Tysons Corner is the perfect place for a long-needed public debate on the Washington region’s most controversial transportation project, Dulles Rail. The central issue is not whether to build above or below ground, but does the project itself make sense and have key public officials been forthcoming about the project.
The debate pits incumbent Fairfax Board Chairman Gerry Connolly, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Gary Baise in a debate hosted by the Fairfax Chamber of Commerce. Baise, a former Environmental Protection Agency and Justice Department attorney, has mildly criticized the secret negotiations and noncompetitive bidding that hide the true costs of this boondoggle from county taxpayers, including an outrageous provision that allows Dulles Transit Partners to destroy key documents after construction though the project is publicly funded. All of this was done with Connolly’s approval.
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But Baise needs to step up and challenge the project itself because it still cannot credibly satisfy federal cost-effectiveness standards, even with a special exemption. It’s not enough to simply criticize the “lack of leadership” in Fairfax County. Baise should challenge Connolly to come clean on every aspect of his role in the project and promise county taxpayers that he will oppose spending one more penny on a $4 billion-plus project capable of moving a mere 16,000 new transit riders. By any reasonable estimate, this is a terrible deal for county taxpayers that will inevitably rank with Boston’s scandalous Big Dig.
But Baise has it easy compared to Connolly. First, former U.S. Transportation Secretary William Coleman warned him that the Dulles Rail contract contains numerous “non-standard” provisions, and that county taxpayers are responsible for cost overruns even though there’s no fixed price. Connolly must explain why he’s OK with Fairfax taxpayers getting stuck with what amounts to a gigantic blank check in their names.
Second, according to the 2004 Final Environment Impact Statement, even if 20 percent of all additional daily trips in Tysons are on Metrorail, there will still be more than 600,000 new vehicular trips generated by the additional density Connolly and the board he leads have approved in anticipation of Dulles Rail. They voted for more development without having a believable plan to deal with the traffic deluge they created. Pro- and anti-growth advocates alike ought to agree that this is irresponsible leadership.
Finally, Connolly and the board have collected more than $1 billion in tax revenue over the past four years beyond what would have been collected with normal increases in population and inflation. It’s time for answers from Connolly, not more evasions and spin: What did you do with all those tax dollars?
