

Once the $400K "plus 16.1% of whatever" is voted for this $5.15BILLION investment in a disastrous elevated train, the Tunnel will be dead....

[Doug in Mount Vernon]

Oh please spare us the anti-Linda Smyth snowballing for one day at least, will you?

I actually agree with NoVA Conservative.

The level of discourse in the Virginia blogosphere lately has become disappointingly low. This blog has been a leader in that trend. RK has engaged in a coordinated smear campaign against a good person and good Democratic official.

It's disappointing to see the brightest new tools in politics being turned into the same ol' run-of-the-mill slimeball machines...

Who decided on this arbitrary June 19 deadline?

Bechtel? The Airport Authority? Dulles Transit Partners? The Commonwealth? FTA, the feds, and Tom Davis? Deborah Rhyner?

It was certainly not the Fairfax Board of Supervisors who set that date.