There is no motion for the extension, there is no meeting with the MWAA leaders just smoke and mirrors here. Jack Potter says take it or leave it with no futher ado, opt out.

Pushing the deadline back will not change our need for public transportation. The Metro is a great opportunity that I would hate to miss out on because of poor political leadership. Yes to Metro.

Just for the record there was no motion put forth so they probably will not ask for a extension. If that be the case Loudoun needs to opt out. It’s common sense to know what something will cost in the long run and how you are going to pay for it. Opt out it’s the nessary choice.

There is no money for it. There is no oversight of MWAA in it. There is a special counsel report coming that highlights why this 21 point filing is more than valid.

80% of Loudoun County wants this. I say the politicians listen to their constituents for once. Vote yes for Metro!

Three out of nine want to postpone, well that’s only 1/3 of the board. Why should the minority get to tell the majority what to do? Simple math, you don’t have the votes to hold the decision up any longer.

This is getting ridiculous. They need to stop dragging their feet and get the Metrorail approved. The residents of Loudoun overwhelmingly support the project. These people were put in office to serve the people, now they need to listen to them and vote accordingly

There was no motion brought forth. It’s all up to Clarke, Reid and Higgins to make a motion for a extension asap!

The latest unofficial request for a delay. It was never put up as a motion by Mrs. Clarke, Mr. Higgins or Mr. Reid. It should be asap. It’s the sensible way to achieve domestic tranquility here in Loudoun concerning metro.

Clearly the board needs leadership. It should not take this long to figure out how to pay for this all important project. If Loudoun winds up without a Metro, it will not be due to a lack off needing one, or a lack of it’s citizens not wanting one. It will be due to our politicians lack of leadership and innovative thinking.

Yes to Metro

Thank you Loving Loudoun ... I could not have explained that any better. York being called away on family business might have been a county blessing. Before anyone starts in, I personally wish York’s family the best, and am praying for the health of his loved ones.

I commute daily to DC via bus and don’t see how Metro in Ashburn is going to help me any.  My commute would be 30 minutes less if 606 were expanded to four lanes and I’d be fine with that.  If you want to see what Metro looks like with better infrastructure, visit Vienna/Fairfax.  No parking after 8:30am and getting out in the evening is a nightmare.  I don’t see how Loudoun will do better, especially since the two stops will mainly service folks in Ashburn.  Given I wait in bus lines with people from Purcellville and Leesburg, I don’t see how driving a car to Ashburn to get on the metro is better than taking a bus.

Very happy I voted for Clarke though - will do so again. 

Opt out.

Just remember Loudoun you voted for a GOP BOS… Simpletons for simpletons…

This is a unofficial request! Why wasn’t a motion made and will one be made?

If only metro would help traffic, I would support it too! But a quick trip to Fairfax county shows you the fallacy of the argument.  After Fairfax got metro, it did nothing but bring more development, and more traffic.  Drive on rt 66, next to metro, and tell me that metro helped traffic on rt 66!  As prices rise on the toll road, to pay for metro, 30,000 cars a day will be dumped on to rt 7 and rt 28.  What do you think that will do for Loudoun traffic?  Please, show me an area in the country where they put in a subway and traffic got better. We’ll wait.

We don’t need more time, we need more leadership. The majority of us want this as a solution to out traffic nightmares. Stop putting it off and get us Metro.

Forgive me if someone has already said this. The group of three fiscally conservative supervisors was forced to wait until the last minute with the 21 points of compromise because Chairman York would not allow it to be on the agenda when he was sitting as chair.  He turned them down, over and over.  The gang of 4 who support raising our taxes is well aware of that.  They’re angry because the three were finally able to get it on the agenda in York’s absence, not because they didn’t know about it. They’ve known for weeks. They thought they could block it from public view until they rammed through the tax increases without an negotiations with MWAA. They couldn’t and the taxpayers are finally have representation on this board.

BPM:

It is clear your job is to re-iterate the talking points and spin-control from the LCRC AND to do it in the most aggressive, foot-stomping, and knee-jerk way on this site.  However, your claim of Higgins being at meetings is laughable.  Higgins isn’t a leader, and has a serious conflict of interest regarding the metro rail issue that he refuses to acknowledge.  You covering for him, by trying to confuse his attendance in his backroom-closed door meetings with Clarke, Reid, and other big-time LCRC figures is not only dishonest but does a dis-service to the constituents of the Catoctin district.

“Union flashmob”!  What an incredible exaggeration.  I have no doubt some have talked themselves into believe this is what happened. IF true that would mean this county has an incredible number of fellow citizens who are union members.

Discuss the actual merits of the project. Your fictional “it will come” versus the uncontrolled excess of MWAA, the inability of the Supervisors to even pay for this monstrosity, and the absence of the UNION FLASHMOB of a week ago.

Higgins was the adult in the room that night, folks. You seem to be upset that he didn’t just hand over your toys without conditions.
Grow up and stop the personal attacks. They are a direct window into your desperation, and they have no place in a grown-up conversation. They cheapen you.

There should be no vote until a the method of paying for it is clear and obvious.

To be blunt, this is Chariman York’s fault.  he has had this on his plate for years and did nothing to advance a method for paying for Metro. 

Of course, that’s because all the payment options stink, but it is his fault nonetheless.

Standing up to MWAA and trying to negotiate?? HA! You can’t have it both ways and what this is is a list of ridiculous demands. They are stalling and you know it! Does Higgins even know what the hell is going on? Seems highly unlikely considering he can’t be bothered to show up to most of the meetings. Vote YES to the metro already!

There’s no place to build parking at Dulles???  They have 6,000 empty acres!  They can build a parking garage, or 20 parking garages, but they don’t want to.  Boo-hoo.  Why do we have to pay for TWO stations that aren’t even on Loudoun land, just because MWAA said we have to?  Why buys something worth over a billion dollars without ANY negotiations, without knowing what the final amount will be, without knowing when the first bill will be due, and without knowing how they will pay for it???  Who DOES that, other than the Loudoun county board?  What do they care, they can stick us with the bills!

Let’s move it along BoS. You’ve had plenty of time.  Asking for an extension is merely evidence of your incompetence.  Vote up or down now.

How silly is it to vote into metro without all the facts? Pretty silly! You got the Inspector Generals report coming out in September or October. I am willing to wait on those results. It’s a new board and there wasn’t a lot done by previous boards when it comes to footing the bill for metro. Mrs. Clarke and friends please feel free to take all the time needed to make a informed decision! Support for Clarke, Higgins and Reid’s stance is about 99%.

Spark, unlike those who just want it now—price and taxes be damned - those who are actually trying to get more from MWAA for what they are asking for (their last REAL hope for a cash infusion that desperately desired)are now being dashed as “do-nothings”. See my comment on the actual IQ of these dumbed-down trolls.
At least three more Supervisors were trampling common decencies among that Board last night in order to attempt to “run over” the facts. It was almost comical.

I just sent this to the Loudoun BOS. Dear Chairman York and members of the Loudoun BOS:  According to a report in the Loudoun Times Mirror, there are at least three supervisors (including my representative Ken Reid) who want still another extension on a decision on whether or not to go forward with the Silver Line.  This is really amazing since there have already been hours spent studying and discussing the pros and cons of the project and how it could be funded. In addition the BOS was already granted one extension.  If these three members do not think that the Silver Line should not come in to Loudoun, then vote NO now.

It is really time to vote up or down.  There has been plenty of time to get the views of the public and to see how the project could be funded (“due diligence” I believe is the term).  Now it is decision time.  “Where there is a will there is a way” my wise Aunt Mary used to say. 

What is wrong with voting in principle for the extension pending an agreeable resolution to the funding concerns.  I seem to recall in the recent past that the county and state always seem to “find” money somewhere to do something or other.  I also note that the governor in the past few days has found millions to support millionaire Dan Snyder and his millionaire Redskins ( a private entity getting welfare??)  so how about finding money that will benefit the citizens and taxpayers of Loudoun County?

There is no place to build parking at Dulles that idea was shot down ages ago. Beyond the fact you would have to take a congested road to get there.

Spark, it will make my life better along with MANY of the people I encounter on the loudoun county transit busses to tysons/arlington/dc.  It will also make life better for MANY of my neighbors.  The IAD property will not be able to accommodate commuters.  That’s been made abundantly clear.

This delay tactic is a joke.  It’s been decades in the making. Stop being politicians and start being leaders.

These three are NO VOTES anyway.  Get on board or get out of the way. Enough already.

Spark, the reason no one can “just drive and park” is because no provision has been made to make the airport an end-of-line terminal with commuter bus/car interface and parking. 

It has been a convenient tactic for some to put that out there as a “fixed it for you!”, but that doesn’t mean it exists, or will.

This is ridiculous.  This project has been in the works since 1972, and they have had more than enough time to discuss the funding issues.  Time to stop dragging their feet and get Phase II underway already!!

You mean you want to know how you will pay for it before you vote on it?  Who da thunk?

So why is it again, that Metro will be such a boon to this county?  Aside from the land developers who stand to make a fortune when this goes through, will Metro really make your life and my life better?  1.2 Billion dollars better ?  Why is it again, that we cannot drive 3 miles to the Dulles stop and hop on the train there?

This is ridiculous, leave it to our politicians to not be able to get things done. Maybe we need to put more decisive leadership into office. Loudoun needs leadership on this issue, our population is growing and Loudoun is going to be left out in the cold if we can’t get this to pass and get Metro in our county. We will be the only county in the greater metropolitan area that doesn’t have decent public transportation. No extension, just do your jobs, by the deadline please.

BPM, as many of the “protections” are a wish list and little more, what exactly are the three superivors accomplishing other than taking a lot of time (which is also money) to say “we won’t vote on it no matter what”?

Evidently we, as a people, have been dumbed down to a snivelling bunch of know-it-alls who don’t recognise the value of negotiations. We’re trying to negotiate with a large behemoth of an entity that has NO accountability, no fiscal responsible history, and we add conditions that clearly define what we can expect from MWAA for our BILLIONS (which after last night, we found that we don’t have after all - since every scenario of payment fell short) and we have a few people here that are so vested in tearing down the protections that the county supervisors are trying to build in to the negotiations. One has to wonder why that is?
,

The moving the goal post analogy is becoming more apparent with each additional shift.  If Reid wants to be transparent just say, “I am not voting for Metro”.  Stop playing games with the majority. 

This move has nothing to do with the ranker over financing.  It has to do with the fact none of these three want Metro.  Just say it, and stop dancing out of fear of the 70%.

I think Supervisor Williams had it right when he said “now we know where you stand”, and proceeded to point out how the goalposts have moved throughout the process.

Supervisor Buona was correct in pointing out that a majority of points on the list were things the BoS has no control over, some requiring action of Congress, some of the GA, some of the Governor, some of the courts.

Supervisor Letourneau noted that it added nothing to the meeting supposedly convened to discuss finance to place a position paper on the agenda at the last minute, when both he and Supervisor Clarke managed to advertise their positions through formal statements to their constituents and the public without taking up meeting time on it.

Supervisor Reid’s response to those points was extremely interesting, in that while apologizing for the last minute nature of it, said it had in fact been worked on among them for quite some time but they had to be very careful in their communications and meetings with one another to avoid triggering FOIA requirements.

Really?  How..transparent.  lol

Supervisor Higgins may have negotiated for years in his work with and for unions, but Supervisor Williams is the contract attorney.  I’m interested to hear a detailed response when he’s had time to wade through the paper.

Valuable time is wasted with political posturing.

The survey presented as an information item bears some coverage (interesting to me also in that every poll which does not reflect a majority position of those opposed is shot down—more moving goalposts):  twice the percentage of rural sampling was used in relation to the percentage of population residing in rural area in the county, yet it yielded 57% support for rail among rural residents.  Taken in conjunction with the much higher support in the more densely developed areas, total support shown in the UVa poll was close to 80%.  Transportation came in first as a concern in the county, with taxes coming in much lower.

Some supes will not be happy unless every resident is polled, but the two rural representatives should hold on to the fact that their constituents (at least the rural ones in those hybrid districts) got double sampling.

Dither dither dither. We know these three are going to vote no anyway.

If CHR would deal with the issue at hand they would be able to get the work done on the financing.  This seems to be nothing but a diversion from the real task.  Loudoun is looking foolish here.  Focus on financing and the things that are within our control.

The three stooges, perhaps?  How was it they made such a fast decision to give $2 million dollars to Dan Snyder?  These three are showing how much they owe to the forces of sprawl…but we have to hope the other six supers recognize that it would actually take years for any of these three to reach an informed decision on anything—they just don’t bring that much intellect to the table.

Yahoooo, Applause, Kudos, Well Done, Hurrah and more power to Mr. Higgins, Ken Reid and Janet Clarke. I wish Susan Volpe would have included herself in this

Janet Clarke, Geary Higgins, and Ken Reid and standing up to MWAA and trying to negioate with them.  What’s wrong with that?  Clearly the board has no clue how to pay for metro.  Why not wait until they know the bill, and know how they will pay for it.  For an investment of $1.2 BILLION, waiting a few months to get all the details sounds like a good idea!