Let's all take the "wayback machine" and watch as Fairfax County board chairman Gerry Connolly speaks at the Tysons Tunnel rally at Meadowlark Park on February 10, 2007. In particular, check out what Gerry has to say starting around 2:10 minutes into the video.
...it is our strong preference is that that rail link be below ground. You all know the reasons why. But we know that if we don't do that, in 10 years time we're all gonna kick ourselves thinking why didn't we do the right thing at the time....Nobody's gonna say it's gonna be easy, and maybe we won't prevail, but it won't be for lack of effort.
Also note that Connolly is wearing a sticker saying "under not over" (photo below).
So what happened? First, read Ben's Four Wasted Hours post from June 4, 2007. You can also read here about how Gerry Connolly talked tough, declaring point blank at one point that "we aren't voting unless we see that contract" and also "that's not how democracy works...we've got to have access to the documents or we're not going to move."
Finally, there's the grand finale on June 18, 2007:
It's a sad day for Gerry Connolly, Sharon Bulova, Cathy Hudgins, Mike Frey, Elaine McConnell, Joan Dubois, Gerry Hyland and Penny Gross, who will all now have a 50 foot high monument to their incompetence enshrined forever in Tysons Corner.
As I said, sweet memories...