Good morning, Washington. In a move designed to counter Virginia’s proposal to allow a private company to manage the Dulles Toll Road, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority yesterday bid to take control of the corridor, including plans to develop rail service to Dulles International Airport. MWAA’s interest is considered serious, given its ownership of the land on which the toll road rests, and airport officials believe that the completion of rail service to Loundon County, which is currently planned for 2015, could be achieved faster under their administration.
One Year On, Nats Still Not Safe: Last year at this time, D.C. Council members were putting together eleventh hour efforts to make sure that a deal to bring baseball to Washington wouldn’t fall through before the Nats played a game. Today, with the stadium lease agreement vote postponed and the Council set to break until 2006, baseball is threatening to take the city to arbitration, to force it to honor what MLB says are the District’s contractual obligations. Mayor Anthony Williams maintains that negotiation of the lease with an owner who has a stake in the city would be best for all parties involved, but Williams has been confounded by the work of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, who yesterday claimed credit for the postponement.
Metro Looks Forward, Backward: With the year coming to a close, Metro is assessing 2005 and enjoying what it sees. Rail reliability was up 23% this year, with a customer satisfaction rate of 90%. Looking forward, D.C. Council member Jim Graham began efforts by local leaders to establish a permanent source of Metro funding, introducing legislation yesterday to allot 0.5% of the city’s revenues from its sales tax to Metro. Virginia is looking into the adoption of a quarter percent sales tax, though no legislation has yet been introduced, and Maryland is expected to follow suit.
Briefly Noted: D.C. pedestrian deaths increase in 2005, despite summer campaign against jaywalking…Metro officials downplay risk of a transit strike in Washington…Prices for upper deck tickets to this weekend’s Giants-Redskins clash reach $300; lower level seats much higher…Another sad, weird cat house.
Picture taken by Rory
