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Now, I hate counterfactuals as much as the next guy, but the issue at hand is what sort of governance is best going forward. MWAA has shown itself to be a poor steward for air travel.

How so?

It has proven to a far worse steward for the Silver Line.

Same question here.

Going forward, progressive opinion should be to remove as much power from MWAA and devolve the aiports and DTR owernship to the more logical owner: Virginia. They have the most people and the most at stake for the future.

Your logic doesn't add up.

If you want to unwind the DTR from the airports, fine. the DTR and Silver line are and should be linked, however.

If you want to unwind the airports from MWAA, fine - but devolving both of them to VA doesn't make much sense. You could maybe make the case for IAD, but not for DCA. Even so, I'd still consider that case weak, since I don't see what MWAA has done badly with their core mission of airport operations.

When the feds built DCA and IAD, they were acting directly. They just happened to use a subdisicary called the district of Columbia. Moving towards home rule changed all that.

Sure, but it didn't change the core interests that resulted in the construction of the two airports in the first place, it just changed which body was in charge. The local DC interests are still just as concerned about air access now as they were then - if not more so. And the Federal interest hasn't changed at all - if anything, it's also stronger.

by Alex B. on Jun 4, 2012 5:24 pm • link • report