First, Virginia, welcome to the you-get-kicked-around-too from whomever happens to be strongest. 

Our congressional delegates from NOVA joined Kaine to approve the overhead station. So the elevators will go up instead of down... 

And, guess what?  The NOVA business community has proven to be powerless in getting any type of transportation improvement from Richmond or Washington.  Even though Davis helped get a promise of $1.4 billion in matching funds for Metro, Virginia said no. Don't care. So where are those rainy day business leaders?

Finally, Tysons Corner is in the middle of a very busy area -- growing daily -- it will continue to be important and MWAA is right to get goin'.  Folks, as long as the Federal Government keeps Virginia alive through DOD, government offices, and contractors Eastern Virginia from the Pennsylvania border to the North Carolina border will continue to grow. 

Become afraid if the Federal Government moves to, say, West Virginia or Montana. Then Virginia will have to grow its own industries.
 

n/t

And even if it goes above-ground I'd rather have some rail than no rail.

to this project from the beginning, so you are citing a biased source.

I'm not sure what your point is here.  Do you think that a no-bid project that includes a much-derided (for good reason) "aerial option" in Tysons Corner is a good idea or not?  I don't.

I want the tunnel but if I can't have it, I'm not willing to scuttle the entire project because of it.

rather than give "Big Dig" Bechtel a sweetheart, no-bid contract.  I'd also rather do this thing right than just "do it at all."

your desire to "fight the establishment" for the sake of fighting the establishment. I'd rather have Metro than nothing. And scuttling the project insures that it dies for the foreseeable future.  

This has nothing to do with "fighting the establishment," but thanks for trying (and failing) to read my mind.

You may be reading this blog but clearly you're not understanding it - fighting for the sake of fighting is not what any of us are about.  

You seem to have decided that Metro to Whiele is the end-all be-all of projects and must go through no matter the cost (and I'm not just talking financial).  I still don't know why, but fine, that's your choice.  But please don't accuse Lowell, or any of us, of fighting without purpose simply because we don't agree with your opinion.

have gotten nastier, more ad hominem, more trying to put words in other peoples' mouths, etc?  Are people bored because there's no major election going on right now?  I don't get it.

Whenever you gain the majority things get nasty

Its also back to your larger point right now there isn't a movement to rally behind.

Also, there is this little thing called the Presidential election and people keep on bringing up this Iowa thing too :-p  

n/t

A lot less civil and less appreciation for differing viewpoints.

There are billions of dollars and political careers at stake in this project.  You can bet that anyone standing in the way will get steamrolled by those who stand to lose, as well as by their supporters.  

I am one of the few here who live in the Tysons area.  We are out at the west end where all of the car dealerships are.  So far the Cadillac and Hummer dealers have closed.  I am anxiously awaiting the day the wrecking ball comes for the Hummer building - I will go out and take pictures and post to fuh2.com :-).

I gather that the car dealers are figuring that the land will become too valuable for car lots, but the full value won't be realized until the Metro is open.  So for the time being they are moving out, and then leasing the spots to crappy used car dealers.

We are far from the office buildings, however, so I can't really say much about who is moving in and who is moving out.  I generally avoid the heart of Tysons whenever possible - there isn't any compelling reason to go, really.  It is actually easier for me to get to downtown Vienna on a bicycle than it is by car.

While we continue to argue about how to approach the Tysons Tunnel (or not) issue or if the project is a financially responsible venture (or not), I've got a question/issue regarding rush hour congestion. 

The Orange line track (by itself in Virginia) can get fairly crowded during rush hour, sometimes resulting in trains sitting for extended periods of time.  And once the track is shared with the Blue (starting in Rosslyn) the trains can back up even more. 

If this Silver line is put in, and is actually used by commuters in the Reston/Herndon/Loudoun area with the same enthusiasm as the Orange, what's the plan to avoid massive congestion once the Silver joins the Orange between West and East Falls Church?  This could represent an increase of 50% in trains passing between Rosslyn and Metro Center.  By itself that's bad - too many trains sharing the same track.  And if a train breaks down or there's a problem (that never happens [snark]) I'd hate to think what it'll do to the back ups.

There is little doubt that the elevated design is fatally flawed. Everyone from Stu Schwartz (Coalition for Smarter Growth) to Clark Tyler (Tysons Task Force Chair) have decried it.  Even Dana Kauffman, Fairfax County Supervisor and Metro Board member condemned it, saying that we have only one chance to do it right and sixty years from now, our excuses for not doing the right thing won't hold water.

Of course, all the big corporations (e.g., Bechtel) who will build it don't really care how good the design is from a planning standpoint.  It is also in their interest for the project to be as expensive as possible and not to be competitively bid.  And they give a lot of money to politicians, both Republican and Democrat.

The result is a bipartisan effort to ramrod this dog through, irrespective of its value as a transportation and smart growth project.  But how do we "little people" stop it?

let your Congressman -- Frank Wolf, Tom Davis, Jim Moran -- know how you feel.

First, Lowell, thanks for linking to the Examiner.  The Dulles Rail is a land use project that will benefit the land owner in Tysons Corner, Connolly and many of the Board members who have reaped thousands of campaign dollars from the developers, the land owners, and persons connected to the rail project. 

The taxpayer is going to be left holding the bag....for cost overruns, for Dulles Toll Road users....increase in tolls, for express bus riders who will lose the fast express bus, and to the small business people who no longer can afford to stay in Tysons Corner. 

The Tysons Task Force is a joke.  The proposed high density project will bring total gridlock to main roadways such as Rt 123 and Rt 7.  We must attend the public meetings and object to the way the task force is pushing the high density developers' dream. 

that the Task Force is a joke?  I have been to a number of the meetings, and what they are doing makes sense to me.  And the basic concept is that you want high density development near Metro, and to have a better balance of housing and office buildings in the Tysons area.  Basically to make it possible for people to get to work without getting into a car.

The idea is to have walkable communities along some sort of corridor.  Yeah, it would be nice to have underground rail, but the folks there seem resigned to getting the aboveground thing, but they had no control over the thing.  It isn't a deal killer to have aboveground rail though.  The walkable corridor would end up being offset from Rt 7 by a block or two to either side.

You must be attending the public outreach meetings and have been influenced by the pretty pictures.  Have you ever notice that the pretty drawings show streets with no vehicles...well maybe there might be two or three cars.  

Have you attended a public outreach meeting yet where there have been real numbers....rather than conceptual mumbo jumbo?  There are members of the task force whose main objective is to cram in as much density as the developers want.  

THE TASK FORCE IS KEEPING THE PUBLIC IN THE DARK>>>>>>WE WILL HAVE ONE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THE PLAN FOR DENSITY INCREASES THAT WILL GRIDLOCK ALL THE MAJOR ROADS>>>>>>

Please.  Do you think I am an idiot???

The concept of smart growth is one where you have high density near transit, and where you have a good mix of retail, residential and office.  The idea is to make it possible to get people out of cars or perhaps even lead car-free lives.

The county cannot force developers to build that which they don't want to build.  The only carrot that can be offered is higher density.  That being said, the county needs to impose constraints so that the end result isn't worse gridlock.

Does the Task Force think we are idiots? Afraid so and you know what....we are giving them a free ride.

what you would like to see happen.  If you were in control of the Task Force, what would you do?  What is your vision for how the area should look?

The question of Metro aboveground or underground isn't one that the Task Force has any say in.  I don't see that they have the ability to fix that.

is representing TysonsTunnel.org in its lawsuit.  Baise is listed as "Of Counsel."