Last night, following signature of a crucial agreement providing $900 million in federal funds to the "Silver Line" Metro project from East Falls Church, I interviewed TysonsTunnel.org president Scott Monett to get his reaction. Here's what Mr. Monett had to say (exact quotes as I transcribed the interview).*"The only option remaining is legal, we've exhausted all other options. Our attorneys will need some time to review, given that we couldn't technically bring a suit until 'final agency action,' [which just took place]."
*"In the end, political pressure to move ahead with the project was what got it approved. It's highly unlike that, on the merits, this would have been approved."
*In fact, former Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters had to "override" non-approval by the FTA. She did that "as a reaction to political pressure."
*"This whole thing's been politicized, influenced by powerful financial interests...Bechtel and a myriad of subcontractors."
*"There's no cap on cost overruns in this $5-$7 billion project."
*"The people who pushed this project forward were those with financial interest in the project. [In this case], there was an enormous amount of money [going to politicians]; some politicians are very resistant to the influence of campaign money, others - a shorter list in this case - are less so."
*"The Northern Virginia Congressional delegation has been no friend to rail, no friend to us. The evidence: no tunnel, no competitive bidding."
*When Tim Kaine reversed himself [from favoring a tunnel to supporting an aerial option in Tysons Corner] in September 2006, it was because the Department of Transportation told him, 'if you change, move, or alter the project, you have a very high probability of losing the money.'"
*"There are a lot of good elected officials, but the process itself has been corrupted by money. In this case, money trumped the public interest and the politics of it."
*Public support among people along the rail corridor is 80% for a tunnel in Tysons, an "equivalent number" for competitive bidding, and 67% opposed to aerial [in Tysons]. The politicians chose not to listen to these large majorities.
*"We tried to go the political route. We thought that was the way things workin the United States. We found that was not true. The people can be overruled by the money."
*"We are a little upset by [former County Board chairman] Gerry Connolly's approach. He told us 2 years ago that 'once we get the money, then we can look at the option of moving to a tunnel.' Thus far, it doesn't appear that Connolly - or anyone else - was sincere."
*"Governor Kaine's office would not deal with us, speak with us. Why wouldn't they meet with an organization that had thousands of Virginians supporting it, as well as business interests? It appears they had made their decision, they saw no advantage to meeting with us. In the end, we were completely ignored by the governor of the very state we felt we were trying to protect. We didn't have the right connections."
*"Tim Kaine deferred to Secretary of the Commonwealth Kate Hanley and Secretary of Transportation Pierce Homer on whether to meet with the TysonsTunnel people. It does not appear that the Governor was well served by his staff or cabinet officials on this issue."
*"Who wants to claim a monument to stupidity as their legacy? If I were in [Gov. Kaine's] shoes, I wouldn't be looking at this as a legacy to be proud of."
*In this case, "the transit system is not being integrated with land use. Transit fails when it's not integrated with land use."
*"Every major citizen's organization in the area where this is going voted in favor the tunnel."
*"Tim Kaine has the ultimate responsibility to protect the taxpayers of Virginia, and he did not do it on this project. Neither did Gerry Connolly, Frank Wolf, Tom Davis or Jim Moran. Instead, they argued that the 'ends justify the means' and used the 'perfect is the enemy of the good' argument."
