Tag: Rail to Dulles
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Cooch Still Backs McDonnell on Dulles-Rail PLA
Holy moly, I’m getting whiplash. Last week, word came out of the Attorney General’s office that the Comstock bill, written to ensure that union and non-union companies received equal treatment in state-funded contracts, would not block the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) from favoring a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) in Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles…
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Does HB33 Protect Open Shop Contractors?
by James A. Bacon Mea culpa. I missed a critical point in my previous analysis of the political chess match between the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) and the McDonnell administration. I said naively that Gov. Bob McDonnell may have no choice under new legislation but to yank $150 million in state funds allocated to…
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MWAA Plays Chicken with McDonnell over PLAs
by James A. Bacon The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board pressed ahead yesterday in its bid to preserve the $2.8 billion Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project as a union job. First, under pressure from Republican legislators, the board retracted a previous decision mandating that Phase 2 be subject to a Project Labor Agreement (PLA). Instead of requiring the…
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Citizens Asking Questions the Media Won’t
Writing in the Herndon Patch, Bob Bruhns has dug into the cost estimates for Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project and raises some interesting questions. Why, for example will it cost $235 million to build five parking decks containing 8,900 parking spaces, an average of $26,000 per space? That’s nearly twice the national average cost…
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Legislators Spike Mandatory PLA for State Projects
Virginia legislators delivered a rebuke to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) yesterday when both the House and Senate passed bills that would prohibit government-mandated Public Labor Agreements (PLA) on state and state-assisted projects in Virginia. The MWAA board had previously declared its intention to mandate a PLA requiring a union workforce for Phase 2…
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MWAA’s Double Standard
Rob Whitfield, a member of the Dulles Corridor Users Group, raises a good point regarding Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) governance. Earlier this year, the board refused to seat two new members appointed by Gov. Bob McDonnell in accordance with federal legislation that expanded Virginia’s representation on the board. MWAA officials justified their defiance by…
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Who Is Mamadi Diané, and Why Did He Serve on the MWAA Board So Long?
by James A. Bacon Consider the odd case of Mamadi Diané. The former Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) board member, whose term expired last year, was cited, though not by name, in two recent letters during the General Assembly imbroglio over Virginia’s representation to the tri-state authority. The McDonnell administration was lobbying Del. David Toscano,…
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Beware Optimistic Traffic Forecasts
by James A. Bacon Wilbur Smith Associates (WSA), a transportation consulting firm, is scheduled to soon complete its third traffic and revenue forecast for the Dulles Toll Road for use in a final go/no go decision on Phase 2 of the Rail-to-Dulles project. Don’t trust the results, says a study released Friday by the Reston…
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Why the Opposition to Emergency MWAA Bill?
by James A. Bacon There’s been a fascinating new development in the politics of the Rail-to-Dulles project, and I frankly don’t know what to make of it. I’ll provide the background. Perhaps readers can fill in the blanks. Governor Bob McDonnell issued a press release yesterday blasting Democrats in the House of Delegates for blocking…
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Chamber Supports Anti-Mandatory PLA Bill
The Virginia Chamber of Commerce has endorsed a bill that would prohibit state agencies from requiring labor union agreements as a condition for participating in a public works project. The Fair and Open Competition Act in Government Contracting “ensures a level playing field” by preventing mandatory labor agreements, said the Chamber in a press release…
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Life Just Got More Difficult for the MWAA
A bill filed Monday by Delegates Tim Hugo, R-Centreville, and Barbara Comstock, R-McLean, aims to prohibit state agencies from forcing bidders, contractors or sub-contractors to abide by a labor union agreement as a condition for participating in a public works project. HB 33 is clearly targeting the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) decision to require…
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Cuccinelli: Not a Single Penny for Phase 2
Speaking of the Rail-to-Dulles fiasco… Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli reiterated his opposition to the Metrorail expansion last week and predicted that the General Assembly would spurn a McDonnell administration request for an extra $150 million state contribution needed to refinance Phase 2 of the controversial project. “I would oppose putting a single penny of state…
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Stacking the Deck for Heavy Rail
The Rail-to-Dulles project is a classic example of how the transit-selection process in the United States is rigged in favor of rail projects and seriously biased against buses, contends a new report, “Recapturing Global Leadership in Bus Rapid Transit,” published by published by the Institute for Transportation & Development Policy. States the report: Numerous studies…
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Defiant MWAA Resists Seating of McDonnell Appointees
I missed this when it happened last week, but it’s never too late to comment… The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board won’t let a little thing like a new law passed by Congress and signed by President Obama encroach upon its autonomy. The board, which oversees management of the extension of Metro rail to Dulles…
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Rail-to-Dulles Prairie Fire
The grassroots rebellion against the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority’s mandatory Project Labor Agreement for Phase 2 of the Dulles Corridor Metrorail project is gaining momentum. The Loudoun County Republican Commitee has called upon the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and General Assembly representatives to “oppose mandatory PLA provisions or union-driven rules in the final agreement…