November 28, 2007
Morning Roundup: Tree Fraud Edition
Good morning, Washington. Given that A Charlie Brown Christmas was on TV last night, this story seems especially rough. Apparently some folks stole $1500 worth of Christmas trees from the Boy Scouts that were selling them. Remember kids: leave your clearly marked tree receipt out for Santa if you want your presents delivered promptly and with a minimum of additional paperwork.
Latest On Taylor Murder Investigation, Funeral: The Post reports on the few details available in the ongoing examination of Sean Taylor's death. There's not much to say about the investigation yet — among other avenues, investigators are still trying to determine whether the shooting is connected to last week's robbery of Taylor's house or to the Florida men with whom Taylor notoriously clashed on the subject of his ATVs. But the article does note that funeral plans are currently being made with an eye toward next Tuesday, and that the NFL intends to honor Taylor with a moment of silence and memorial uniform alterations at this weekend's games.
Yes, More About The Tyson's Tunnel: Frankly, we haven't even got the heart to make lame perfunctory jokes about this issue's refusal to die. So let's just get to the grim facts: via NBC4 the AP reports that TysonsTunnel.org has brought suit against federal agencies, claiming that they did not properly implement the regulatory processes that ultimately doomed the tunnel initiative. Take note, federal transportation agencies: there can be no rest until Tyson's above-ground splendor has been preserved for future generations.
Briefly Noted: Red Cross loses another chief executive... Man threatens kids with knife for helping him up... Va. takes steps toward reviving uranium industry... Montgomery County considers tax increase in face of lower than expected revenues...
This Day In DCist: One year ago we were talking about stadium naming rights and wondering what that thumping sound was. Two years ago D.C. was embroiled in a no-bid contract scandal.
Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user dc_cowgirl
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Sweet, a lawsuit. Well that guarantees the Tyson's line -- regardless of whether it's a tunnel or above ground -- will get pushed back a year or two.
Guess the knife-pulling guy really wanted a handout instead.
I heard about the Tyson's lawsuit on the radio and thought "Jesus, can't these people just admit they lost and move on with their lives? Isn't above-ground metro at least better than no metro?".
The membership of TysonsTunnel.org are probably the same suburbanites who assault refs at their kids' soccer games.
First, shouldn't it be "the Boy Scouts who were selling them"? They are (despite appearances to the contrary) people, after all.
Second, while it would be nice if the Tyson's Tunnel story would go to ground, somehow the media keeps giving it wings...
http://tysonstunnel.org/tysonstunnel_who.htm
Also see the links on the left side for the donor lists and endorsements.
"Isn't above-ground metro at least better than no metro?"
Yes, obviously, but the lawsuit is not saying "tunnel or no metro".
Also, think of the discussions about Metro. A lot of problems with Metro are problems that could have been prevented during initial design, but cannot be solved now. Attitudes like yours lead to bad design. In 30 years, do we want to be saying "Hey, I wish they had put the Metro underground"?
Metro should have built the line out to Dulles 30 years ago like they wanted to.
If only Fairfax County planners didn't say no back then...
30 years ago Dulles was nothing more than an airport in a cow pasture with acres of parking, while flying was relegated to the more affluent. Back then it seemed like a rational decision.
I have no real opinion about the Tyson's Tunnel, since I do not use Dulles regularly and live in the District and avoid Virginia at all costs.
But, knowing none of the details of the analysis to date, I will say that benefit-cost studies done to the standards of DOT are designed to ensure Federal dollars are spent rationally and not on vanity projects (except when Congress directs the money for bridges in Alaska).
Has anyone at TysonsTunnel considered taking up a collection from all those corporate donors to pay the difference between elevated rail and a tunnel? If there are so many supporters, why not do a private fund raiser for the project, rather than a lawsuit that just wastes time and money?
I still don't think it's much of a rational decision to waste so much money on a subway line to Dulles in the first place. I really think transit money could be better spent elsewhere. Yes, in a perfect world it would be great to have a Metro to Dulles, but there's not unlimited money for transit, and I just don't think the Dulles line will get used enough to justify the cost. I think a much more intelligent way to spend that money would be to focus only on expanding Metro to Tysons and focus the rest on greatly expanding VRE through Loudon County.
Besides, it's not like they've even pretended to address the Rosslyn tunnel problem.
The christmas tree theft reminds me of the time I was pickpocketed downtown the other December. I didn't even realize my wallet was gone until I got home--I received a call from Citibank asking whether I have children. Someone had just purchased over a thousand dollars in toys for their kids for Christmas, with my stolen credit card.
They should cut back on the number of blue line trains sent past Rosslyn to downtown. When I am watching trains come in at McPherson Square in the morning waiting for my outbound orange train, the orange line trains are always packed and the blue line trains are rather empty. I think most people riding the blue line downtown would rather take the yellow line on a more direct route. They could send a couple of blue line trains across the Potomac bridge, but that still would not leave enough headway to do 6 minute silver and 6 minute orange line, plus a few blue line trains to merge at Rosslyn and go downtown.
"Has anyone at TysonsTunnel considered taking up a collection from all those corporate donors to pay the difference between elevated rail and a tunnel?"
The problem is not the non-federal funding for the tunnel, the problem (if I recall correctly) is that if the state or county spends its own money on a plan the feds consider to be too inefficient, the feds will not spend their dollars on the project. It's kind of crappy, since it's not like the feds are being asked to kick in any more, but I guess it's meant to prevent federal funds going to huge boondoggles like the Big Dig.
Hold on a sec. Are you all honestly ragging on the Tyson's Tunnel people? Aren't we, the residents of DC, supposed to support transportation sustainability and champion good urban design?
Cynics don't change anything.
When I read what's on the tysonstunnel.org site, all I'm seeing is a bunch of crypto-nimbys hoping they can delay the process long enough so that the Feds withdraw their funding and the project gets cancelled. Nimby advocacy has learned a lot in the past few decades since the Barney Circle Bypass, the Southeast Freeway, and the ICC. If nimbys sell themselves as blocking progress, they get the steamroller. If they paint themselves as Concerned Citizens for a Safe Environment/Better Whatthef***ever, and couch their rhetoric in terms of "we're completely in favor of large amounts of transit through our backyards, we just want to do it SMARTER AND MORE COST EFFECTIVELY" they get support from all the local gullible morons. And the Sierra Club, of course.
What it comes down to is that surface rail construction will cause gridlock for a couple of years (think U Street while they were building the Metro, or the neighborhoods around the new Convention Center). Inevitably, some businesses won't survive (the ones signing on to tysonstunnel.org's wish list); and what resident wants to deal with gridlock when they're trying to drive the fifty feet to buy their merlot, crank, and condoms? Will a tunnel prevent that? Who knows? But it certainly won't come any cheaper and right now the pricetag is going nowhere but up.
[removes tinfoil hat, replaces propeller beanie]
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Hannah Montana tickets.
When I read what's on the tysonstunnel.org site, all I'm seeing is a bunch of crypto-nimbys hoping they can delay the process long enough so that the Feds withdraw their funding and the project gets cancelled. Nimby advocacy has learned a lot in the past few decades since the Barney Circle Bypass, the Southeast Freeway, and the ICC. If nimbys sell themselves as blocking progress, they get the steamroller. If they paint themselves as Concerned Citizens for a Safe Environment/Better Whatthef***ever, and couch their rhetoric in terms of "we're completely in favor of large amounts of transit through our backyards, we just want to do it SMARTER AND MORE COST EFFECTIVELY" they get support from all the local gullible morons.
What it comes down to is that surface rail construction will cause gridlock for a couple of years (think U Street while they were building the Metro, or the neighborhoods around the new Convention Center). Inevitably, some businesses won't survive (the ones signing on to tysonstunnel.org's wish list); and what resident wants to deal with gridlock when they're trying to drive the fifty feet to buy their merlot, crank, and condoms? Will a tunnel prevent that? Who knows? But it certainly won't come any cheaper and right now the pricetag is going nowhere but up.
[removes tinfoil hat, replaces propeller beanie]
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have Hannah Montana tickets.
30 years ago Dulles was nothing more than an airport in a cow pasture with acres of parking, while flying was relegated to the more affluent. Back then it seemed like a rational decision.
Even if it didn't run out to the white elephant that was then Dulles, Fairfax County had plenty of opportunity to use Metro to its advantage while it was in the planning stages. Metro planners suspected the area that is now Tysons would be fast growing and proposed an Orange line routing in that area. Planners also wanted to extend the line all the way into Fairfax. Both of these were turned down.
I think a much more intelligent way to spend that money would be to focus only on expanding Metro to Tysons and focus the rest on greatly expanding VRE through Loudon County.
Building new rail will be hard to come by. The best hope is for added frequency either from new VRE cars or if/when MARC expands south of Union Station as they plan.