Killing the Purple Line is the prudent economic decision

Killing the Purple Line is the prudent economic decision - despite billions spent

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08/12/2024 19:55

Subject: Killing the Purple Line is the prudent economic decision - despite billions spent

quote

Anonymous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Give up already! You bought a house that backs up to the abandoned trolly line and you thought that it was your personal private land despite the reality of the situation. You need to accept that it is happening and stop fighting.

If you actually cared about public money then you would realize that a huge part of the purple line cost has been the litigation and delays resulting from the litigation with NIMBY folks. Stop!

DP. It wasn't an abandoned trolley line - it was a freight rail line, which the county bought in 1986 specifically for the purpose of running light rail on.

One major source of delay and cost increase was lobbying and litigation from Town of Chevy Chase folks. The other major source was Larry Hogan. https://washingtonmonthly.com/2022/06/20/larry-hogan-purple-line-fiasco/

Hogan’s administration also negotiated a contract with a group of private construction firms that contained an unusual provision: In the case of delays lasting more than a year, the companies could abandon the work, no questions asked. When the inevitable delays ensued and the contractors threatened to walk, Hogan’s hand-picked transportation secretary negotiated a new arrangement in which the companies agreed to stay and finish the project for less than $175 million. Then, on the eve of signing the deal, the administration backed away.

Had it gone through with the transportation secretary’s deal, the contractors, not Maryland taxpayers, would have had to absorb the pandemic-related cost increases. And the Purple Line, according to MDOT projections in the spring of 2020, with COVID-19 already raging, would have been up and running, partially by 2022 and fully by the early summer of 2023—giving commuters, hit by high gas prices, more mass transit options.

The lawsuits were predictable and in fact predicted. The PPP and the contract terms were known before funding was voted on. What wasn’t known were the lengthy metrorail and street closures (at least the extent) or the massive cost overruns or delays. This project barely penciled before all of the unknowns and yet you’re on here complaining about the knowns.

No, I'm complaining because Larry Hogan delayed the start of the Purple Line by two years because he insisted on cutting costs so he could spend that money on highways instead (and many of those highways were near his real estate holdings). And then Larry Hogan further delayed and increased the costs of the Purple Line by walking away from a deal negotiated by his own secretary of transportation; another year and a half of delay, and an additional $1.4 billion in costs.

As for the ridiculous lawsuits brought by those residents of the Town of Chevy Chase - yes, the lawsuits were predictable. I hope those residents are happy now, but I doubt it. All they did was make the Purple Line cost more and have fewer nice things.