July 18, 2006
A Letter to Maryland and Virginia
Dear Neighbors,
Is there any chance you guys could get on this? It seems like it could be important.
The House of Representatives passed legislation yesterday that would commit $1.5 billion over 10 years to improve the Metro transit system as long as the District, Maryland and Virginia guarantee to match that money. The vote was 242 to 120, just exceeding the needed two-thirds majority.Hugs and Kisses,The District has approved a measure to dedicate 0.5 percent of city sales tax revenue to Metro, but efforts to establish a stable funding source for the transit authority failed in the Maryland and Virginia legislatures. The Maryland General Assembly is not scheduled to meet again this year, but Virginia's is likely to reconvene this fall to renew its contentious debate on transportation financing.
Washington, D.C.
Picture snapped by edwardaggie98
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Typical. We have a world-class underground rail system in DC, but Maryland and Virginia are too busy fighting over nonsense in their state legislatures to do their part to maintain it.
My question is how is it that the Maryland General Assembly doesn't meet for the rest of the year? WTF?
Didn't MD and DC already vote on a similar bill, and pass it? Didn't VA vote on a similar bill and strike it down? I'm saying if VA doesn't pass it this time, metro service should just stop at the river. If they don't want to pay for it, they shouldn't get it. See how fast 66 backs up with the orange line ending at Foggy Bottom.
Or, they could continue service in Virginia, but with sporadic, 2/4 car trains. Foggy Bottom could be the turn-around for the 8 car trains back to PG every 3 minutes.
Ryan, you think that's weird. The Texas legislature meets for only from Jan-June every other year. At least Maryland's meets annually. Though I would think Ehrlich could call 'em in for a special session if he really wanted to. Which I'm sure he doesn't.
I don't know if that's true about Maryland. As I understand it, Maryland did not pass anywhere near the amount of money they would need to provide participatory matching funds, even though it was pretty clear Congress would approve. The last I read was that it did come up and the "what if's" were used an excuse. Then again, I miss things, try as I might, now that I spend less time in the area.
Seriously, the Maryland legislative sessions are breif/badly timed, but they're not the only ones.
Both Maryland and Virginia have proposed sources for dedicated Metro funding. Virginia's as voted down three different ways, and Maryland's died on the vine without a vote.
DC has committed a half cent of the sales tax to Metro conditional on VA and MD finding sources of their own.
Stupid rednecks in the Virginia legislature couldn't give two shits about NoVA Metro riders, even if NoVA pays the majority of taxes in the state.
WE MUST SECEDE!
The Republic of Northern Virginia (a wealthy independent country with a provisional government based in Fairfax County) might be interested in ponying up the money for the Metro, in the strategic interest of having it one day offer service for Fairfax County's servant class of poor townhouse owners who live in Loudoun County. I'm sure Fairfax County will be more than happy to support anything that allows for the McMansion homes of its residents to be cleaned more efficiently.
However, regarding the taxable interests of the yahoos down in Richmond (the Commonwealth of Virginia) that controls its government? Being that they think "The Metro" is a D.C. theater that screens gay porno films, I think it unlikely they'll be supporting this radical transportation agenda.
While the talk is how Northern VA is so liberal compared to the rest of the state, the MOST CONSERVATIVE legislators in the state still come from Loudoun and Prince William counties, despite the fact that they are both trending more and more democratic. In fact, most of Virginia's most extreme conservative legislators come from its exurban areas in the eastern part of the state, not the rural areas. Two PW County Repubs (one who grew up in Fairfax) are the main reason the Metro funding bill died in the legislature this year.
Having said that, Virginia came MUCH closer this year to passing a source of dedicated funding for Metro than Maryland did, as much as the Virginia-phobes (who usually aren't even from this are) might hate to hear it.
I'm curious, are there any legitimate arguments against dedicated funding? I know this is the choir here and no one seems to be straying much from the party-line, but I'm just wondering if there are any legitimate arguments against dedicated funding.
My guess it is rooted in the suspicion that when government decides to spend a certain amount of money on an issue regardless of the results, it gets less for its money. Perhaps by insisting on Metro coming back for money each year, it can keep it from becoming too bloated. Also, perhaps there's a belief that the federal government is going to end up ponying up the dough regardless. I don't know. I think these arguments are kind of weak, but they're probably closer to the mark than "those stupid rednecks hate us citygoers". It would also maybe explain why reps more likely to be affected by the Metro are still against it.
It just seems to me that lobbing the stupid redneck claim is not helpful in this effort. Clearly something bothers VA and MD about this. If it's fear of waste (and even a casual familiarity with Metro would support that fear) than we need to work to address those fears. If it's just a fundamental disagreement over the importance of transit, then we need to do a better job selling transit. Condesention doesn't sell anything.
the only "legitimate" arguments against, as I see it, are if you tie funding to sales tax revenues, you risk less funding during economic downturns (this is what screwed plans for a BART extension to San Jose). Or, if you ideologically against taxes, then maybe you have something.
Oversight or fear of Metro becoming "bloated" shouldn't be an issue, as the Tom Davis bill includes provisions for additional oversight and auditing.
It seems like a political no-brainer to me. If you ask voters if they would support a tax increase or just setting aside a portion of taxes to something like transit, roads or environmental protection, a large majority always say "yes." This is why you'll never see Congress repeal the gas tax. It helps pays for a lot of transportation projects, such as the Dulles Metro extension.
dude. that baltimore blogger is going to laugh at us. i wish we had a state legislature :(
I think Virginia should come through with the money, but don't the state reps have a right to ask, "Where is our money going to go to? Has WMATA fixed the financial problems of not too long ago? Is there anyone making sure we spend the money in the right places this time?"
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