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I see adding seats for Virginia and Maryland as adding a form of check and balance to the WMATA board. Any time an entity can spend public funds that include tax dollars, there needs to be substantial transparency and oversight, either by officials directly elected by the public or appointed from/by elected officials. Neither MWAA nor WMATA have adequate oversight and transparency. Both should be subject to Virginia's (et al) open meeting and FOIA acts.

Having testified numerous times to the Fairfax County BoS, I can safely say the supervisors have not given deep oversight to spending until the recent economic troubles hit home. Now, with the likely exception of Cathy Hudgins, all of the supervisors are frugal.

I think that many elected officials in NoVA are reasonably honest except when it comes to real estate development. Fairfax County trails its neighbors in obtaining adequate cash proffers from development, sold out county residents and businesses by agreeing to the 4th Tysons rail station in front of Gerry Connolly's then employer (SAIC), closed their eyes to the failure of Dulles Transit Partners to put any of their money into Dulles Rail (unlike HOT Lanes), sold out DTR commuters by accepting unaffordable construction costs for rail, etc. The BoS has also refused to deal with a plan to fund the $1.5 in additional road capacity for Tysons or even discuss the need to widen the Dulles Toll Road by as many as 3-to-5 lanes. The board would have given the Tysons landowners even more unsustainable density if it were not for the 527 Traffic Impact Analysis process.

I don't mind having someone appointed by the State under these circumstances.

by tmtfairfax on Sep 19, 2011 2:16 pm • link • report