Breakfast links: Tax day

by David Edmondson • April 17, 2012 8:26 am

Photo by Alan Cleaver on Flickr.

Silver Line worth millions: Loudoun County would get $386 million in taxes from Silver Line-related development, according to a new financial report. The county would be on the hook for at least that much if it chooses to fund the line. (Examiner)

Americans for budget autonomy: In a survey, fully 71% of Americans surveyed think DC should set its own budget, not have Congress control it. Interestingly (or insignificantly), slightly more Republicans supported budget autonomy than Democrats. (DCist)

CMs squabble over unseemly giveaway: Some DC Councilmembers are whining about free tickets to Nationals games, saying Kwame Brown isn't giving them out fairly. How about not giving elected officials free stuff at all? (Post)

Do not pass go: The former director of housing for Prince George's County has been sentenced to 37 months in jail for conspiracy to commit extortion. The conviction is part of the pay-to-play scandal that rocked the county last year. (Patch)

We have half of the top 3: New York's Janette Sadik-Khan, Chicago's and formerly DC's Gabe Klein, and Maryland Secretary of Planning Richard Hall are the top 3 "transportation officials who are changing the game" in a Streetsblog top-11 list. (Is PlanMaryland a transportation project? Either way, congrats!)

A taste of things to come: At least on first read, Saturday's launch of Lumen8Anacostia was a great success, attracting a diverse mix of people to Ward 8's signature neighborhood. Might it be a new tomorrow for the neighborhood? (City Paper)

Space nerds, go outside: This morning between 10 and 11 am, see the Discovery space shuttle being delivered to Dulles. The shuttle's plane will make a number of passes along the Potomac at 1,500 feet. (Patch)

Another kind of neighborhood: A neighborhood isn't just geography; it's the collection of shops and parks where the same people spend time. Using Foursquare check-ins, reserachers mapped these "Livehoods" in a handful of cities. (Atlantic Cities)

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23 comments

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David Edmondson is a transportation and urban affairs enthusiast living in Mount Vernon Square. He blogs about Marin County, California, at The Greater Marin.

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To get 300M in taxes, you're going to have to build some awfully big developments out there in Loudoun county. Is that realistic?

I don't see any real benefit to the region by buiding that line out so far. Save some money, kill it, and just make sure you have the ability to extend it out another 5 miles in 30 years.

Is the WMATA compact going to be modified?

by charlie on Apr 17, 2012 9:17 am • link • report

I don't have a problem w/elected officials receiving free tickets. But they need to stop acting like children. First Fenty and now Brown. I also don't believe the Nationals need to do a better job of being consistent with terms of the original "ticketing" agreement.

The budget autonomy question is an interesting one. More women, college-educated, and Midwesterners support it. Not sure what to make of the 1% gap between dems and republicans though. It's a headscratcher for sure.

by HogWash on Apr 17, 2012 10:27 am • link • report

@Hogwash; funny you should say that today.

If anything the extremly minor holiday "Emancipation day" is a prime example of why DC should not be given more autonomy. Minor holidays should not delay federal tax returns.

by charlie on Apr 17, 2012 10:42 am • link • report

To get 300M in taxes, you're going to have to build some awfully big developments out there in Loudoun county. Is that realistic?

Yes, it's realistic because:

A) There's a shortage of transit accessible housing and office space in the DC area. Particularly, office space that meets GSA's requirements for metro-accessibility but are also under GSA's price ceiling.

B) Loudoun is a very pro-growth, business-friendly place that will allow developers to move rapidly with minimal red tape

by Falls Church on Apr 17, 2012 10:57 am • link • report

Loudoun has high tech employment, but few places suitable for that segment of young and single or dual income no kids folks who prefer TOD, some of whom reverse commute from Reston or further. Such people will pay high property taxes for their new units, and put no kids in the (overcrowded) public school system. LC needs such people to offset the declining real values of the legacy housing stock which is starting to age (they can and will keep building new sprawl, but over time they will that out, and the amount of aging housing needing to be offset will continue to increase)

As it is the property tax rate in LC is higher than in any other NoVa jurisdiction. The avoidance of the dreaded exurban meltdown is imperative.

LC WILL follow through on their planned TOD zones, if the metro is built.

by Oboesdogwhistle on Apr 17, 2012 11:14 am • link • report

Loudoun has high tech employment, but few places suitable for that segment of young and single or dual income no kids folks who prefer TOD

Don't forget about older, retired folks with grown kids who also want TOD but don't necessarily like big city living. As baby boomers age, that type of housing will be in short supply since it hardly exists anywhere today in the DC area aside from a couple places in Ballston and Bethesda.

by Falls Church on Apr 17, 2012 11:24 am • link • report

"Emancipation day" is a prime example of why DC should not be given more autonomy.

HA! Well I'm not sure I would suggest that because Mayor Williams signed legislation observing DC's "emancipation day" DC shouldn't be given autonomy. It's not a strong case you got here.

I also don't see how fed taxes returns are being "delayed" because of this rather than the deadline to submit taxes is delayed.

by HogWash on Apr 17, 2012 11:58 am • link • report

Minor holidays should not delay federal tax returns.

It doesn't "delay" anything, it shifts the filing date ONE day. Actually the same thing happens due to Patriots' Day in MA & ME; northeast filers get an extension if it falls on tax day b/c the filing center is in Massachusetts. Whoa and they get to still be states!

You are aware that you can file your taxes any time before April 15 and it gets processed before then, right?

by MLD on Apr 17, 2012 11:59 am • link • report

Does recognizing a significant day in the history of DC hurt the nation somehow, charlie?

by selxic on Apr 17, 2012 12:01 pm • link • report

If anything the extremly minor holiday "Emancipation day" is a prime example of why DC should not be given more autonomy. Minor holidays should not delay federal tax returns.

I'm assuming that you also thought that VA statehood should have been stripped for the during the years it celebrated Lee, Jackson, King Day, right? Or is celebrating two Civil War generals and demeaning a civil rights icon OK, but celebrating the freedom of DC's slaves is beyond the pale?

by dcd on Apr 17, 2012 12:57 pm • link • report

I don't have a problem w/elected officials receiving free tickets.

I do. Sounds a bit quid pro quo with taxpayer monies.

by squaredeal on Apr 17, 2012 1:01 pm • link • report

That survey is pretty much meaningless. It doesn't matter if 70% or even 100% of people surveyed on any issue think a certain way. What is far more important is where that issue ranks in importance to them.

How many of those 70% would use this issue to decide their vote for Congress? How many would even consider it when voting? How many would take the time to ask about this issue at town meeting? How many would write a letter, etc? The answer, as we have seen since the beginning of home rule is essentially 0%. The public outside of DC simply does not care about DC statehood or any of its associated issues. That is why Members of Congress don't care.

by dcdriver on Apr 17, 2012 1:16 pm • link • report

I do. Sounds a bit quid pro quo with taxpayer monies.

Sure, that's if you're willing to believe that taxpayers get to determine what professional sports teams have to do with their tickets. I don't know what "greater" benefit there is to the team giving tickets to city pols.

IMO, this isn't the best example of a quid pro relationship.

by HogWash on Apr 17, 2012 2:21 pm • link • report

Of course, no one answering the poll was given the Constitutional relationship between the District and the rest of the USA. A bogus poll to be sure. What a waste of time.

by Pelham1861 on Apr 17, 2012 3:24 pm • link • report

Loudoun County does not need METRO. Commuters in Reston/Herndon do not need METRO or the huge tolls they will soon be paying. This was a mistake from the start. Maybe...maybe stations at Tyson's made some sense...but from there a straight shot with one more stop at dules would have made sense.

Loudoun has a chance to bow out...something Fairfax County's Board was not wise enough to do beyond the Tyson's investment.

by Pelham1861 on Apr 17, 2012 3:27 pm • link • report

@Pelham, nothing in the federal-DC relationship prohibits Congress from (reversibly!) delegating its authority in some matters to a local body. That's essentially why the Mayor and Council exist, and the Board of Commissioners and Territorial Legislature before them.

Or, if you want a more directly comparable example, Congress has voluntarily chosen to allow the city to issue Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes without Congressional approval. TRANs are short-term borrowings that government bodies use to smooth out cash flows between tax collections, and as government debentures have their terms spelled out in law. TRANs are common, routine, and very boring. Congress decided it didn't want or need to actively review all the enabling legislation for TRANs, but also decided it was necessary for the District to issue these notes in a timely fashion, and so exempted this sort of legislation from the normal Congressional review period. All nice and constitutional.

by cminus on Apr 17, 2012 4:57 pm • link • report

Who are these people who want TOD but don't want to live in the city? What does TOD do for them? What is the point of living next to a Metro station if that station is an hour away from anywhere worth going?

We're wasting all of this time and money on the Dulles corridor when the US1 corridor is where we really need to be focusing our attention.

by movement on Apr 17, 2012 5:09 pm • link • report

"Who are these people who want TOD but don't want to live in the city?"

mostly people who work in Loudoun, Reston, or Tysons, I imagine.

"What does TOD do for them?"

if they work in Tysons, it gets them a handy way to work. For all of them, it gives them a more urban style community some folks who happen to land jobs in the techway still crave.

"What is the point of living next to a Metro station if that station is an hour away from anywhere worth going?"

Some folks just want to live in a dense walkable area, and thats seldom zoned except near metro. The Loudoun stations will not be that far from Reston, Tysons, or even north Arlington. Whether anyone will use them to get from LC to DC, I do not know.

I DO note that some people current commute by bus from LC to DC.

by AWalkerInTheCity on Apr 17, 2012 5:18 pm • link • report

@movement

Research shows that the core benefit of TOD actually isn't the transit - it's the walkability. And, if TOD sprouts up at each of the stops, then each stop is someplace "worth going".

Look at the old streetcar suburbs. Though the transit is typically gone, the development remains and is often the most attractive and livable, and most expensive, part of the region. Building TOD just means building that way again. People want it, and are willing to pay more to have it.

by OctaviusIII on Apr 17, 2012 5:22 pm • link • report

Sure, that's if you're willing to believe that taxpayers get to determine what professional sports teams have to do with their tickets.

I do think the taxpayers should have a say. Didn't taxpayers pay for the stadium...to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars? Why is it only ok to reward only 13 out of 600,000 taxpayers with free tickets? Why not hold a weekly/biweekly/etc. lottery for those tickets instead? Why not give them to a local charity?

I don't know what "greater" benefit there is to the team giving tickets to city pols.

Are you saying here that giving highly valuable gifts to people who can have a direct impact on your business doesn't serve the interests of that business? The least "greater" benefit I come up with right away is access to decision makers.

by squaredeal on Apr 17, 2012 5:36 pm • link • report

Walkability already exists in the existing towns - Leesburg, Herndon, etc. The presence or absence of transit has nothing to do with it. You're not going to turn Herndon-Monroe into New Ballston by plopping a Metro station there. It isn't close enough to where people want to go. Don't forget that Herndon is as far from Tysons as Tysons is from DC and there is not a heck of a lot of interesting destinations between Herndon and Tysons. Reston has a nice town center but it is no Arlington.

by movement on Apr 17, 2012 7:34 pm • link • report

I remember my friends in Leesburg being annoyed with me when I suggested that the Silver Line could just stop at Dulles if need be because Tysons, Reston, and the airport were the most important stops. They wanted the line to go to LC.

by watcher on Apr 17, 2012 8:10 pm • link • report

Dulles is not one of the important stops on the Silver Line. The Dulles stop makes for good politics because it sounds like something we should have but has little to do with the case for the Silver Line.

The rationale for the Silver Line is a $6B investment that will yield in Tysons alone 100K jobs and 200k high earning new residents and $10B of increased property value. There are also benefits in those three categories for the other stops, albeit to a lesser extent. The job and resident additions to Tysons are predicated on commuters from places like Loudoun who will come via the Silver Line. Few of the Silver Line commuters (and it will primarily be commuters riding that line for many years) will be going to Dulles. Hence, few of the quantifiable benefits in terms of jobs or property values have anything to do with an airport station.

In other words, without the LC dtations bringing in workers to Tysons via the Silver Line, the financial benefit of the project is greatly reduced, possibly to the extent of making the entire project a losing proposition.

by Falls Church on Apr 17, 2012 8:36 pm • link • report