Finally, Arlington to scrap streetcar projects

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Great news. Now they can spend that money on actual county priorities like expanding and updating schools. Hopefully once we get rid of Tejada and Hynes we can stop the $1 million bus stops and what not for good. Even more money for schools, affordable housing, etc without stealing resources from parks and community centers.

I personally can't wait to vote Fisette out, though. I'm sure his concession speech will include that his loss must be a "miscommunication" involving the ignorance of the Arlington electorate or something, though

Has there been any "bus stop" that has cost $1 million? No. Please educate yourself. Transit stops can reach or exceed $1million. None of those exist in Arlington either. The only stops that cost more than $1 million are the metro stops.

where do you live? http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/1-million-bus-stop-opens-in-arlington/2013/03/24/49e5c47e-917c-11e2-9abd-e4c5c9dc5e90_story.html

Please do keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That may be, but this particular one did not seem to be a good deal.

Curious, do you know how many of those are planned to operate on dedicated lanes?

Problem: the streetcar would operate better with a dedicated lane.
Solution: scrap the streetcar.

No, that doesn't make sense.

No, I think on Columbia Pike it would operate very poorly without a dedicated lane. And unfortunately they could or would not create one.

[Anonymous]

Meanwhile in china

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Meanwhile in china

I wish that was what they proposed. But they didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Problem: the streetcar would operate better with a dedicated lane.
Solution: scrap the streetcar.

No, that doesn't make sense.

Well, it might make sense. What if the streetcar performance is so hampered by lack of a dedicated lane that it is slower than a bus, or not so much faster that it justifies the added expense?

The county board and the school board both operate as though they have no obligation to provide detailed descriptions of the information it used to produce a cost-benefit analysis. We're in a suburb crawling with policy analysts. Why on earth wouldn't the boards try to speak their language?

-both institutions are controlled by democrats who are accustomed to thinking of other people's money as their own - to spend as they see fit. THAT is the problem. The voters told the Board that they did not want their tax-dollars spent on this expensive boondoggle; they expressed their view through meetings, letters, etc - and the Board arrogantly ignored them. So the voters used their last resort: the ballot box.

Teach a man to fish and he will eat for a day.
But give the man some one else's fish and he will vote for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
-both institutions are controlled by democrats who are accustomed to thinking of other people's money as their own - to spend as they see fit. THAT is the problem. The voters told the Board that they did not want their tax-dollars spent on this expensive boondoggle; they expressed their view through meetings, letters, etc - and the Board arrogantly ignored them. So the voters used their last resort: the ballot box.

Are you trying to make this about political parties and asserting that the Republicans have a strong grasp of logic?

I agree that the county and school boards in Arlington are arrogant; I don't think that trait is limited to one party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
-both institutions are controlled by democrats who are accustomed to thinking of other people's money as their own - to spend as they see fit. THAT is the problem. The voters told the Board that they did not want their tax-dollars spent on this expensive boondoggle; they expressed their view through meetings, letters, etc - and the Board arrogantly ignored them. So the voters used their last resort: the ballot box.

Are you trying to make this about political parties and asserting that the Republicans have a strong grasp of logic?

I agree that the county and school boards in Arlington are arrogant; I don't think that trait is limited to one party.

This issue was all about political parties; or haven't you been paying attention?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
-both institutions are controlled by democrats who are accustomed to thinking of other people's money as their own - to spend as they see fit. THAT is the problem. The voters told the Board that they did not want their tax-dollars spent on this expensive boondoggle; they expressed their view through meetings, letters, etc - and the Board arrogantly ignored them. So the voters used their last resort: the ballot box.

Are you trying to make this about political parties and asserting that the Republicans have a strong grasp of logic?

I agree that the county and school boards in Arlington are arrogant; I don't think that trait is limited to one party.

This issue was all about political parties; or haven't you been paying attention?

The Democrats were split on the Street Car. So, no.

[Anonymous]

The 4 dems were not split. Three dems were in favor (Jay, Walter and Mary). One dem was not (Garvey)

[Anonymous]

Post says it's evidence of "two Arlingtons" and a sign that North Arlington wants to keep poor South Arlington in last place.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/arlington-streetcar-demise-sends-message-to-poorer-residents-keep-riding-the-bus/2014/11/19/6aeebf0e-702d-11e4-893f-86bd390a3340_story.html?hpid=z2

[Anonymous]

I am silently laughing at everyone who seriously thinks the money 'saved' by projects like this goes to school and education...good luck with your naive thinking there folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 4 dems were not split. Three dems were in favor (Jay, Walter and Mary). One dem was not (Garvey)

That's a split. Not an equal split, but a split.

This is about the Democrats trying to use PR rather than logic to change public opinion and, failing that, giving up to save their political skins rather than talking to people to find out what they're thinking. They decide what an election means rather than asking its citizens.

[Anonymous]

South Arlington values will plunge and there is no hope of improving the area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:South Arlington values will plunge and there is no hope of improving the area.

Doubtful. As they say, they're not building any more land. Where else can you get a semi-affordable SFH in a good school system with a less than 30-minute commute downtown? North Arlington will become increasingly unaffordable for your basic double fed income family, more of them will end up in south Arlington, and prices and the quality of services and schools will rise correspondingly. Streetcar would have brought in more condos and single/young people, but south Arlington will continue to add families as older neighborhoods turn over, and businesses will provide new amenities accordingly.

[Anonymous]

I have never seen what they proposed to charge for the streetcar fare. If the price of a ride was similar to the price on metro, why would anyone pay, say $3.50 to ride the streetcar, when they could pay $1.75 to ride the bus right in front of the streetcar in the same lane or the one right behind, with the bonus of reboarding a bus home within 2 hours.

I'd choose the bus.