Metro Rail - Public Outreac 5/24

Exactly!

 

Well that's a step in the right direction!!

Did they also amend the contracts by $300MM to account for the lower labor costs?

Maybe they'll let us ride on the toll road for free for the next few years? 3 years @ $100MM/year, that's a fair trade. Toll Road was supposed to be free by now anyway.

I hope that Right to Work still means something here in the Commonwealth and that is a step in the right direction. Nevertheless, if they don't reduce cost estimates, it's all for naught. Let's see if Richmond and the Feds will now contribute.

 

Just spoke to an aide at one of the super's offices that said the firgure on the table right now for the special tax district is .20 or .21/100. The aide asked to not be named to avoid the inevitable phone calls. I'm telling all of you, [except Nadir], sign that petition and make your voice heard.

This is what Democracy looks like, right? Sign it!
http://www.change.org/petitions/lou...-creation-of-a-special-metrorail-tax-district

 

Enjoying the commentary - it's very funny!

 

Ha@! For the record, I was for it at first. Now I believe that many details need to be hammered out before anyone signs on the dotted line.

I'm adamantly against any special tax district on any residents. I'm even against charging the businesses. The cost should be born by the developers that won't ante up, despite their promises to do so. [@Maggie from Comstock!] They should put the Millions in escrow and leave us out of the equation completely or don't build 606 and 772.

It would also be most helpful if Virginia and the Feds kicked in the same amount (%) they did in other counties. They keep draining the well known as the 'Richest County in the County' and it won't stay that way for very long.

 

TeamDonzi-
Since you seem to know about PLAs, can you explain exactly how they work, how they exclude non-union shops from bidding, and how much the PLA in Phase 1 has increased the cost?
I'm interested because Phase 1 was bid and won WITHOUT a PLA. The winning bidder, Bechtel, then entered into a PLA.
So, since no PLA was in place when bid and won, why would Bechtel enter into one if it would now cost, as you say, $300,000,000 more?

I'm finding a lot of the rheteric and talking points about PLAs don't seem to match the reality of Phase 1.
MC Dean, a decidedly non-union local company benefitted from the PLA on Phase 1.

 

Cliff, we've already had this discussion. You think Unions provide more skilled labor and I don't agree.

For the $5B project, $300MM was the difference in cost for Union labor over non-union labor, via one of the many reports from MWAA. I don't know how they got that number. My question was if that component was dropped, why wasn't there a reduction in the budget?

I will look for the report but I've just lost 9 hours of my life watching these meetings, so I'd rather not.

 

Specific Points made during the meeting last night and prior work sessions:
• Working on a referendum so residents can vote on how to pay the $315MM debt. The debt is considered “Appropriation Debt backed by Moral Obligation of the County” huh???
• Delgaudio wants to let the citizens vote on whether or not they want to pay the tax before they sign the agreement.
• [This basically pits us against them, anyone outside the 2 mi tax district. We vote no and the rest vote yes, most likely.]
• Special tax rate for us specifically, still in the model at .09/100 despite the fact that they have realized that they can roll back half of the ‘tax cut’ we got and cover the costs.
• Yes, Cliff, they discussed the highest rate at .5 mile, less at 1 mi, and presume less at 2 mi. York commented the TD like this would be ‘in perpetuity’
• Western supers cannot support C & I tax countywide. BUT the model used .09 from us, and .10 C& I countywide. (Clarke, Reid)
• If supers do nothing, it’s a vote to opt in on July 4. So they must make a firm decision by July 3, despite the fact that they’ve had no citizen input yet about the TD.
• Working on a public hearing sometime in June for that.
• [This is a great time to go sign the petition!]
• Using FFX TD as a model, FFX is at .20 and .10, with a cap at .25 tax district. OUCH
• $99MM in un-proffered roads.
• The models show that using no tax districts or C& I, the county runs a deficit of $12MM ++ per year. This is the hole they are trying to fill with tax districts.
• If we shift the gas tax NOW to metro, then the $6MM lost to busses will eliminate the bus service for 15 routes by 2013. (VRT)
• So this $6MM needs to be replaced, therefore look for a slightly higher TD rate. (Clarke)
• We already owe MWAA $112MM for Phase I, somehow….they’ll be asking for this starting in 2013.
• The Tax Districts would be in full implementation by Dec 2012 or JAN 2013 in order to build the coffers (on our backs) Remember, metro won’t even arrive until 2018 or later. “Early money is better” (Mays & Buona)
• All supers except Delgaudio seem to support the use of Tax districts, since 100% of the Broad Run residents want metro.
• Capital Improvement funds ($11MM) due to the WMATA board for projects like busses and garages and the Rosslyn Tunnel, do affect us and LOCO would be required to pay their share. However, a diff. person said we don’t have to pay for busses in Maryland and DC, but they don’t really have an answer yet. WE are obligated until 2016, then it’s up for negotiation again. (Volpe)
• These funds are not in the model that I could find.
• Parking rates to be set at $10 a day, rail tix $12 per day. Does not include Toll road or GW to get to station for those far out. (Clarke)
• Delgaudio likened this to Fleecing the citizens, skinning them. We are spending all their money.
• Not one mention of capital improvements for additional schools, however.
• Buona “landowners near stations should pay the lions share”
• We really don’t know the true expenses and ongoing maintenance costs, these are all just projections (Clarke)
• Reid wants a referendum first on the tax district BEFORE opting in, asking for a 1 month extension.
• If the cost of the project runs over by 25%, we are approaching our debt limit and this could affect bond rating.
• Delgaudio thinks this is a big debt to take on in a down economy and what would Wall St think of that.

 

For the first time ever I actually think Delgaudio may be the only logical supervisor in the group. I really am all for metro if they can find a way to pay for it that doesn't rest on our shoulders. On a side note, I heard that the governor is giving the Redskins $30 million for improvements at Redskins Park for the benefit of Dan Snyder's wallet. Yet he's only kicking in $150 million to metro which could benefit the entire area. I would love to control that checkbook...

 

Acutally according to what I read its $30million in improvements of which the state and county are chipping in ($4mil/State and $2million/Loudoun County)

But doing the math thats 20% being funded by the taxpayers.

Equating that to the $500million the state and county might kick in on a$5Billion dollar project - its only 10%.

Oh and the Metro is PUBLIC Transportation project where as the Redskins are a private business. You think Danny boy really needs the $6Mill?

 

OMG, are you saying we are paying for the Redskins improvement?

I thought with the edited PLA or whatever they did, that Virginia would consider more $ toward rail, above $150MM. But anyway you slice it, it's on us right?

 

What were Shawn Williams comments at the work sessions / meetings?
As our Supervisor, I would expect him to be very vocal AGAINST the special tax district.

Seems to me he should vote NO to Metro if it is on the backs of his constiuents.

 

Not sure what you're meaning to say Flynn? Most of us are saying that if they bring Metro here, then everyone should be contributing, not just those of us within 2 miles.

As for Shawn's quotes, I feel like he awoke a sleeping giant, and has heard from us that we don't want to be singled out. While he is looking for other options, he's only one vote. The other supers (Buona incl.) believe that we should pay since we'll be dripping in diamonds as soon as metro opens. Except Delgaudio, he doesn't think we should pay.

 

Unless they can prove that any increase in my property is directly related to metro then they are full of it. Prices are left on the uptick around here so they can never prove the metro or market increase. Ugh!

 

Here is MY favorite part of the "Lesser Study-RCLCO). This is the study on which the supers are relying on for all of their information: You'll LOVE this!!

"Numerous studies on the impact of rail transit have concluded that it increases the value of
nearby properties. The amount of the value increase and the distance to which the impact
extends, however, are influenced by many variables, such as the design of the station area, the surrounding land uses, the ridership of the transit system, frequency of service, etc. In general, however, the closer to transit a property is, the greater the value increase, and most of the value increases are likely to occur within a ½ mile walking distance of the station entrance. Most analyses of transit’s impact on value have been limited to ½ mile, and the few studies that have considered a greater distance have reached inconsistent conclusions. There may be a positive impact on value beyond the ½ mile distance, but it is likely small and difficult to quantify."


BOOYA!

 

That's not exactly what I meant. Example:
In the context of a large scale project, if the winning bidder wants to enter into an agreement with, say, 500 construction engineers in order to control costs, it is more likely that a Union organization would be able to provide that high of a number of workers.
If you only needed 20 workers, several organizations, union and non-union would be on equal footing to bid for it.

 

See my copmment in the other thread. That is EXACTLY correct. Once you are outside the inner 1/2 core, the residential increase benefit drops. Once you get outside 1 mile, it drops to nil, since now you are driving, not walking.