A recent decision by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to build the Dulles International Airport Metro stop underground upset Virginia officials because it would cost them $300 million more than expected. Then, even more officials flipped upon learning that MWAA had committed to using union labor — an anomaly in a Right to Work state.
Now, MWAA’s chairman is on the defensive — well, as defensive as he can get, knowing everyone needs to get along. In a letter to be sent Monday to leaders in Fairfax and Loudoun counties and to Virginia’s secretary of transportation, Chairman Charles Snelling says, essentially, “Hey guys, can we just sit down and talk about this again?”
There are some lines about respect, sharing the same goals, and clarifying some seeming miscommunications (like the fact that MWAA simply made their decision about where to put the station based on the counties’ and the state’s stated wishes in 2005). Snelling emphasized that his board has found cost savings to the tune of $330 million (to which local officials said, “Great — put it toward making this multi-billion project that much cheaper.”)
Finally, Snelling made the boldly bureaucratic decision to — wait for it — schedule another meeting between MWAA and the “partners” (read: “funders”) to sort through their differences.
News of Snelling’s letter comes as U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R, Fairfax and Loudoun) prepares to hold a press conference Monday joining the litany of Virginians demanding MWAA reconsider.
Snelling does have one ace in the hole: his bloodline. Col. Josiah Snelling, a great-great-great grandfather of Charles, is known to proud Minnesotans as the guy who in 1820 founded the Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers, laying the foundation for the St. Paul/Minneapolis area. Ask a Minnesota history buff, however, and one will learn he enraged countless officials in the process. Seems to run in the family.
But maybe a bit of Grandpa Josiah’s luck will come through, 190 years later.
