“Good luck Bulletproof Monk considering the demographics of their constituents”

You see….that’s right now. This is a particular albatross around their necks. Leesburg is NOT full of Metro proponents, and Buona’s district might actually get a taste of the tax consequences of the move if the smaller district either (a) gets voted down in November.., or (b) the projected growth that the false numbers put out their never materializes. Both of these guys were working off of fictional facts…and history will remember them that way when the taxes come back to the rest of the County because their little district failed miserably. It’ll be all too easy to get volunteers to remove them then.
PS…I don’t need volunteers. I’m all staffed up and fundraising for the PACs is going well, too.

Fox Hound - Will it prevent current traffic? No; it is to help future traffic because Loudoun is going to get larger and have more residents either way.

The idea it to keep part of that growth off our highways and connect us to were most of the current people work. My neighbors and I are mostly tech workers, we work all along 267 right at metro stops. We live in easy walking distance of the last proposed stop. Metro is not just about DC.

Beyond the fact some jobs may shift to Loudoun if we have metro and town centers instead of remaining in Fairfax or DC.

@Loving Loudoun:  Were you being sarcastic?  You are aware that the entire BOS is Republican, right?

“What a huge disappointment the 4 democrats have been and an even bigger disappointment that Ken Reid joined them.”

Fox Hound- It will take cars off the road which will reduce future traffic.

Also the hopes are to bring some more jobs down that 5 mile stretch from the Reston/Dulles/Chantilly area and have a few jobs in Loudoun for all our tech workers who currently leave.

The roads will be worse without it.

Also why is everyone focused on DC? So many of Loudoun’s workers are on the tech corridor near phase 2 stops. I could have gone to any of my last 4 jobs on the metro silver line if it was around.

What I think Metro coming to 772 means regarding cars - First, those living within the walk zone of either station may walk or bike to the station, thus, not driving on any Loudoun roads. Second, those in Loudoun or beyond (MD/WV) who come through Loudoun, may stop at either station, and thus, their usual trip any further in the County will be curtailed that much, but not entirely. Third, those who otherwise would have driven INTO Loudoun but choose Metro will remove their cars from Loudoun roads for the entirety of their visit, thus benefitting those of us on the roads by giving back capacity on those roads but still conductnig their business here.

I think that’s all one can really say about the impact of Metro on # of cars on our roads. What has be understood and accepted is that the total number of cars on our roads is going to increase, even with Metro taking a slice out of that amount. So traffic congestion will get worse, and would get worse without Metro. New lanes and roads will be built still, and they will help, but will not eliminate traffic congestion. You can’t squeeze water from a rock, as they say. The only way you can avoid traffic is choosing/opting to drive between the hours of say 9pm and 5am. Otherwise, our road network is finite, and even with Metro, some very high percent of people will be loading those roads with single-occupant vehicles, each and every day. Because that is the American pattern, beginning at our kitchen tables, into our attached garages, to the roadways, to the parkign garage attached to our office building, to our cubicle. Personal transportation. The freedom to buy the car we want, drive it ourselves when we want, listen to the radio station we want, heat/cool ourselves as we want.  We’ve created our own nightmare of traffic congestion, based on all these demanded freedoms.

Is it funny that we gripe and complain about all the “other” people who cause this congestion and bog us down, and at the same exact time, turn against and villinize a public transit option that only works to eliminate some of that vehicle congestion??

I’m not laughing, that’s for sure.

Messina - apply your ” the needs of their local constituents should come first.” to the US Congress.  Still think the same way? Think what you will of Congress,now or ever, but your line of thinking basically negates Federal (ie, country wide) action. So, with your thinking, we have 50 individual states, all acting individually, no thought about common good of the country. Heck, we have no country with your thinking. Heck again, Virginia, there is no Virginia with your thinking, just 95 counties and 39 cities acting separately. Real productive.  I don’t know what political lean you are, but is that conservative, is that Tea-party, or something else? Sounds quite isolationist, but on the smallest of scale - an election district of roughly 40K people.

Was the tax pig at the parade to give out sour grapes?

@fedup - Obtuse?  Hardly.  Merely pointing out that one of the drums pro-metro folks tend to beat is how metro in Loudoun will reduce traffic.  That is true - it just won’t reduce traffic in Loudoun.  I won’t apologize for looking at this from a ‘What benefits Loudoun first/most?’ point of view.  To me, I don’t see the traffic benefit.  And I also don’t see the commuter benefit; it will take longer to get to DC from either of the Loudoun stops than it currently does to take commuter bus.  The flexibility is a plus, but it doesn’t outweigh the time and money you will lose. 

The cost to Loudoun to ‘opt-in’ doesn’t include improvements to infrastructure that will be necessary to accommodate metro - where will this money come from?

I would like to thank the BoS for their decision to extend metro, saves me the trouble of having to elect new members the next go round.  It also continues to move Loudoun forward instead of stuck in reverse.  I realize that 90% of the people that write on message boards are against the article that is written, hence the negative comments here, but considering that the vast majority of people living in the County want to live like it is 2012 instead of 1912, great news on Metro!!

I don’t want to say the anti-Metro people are poor losers but why the heck, a day after their side in the vote loses, do they haul the pig that the Koch brothers paid for down the streets of Leesburg in the parade?

Good luck Bulletproof Monk considering the demographics of their constituents.

Guess it’s pretty clear that all hands on deck will be needed to get rid of Reid. Bonus will be the crude conduct of Buona on the dais, too.

Hell why not build the extra 8 miles with three stops Claiboirne, Belmont, and Leesburg, with a huge commuter lot in Leesburg.  Commuters can pay their 12$ fee to the rail instead of the the blood sucking green way.  Greenway goes bankrupt and the state buys it for 10 cents on the dollar and opens it as a toll free high way, which is probably the only thing that would really take pressure off the east west routes. 

Absurd I know.. but isn’t all metro logic?

Fox Hound - Your being obtuse, can you imagine this area with the 700,000 people on metro driving into the district instead? You think the roads suck now?

Ashburnfella-

Yep.

I understand your logic but aside from the at-large supervisor they are elected to represent a specific area and the needs of their local constituents should come first.

This is going to be a lead zeppelin, moored to a rusty anchor, tied around a white elephant in the coming years.  I’ll completely skip-over the debate on cars, people and development pros and cons; and instead, focus on the the financial burden this will inevitably place on this county.  What if there’s another recession ?  What if these business districts don’t come to fruition due to a lack of business ?  We will STILL be obligated to pay 17 MILLION dollars +/- per year, indefinitely !  This thing was pushed through without any safeguards or even clarifications on long-term financing.  Whether you agree with Ms. Clarke or not, at least spend 5 or 10 minutes reading her position on it, and see if you can answer ANY of the pointed questions she poses. 

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0957f72211ee567adde5ea600&id=6d00f5bd36

Mike Messina,

As a resident of Ashburn, why do i need to worry about fire and safety in your neighborhood?  Why should I care about your roads, schools etc…they are of no use to me.

By your logic, i should encourage my rep to vote against anything that funds your neck of the woods.

Geary fails the far-seeing test.

Denise- As a resident of the Algonkian district why do I need these 2 stops in Ashburn?  They are of no use to me.  If I want to take the Metro I’ll drive to the Rt 28 station (which is slated to have 2000 parking spots.)  And I can do that without Loudoun having to spend another dime.  I can’t say what will ultimately have been the right choice for the entire county but from a local district perspective Volpe made the right decision.

Volpe Votes “No” to Loudoun’s Future

As the Democratic candidate for Algonkian Supervisor, I believed that Metro extension was critical to Loudoun’s future and I advocated for it in my campaign. Prior to today’s vote, the Republican candidate, Ms. Volpe, ducked the issue about her support for rail to Loudoun. During the campaign, my experience was that voters favored rail; however, today Ms. Volpe said that when talking to voters before the election, the subject of rail never came up. Last year when asked directly about her position at a forum, Ms. Volpe refused to say she would support it. Today, Algonkian Supervisor Volpe voted against rail to Loudoun. Her position is hard to understand. Ms. Volpe likes to say that taxes are among her main concerns, but while on the Planning Commission over 8 years ago, she had no problem approving every residential project that came before her. She seemed to have no idea about how those future residents would get to work and she had no concern for what that huge influx of new residents would do to the tax rate or the increased demand on County services. We agreed on the position that bringing more businesses to Loudoun would increase the tax base so residential property tax rates could be reduced. A “Yes” vote for rail to Loudoun was the most obvious way to begin doing that, but she turned her back on this opportunity. Congratulations to the five members of the Board who had the courage to go against many in their Party to vote in favor of the most important project since Dulles airport was built in the early 60s.

@fedupdude - Those people will still be on Loudoun Roads.  I’m sure you’ve seen what Vienna/Fairfax looks like at rush hour (hint:  Metro doesn’t solve traffic problems to/from Metro).

Further, to get a tax from businesses, there has to be businesses.  I’m still waiting for the Arcola Center - I mean, that land was purchased in 2005.  I love driving to Fairfax or Tyson’s to shop!  Of course, there is no shortage of townhome building in Blue Ridge, so I’m sure there are a few more Harris Teeter’s on the way…

@ Bob_smith - I got the 3% from one of the studies; I didn’t just make it up.  But, give it whatever number you want - it’s sort of irrelevant.  I’m more interested in why you think all these cars are going to ‘be off the roads’ in Loudoun, when commuters will still have to drive their cars on Loudoun roads to get to these Metro stations.  The only place traffic will clear up is on 267 to DC, and on 7 to Tyson’s.  So, I’m sure the folks in other counties will appreciate the alleviated traffic while we’ll have to continue to use overcrowded/stressed roads (7, 606, 267) to get to these stations.

And given the cost of parking at Metro ($5.00) in addition to the already ridiculous and ever increasing fares, it will be still be more cost effective for some people to continue to carpool/drive.  Of course, adding Metro will take away the fuel subsidy LC receives from the Commonwealth for it’s bus service, and the fares on 267 will increase, so I guess people won’t have much choice anyway. 

But, I guess Ashburn will get more development, which is always awesome.

What is with you people in this county.  You let these libetarian teaparty types infiltrate the Republican Party.  Our party puts profits of the JOB Creators above all else.  Who cares about extra taxes on average citizens.  Our job as Republicans is to through these people a few bones on social issues, demonize the black man in the White House and take care of the 1 percenters.  Get with the program Loudoun Republicans.  We almost lost this money train.

Concerned Voter - is that what has happened throughout Fairfax, Arlington, Tysons, Ballston, Bethesda, Silver Spring, Rockville, Anacostia, Springfield, Clarendon, Falls Church, Vienna, and Shady Grove?  The bottom has fallen out of their economies because Metro stops are there, property values have sunk, tax rates are higher than Loudoun’s currently, schools have gone down the tubes??

Really, make your case, with some real facts and figures on how Metro has killed these locations, many of them also being end of the line places.

Bob, there are 4,600 homes that only will be built if there are Metro stations.  If there are no Metro stations, then THOSE 4,600 homes don’t get built.  So, for the thousands of people using Metro, there are thousands of additional commuters.  In total, Metro takes off more commuters than it adds.  But, at what cost?

I got the impression Delgaudio was agitated about something.  Could have been his Metro defeat, or more likely the upcoming lawsuit against his hate job.  Love that! 

But wait…he always seems agitated.

@ i.resident,  it will be in the form of higher property taxes, higher business taxes which will result in higher prices.  It has nothing to do with the general fund.  They have to get the money somewhere so they will either raise existing taxes or come up with a new tax.

ack…..I hope they really having this funding all figured out.  The complaining that goes on with the school budgeting every year and now you know Metro isn’t going to stay in this made up budget of theirs.  Get ready for the schools to explode even more than anticipated.  Might be time to look to live elsewhere.

Delgaudio was quite the animated SHOW today. What an embarrassing character this guy is…

LC - No, “Metro” does not add homes.  The proffers for Moorefield and Loudoun Stations (private sector developments approved several years ago) are triggered by there being stations. They are zoned TOD, transit oriented development. Those proffers could be changed one way or the other at any time, depending on the developers and the mood of the BOS at that time. That’s reality. Please don’t erroneously attribute residential density to MWAA. And don’t make up commuter numbers without explaining what in the heck you’re trying to say.

How do you get “2000 cars off the roads”, when Fox Hound throws out (unsubstantiated) 3% of Loudoun population, which I equated to 9,600 people based off a pop. of 320,000K (conservative estimate - actually 325K [http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/51/51107.html].  We all know that the VAST majority of drivers from Loudoun are single-occupant, so even a conservative number of 8,000 vehicles is removed by 3% of Loudouners using Metro.  And again, that’s not even factoring in the MD and WVA and PA drivers who pass through Loudoun daily going east.

You need to stop playing with exaggerated numbers and use a calculator.

Tax payer pay $600 Billion dollars a year beyond the gas taxes for roads. Nothing is free.

Also your numbers would be if tax payers paid this all in one shot which we are not. Once again the home owners are not paying for this it is going to come from a commercial tax zone.

3% ridership for a county with metro would be way below local averages.

FedUp, your logic is wrong.  The capacity of the Metro is the capacity of the Metro.  Part of the Metro development—-outside of your 100k (which is high)—-is additional residential development.  So, with Metro, Loudoun gets 104,600 new homes or 100,000 new homes without.  4,600 homes are contingent on Metro.  No Metro, no 4,600.

3% ridership is the official number from Loudoun’s study.  That’s not my number.  You can point out that as the population goes up, since it is a percentage, then ridership goes up.

Fine, then it is $400k PER CAR.  Either way the numbers are bad.

Concerned Voter:  Please explain to me (an average Loudoun Homeowner) how Metro will cost me $2700 a year?  Do I pay this with a check, or what??

Please illustrate how you can call Geary a leader in any sense of the word.  Sure he may think like you about the metro, but not attending meetings after being elected is not leadership. 

Also Geary had a very significant conflict of interest and should have recused himself.  His employer and his major campaign donor had a special stake in the Metro dealings and he did not make it public or even acknowledge it. 

Bottom line is Geary duped the people of the Catoctin District into voting for him by calling himself a leader.

Concerned Voter - That is BS, it is not going to be paid for with general fund money we already know that.

Loudoun County your numbers are a joke. First Loudoun has approved over 100k new homes with or without the metro many around the two stations. You want to have all those folks on the road?

Second if you think we are only going to get 3% ridership I think you are crazy; we have 1% in the county already and you have to drive or shuttle to Falls Church as is. The Loudoun Bus is full also.

Lets not forget there is no where to expand roads. Rt 7, Rt 50, and 267 are as wide as they will ever be. The majority of the work force here drives into Fairfax or DC currently, we need mass transit.

Thank god its a done deal.

I have so much respect for Geary Higgins and Janet Clarke.  They are the new conservative leaders in Loudoun county.  They can hold their heads high, knowing they did the right thing for the citizens of Loudoun county for the right reasons.  They did it with dignity and respect, unlike some of the other board members who restored to nasty remarks and name calling.  What a huge disappointment the 4 democrats have been and an even bigger disappointment that Ken Reid joined them.  He’ll never be elected again because republicans won’t support him and democrats hate him.  That doesn’t leave much of a voter base.  Janet and Geary can be counted on to look out for the taxpayer and to do what’s right, even if it costs them elections.  I am so very proud of those two.

The extension of the Silver Line will cost every single tax payer in Loudoun County $2700 per year.  Now, I personally haven’t used the Metro in probably 5 years.  I cannot fathom that I will ever get $2700 worth of service from the Metro.  So I am being forced to pay a bunch of money that I don’t have for a service I probably won’t use.  I’m glad the rest of you have that kind of money just laying around to pay for other people to use the Metro.  If you choose to work someplace that is far from home, then you should pay to commute.  If you don’t want to sit in traffic and deal with the stress, time away from family, and gas money.  Oh and never mind the already over priced toll road, then get a job closer to home, or move closer to your job.  Don’t make me pay for it.

But, Bob, Metro adds 4,600 new houses (which I think is a joke as they will ask to build even more) that would not happen without Metro.  So, Metro adds 7,000 more commuters.  9000-7000=2000.

Metro costs $250M per mile to build.  Loudoun will spend over $1B to take 2,000 cars off the road.  That is foolish.

That’s $500k PER CAR!

Concerned Voter cannot/does not read the article and understand the concept of a tax district. And Concerned Voter does not understand that there is a gas tax he/she pays everytime they fill up their vehicle. And they don’t understand that its what pays for a huge chunk of the “free” roads they drive on everyday…but that in many cases, your property tax also IS used to pay for new and repaired roads.  And thus, we ALL pay a “tax” for roads with every fill up, and with every mortgage payment…..but people like Concerned Voter would rather ignore those inconvenient facts of life and focus on creating extra special criteria and expectations and performance standards for public transportation that doesn’t already have these ‘under the radar’ funding mechanisms (in place for decades) in place.

Again, so many of you folks think Metro to Ashburn is only about Loudoun residents riding it east. You are so clueless, ashamedly so. One would hope that people so involved in this discussion would understand all the impacts, pro and con, but to sum up the expenditures for Metro as equalling 3% of Loudouners as riders…sheer ignorance.

Btw, 3% of 320,000 +/- CURRENT residents = 9,600 people. Removing that many cars from the eastern Loudoun traffic equation is significant. And that # will grow, either in real numbers as population increases and this purported “3%” maintains, or as that percentage inevitably increases as well. Not to mention, the portion of out-of-state traffic that will now stop at stations in Ashburn and NOT go further on Rt. 7 or 28 or the lower Greenway or DTR altogether…those are all positive impacts on those Loudouners who will continue to drive east. But it’s all pretty much moot, as population and cars will continue to increase regardless of Metro operating, more busses, more VRT trains - it will all increase.  And that is why, any little bit helps to get people off the roadways.

“The BOS took a straw poll and a special tax region around Metro for commerce only passed 8-1”

But the BoS doesn’t have the authority to enact it.  There are several steps that must be taken.

So, the risk is that the new tax gets shot down….and then the BoS has to come up with a new plan (propoerty tax, anyone?).

So, the smart thing to do would have been to put the financing plan in place first and then take the opt-in vote.

Concerned Voter - The BOS took a straw poll and a special tax region around Metro for commerce only passed 8-1. That is how it will get paid for.

BTW how do you think roads get built? 600 Billion a year is spent above the state and federal gas tax on roads.

Thought this was a well written statement from Janet Clarke outlining her position on the vote.  Would invite everyone to give it a look and would appreciate it if anyone is able to answer some of the financing questions she has.  Thanks.

http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=0957f72211ee567adde5ea600&id=6d00f5bd36

Williams proposed tax district seemed to sway Reid into voting for Metro…everyone seemed to dub this proposal as “brilliant” during debate, but I’m not clear on what it means for the homeowner in Ashburn, so we’ll see after all of the facts come out…

Just what Loudoun needed, two more corrupt groups(metro & MWAA). Most figure Ken would vote for it. He’s all talk and no ba!!$. Can’t wait for taxes and dulles toll road taxes…I mean fees to go up. I was thinking of voting for Romney, but just can’t trust the repubs anymore after this. Just think Openband will be given the ok to continue too soon. Unsure what fedupdude’s been smoking but why would someone in Stone Ridge drive 10-15 to Loudoun metro, kind of seems out of the way.

I already commute via LC Bus to DC every day and live in a community next to Stone Ridge.  They would still have to drive ten miles via 606 to get to the closest ‘new’ metro stop, and 606 is a parking lot in the morning.  I don’t see how this benefits anyone on the Rt. 50 corridor until major changes are made to arterial roads.

I get why Brambleton folks are upset though; this is in their backyard and definitely beneficial to them.  They already have the infrastructure to support traffic to the metro stops; we don’t.

Oh, and I’m not a Tea Party person or anything, so I don’t know why everyone thinks Clarke and others are serving their needs when it just makes sense to ask questons.  For the 3% or so of Loudoun rail will benefit, well, congrats to you guys.  Hopefully I’ll be out of this sinkhole of a county before I actually have to put up with that headache.

I would LOVE to know where we are going to get the money needed to pay for this “wonderful” extenstion of Metro.  I know how we will pay for it….Higher taxes.  YIPEE!  Let’s throw a party, more taxes for Loudoun County.  I think I just might go jump off a cliff, but the county would probably find a way to tax my husband for that too!

“Altogether, Loudoun’s expenses have been estimated at approximately $260 million to $270 million for capital costs, and annual expenses anywhere from $10 million to $20 million once the project is completed.”

All this in the middle of trying to cut the budget for the schools.  HMMMM,  Priorities….seemingly out of place.  Geary Higgins has my vote!!

Clarke is done in Brambleton.  The hostility towards Clarke is astounding.

Well done, Ken, Scott, and the others.

We’re part of the future economic growth of the region now, and can forever tell Richmond that we _are_ willing to pay a share of what it costs to solve our own problems.

Fox Hound - You may like it and Clake’s western voters might but Stone Ridge is the larger population in her district and is largely pro metro. This is going to hurt her next election.

I knew this would pass.

Bye Geary, Janet and Susan.  You will each be a one-term supervisor. 

You got nothing in return for a yes vote from your Eastern BOS members when you had the chance. 

You failed all but your tea-bagger constituents completely

I’ll be voting for Clarke again, as will many in my district.  Glad she stood her ground.  But, enjoy Metro!  Going to be fun to watch this mess unfold…

What a surprise - Geary Higgins actually showed up!  And this guarntees Clarke and Volpe are one term Supervisors.

This is a great day for transportation progress in Loudoun County.

Ah well.  Applaud the efforts of the board, especially my rep Janet Clarke, for asking tough questions and trying to address the concerns of many in this county.  I think we all knew rail was inevitable - I just hope the results are worth it.

Finally!!