As a taxpaying Virgina resident I am glad that we are not subsidizing solar panels. Let Maryland subsidize this if they wish. As both states are running a budget deficit I don't see how cash "incentives" can be helpful for either states' fiscal health.

by Virginian on Jul 7, 2010 8:55 am  

HOA's are an evil that needs to be outlawed. They unlawfully infringe upon the property rights of individuals and are wicked playgrounds for those whose personalities failed to migrate from high school.

by Redline SOS on Jul 7, 2010 9:08 am  

Some state laws, such as Florida's, prohibit HOAs from banning solar panels.

by Gavin on Jul 7, 2010 9:11 am  

Hmm, the 90s buses on U Street are detoured to Q St from 16th to 11th, but no notice on Metro's webpage.

by Steve S on Jul 7, 2010 9:12 am  

@Virginian

I suppose the proof will be in the pudding when your electric company has to pay more for demand electricity while Maryland and DC have solar generation in their service areas to help offset the demand, thus causing your rates to rise, or worse, rolling brownouts or blackouts.

by Andrew on Jul 7, 2010 9:14 am  

Redline, HOAs is a contract that the homeowner freely enter into when the buy their house. Most states have extensive regulations on how HOA are run and how they set up their rules. 95% of what HOA do is make sure the common areas are taken care of, trash is pick up and capital investments are maintained. HOAs are democracies and just like any democracy is only as responsive as those who participate. If you donÂ’t like something in your HOA, you can change it; you just have to care enough.

As for DCA,

Bigger? Nosier? Well you can't really fly anything larger than a 757 into DCA and the 757 has been discontinued and are mostly flown by Delta, American and USAir. Most of the longer proposed flights would be handled by A320's or 737-700-900 which are newer and much more quite.

by RJ on Jul 7, 2010 9:16 am  

I don't think you can say a HOA contract is one you enter voluntarily into, because you can't choose not to enter into it. Sure, you can live somewhere else, but maybe there are other factors you like about this area, and it appears most HOAs all prohibit the solar panels.

The HOA seems to be no different than a local government. You can choose not to live in a town, but if you want to live there, you have to be subject to the government, and another town is probably similar. Same for the HOA.

by David Alpert on Jul 7, 2010 9:19 am  

I'm sort of conflicted about DCA, but really, if the concern is noise, then the perimeter ban should be replaced with a decibel-based noise ban. If an airplane can fly from Los Angeles and make less noise than one coming from New York, I don't see what the problem is.

HOAs: they aren't always as democratic as a local government. Sometimes there are rules put in by the developer that future members cannot change. Also, in Texas, HOAs can foreclose on a house if it had only a few hundred dollars in overdue fees or fines, with no judge, just filing paperwork and waiting 27 days. I don't think HOAs are regulated as tightly as they should be.

by Tim on Jul 7, 2010 9:27 am  

As a trustee for the Committee of 100 on the Federal City, I am writing to respond to your blog post “District officials fire back on NCPC ‘bureaucratic blackmail’” (July 1, 2010).

The Committee of 100 supports a well-planned streetcar system. We have detailed our concerns and recommendations in Council testimony on three occasions, going well beyond the issue of overhead wires.

Major questions still remain unanswered: Who will govern, maintain and operate the system? How will it be financed? Do merchants and property owners on H St., Rhode Island Ave., and Georgia Ave. or in Anacostia understand that DDOT expects the business community to pay a substantial share of the tab? How can the city as well as NCPC comply with NEPA and the National Historic Preservation Act? How will the H St./Benning Road line terminus at Union Station work? Is condemning Potomac DevelopmentÂ’s tunnel the way to go? How does the city balance the publicÂ’s interest in this temporary link to Union Station with the fact that Potomac has been the major H Street area investor since the 1980Â’s, owns a key section of the tunnel, and hosts numerous tax paying tenants who want to expand their extensive network of fiber optic cable in the proposed tunnel path of the streetcar? Even if the city condemns PotomacÂ’s portion of the tunnel, how does DDOT propose to overcome significant security and other concerns that Amtrak raised in the May 28, 2010 letter? Without answers to these important questions, taxpayers and the city could lose time, money and opportunity.

The Committee of 100 will continue to hold our public officials accountable for sound, carefully considered and well-documented decisions to create a more sustainable and livable city.

Meg Maguire
Chair, Sub-committee on Transportation
Committee of 100 on the Federal City

by Meg Maguire on Jul 7, 2010 9:33 am  

You absolutely have the option not to enter the HOA contract. Before closing, the seller must provide the HOA bylaws and handbook in order to complete the close. The buyer at that time has the decision either buy the house or not. Most donÂ’t bother because they want to house regardless of the regulations, but if you do, you are stuck with what you have. My bet, and I am rather familiar with HOA VA laws, is that the HOAs have Architectural Controls (AC), where certain maintenance and aesthetics are maintained. The most AC rules state that they cannot attach anything without written approval from the elected board. And I bet these solar bans, are from the late 70Â’s early 80Â’s when people would install bulky solar hot water heaters on their roof, not todayÂ’s sleek solar arrays. Whatever the case, it is VA law that each HOA has procedures to amend rules which must be established in the bylaws. All the person would have to do is follow those rules to change the architectural regulations; it is not impossible and relatively easy if you find enough people to care.

by RJ on Jul 7, 2010 9:34 am  

@Virginian...

I hate to break it to you but Virginia does subsidize PV systems for residents and businesses.

Lastly, you are subsidizing someone, you just have to choose which produces the greater good.

In between tax subsidies for new power stations and substations. State paid land grabs via eminent domain for new power transmission ROW and land tax breaks, Dominion Virginia Power gets nearly 50 million per year from the State of VA, not to mention the subsidies it gets from its other states, WVA, Ohio etc..

A new regional power plant, whether it is powered by natural gas or is a nuke plant costs a minium of a billion dollars, which then requires constant and expensive maintenance and oversight, the problem of dealing with the pollution etc. That same billion dollars buys 250 MW of solar power which fully powers 50,000 single familiy homes, the grand total that has been built in the entire DC Metro area in the past 3 decades.

For solar, that 1 billion is a once and done cost. No constant refueling, maintenance, safety costs.

So you are either subsidizing the corporate share holder, or you are subsidizing everyone else.

by nookie on Jul 7, 2010 9:36 am  

Re DCA:

1) Agree with points above about noise--there are restrictions in place already, and you can't land jumbos at Reagan. So it's the same planes coming from different places.

2) Moving flights from early morning/late evening to daytime (at least as article says) should be a *good* thing for residents, since they're less likely to be home and if they are it's probably generally noisier than when you're getting up or going to sleep. It doesn't appear that the overall number of flights would be increased, just where they go.

3) The "competition" rationale is totally bogus. Allowing one flight to San Francisco when there's none doesn't create competition. Now there's a monopoly instead of nothing at all. It may benefit consumers, but it's not "competition".

4) And leave it to Congress to specify that the slots have to go to places like airports in West Texas. What's that, El Paso and Lubbock? Really? There's demand for there? How about "competition" that allows the airlines to choose how to use the slots?

by ah on Jul 7, 2010 9:39 am  

@ Tim - That Texas case points out a crappy foreclosure law that allows (a) rapid foreclosure and (b) sale on terms that don't reasonably compensate the homeowner. Note that the foreclosure means only that the house can be sold to pay the lien. The owner should get the remainder of the revenue. What's crappy about that case is that the house was sold for $3000 or something, when it's worth $300k. That's something wrong with the foreclosure process, not the right of the HOA to collect its dues.

I would never live in an HOA-governed community for a host of reasons. DC's restrictive policies are bad enough.

by ah on Jul 7, 2010 9:44 am  

Re: DCA

There are several issues here:

1. The cap on the total number of flights in and out of the airport

2. Noise

3. Flight distance

As it is, the distance ban seeks to address noise. I think it's perfectly agreeable to scrap that ban in favor of an actual noise limitation. Today's planes and engines are much quieter than the ones used back in the 60s. I grew up under a flight approach for a major airpoirt - the small, old DC-9s were far louder than any of the newer jets. Size isn't a good proxy for noise.

There's also an inherent cap on the size of planes than can service DCA, as noted above. The runways aren't all that long, it's not like they'll suddenly be bringing 747s in there.

You could easily address this without changing the total number of flights in and out of DCA, too. The cap ought to be a separate issue. This does relate to noise, because of course a plane is louder than no plane.

by Alex B. on Jul 7, 2010 9:50 am  

It is time for the perimeter rule at Reagan (DCA) to go. The perimeter rule is a relic from a period when there was widespread economic regulation of the commercial airline industry (pre-1978). The original purpose of the perimeter rule was to shift the more lucrative long-haul traffic to newly-built Dulles.

The concerns about noise are largely bogus. There may have been some correlation between trip length and noise 30 years ago but today’s aircraft are dramatically quieter—even the 757s. Alaska Airline’s 737 flying from DCA to LAX or an Airbus A320 flying to Phoenix is much quieter than a DC-9 flying to Atlanta or Miami.

Limiting flights to a radius of 1,250 miles from Reagan (with the exception of 12 slots beyond the perimeter per day) absolutely harms competition. This rule restricts destinations that carriers would otherwise serve and since there are only a limited number of possible routes within 1,250 miles of DCA, there are more flights to cities such as Columbia, SC, Little Rock, or Charlotte (admittedly a hub for US Air) than there would be otherwise. Instead of frequent flights to some of these small markets within the perimeter, youÂ’d have more flights to SFO, LAX, etc. allowing possible entry to DCA by carriers such as Jet Blue, Virgin America, and Southwest. Much of the opposition in Congress to relaxing the perimeter rule also comes from members of Congress from these smaller cities that would otherwise lose nonstop service to this convenient airport.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 10:01 am  

I term of the noise ban, who let the turboprops in?

And is there any independent verification of the noise ban?

Perhaps the more radical answer is to break the MWAA into two.

by charlie on Jul 7, 2010 10:09 am  

I found this comment from the C100 interesting:

"Is condemning Potomac DevelopmentÂ’s tunnel the way to go? How does the city balance the publicÂ’s interest in this temporary link to Union Station with the fact that Potomac has been the major H Street area investor since the 1980Â’s, owns a key section of the tunnel, and hosts numerous tax paying tenants who want to expand their extensive network of fiber optic cable in the proposed tunnel path of the streetcar?"

Setting aside the fact that this criticism is a total red herring (fiber optic cable doesn't take up that much space), it's quite interesting that C100 is leaping to the defense of large real estate investment firms. Perhaps there is a nexus between C100 leadership and Potomac Development that is worthy of further investigation.

by Phil on Jul 7, 2010 10:10 am  

HOAs: I never saw the point in paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for a house that I can't do what I want with inside of county and local regulations. If I have an acre of land, why can't I plant a tree? Why can't I reduce my costs by putting up solar panels. If I'm paying for ownership, I should be able to do those things without asking for approval. Older neighborhoods don't have HOAs. I live in a nice neighborhood without them and we all get by fine. People are doing wonderful things with their properties they otherwise couldn't do under an HOA.

by John E on Jul 7, 2010 10:12 am  

If anyone is interested, I wrote a paper about the perimeter rules at DCA, LaGuardia, and Love Field (Dallas) a few years ago for one of my classes. I'd be glad to forward it to anyone who'd like to read it.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 10:14 am  

Charlie: Turboprops are much more fuel efficient and environmentally friendly compared to regional jets and US airlines made a big mistake by phasing them out - a mistake a lot of them are regretting in this era of higher fuel costs. (There is zero difference in safety between a turboprop and a regional jet, by the way. Arguably, turboprops are safer in some ways.) Turboprops are also ideally suited to short runways like you have at DCA.

So, bring on the turboprops. I live on the main approach to DCA and I don't notice any noise difference.

by Phil on Jul 7, 2010 10:18 am  

Turboprops might also be just as quick on short trips because they generally fly at lower altitudes and don't need to spend as much of the flight climbing/descending. Phil is correct-- they are far more fuel efficient. Alaska Airline's regional affiilate, Horizon, makes extensive use of turboprops on West Coast routes.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 10:22 am  

I much prefer keeping the perimeter rules in place, but for a different reason: a greater frequency of short-haul flights.

Right now, I can fly to Atlanta on the hour, New York on the hour or half-hour (though this might be less necessary now because of Acela), Boston almost ten times a day, and a host of other east coast and midwest cities on the hour or two-hour mark. This makes DCA a perfect east coast commuter airport.

If some of these slots are reallocated to the west coast, there wonÂ’t be as many east coast flights. ItÂ’s the shorter-haul routes that really benefit from frequent, direct service. When youÂ’re already spending 6+ hours flying across the country, adding 30 minutes to drive to Dulles or 60 minutes to connect in another hub isnÂ’t that onerous. But it adds a lot of inconvenience to shorter flights that only take an hour or two.

by Joey on Jul 7, 2010 10:23 am  

"I much prefer keeping the perimeter rules in place, but for a different reason: a greater frequency of short-haul flights."

By definition short-haul flights are the most unnecessary. They also emit more CO2 per mile traveled than any other type of flight. We should be looking to cut back short-haul flights in favor of other modes, especially high-speed rail.

by Phil on Jul 7, 2010 10:29 am  

Sure, but until we have HSR built in maybe never, we are stuck with 'commuter' airports. Chicken-Egg I guess.

by NikolasM on Jul 7, 2010 10:37 am  

Re: National perimeter ban - If I remember correctly, the rather odd perimeter distance was put in place by Congress so that planes from National could fly direct to Arizona. Of course, that just happened to be the home state of John McCain who was the chair of the Senate committee that set National's perimeter. Purely coincidental, of course.

Re: HOA's - I don't get how they're not voluntary. A buyer knows a property he/she wants to purchase is in an HOA. The buyer is required by law to receive the HOA's covenants and bylaws several days before a closing. I don't get how they can they turn around years later and complain about the HOA's requirements. It's like someone going to a vegan restaurant and being shocked - shocked! - that they can't order a bacon cheeseburger.

That said, I think HOA's can be very badly run by little dictators with a fetish for aesthetic control over their neighbors, and would probably never buy a home subject to an HOA. But the way to deal with the solar panel issue is either to amend the HOA bylaws or to change state law prohibiting HOA's from prohibiting outright solar panels (I believe in the wake of 9/11, several states did something similar regarding some HOA's prohibitions on residents installing flag poles on their property or flying American flags from their homes).

by Fritz on Jul 7, 2010 10:37 am  

Cheaper flights for everyone to the left coast sound like a good thing. Getting to BWI or IAD is a major waste of time and resources, and subsidizing Dulles or subsidizing someone's right-to-be-free-from-airplane noise just isn't a good enough reason to block cheaper flights. DCA is a "national" airport, not a hangar for local puddle jumpers.

by aaa on Jul 7, 2010 10:43 am  

It's unlikely that high demand short haul routes like BOS, ATL, ORD, DTW, and NYC that you speak of would be part of the routes replaced by more long distance flights. More likely to be swapped are destinations like Des Moines, Hilton Head, Madison, Knoxville, and Grand Rapids which in some cases are only flown once a day.

by Mainland on Jul 7, 2010 10:43 am  

@Ben -- I'm clearly missing your point that expanding the perimeter creates competition. If I want to fly to Chicago, having a flight to Seattle available doesn't help me. Right now the perimeter limit reduces the number of cities served, so tends to create more competition on those fewer routes (which is where competition matters). Agreed, it means there are fewer options for consumers, which isn't a good thing. But spreading flights out among more routes is not going to create more competition on existing routes, given a constraint on landing slots.

@ Fritz-Arizona is one of the existing exceptions, that was created at McCain's behest. But it's outside the current limit.

by ah on Jul 7, 2010 10:43 am  

@Phil, I'm a huge fan of more high-speed rail.

TGV long-distance speeds (averaging about 175mph, including intermediary stops) would get me from downtown DC or Alexandria to midtown (or downtown?) Atlanta in under 4 hours, and to South Station in Boston in under 3.

Both of these would make the train comparable to or better than flying, taking into account the inconvenience and waiting time in the before-and-after air travel experience.

But the perimeter rule question is coming up right now, and we don't have any real high-speed rail in this country (and won't on the east coast for at least a decade or two). Once we have TGV speeds up and down the east coast, I certainly think a relaxation of DCA perimeter restrictions would be in order.

by Joey on Jul 7, 2010 10:48 am  

@ Fritz - Congress passed a law in the 1990s that barred HOA bans on satellite dishes. States presumably could do the same thing with respect to solar panels.

On the other hand, it seems somewhat unreasonable (regardless of the merits of solar power) to prevent a bunch of homeowners from agreeing that they don't want to look at solar panels. If they want to pay higher electric bills in order to look at a cheap asphalt shingle roof instead of solar panels, why not let them?

by ah on Jul 7, 2010 10:50 am  

The problems with HOAs are really no different than the problems with condos and co-ops. They're only as good or bad as the people running it. One problem I've had is that in condos with high renter levels, you end up with a small group of owners running the whole show. Granted, they have more to lose, but when it manifests itself as using the board for petty disputes, there's nothing non-voting tenants can do (and their landlords probably don't care).

I wouldn't want to live in a condo or co-op is that as a handy person around the house, I don't want to pay a fee for things I can do myself. A medium sized condo fee can be equal to another 100k or so of a mortgage. I wouldn't want to live in an HOA because they are almost by definition soulless suburban subdivisions.

by Reid on Jul 7, 2010 10:50 am  

It hasn't been mentioned here, but the reason Fairfax can't do anything about it, is because Virginia is a Dillon Rule state. Thus, Fairfax County can't pass any ordinances they haven't been granted express (or reasonably implied) power to pass (by the state).

Every year, however, the localities come together (or work individually) to lobby General Assemblymen for broad (or locality-specific) exceptions granting extra power to pass new ordinances, often with great success.

The General Assembly need only grant localities the power to regulate such solar-panel HOA restrictions, and then it would be resolved.

Since it's getting press now, maybe this is something that could happen in the next session.

by Joey on Jul 7, 2010 10:57 am  

@ah-- Currently, there is only one nonstop flight from DCA to LAX. Removing this artifical restriction on destinations from DCA would allow carriers such as Virgin America or Jet Blue to offer nonstop service on the DCA - LAX route.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 11:02 am  

There are no flights to Hilton Head, BTW. There might be some to Savannah, which calls itself "Savannah/Hilton Head."

I just flew DCA-MVY last weekend, and would be very sad to lose those flights, which make a trip there so speedy. But DCA should maximize the number of passengers it can move.

The fact is everyone wants to use it. BWI takes way too long to get to and Dulles takes way too long to get through with their slow security, mobile lounges or the new train, and long walks to and from gates.

by David Alpert on Jul 7, 2010 11:11 am  

Hmm. TGV to boston, estimated 3 hours.

TGV, paris to Marseilles, about $160 roundtrip.

DCA to BOS, about $160 and an hour and a half flight time.

Look, I'm all for high speed rail but we have an efficient way to transport people in this county -- airplanes. Outside a few very dense corridors -- CA and the East Coast -- high speed rail isn't going to work, and Boston and Atlanta will always be too far from DC by rail.

by charlie on Jul 7, 2010 11:12 am  

Maybe it's just me, but more and more people I know are fed up with flying. I've been taking trains - long distance trips - for a while now. Amtrak can be very trying. But when it works, it really works. DC to the southeast on a high speed is doable. No question. The main issue would be eminent domain.

No idea where MVY is.

by Jazzy on Jul 7, 2010 11:16 am  

@charlie-- Trip time isn't the only consideration. Schedule reliablity and comfort are also important considerations. I'd rather take an hour more on high speed rail where you have large, comfortable seats, the ability to use Iphone/Blackberry and free wireless internet, plenty of leg room, and the ability to walk around than be on a cramped regional jet that has a 30 percent chance of being delayed (significantly higher during summer convective weather season). The $160 plane fare is if you buy the ticket sufficiently far in advance. If you're traveling to NY or BOS tomorrow, your ticket would be much more expensive. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't this fare variability in ticket prices with Amtrak or the proposed high speed rail in CA.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 11:19 am  

I asked my state Senator (Mary Margaret Whipple, D-Arlington and Falls Church) about this directly a few years ago.

She said that she had her legislative staff and legal advisors look at this and there is basically nothing that can be done, because it would violate the Virginia Bill of Rights. Specifically, Article I, Section 11, which states that "the General Assembly shall not pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts".

by Michael Perkins on Jul 7, 2010 11:29 am  

Woah, don't bag on BWI. It's not really that far away and it's a pretty well designed airport.

As for getting there, there are some express Marc trains that get from Union Station to BWI in as little as 26 minutes (it takes about 20 minutes to get to DCA from Union Station by metro). Yes, you have to take a shuttle from the train station to the airport, but all told, depending on where you start, the proximity advantages of DCA may be not so great. Factor in the availability of tons of cheap Southwest flights out of BWI, and it's my preferred airport.

Yes by car the advantage returns, but frankly I think people overvalue their time. Is an extra 150 dollars or so in airfare really worth an hour of your time? Maybe, but I doubt people stop to make that calculation very often.

by Reid on Jul 7, 2010 11:31 am  

@Charlie, I agree that Boston-Atlanta is not a very good rail route. But unlike flying, rail routes aren't just point-to-point. They're way more efficient because they can pick people up and drop people off along the way.

Very few people will go from Boston to Atlanta, but they might go Boston to Richmond, New York to Raleigh, Philadelphia to Charlotte, DC to Atlanta, etc. All of this is possible on a single train.

Comparing just the air time of a 3-hour train to a 1.5-hour flight is myopic, though, because of the before-and-after time and inconvenience: getting to/from an airport (usually located much farther from a city center), TSA hassles, lines, and weather disruptions.

I'd always take a 3-hour train to Boston over a 1.5-hour flight on that route for these reasons. The actual city-center-to-city-center times would be comparable or shorter by rail. DC to Atlanta is pushing the maximum practical time-length of a train journey under TGV speeds, and it would be more of a tossup.

Also, I disagree that the [most] "efficient way to transport people in this county [is] airplanes." It's just the only way to do it now because there's been no major investment in the rail mode. Flying also involves significant externalities in pollution (and international-political fuel) costs that aren't being reflected in the ticket prices. Whether pollution/geopolitical costs should be included by mandate (carbon tax, FAA fee, etc.) is debatable, of course. But ignoring them in any argument about efficiency is a mistake.

by Joey on Jul 7, 2010 11:33 am  

@ David

Indeed there are, albeit only seasonal. USAir has one flight to Hilton Head on Saturday's only. This is in addition to their Savannah and Charleston flights.

@ Jazzy

MVY = Marthas Vineyard

by Mainland on Jul 7, 2010 11:38 am  

@Michael, it's not that simple re: the "obligation of contracts".

Just because I make a contract with my neighbor to sell him weed at a certain price per ounce doesn't mean the state can't regulate the act and void the contract on public policy terms.

Who knows how Virginia courts would respond to the particular issue of solar panels if the GA got involved in allowing counties to regulate them in HOAs (or restrictive covenants), but I don't think it's blanket-obvious that they violate the Virginia Constitution.

by Joey on Jul 7, 2010 11:38 am  

Charlie, the TGV can hold up to 1024 people (the Duplex, 2 sets put together), how many does a 737 hold? And you create numerous city pairs in between that a plane cannot easily replicate.

by NikolasM on Jul 7, 2010 11:41 am  

@Reid

BWI is a plenty nice airport, but no matter if you think people overvalue their time, it's still far away.

There's a big difference in the time and cost for me (living in DC) to catch a 7:00 am flight out of DCA versus a 7:00 am flight out of BWI.

In a cab, I can be at DCA in 15 minutes from my house. I'd need the same cab ride just to get to Union Station to catch a MARC or Amtrak train (if they are even running at the hour of my flight). Basically, I've been in situations before where DCA v BWI means waking up at 5 am or at 3 am.

Each trip is different, of course, but I'll always shoot for DCA if I can.

by Alex B. on Jul 7, 2010 11:43 am  

Me too Alex.

by Jazzy on Jul 7, 2010 11:47 am  

@Joey: All I'm saying is that I got the attention of my state senator enough for her staff to look into it and I got that as a response. I pressed her on it in person and she told me the same thing.

Ms. Whipple "gets it" on environmental and alternative energy issues. I first met her at a Peak Oil conference presented by Congressman Bartlett. So I would expect her to be in favor of something that would help people that want to install solar panels.

For me, I don't think my house is correct geometrically for solar panels (east-west facing roof) but I would be willing to pay for people in Arizona or New Mexico to install panels. I just want a reasonable return on my investment, which they should be able to get from reduced electric bills. My parents have cut their net bill in CA to practically zero with a ~3500 watt grid-tied system.

by Michael Perkins on Jul 7, 2010 11:51 am  

@Joey - The pot example doesn't really work because it's talking about a future contract. Virginia could easily pass a law banning future HOA agreements from limiting solar panels. The issue is the existing ones.

by ah on Jul 7, 2010 11:53 am  

@Joey; look, no sense in hijacking this thread, but I'd rather spend money on effective commuter rail -- or one or two hour train rides as you describe -- than invest billion in high speed passenger rail.

I think what we are missing in the airport discussion is not which airport is better, but how to increase multimodal use at the airport. Metro at DCA is tremendous. It is nice to have MARC/Amtrak at BWI although the station is badly located.

But what about tieing VRE into DCA. Or running Washington Flyer type buses from downtown DC to BWI, rather than taking a seperate trip to greenbelt.

And please, run more 5A buses.

by charlie on Jul 7, 2010 12:11 pm  

I like Southwest's cheap flights out BWI too. But more competition can only help.

BWI: Metro --> MARC/Amtrak --> Shuttle --> Terminal

DCA: Metro --> Terminal

by aaa on Jul 7, 2010 12:54 pm  

If you live on the Green line:

BWI: Metro --> B30 Bus --> Terminal.

Still, If you're only flying to Atlanta or Cleveland vs LA or Seattle, it seems reasonable to make the long-haul flyers go to Dulles. The longer ground transpo time to Dulles is a smaller percentage of total travel time. It seems stupid to make somebody take an hour+ trip out to Dulles by the 5A to take an hour-long flight to Cleveland.

by Steve S on Jul 7, 2010 1:09 pm  

@Steve S

There is still the time factor. The first B30 bus of the day arrives at BWI at 6:38 am - that's not helping me make that 7:00 am flight. If it's a Saturday, that first B30 doesn't get there until 9:13 am.

by Alex B. on Jul 7, 2010 1:17 pm  

Transit to BWI, plus intercity transit, could be tremendously improved if there could be a bus lane on I-95. BWI is terrible to fly out of on a weekday evening because there's so much traffic. Dulles has the access road which is speedy, and local buses get to use it too. Designating a lane of I-95 for buses from Greenbelt to I-195 would make the bus to BWI a good option.

by David Alpert on Jul 7, 2010 1:23 pm  

@DavidAlpert; is there enough demand on 95 to segment a whole lane? I really don't know the answer.

What would be interesting is an "emergency" bus lane; have one lane designed as a bus lane during rush hour or during traffic jams as a bus lane. very hard to enforce, I'd guess.

Goes back to your point about models needing to look at moving people, not vehicles, per hour.

by charlie on Jul 7, 2010 1:37 pm  

David-- this would make too much sense. One of the big problems for airport ground access is that management of airports is highly fractured throught the US, as it is here in the DC region. IAD and DCA are managed and operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, while BWI is operated by the state of Maryland. This makes regionwide airport-access strategies more difficult. This is even worse in other metro regions, especially Southern California, where several airport authorities operate the region's multiple airports.

by Ben on Jul 7, 2010 1:37 pm  

@David: Maybe something more like an HOV-2 or 3 lane for rush hour would be more reasonable. Although, the BWI bus doesn't usually take 95; it takes the B-W Parkway.

by Tim on Jul 7, 2010 1:42 pm  

Re transit to BWI. Aren't we supposed to have maglev by now? 10 minutes from Union Station to the airport itself would be pretty awesome.

by Reid on Jul 7, 2010 2:25 pm  

"95% of what HOA do is make sure the common areas are taken care of, trash is pick up and capital investments are maintained."

Some of us remember the days when property taxes covered this. In fact, paying property taxes AND HOA fees blows my mind.

Luckily for me, my neighborhood recently voted to disband our stupid HOA. The city will take over, maintain the streets and parks, and do it at a much lower cost than the HOA fee. Who could have guessed that scale efficiencies apply to cities! 1 city park crew costs less than every HOA having their own.

by J on Jul 7, 2010 5:41 pm