Thanks to County Board Candidate John Vihstadt for raising the issue of 'Stovepipes' during the special County Board election campaign. But 'Stovepipes' aren't just common between Arlington County Government and the Arlington School System. Every jurisdiction (Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, Fairfax County) gets to do it's own transportation planning inside the Virginia Beltway.
Why spend $300 million to $500 million on a streetcar system that will replace 10 buses on the Pike? Why are both a streetcar system and a bus rapid transit system being designed for Potomac Yards? Why does every jurisdiction get to design it's own multi-modal pedestrian and bicycle system? Why does every jurisdiction have its own local bus system which doesn't connect with other jurisdictions' local bus systems? Why is it difficult to walk from East Falls Church to Falls Church? From Arlington to Alexandria? From Arlington to Skyline? From Arlington to McLean? Why don't transportation planners from Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax County share transportation data (traffic counts) with each other?
Transportation is so expensive. And will be even more expensive. We should be eliminating 'Stovepipes' and 'Silos' whenever and wherever possible.
2100 too
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Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Fairfax County might as well be British, Dutch, French, and American islands in the Caribbean when it comes to transportation planning.
Next big expensive transportation thing - Rosslyn Sector Plan aka Realize Rosslyn going to the County Board on March 18th. How about $1 billion poured into the Rosslyn Metro station when the infrastructure around the Ballston Metro station is crumbling?
Plus 10 to John Vihstadt for wanting to eliminate expensive silos among Arlington Government entities.
So who works for IBM and SHOULD have been talking about eliminating expensive silos among Arlington Government entities? Alan Howze. Duh.
Let's not forget VDOT....which goes along with local transportation departments' shenanigans, like letting Arlington County take over Columbia Pike.
How about...Jay Fisette dictating parameters of the Rosslyn Sector Plan to Rosslyn residents during 'planning' meetings?
It gets worse. The same law firms, engineering firms, planning consultants, transportation consultants, etc. represent clients across the four jurisdictions.
How many more billions are going to be invested in an obsolete two-track Metrorail system where capacity can barely keep up with in-fill redevelopment and as much is being spent on station cosmetics as on system transportation performance?
No more 'stovepiping' of Metro Stations. Regarding Jay Fisette, time he retired and joined Chris Zimmerman at Dumb Growth America.
How many stovepipe IT systems is Arlington County currently running?
How many IBM stovepipe IT systems is Arlington County currently running?
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