HansMast.com » tysons_corner

Tysons Tunnel: Government Secrecy

Hans Mast — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 01:08:03 +0000

My sources who have access to the proposed Comprehensive Agreement between the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Dulles Transit Partners (the official name of Bechtel’s group) tell me that Section 8 of this document, which is basically a contract for the elevated rail through Tysons, stipulates that all Pricing Documents will be secret and confidential. This is absurd! Is this an open democracy or not? How much and where our tax money is going is the business of the taxpayers. This is not a trade secret that should be protected. Defense contracts aren’t this secret–public transportation contracts certainly shouldn’t be.

Furthermore, I have found that Bechtel is furiously working to rework the contract so they can make the stated price more attractive. However, I have indication that they are only hiding the true cost by changing it from a fixed price bid to a conditional one, with customary cost over-runs sure to restore their oversized margins.

Dragados has submitted a bid that is less than Bechtel’s. Instead of making the better choice, Bechtel and our Virginia government is rushing to whitewash the contract figures and make the pricing documents secret.Similar Posts:

Featured in the Washington Post

Hans Mast — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 13:12:05 +0000

Washington Post:

The debate over whether to build a Metrorail extension below or above ground through Tysons Corner has officially made it to the big time. Last week, video clips of a rally held by tunnel supporters were posted on YouTube, where they had been viewed hundreds of times. Even more surprising, a teenager has been devoting his blog to the debate.

Hans Mast, 19, has been maintaining his blog, at http://hansmast.com, for 2 1/2 years. In recent weeks, he has given over the blog almost entirely to pro-tunnel postings about the latest developments in the increasingly heated debate, which is threatening to play a role in this fall’s county and state elections.

Mast is an unlikely chronicler of the project. He is a native of Fauquier County and a student at Sharon Mennonite Bible Institute in Pennsylvania, where he is training to be a missionary, with his first posting likely to be in Thailand.

Thanks, Alec!

He says he learned of the tunnel debate from Guy Schum, a public relations executive whose firm has been assisting the group pushing for a below-ground route and who attends the Mast family’s church, Faith Christian Fellowship in Fauquier. The company owned by Mast’s father, Golden Rule Travel and Communications, has one of its computer servers at Tysons, and Mast says he has been through the area enough to know that a below-ground route would make far more sense.

“I saw in this a very clear-cut right-and-wrong answer . . . and I decided to jump right in,” he said.

Mast acknowledges that his advocacy of a potentially more costly transit option might be seen as at odds with his strong conservative political philosophy.

But he argues that public transportation is an area in which market rules simply don’t apply because, though transit is necessary, it usually isn’t economically viable without subsidy. “It’s going to happen, and we might as well do it right if we’re going to do it,” he said.

For the record, Mast is not the only blogger in his family. His 17-year-old brother Benji runs an “awesome photoblog.” Heidi, 15, is the “family event blogger.” Kristi, 10, doesn’t have a blog, but she has been reading Edward Gibbon’s “Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.” And Dietrich, 6, is “just plain cool.”

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Tysons Tunnel: Letter to the Editor

Hans Mast — Thu, 22 Feb 2007 05:00:21 +0000

WaPo Letter to the Editor:

As the debate over the Metrorail tunnel vs. elevated rail through Tysons Corner continues, it may be instructive to remember the history of elevated trains in New York City.

In the latter part of the 19th century, elevated train lines were constructed in New York. Within decades they were demolished and rail travel put underground. The advantages were so obvious and profound that New York found it cost-effective to replace elevated service with subways.

If New York considered it cost-effective to bury what had been elevated lines, it’s a no-brainer that we should build our new lines underground.

STEVE OFFUTT
Arlington

An added factor is that wide-tunnel boring technology didn’t exist at the time, so NYC’s tunnels were even more expensive!

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
-George Santayana

That means you, Governor Kaine. It’s up to you.

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Tysons Tunnel Roundup

Hans Mast — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 05:58:06 +0000

Here’s a roundup of posts and items about the Tysons Tunnel effort:

The most significant item is a column in the Washington Post by Roger Lewis, a practicing architect and professor emeritus of architecture at the University of Maryland. It’s title, Why Going Underground Makes Sense in Tysons Corner, says it all. Here’re some excerpts:

I have seen the full set of design documents — a whopping 786 sheets of drawings, a dozen technical reports, cost estimates. They are comprehensive and compelling.

To have a professor of architecture say this, is especially reaffirming to me. There is always the discomfort of having a set of cost estimates and engineering plans drawn up by an advocacy group. There are so many “studies” cooked up by groups trying to push their viewpoint that any advocacy-group sponsored study is instantly suspect in my mind, no matter how qualified the experts may be. Money is a strong motivator! So, to have an independent authority, such as this professor, affirm the comprehensiveness and compelling nature of these studies is very, very important. Of course, the Dragados bid and the offer by Tysons landowners to pay for the difference in cost were also great affirmations of the studies’ validity, but this sort of independent, voluntary, expert affirmation really goes a long way to quelling any propaganda discrediting the studies.

Gov. Kaine can find political comfort in one other piece of knowledge. For all the reasons cited by tunnel advocates, Northern Virginia voters overwhelmingly favor the tunnel option, as does an independent panel of professional engineers.
[...]
For the governor, putting the tunnel back into play is not only a wise decision, it’s an easy call.

Next up is a well-written and interesting blog post by a student of UVa–an Urban Planning major. He starts out by invoking the message of his favorite Washington, D.C. statue, “Study the Past”, and applies that to the issue of public transit and specifically to the Metro extension through Tysons. Very interesting and somewhat authoritative, considering his studies.

Metroblogging DC gives a good synopsis of the Washington Post article that talks about Tom Davis’ change of mind in regards to the Tysons Tunnel.

Bado Blade brings out two good points in a blog post: 1. It’s not worth doing unless it’s done right. 2. Kaine is the only person still standing in the way of a Tysons Tunnel. Davis was one of the few other people with power standing in the way, and he never even had official power on this matter, but he has changed his mind. Wolf and Moran have punted and are pretty much neutral. Kaine is the only person refusing to do the right thing. It’s up to him.

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Quote of the Day

Hans Mast — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 04:14:33 +0000

The resulting scenario sounds like the cruel fantasy of an angry god. But it is the reality of the next several years facing the tens of thousands of residents, shoppers and employees who pass through Tysons Corner every day.
- Alec MacGillis, “Woe Unto Tysons Commuters“, Washington Post, talking about the elevated railway that Kaine wants to bring to Tysons

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Tysons Tunnel: Bolling calls on Kaine to reconsider

Hans Mast — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 02:20:04 +0000

I just got an email from Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling’s Chief of Staff with a copy of a letter Bolling sent to Kaine (PDF – 1MB). Excerpts from the letter:

[I]t is critical for us to make the correct decision… [B]ased on the most recent information I have seen it appears as though initial cost comparisons… may have been inaccurate… In addition there are other advantages to a tunnel. [Economic growth, less traffic congestion, walkable community, family friendly, less environmental impact, and the FTA's statement that tunnel will not jeopardize federal funding.] For all these reasons, I am writing to encourage you to reconsider the Commonwealth’s prior endorsement of the above ground rail system and evaluate anew the costs and benefits of the tunnel option.

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Tysons Metro Tunnel: Kaine’s Response

Hans Mast — Thu, 08 Feb 2007 19:32:42 +0000

RK member Gordie wrote Kaine and then posted his Transportation Secretary Pierce Homer’s response. The full letter is below the fold. Here’s part of what he said:

Ihe decision to pursue an aerial structure for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project v as difficult but necessary in order to preserve $900 million in anticipated frderal funding for this project.

Not true. The FTA said: “This is a local decision. We’re neutral. If the governor wishes to reexamine it, he’s free to do that.”

Homer: This critical federal funding is derived from a highly competitive, cost-benefit driven proram

If that is the case, there’s absolutely no doubt we should go with the tunnel! There’s no comparison, from a competition and cost/benefit perspective, between a no-bid, political cronyism contract that’s $200 million more expensive and would do horrendous things to traffic, and an openly bid contract that’s $200 million less and avoids disruption! If the FTA grant relies upon being “highly competitive, cost-benefit driven”, we’d better switch to the tunnel immediately or risk losing FTA funding altogether! Remember, FTA funding is not yet locked in either way.

Homer: …the aerial alignment through much of Tysons Corner and has been formally approved by… Fairfax… Count[y]…

WUSA9:

The [Fairfax County] board [of Supervisors] has voted unanimously to urge the state and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to rebid the job and reconsider a tunnel for Tysons.

Full letter:

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Office of the Governor

Pierce R. Homer P.O. Box 1475 (804) 786.8032
Secretary ot Transporrarion Richmond, Virginia 23218
Fax: (804) 786-6683
TTY: (800) 828-1120
February 6. 2007

Dear Mr. Koerner:

Governor Kaine has asked me to thank you for and respond to your recent correspondence regarding the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project.

Ihe decision to pursue an aerial structure for the Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project v as difficult but necessary in order to preserve $900 million in anticipated frderal funding for this project. This critical federal funding is derived from a highly competitive, cost-benefit driven proram and vill continue to he at risk until a Full Funding Grant Agreement from the Federal transit Administration is secured. In order to successfully compete for this blinding, this project must advance promptly.

Ihe Department of Rail and Public Iransportation is presently in negotiation with Dulles Iransit Partners. To achieve price competitiveness, the Commonwealth and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority will use a number of tools including: subcontracting. pricing analysis, and an independent cost estimate. these techniques have been used on a variety of design-build projects throughout the industry and across the Commonwealth. If terms and conditions and a final price cannot he agreed upon, other competing proposals will be solicited.

The final scope of this project from West Falls Church to Loudoun County has been determined by the Federal Transit Administration in a Record of Decision. This final scope includes the aerial alignment through much of Tysons Corner and has been formally approved by the Common wealth Transportation Board. Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority.

I hope this information is helpful. Thank you again for writing Governor Kaine.

Sincerely.
Pierce R. Homer

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Tysons Metro Tunnel: No-FUD FTA & Congressional Culpability

Hans Mast — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 21:34:01 +0000

Bechtel (and execs & spouses) gave Davis $25K, gave Wolf $9K, and gave Moran $5K. (hat tip: Andrea Chamblee)

There has been a concerted effort by Davis, Wolf, & Moran to distort what the FTA said about federal funding for the Dulles Metrorail extension. They tried to say that switching to a tunnel would jeopardize federal funding. There has also been a concerted effort to squeeze Kaine into rejecting the tunnel option, thus giving a no-bid contract to Bechtel for at least $200 million more. DW&M’s reinterpretations of the FTA’s previous comments were clearly belied by a recent monumental FTA clarification:

“This is a local decision. We’re neutral,” said Federal Transit Administrator James S. Simpson. “If the governor wishes to reexamine it, he’s free to do that.”

But even before that article from the WaPo today, were the following contrasting, disingenuous statements: FTA: “As the project sponsor, the Commonwealth is free to decide which design option it wishes to pursue.” WaPo about the congressmen: “one of the lawmakers called [the FTA's response, to a query whether a tunnel instead an elevated railway could be used,] a definitive no.”

This kind of campaign donation politics exhibited by Davis, Wolf, and Moran is despicable and representative of what’s wrong with American politics.