Passenger Trains > VA Governor -- WMATA Board "Political Theater!"

 So FUBAR that even the Democratic governor of Virginia calls them out:

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2016/11/30/gov-mcauliffe-rips-metro-boards-political-theater/?hpid=hp_local-news_metroboard-130pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.34052515c164

I don't often agree with McAuliffe, but he nails it.

Latest lead balloon lofted by the DC appointees on the clown-car WMATA board is cancelling Silver Line Phase 2. Seems like the usual "blame-the-suburbs" talk, a long-standing rhetorical crutch used by DC pols to duck difficult problems.

WMATA's biggest fiscal challenges are labor costs and a pension / health care benefit overhang of titanic proportions. The Silver Line has nothing to do with either of those things. Indeed, the Silver Line might even help. The Silver Line brings a new funding jurisdiction to the table (Loudoun County) and will serve a major airport.  These new SL riders will be paying the highest fares in the system. Furthermore, the line construction costs are borne _solely_ by Virginia taxpayers and drivers. Constructing the line doesn't cost WMATA a dime.

Paul Wilson
Arlington, VA



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/16 12:57 by Dcmcrider.

McAuliffe is a smart guy. He can read election results better than the next guy.

Bloated, incompetent and unresponsive government got a thrashing on November 8. Protecting the failed DC council elite and the union leadership that let its workers get killed is just plain wrong.

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Dating myself with this comment, but it is an experience that has stuck with me for all the subsequent years of living.  I was in 11th Grade in HS, TC Williams HS in Alexandria, VA.  My 11th grade English instructor gave us the option of composing a term paper OR coordinating and interviewing a person of note in the public eye.  I chose the later and was fortunate enough to be able to sit down face-to-face with the individual who was the point person for the up and coming sections of WMATA in Alexandria.  It was still in the planning stages (this was 1973) and the concept of an area wide mass transit system above and beyond the bus options was intriguing to all.  While I recall asking questions, seeing presentation charts, and other criteria related to the assignment, unfortunately, I do not recall the name of the person I was interviewing.  Be that as it may, the grand plan for a tentacle system of surface and sub-surface light rail that funneled into the downtown DC area was futuristic enough and fed my curiousity to study the concept even more.  I left the area after graduation (1974), never to return on a permanent basis, I certainly do not miss the traffic, congestion, and overall pace.  I still have family in and around the greater metropolitan area and it has been interesting listening to how the system has expanded over the decades (decades??....sheesh...I'm older than I thought!).  Hopefully, WMATA will find the where-with-all to return to the quality of it's youth, including the ability to continually expand for the benefit of the greater DC metropolitan area....and not in spite of it, political theater not-withstanding.