Not Ann Coulter

I was elected as a volunteer to serve on the Board of Trustees (BOT) of my homeowner’s association (HOA). I love my community and want to maintain the very high standards that were set years ago by those that first developed the homes and the community where I live. I have the same feelings about the Town of Leesburg and Loudoun County. For that reason I write the articles you read here, sharing my opinions with anyone interested in reading them, and more importantly hoping to get a larger percentage of our community, both large and small, interested in local politics.

At our last BOT meeting, one member of our HOA community raised an objection to a link on our community website that pointed to outside.in. This website consolidates news of what is happening in communities all over America. (Click on the link, enter the zip code or neighborhood name, and you will see what is happening and being talked about.) The news comes from local bloggers and newspaper articles. Our resident’s concern was that a summary of the articles I publish here appear and are linked to on Outside.in. She wants the link on the HOA website removed. Unless I missed something, I am not aware of any restriction for anyone linking to any site or page on the Web. Freedom of Speech is still part the Bill of Rights, the first amendment to our Constitution.

The morning after this BOT meeting I watched a report about a segment on the MSNBC program Hardball where Ann Coulter was engaged in a telephone debate with Elizabeth Edwards, wife of presidential candidate John Edwards. Chris Matthews called Coulter a very bright provocateur. I am sure Coulter would be the first to agree. Getting the wife of a presidential candidate to call a TV talk-show and engage her, to me and millions of others, was amazing. Whether you agree with Edwards or Coulter, it was interesting to watch and probably either garnered votes for either John Edwards or his opponents in the race. It might even get a few more voters out to vote in the primaries. If you click here, you can read a transcript of the debate as well as the many comments. One comment that I related to read: This is the liberal mind at work. They can say anything they want to say, they can do anything they want to do. But if something is said or done to offend them and their agenda, they start to scream and want the government to legislate what is said. This country was founded on the principle of the freedom of speech. No matter if you agree or disagree with Ann C, IT IS HER RIGHT AS AN AMERICAN!

I do not agree with Coulter's style in this debate, but I do think she and MSNBC have the right to publish it. I do not consider myself a provocateur in the style of Ann Coulter. You will not find any personal attacks on this website, but you will find opinion. I am free to write mine, and you are free to express yours. In fact I look forward to hearing from you. If you disagree with me, fine. That’s what makes our nation and our community, large and small, great.

Tale of Two Elections

This was the headline that appeared in a recent editorial in The Purcellville Gazette. The writer poses some very interesting thoughts that should be considered carefully by the Loudoun County Republican party leadership. On May 19th the Republican Party held a “firehouse” primary to pick the Republican candidate to oppose Senator Mark Herring for the 33rd State Senate district. A firehouse primary is a traditional election with ballots and voting machines at precincts in the district. Any registered voter can go to the polls at their convenience on Primary Election Day and vote for the candidate of their choice. A similar primary was held for the 27th Senate district on June 12th to pick a Republican candidate for this district. These were the first of the “Two Elections”

Instead of a Firehouse Primary that was held in the 27th and 33rd districts, the leadership of the Loudoun County Republican Committee (LCRC) chose to hold a convention on June 9th to elect candidates to run for the Board of Supervisors, Clerk of the Court, and Sherriff. A convention is a closed process as prospective delegates must register in advance, sign a pledge to support the candidates elected by the convention, and spend four to six hours at the convention before voting. At the June 9th Convention only 1,497 (50%) of the registered delegates showed up on a beautiful spring day.

In the Firehouse primaries 7,923 (4.5%) voted in the 27th district, and 1,469 (1%) voted in the 33rd district. (These were embarrassingly low percentages.) I voted in both - the 27th district primary and at the LCRC convention. It took me less than five minutes to vote on the 12th, but I spent five hours at the convention on the 9th before I voted and there were many delegates still there when I left.

Conventions can have benefits for a political party. Inspirational speeches can inspire the party’s faithful, provide a forum for open debate on the issues, and give the candidates an opportunity to explain why they are the best choice for the nomination. (I regret that this does not happen at National conventions, which have morphed into giant pep rallies.)

I have heard from many who feel the LCRC convention was exclusive, and that the process was controlled by a very few with an agenda that may not be in sync with the majority. Once the convention votes were tallied, the losers should have congratulated the winners and pledged their support. Instead two delegates who lost and one who was not even a candidate, in a shameful act, broke their pledges and declared they would run as Independents – decisions celebrated with champagne and fireworks by the Democrats. (Chick here for an example.) Would a Firehouse primary have been better and a more democratic (note the small “d”) option?

The LCRC leadership should look in the mirror and talk to the problem.

(Click here to read The Purcellville Gazette editorial.)

Train Wreck

About 20 years ago Bob Sevila, who was a five term mayor of Leesburg, called the Leesburg Airport the “Engine of Leesburg’s economic development program”. (I still have this on tape.) This train was fast moving and within a year there were over 12 business jets based at Leesburg. Unfortunately sometime after the early 1990s, the train got derailed. Today there is only one business jet based at Leesburg, and the airport is well on its way, by Town staff estimates, toward losing $1 million dollars a year. Over the last five years the airport has cost the Leesburg taxpayers over $2 million.

Economic impact is measured by the wages, and the purchase of goods and services at the airport. Airport supporters, small plane pilots, many of whom do not live in Leesburg or even Loudoun County, have justified these airport losses by touting a study made several years ago, which claims that the airport has an economic impact of over $40 million. The highest paid employees at the airport worked for the FAA Flight Service Station. That facility has just closed. Today’s economic impact is a fraction of $40 million.

Leasing land for new jet hangars has stalled. Not one new hangar of any kind has been constructed in over five years, while 13 jet hangars have been built at the Manassas Airport in this same period.

For reasons that have nothing to do with business, economic development, or plain common sense, the one bright hope for turning this bleak airport picture around has been turned into a terror campaign that says, “If it happens the airport will close”. It is Crosstrail.

For the last three decades I have made my living in aviation. Some of my work takes me to general aviation airports not unlike Leesburg. I know what the drivers are for success. Two words – Business Jets. I am not opposed to small aircraft, flight schools, flying clubs, experimental aircraft, etc., but these operations, mostly recreational, will never make the Leesburg Airport or any airport viable.

Crosstrail with thousands of square feet of class A office space, aircraft ramps and hangars adjoining the airport, high-end retail and entertainment, and yes, housing, will make this airport and Crosstrail a highly desirable location for Fortune 500 companies (the most profitable own business jets), and their employees. The economic development number will skyrocket as well as tax revenue for the County and the Town.

Why this is not crystal clear to everyone is a mystery to me. But then it is the silly season – an election year.

A Walk in the Wilderness?

For Republicans I would recommend for summer reading two oldies but goodies, It’s My Party Too, by Christine Todd Whitman, and A National Party No More, by Senator Zell Miller. The former author is a Republican and the latter a Democrat. Both are conservatives. The party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan seems to have lost its way.

Open any Loudoun County newspaper and you will find many articles about Republicans. Democrats are hardly ever mentioned. Normally Republicans would be delighted with this attention, except this news is almost totally negative. Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment was, “Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican”. But every meeting of Republicans in Northern Virginia is filled with hate, not directed toward liberal Democrats, but at fellow Republicans.

It is evident to me that much of this animosity is over social issues. Gay marriage and abortion leads the list. These are issues about which strong feelings exist universally. Trying to legislate morality or even defining what is moral is a tall order.

Our county’s founders declared "that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." They did not declare who this Creator was or how he created anything. Why, because it is irrelevant to democracy.

The religious right takes credit for George W. Bush’s win in the 2004 election. But as Whitman points out, it was the smallest margin of victory of any incumbent president ever, just 3%. Social conservatives are driving away moderates who believe in what used to be core Republican values – lower taxes, less government, and strong national security. Without this moderate base, the advantage shifts to the liberal Democrats. Their best strategy, which they seem to be implementing, is to just to standby and watch the Republicans implode both locally and on the national stage. Remember when Ronald Regean was asked why he left the Democratic Party, he replied, “I did not leave the Party, the Party left me.” Could the reverse occur where moderate Republicans become moderate Democrats?

Perhaps, as an astute political analyst friend for whom I have great respect said, "Maybe this is the year the Republicans need to take a walk in the wilderness." I hope the big bad wolf leaves the moderates intact to take back the Party and focus on those core values – national security, lower taxes, free markets, and less government.

Bad to Worse

For the last couple of weeks I have been hearing rumors about a proposal by Leesburg Mayor Umstattd to require that advisory commission members report their real estate holdings. The Town’s advisory commissions are made up of volunteers who presumably have some expertise in a certain area and can add their knowledge to a particular commission, which in turn advises the Town Council. Advisory commissions have no power to award contracts, spend Town money, or set policy. All this rests with the Town Council.

What started as a small irritant of an idea was expanded with the help of the Town Attorney to include full financial disclosure. The stuff hit the fan last night when commission member after commission member protested. I understand that at least one entire commission privately threatened to resign.

Vice Mayor Susan Horne objected when this idea was originally surfaced but apparently everyone else was either asleep or absent. Last night, thank God, the majority woke up. And the motion was tabled. This example of government run amok should have been killed not tabled to raise its ugly head again. (Leesburg Today reported the details.)

East Meets West

The Sacramento Union is a newspaper much like Leesburg Today, free on newsstands and published weekly, but a paper with a much longer history. It was founded in 1851. One of the early staff writers was Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain. The paper went through some hard times, but recently was acquired by an innovative publisher who designed the new business model, and attracted some modern day “Mark Twain’s”

What caught my eye was the editorial page, a favorite of mine in most newspapers. One very perceptive editorial, A Wake-Up Call for College Administrators, discusses the recent tragedy at Virginia Tech. As the parent of a college junior, at a university not far from Blacksburg, I keep asking myself what early warning signals can prevent this from happening. The “Wake-up Call” editorial answers this question. The early warning signals were all there, but were ignored. Thankfully my daughter attends, what the writer describes as a “smaller less liberal campus” where personal interviews by an admissions officer are required and the administration follow the doctrine of loco parentis. Social education goes hand-in-hand with academics at this school, deeply loved by parents and students.

So where did this publisher of a paper in the land of liberal thought, home of the ACLU, and hippie culture, find such writers. After a little detective work, I deduced that answer might be Leesburg, Virginia. The writers share the talent of Mark Twain, witty and wise.

After reading “Wake-up Call” and thirsting for more, check out two of my personal favorites, Today San Francisco, Tomorrow the World, and How to Handle College Protestors.

First Step a Stumble

Randy Shoemaker, the director of Leesburg's water and sewer department recently recommended to the Leesburg Town Council a cost-sharing concept of a dual-service sewer line. The idea received luke-warm reception from the Council. To me this sounded like a great first step to my "Water Balloon" article. I respect Randy’s opinions, even though he did not leap on my “balloon”, the suggestion of merging the Leesburg utility department with Loudoun County Sanitation Authority. LCSA provides identical services to Loudoun County, but Randy and I have not had an opportunity to sit down and discuss the idea fully.

Randy told the Council, "It would allow the town to recapture some of the $15 million it has already invested in building plant components to handle an eventual expansion to 10 mgd."

Part of this $15 million investment was to allow the Town to service the proposed Meadowbrook development. After a nasty battle three years ago, that rezoning application was been withdrawn. So now the Town has nowhere to go with its expanded sewer - except Crosstrail and Ridgewater Park. But wait! These developments are not in the Town but in the County. They could have been within the Town, but Mayor Umstattd and her supporters on the Council killed the annexation plan several years ago. Now Umstattd wants Leesburg to have exclusive rights to provide water and sewer to Crosstrail. Kelly Burke led the fight for the Council last summer to stall Crosstrail until the Town could annex the property.

Leesburg Today reports Umstattd saying, "I've had concerns about this since the very beginning, I just cannot imagine that this is a good use of our capacity."

Where in the world does she think she is going to use it? After Meadowbrook there is not a single large piece of land in the Town to develop, and the Council has killed this opportunity.

This debate should prove interesting to the homeowners who recently saw a 100% rate increase in their bills from the Town for water and sewer because they live across the Town line in the County. These homeowners are suing the Town. One of the Town’s defenses is that rates must be increased because of increasing costs, and the majority of these costs must be passed on to non-residents.

The Italian Way

I recently returned from a vacation in Italy. The most enjoyable part of the trip was being with my daughter, who has been studying art history in Rome this spring. Standing in the middle of a piazza and listening to her tell me stories of ancient Rome and pointing out why we know what we do from the art and architecture of this ancient city, which was the cradle of democracy, is something I will never forget. I could relate some of what I learned to Loudoun County.

As we walked though the ruins of Pompeii, I noticed something that looked modern and familiar, and asked our guide if what I was seeing in the mist of the rubble and excavation could be conduit for fiber optic cable? He just smiled in reply. Maybe it was to connect the sensors recently installed in Vesuvius, one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, to warn the 800,000 living in the “red” zone of an impending eruption.

Italy seemed more connected than the US. During my two days in Rome, two days on the Amalfi coast in relatively small towns like Ravello, Positano, and the two days on the island of Capri, I never felt disconnected from the ROW (rest of the world). There seemed to always be 4 bars on my cell phone, and every one of our hotels had HSIA (high speed Internet access). This connectivity allowed me to beam images of the breathtaking beauty home to family and friends.

Italians drive like they speak, with great emotion and flair. In the city Smart Cars, picture a Mini Cooper cut in half, were everywhere. They park perpendicular to the curb, but intrude into the street no more than a normal car. It’s the darnedest Mercedes I have ever seen. Yes, the Smart Car is made by Mercedes-Benz.

We traveled south from Rome with a hired car and driver. (Do not think about doing this yourself.) Our driver held to the speed limit 130 km (about 81 mph) on the Autostrada, but cars flew past us with a whoosh. My guess was at well over 100 mph.

This round trip on the Autostrada was the closest connection I made to Loudoun County. The high speed highway from Rome to Naples rivaled our Dulles Greenway in design - a limited access 6 lane toll road. From Rome to Naples the toll amounted to $0.34 per mile. The Greenway’s $0.18 per mile toll would be a bargain to Italians. Doing a little research after I returned home, I discovered why this highway felt familiar. It is operated by Autostrade Group, the same company that operates the Dulles Greenway!

Private Highways

Earlier this year I wrote about the debate at the public hearing over the proposed toll increase on the Greenway, see Free Markets. All the TV lights and the spots on the evening news, including the NBC and ABC national news shows that same night, focused mainly the politicians, who in my opinion were way off the mark on this issue. Frank Wolf was one. I have been a friend and admirer of Franks for many years. My wife was his transportation aide during his freshman years in Congress. Frank has also been a great friend of Loudoun County and Leesburg so I am surprised by his position. The Greenway would not exist if private entrepreneurs had not financed, built, and managed this road. The Greenway is to the economic development of the Leesburg area as Dulles Airport is to the western Fairfax County and far eastern Loudoun County.

Recently National Public Radio’s Kojo Nnamdi show featured a discussion on Private Highways. Bob Poole of the Reason Foundation discussed private toll roads and HOT lanes, which is another "hot" subject in Northern Virginia and Richmond as the Commonwealth tries to unjam our roads. Frank Wolf put in an appearance on the show, but did not stay on the air long enough to hear Poole’s very logical explanation of why Wolf is mistaken. For example, the Greenway is not the most expensive toll road per mile in the US. The Greenway can not be compared to the Pennsylvania Turnpike, which was built over 60 years ago; and it is impractical to think that Virginia could buy the Greenway. (Why not use those dollars to fix the state roads and interchanges?)

You can listen to the Private Highways show, and at the same time learn why there is a solution to some of our traffic problems that has proven to work elsewhere.
Click here to listen with Windows Media
Chick here to listen with Real Audio.

Time for Change at the Airport

The Leesburg Town Council was recently trying to get a grip on the Leesburg Airport financials as they went through the budget process. Leesburg Today reported on the struggle, Airports Financials Grab Councils Attention. It was about time. For the last five years the airport has lost a total of $2,259,734. That is an average of over $450,000 a year. Last year the loss was $525,286. The trend is not good. Taking a page from Enron’s play book, some on the Council, egged on by the airport manager and the leaders of the airport commission, are blaming the accounting system. This group, rather than trying to fix the problem, apparently would like to rewrite the book on GAAP, or Generally Accepted Accounting Principals. Another suggestion was to move the airport from being an Enterprise Fund to some other form of accounting in the Town’s financial report. I call this a cover up. By definition an Enterprise Fund should at least breakeven. The Town has two Enterprise Funds – The Airport Fund, and the Water & Sewer Fund. (I wrote earlier about the Water & Sewer Fund which has also been mismanaged – see Water Balloon.)

Instead of trying to juggle the books, the Town should do what any money losing business does – cut costs and increase revenues. Like the utilities department, which had not increased rates since 1992 the airport has not increased rates for three years. When I looked into the tie-down rates, I discovered the Town charges $100 a month and that they were 100% occupied with a waiting list. This means that sometime after 1993 the tie-down rate was decreased, because in 1993 it was $100. I managed the airport from 1981 until 1993 under a contract with the Town. The Town paid me nothing for management or anything else. I leased land and buildings from the Town. The lease terms were determined by the Town in a public RFP process. I never negotiated the rate or term. Today the cost to the Town to manage the airport is over $400,000 for both personal and contractual services.

In the last 15 years the airport has managed to chase off all but one business jet, and build a $4 million Taj Mahal terminal that caters to small recreational pilots and airplanes. Business jets visit on occasion, but seldom stay. As I write this, the Town Council, on the recommendation of the Airport Commission and the staff, is about to reject the two bids for the hangar pad that had gone vacant for over three years. One of these bids was from a very successful high tech company, EIT, founded by State Senator Joe May, and the other bid was from a large Washington DC real estate company, Advantis. Two years ago the Town accepted a bid for the adjacent hangar pad, but to date not one spade of dirt has been turned on this site and it remains vacant.

In May the last of the FAA flight service employees, once numbering over 150, will leave. With them goes the majority of the economic impact of the airport. It’s time for change.

My Kind of Mayor

A mayor who reduces taxes, increases services, has a plan to decentralize the national energy grid, and put his city in the green energy business at no cost to the tax payers, sounds like a fairy tale. Not so, George Fitch, Mayor of Warrenton, is just such a guy, and a Republican at that. The Washington Post reports how Fitch sees treasure in trash. He has a plan to build an ethanol and electric plant on the county dump. He has done more improbable things in the past like organizing the Jamaican Olympic bobsled team. He was even gutsy enough to run against Jerry Kilgore in the Republican primary.

Water Balloon

Here’s a trial balloon. It is apparent that the Town’s water and sewer department has been financially mismanaged for many years. Ten years ago the utility fund had a substantial surplus, which today has all but disappeared. Last year consultants recommended rate increases to correct the problem. Unbelievably, until last year there had been no rate increase for water and sewer since 1992. Last year (FY 2006) the utility fund had a loss of $4.1 million compared to a loss of $2.6 million the year before. Connection fees and developer donations were $5.9 million in FY2006 and $10.8 million in FY 2005. These one time fees reduced the losses but you can see the trend. With fewer homes being built this very unfavorable trend will continue.

There is now a food fight between the Town and the County over who will provide water and sewer service to Crosstrail and other proposed developments that are just outside the Town boundaries. Last year the Town Council imposed a 100% rate increase on those living outside the Town but receiving Town water and sewer. This group filed suit.

While listening to the staff discuss some of these issues at several public hearings, it became apparent that the Town and the Loudoun County Sewer Authority (LCSA) work pretty well together. I have recently discovered that there is even an agreement that either entity will provide the other service in the event mechanical or other events temporarily curtail operations. I understand that this week those of us who live in the Town were drinking and bathing in County water.

Perhaps instead of raising rates the Town should look at costs, and ask themselves, why are we in a business that loses money? Why not sell the Town sewer and water department to LCSA. The savings in overhead cost alone might put the operation in the black.

The Town could take the proceeds and return the money to the tax payers by reducing taxes. The combined Authority could charge everyone the same. Sounds fair and reasonable.

The Town has one other business or “Enterprise Fund” that needs attention - the airport. I will save that for another time. Stay tuned.

Rail and Navigation Lines

If readers have not guessed it by now I am a local news junkie. Maybe I tune out things I can not control or perhaps even understand like the war in Iraq, and social issues like evolution. After scanning the front page of The Washington Post on Sundays, I routinely turn to the Loudoun Section and look for Eugene Scheel’s occasional stories about the Piedmont. They almost always bring back a memory that I have as a young boy growing up in Loudoun County. Today’s article, At the End of the Line, An Opportunity Lost, reminded me of the train that brought my trunk home from summer camp in Maine. Leesburg was a Railway Express terminal, the FedEx of the early part of the last century. The story also triggered thoughts about the number one issue in Loudoun County today – transportation.

I called my friend and Town Council member Ken Reid, who is a transportation guru, to get his reaction to the article. Ken reminded me of the proposed Metro Purple Line from Bethesda, through Chevy Chase Lake, Silver Spring, and New Carrollton continuing on to complete a full circle of Washington like the Beltway. The proposed Purple Line right-of-way in Montgomery County is another abandoned heavy rail line. Trains on this line moved coal and freight to Georgetown. Ken said that politics, not the cost of the right-of-way, doomed the line. Nevertheless every few years the idea resurfaces. This triggered another memory bell. Part of the political pressure stemmed from the Columbia County Club whose members include powerful Washington area businessmen and professionals.

Columbia Club is located just north of East-West Highway and about a mile south of the Beltway. The proposed Purple Line railway right-of-way like the W&OD trail is also a walking and bike trail. This railroad right-of-way runs through the Columbia Club golf course between the 14th and 15th greens. Golfers today use two tunnels to walk or drive golf carts under the trail. On the other side of the trail from the golf course is historic Hayes Manor. (Note it is Hayes, not Haynes, but there is a family connection.) My great uncle George T. Dunlop, Jr. bought Hayes Manor in the 1902 and lived there until he died in the 1950s. My cousin, close friend, and mentor Langhorne Bond is George Dunlop’s grandson. Langhorne’s father lived in China for 22 years. He worked for Pan American World Airways trying to save China National Aviation Corporation from the clutches of the Japanese. CNAC was a fledging airline jointly own by the Chinese government and Pan Am. As war loomed he sent Langhorne and his brother to Chevy Chase to live at Hayes Manor. After George Dunlop died, Hayes was sold to Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post’s granddaughter, Ellen McNeil Charles. In the 1990’s Hayes manor’s property was divided. The Manor house and a small amount of land were purchased by Columbia Club, and the remaining land by The Howard Hughes Medical Institute as their main campus. This is the same medical research organization that recently opened in Loudoun County at Janella Farm on Rt. 7.

Langhorne followed his father’s aviation interest and became Administrator of the FAA in the 1970’s. Last October Prince Philip of England indoctrinated him as an honorary fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation honoring Langhorne’s work to save LORAN and make it a backup for GPS navigation. The Greenwich meridian is the line where time and navigation begins.

Perhaps the history of these different lines will help us solve Loudoun’s transportation problems, and then again maybe not. Hopefully at least the history is entertaining.

Outside.in & The Loudoun Scoop

As I write this the outside temperature is just above the single digits and moving in from the outside is indeed a good move. But a move that works in any season and anywhere is the new website outside.in. That’s all you need, just those two words. outside.in is the creation of best selling author Steven Johnson. A lucky few met Steven at a book signing lunch just after Christmas in Leesburg when Steven told us about his new book, The Ghost Map, the story of a London neighborhood stricken with a cholera epidemic and how this medical mystery was solved.

Outside.in is also about neighborhoods, and like the true story of The Ghost Map, residents unlock the “mysteries” of what is happening in their neighborhood. Enter a zip code and you will get the scoop on the neighborhood. News on the arts, bars, community, crime, schools, kids, etc. are a few of the many tags that can be placed on articles about any neighborhood. Top tags for 20175 and 20176 (Leesburg) are events, politics, Loudoun, Dulles, concerts, New Years Eve. Click on any tag and read everything posted about these subjects in Leesburg. Outside.in has teamed up with Google to supply a map called the “Dashboard”. If you are looking at any community, drag the map to a community nearby that you want to check out.

Outside.in is only a few months old, but growing like wildfire. In early January about a month after launching the 100,000th story was posted. Over a 1,000 stories are added every day by contributors. By early February over 1,650 blogs had been submitted to outside.in, and they were in 56 cities and 3,201 neighborhoods.

Outside.in will soon cover the world, but a great source of local news is The Loudon Scoop a creation of David D'Onofrio. If you are like me and do not have time to read all the many local Loudoun County papers cover to cover, The Loudoun Scoop is a great way to quickly stay up-to-date on what’s in the news about Loudoun County. I often find news I am interested in days before I read it in the papers because The Loudoun Scoop links to articles the papers publish on their websites. Join the Scoop email list and you will receive a daily reminder.

The Scoop and outside.in are a great way of staying in tune with what is happening.

Free Markets – part III (Parking)

On February 3rd the Wall Street Journal ran a story, Parking Fix. (I believe you need to subscribe to the WSJ for this link to work.) It pointed out that “Free-market economists are overhauling a frustration of American life -- and erasing what may be one of the last great urban bargains”. The article should be food for thought for our city and town leaders particularly in Northern Virginia in places like Leesburg where on-street parking is limited and off-street parking in the Historic District is scarce.

The article says that planners for years believed that, “cities can never have too much parking, and it can never be cheap enough. But a small but vocal band of economists, city planners and entrepreneurs is shaking that up, promoting ideas like free-market pricing at meters and letting developers, rather than the cities, dictate the supply of off-street parking.”

“Seattle is doing away with free street parking in a neighborhood just north of downtown. London has meters that go as high as $10 an hour, while San Francisco has been trying out a system that monitors usage in real time, allowing the city to price spots to match demand. (A recent tally there showed that one meter near AT&T Park brings in around $4,500 a year, while another meter about a mile away takes in less than $10.) Gainesville, Fla., has capped the number of parking spots that can be added to new buildings; Cambridge, Mass., works with companies to reduce off-street parking.”

Donald Shoup, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles published a book, The High Cost of Free Parking. Shoup accuses cities of "mismanagement of the worst sort". He developed the "85% rule, the Journal reports. “Cities, he says, should charge whatever rates lead to about 85% of the spots being filled up at any given time, moving rates up or down as demand fluctuates”. The 85% target now serves as a policy guideline for cities including Portland, Ore., and Anchorage, Alaska.

Cities and towns like Redwood City, and San Francisco are finding that Shoup’s ideas and similar free market solutions are working. Maybe this is one idea from California that Virginia should buy into.

Free Markets – part II (Tolls)

This week I first watched Republican Congressman Frank Wolf, next Independent Scott York, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Democrat Steve Miller candidate for the Board of Supervisors, and a parade of other politicians from all parties chastise the owners of the Greenway for proposing a toll increase which they characterized as “highway robbery”. All the while 3 or 4 television cameras were rolling, and a larger group of reporters were busily scribbling notes. No one should be surprised at the position every politician took – it’s an election year! The politicians were followed by some of the same activist “ANNs” that are regular speakers at public hearings and other such meetings. (This word has become an acronym for Against, Never, No. I have never heard this group speak in favor of anything.)

As I watched this show, finally a speaker who I thought I could relate to spoke. This man impressed me with his education and knowledge of business and economics. He discussed rates of return, various benchmarks like the S&P 500. But soon he lost me. I usually can follow this kind of logic as that’s what I do for a living, and I have a long-ago degree in economics. He seemed to draw the conclusion that a 15% return on investment was excessive and more than you can get investing in the S&P 500. He is right on the last point. But if everyone just invested in stocks and bonds, we would have no risk capital, and no Microsoft’s, Apple’s, or the zillion small start up companies that make Loudoun County what some call the Silicon Valley of the east.

Maggie Bryant took a huge risk when she invested in the Greenway, almost 20 years ago. So did every investor since then. I heard that TRIP II, the company that owns the Greenway made its first profit in 2005, over ten year after the road opened. That sounds like risk to me - a risk for which any sophisticated investor would expect double digit returns well above 15%. “Return on investment”, or ROI in geek speak, is based on three variables, what you invest, the amount you receive when you sell, and the time in between. If you double your money in two to three years, the ROI is very attractive. If you double your money in 15 years, you should have invested in a government bond. The Greenway investors have never doubled their money or come close to it.

Having said that, I don’t believe anyone, private citizen or government, can say what the right price should be. However, as my hero Warren Buffet would say, Mr. Market can and will. In a free market, prices will adjust to the law of supply and demand. Our roads are a free market, not a monopoly. If one road is crowded or dangerous, we use other roads. When I lived in Maryland in the 1980’s I drove to work in Leesburg on Georgetown Pike. When I saw several bad accidents, I opted for Rt. 7. Now I use the Greenway most of the time because it is safer and faster. Would I use it if the toll was $4? I don’t know, but I would have a choice.

Remember that the Greenway is a private road. The owners pay for everything – police patrols, snow removal, mowing grass, new lanes, and toll plazas. Notice the two new bridges and exits at Shreve Mill Road/Crosstrail Boulevard and at Battlefield Parkway. These exits will be completed and opened long before our governments build the roads to the bridges. And that is exactly what happened with the Greenway – a road before its time, and the finest road in Loudoun County, and probably all of Virginia.

Now Here’s Real Leadership

“Battlefield Parkway Construction Back On Track”, reads the headline in Leesburg Today. This article tells the story of how the Town Council and John Wells resurrected the reality of Battlefield Parkway from Rt. 7 to Kincaid Boulevard. It now appears that the funds are in place and that the RFP for construction may be issued as soon as this Friday, January 26th. If the system works like it should, we might see Battlefield Parkway completed all the way from the Greenway to Rt. 7 by 2009. This is an extremely important connector that will help relieve some our most serious traffic problems.

When VDOT took this project off their near-term to-do list only a few weeks ago, the Town Council sprang into action. I understand that Mayor Umstattd wrote 9 letters with personal notes to politicians and VDOT on this subject. Ken Reid, the transportation champion on the Council, Vice Mayor Susan Horne, Katie Hammler, Kevin Wright, cornered their friends in the State Legislature and members of VDOT. Kelly Burke contacted the Governor’s office. Several citizens spoke directly with Delegate Joe May. Other members of the state legislature were also approached. Town Manager, John Wells, should get special recognition for figuring out how to pay for the project.

I hope that this is a trend that will continue. We need to finish Battlefield Parkway from the Greenway to Rt. 15. The bridge will soon be completed across the Greenway, but Battlefield Parkway will end at Evergreen Mill Road. Sources tell me that “Meadowbrook II” will soon surface, which may give the Town a second bite at the apple and a chance to complete this road. I also hear a rumor that there may be some good news on the funding of a flyover at Sycolin Road and the By-pass. Wouldn’t all that make for a very happy New Year, and many happy new years to come?

I Also Have a Dream, and It Begins with T

As I write this we are reminded of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech that changed the lives of millions for the better. Today is his birthday. King was a leader who died an untimely death at the young age of 39. About twenty years later, after King’s death, another dreamer, Ralph Stanley, conceived of a private road from Dulles Airport to Leesburg. Like the civil rights movement, a private road was a disruptive technology, inconceivable to some, and fraught with risk, but an idea that changed the world in which we live. I hesitate to try and connect my dream to these two great visionaries, nevertheless my thoughts are as follows.

There is problem in “River City” (Loudoun County) that begins with T. This problem has reached the front page of every local newspaper and even The Washington Post. The problem is Traffic and Transportation, and that’s with a “Capital T which stands for Trouble”, as Robert Preston, the Music Man, said.

The front page headline in the January 12, 2007 issue of Leesburg Today reads, “Traffic Choking HHMI Research?” This article tells of a meeting between the Loudoun County Economic Development Commission and the COO of Janelia Farm. Janelia Farm is the site of Loudoun County’s largest bio-tech venture, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The article reports that the business leaders on the County EDC were “stunned” by the report they received of traffic so bad that HHMI potential employees were turning down job offers, and scientists could not easily drive to the NIH in Bethesda where they often collaborate.

My dream is of a bridge across the Potomac and a road connecting Loudoun County Parkway. This dream is not new or unique. In fact it is as old as the Washington Beltway. Politicians have debated this for years. I believe the solution is a public/private partnership and the solution begins with T which stands for Tolls. A toll bridge across the Potomac connecting to a road that connects to the Loudoun County Parkway is financially feasible. It should be also politically doable. Why not another private toll road and bridge?

Polls – here we go again

In the early spring of 2006 I was credited/accused (your choice of words) of being responsible for the first ever political poll taken during Leesburg Town elections. I only wish I had the talent and the money to put something that professional together. Now, more in keeping with my talent and pocket book, I have recently added a poll to Leadership Talk. You, the readers, get to be the professional pollsters. First vote and watch the results. (This not Chicago, so your vote will only be counted once.) Then comment here on the results (click on the comment link below), and send me ideas for future polls. If it proves popular, I will change the poll every few weeks.

A little history, when the polls of last spring began, many were amazed that something like this could happen in little old Leesburg. Never mind that polls are common in state-wide and national elections. Even some friends who suspected my hand in what they called mischievous doings called me names like Skunk. Even though I cannot take credit for the earlier polls, I do take credit or blame for this poll on Leadership Talk. But please, if you want to call me a name, I would prefer “Pole Cat”. Perhaps some might think of Leadership Talk as the “Skunk Works”.

A little history on that name; as an aviator it has a special meaning to me and others of this persuasion. The name has its genesis at Lockheed Aircraft. The story is told on the Lockheed Martin Website:

When Kelly Johnson, a Lockheed engineer, brought together a hand-picked team of Lockheed engineers and manufacturing people at Burbank in the wartime year of 1943, each team member was cautioned that design and production of the new P-80 Shooting Star jet fighter must be carried out in strict secrecy. No one was to discuss the project outside the small organization, and team members were even warned to be careful how they answered the telephones.

A team engineer named Irv Culver was a fan of Al Capp’s newspaper comic strip, "Li’l Abner," in which there was a running joke about a mysterious place deep in the forest called the "Skonk Works." There, a strong beverage was brewed from skunks, old shoes and other strange ingredients. Johnson’s organization operated out of a rented circus tent next to a plastic manufacturing plant that would produce a strong odor which permeated the tent.

One day, Culver’s phone rang and he answered it by saying "Skonk Works, inside man Culver speaking." Fellow employees quickly adopted the name for their mysterious part of Lockheed, where the new jet fighter program was brewing. "Skonk Works" became "Skunk Works." The once informal nickname is now the registered trademark of the company: Skunk Works®.

There’s No Such Thing as Too Much Love

So goes the popular Country song. At a recent meeting of the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, the question of too much mixed-use development was raised. In my opinion “mixed-use” can be added to the list of things we can not get too much of.

Mixed-use development is not new. Downtown Leesburg is as mixed as it comes. Residences are built over shops. Leesburg was planned and built before the automobile during a time when you walked to work. Horse dung was the pollutant du jour, not exhaust fumes. As our country industrialized and the automobile replaced the horse tract housing development became the norm. The demand for housing and roads accelerated at a phenomenal rate after World War II when 16 million veterans returned home. The baby and housing boom was on. Bill Levitt understood the tidal wave of demand for housing and the market for large low cost housing developments. Roosevelt talked about the dream of a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. Eisenhower introduced the Interstate Highway System. The idea of walking to shop and work was lost on everyone except those living in very dense urban cities like New York where a car just does not work very well.

In the mid 1960s developers began to see that the old mixed-use model could actually work in the modern world of mass transit and the automobile. Employees were attracted to companies with offices close to where they could work and shop. Robert E. Simon was one of the early visionaries and his dream took shape in the form of RESTON. Others like Jim Rouse conceived Columbia, Maryland, a self-contained planned community. Columbia, which in the 1960s was almost entirely rural farm land, has a population of over 90,000. Reston’s population exceeds 56,000. Reston Town Center has become the focal point for retail and commercial businesses as well as a cultural center hosting summer concerts and recreation, like ice skating, in the heart of the project.

The Peterson Company watched this happen and developed Fairfax Corner at Fair Lakes, the Washingtonian Center in Gaithersburg, and has given rebirth to downtown Silver Spring. The newest Peterson project, National Harbor, is attracting literally Olympic fame.

So why aren’t our leaders more receptive when mixed-use projects like Village at Leesburg, One Loudoun, and Crosstrail are proposed? We should stop treating developers as devils. They have done more to improve our quality of life than government – local, state or federal. These developers deserve our support and encouragement not the negativism that they are confronted with at every turn.