Bulova passed up chance to leverage MWAA Re: “Pressure builds to nix underground Metro at Dulles,” April 19
After the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority made a decision she did not like, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Sharon Bulova threatened to cancel rail to Dulles beyond Wiehle Avenue.
During the 2011 session of the General Assembly, Del. Jim LeMunyon, R-Oak Hill, sponsored legislation giving the Board of Supervisors power to review toll increases for the Dulles Toll Road, the source of 75 percent of the project’s funding. If I were chairman, I would have welcomed the increased control at no cost for our community.
But Bulova preferred complaining over leading, and opposed the bill.
With the power to approve or reject toll increases, the Board of Supervisors would have had effective leverage to persuade MWAA to select an aerial station.
Frankly, county residents should expect their county chairwoman to think a few steps ahead.
Will Radle
Franconia
Army’s BRAC location decision was faulty
Re: “Mark Center shut out of BRAC funds in budget deal,” April 14
The Army now says it had faulty information about the location of the BRAC building in Alexandria, which makes me wonder about the military’s expertise in any matter.
My question to the Army: When a layperson can see that there are only two lanes available from Seminary Road and two lanes from Beauregard Street, why would it take a “study” to realize there’s a problem locating 6,500 workers there? Even with the option of busing people from the Alexandria Metro, how many buses will it take?
If Rep. Jim Moran, D-8th, is frustrated, what do you think we locals will be when we have to battle this traffic problem once the Mark Center building is opened?
Jacqueline M. Davis
Alexandria
Federal government mishandled Gulf oil spill
Re: “AP Enterprise: Experts fear another oil disaster,” April 14
Last year’s Deepwater Horizon blowout is yet another illustration that government should leave complex problems to the private sector. The spill could have been easily contained if the feds had ringed the area with watertight floats. At $100 a foot, a 20-mile perimeter would have cost taxpayers a mere $70 million.
But Uncle Sam decided to get cute, introducing trade-offs that the government lummox was too fat-fingered to juggle.
The result was a much larger slick than would otherwise be the case and a fouled coastline to boot.
Nat Kidder
Ashburn, Va.
