Last night, in exchange for her promise not to firebomb my house, I apologized to Town Finance Director Marion Serfass, CPA. And have taken down my post #218. Continue reading Post #221: I owe Town Finance Department staff an apology
Author: chogan@directresearch.com
Post #220: The NEVCA candidate forum
The North East Vienna Citizens Association (NEVCA) has a tradition of hosting a candidate forum for Vienna Town Council candidates. They don’t hold this when candidates are unopposed. But this year, with three contested Town Council seats, I have been assured that, in fact, NEVCA will hold a candidate forum in April 2019.
And if I can ever figure out when and where, I’ll let you know. Because, as with so much that goes on in the Town of Vienna, it looks like you just have to know the right people, or know exactly the right place to look, in order to know what’s happening.
I have been diligently making audio recordings of Town of Vienna public meetings so that anyone can hear what goes on. For each such meeting, I provide a recording and index available via public link on Google Drive. But that’s not going to happen with the NEVCA candidate forum. Shelley Ebert, of viennavotes.com, asked for permission to tape it, and was denied. Nor will NEVCA itself tape it and make that available. If you want to hear what the candidates have to say, you’ll have to show up in person. If you can figure out where they are holding it. And when.
Post #218: 2019 real estate tax increase – or – The Vienna School of Algebra
The Commonwealth has a rule that whenever real estate assessments rise more than 1 percent, but tax rates don’t fall to offset that (to within one percent), local governments have to publish a notice explaining that. Just a simple bit of algebra to say, here’s the tax rate that would have offset that assessment increase. Here’s what we’re actually proposing to charge. And here’s the difference. It’s just a way to make sure that citizens know how much their taxes are increasing.
I hate to have to be the one to say this. But the Town just put out such a notice. And their arithmetic is wrong. Grossly incorrect. I checked similar notices from three other jurisdictions, just to be sure that I was doing the calculation right.
And you know why I hate that? Based on recent history, the most likely outcome is that, instead of just correcting their algebra, the Town will offer the usual bafflegab as why this unique Town of Vienna algebra is fully justified. (And then quietly correct it.)
Let me be clear: There is obviously no intent to deceive, because, clearly, nobody pays the slightest attention to this notice. Surely nobody within Town government, and I would guess, nobody (but me) outside of it. I checked an earlier year, and I’m pretty sure their calculation has been wrong for some time now.
That said, at some level, this is all of-a-piece. Five floors is really four floors. A building the size of a football field preserves “small town” Vienna. And a 5.6% increase in taxes is actually a 3.1 percent tax cut. It all meshes together.
Detail follow.
Continue reading Post #218: 2019 real estate tax increase – or – The Vienna School of Algebra
Post #217: When will the tear-down boom end?
As I start the process of filing my Federal taxes this year, I have been thinking about the conditions that led to the boom in tear-downs here in Vienna. And wondering whether or not those conditions have changed enough, yet, to bring the tear-down boom to an end. Continue reading Post #217: When will the tear-down boom end?
Post 216: Accidents involving cars and trucks along Maple
This is a continuation of the prior two posts, same data source. I’m just going to put up three maps showing 2018 reportable accidents along Maple. The number of reportable accidents involving bicycles or pedestrians is tiny compared to the total number of car crashes annually on Maple. As with the prior maps, a “reportable” accident is one involving injury or at least $1500 in property damage.
Post 215: Accidents involving bicycles along Maple
This is a continuation of my prior post, same data source. Bicyclists who get hit by cars along Maple mostly do so when riding in the roadway. Secondarily, while riding in a crosswalk. Over the period 2015-2019 (to date), there was one reportable accident involving injury to a bicyclist who was on the sidewalk, crossing a driveway along Maple Avenue.
As in the prior post, the blue dot marks the accident scene. Same minor caveat applies: The DMV only plots the accident location when they have GPS latitude and longitude data but they appear to have that information for most if not all accidents in Vienna.
Post 214: Accidents involving pedestrians along Maple Avenue
This page is an introduction to some easy ways to view traffic accident data in Virginia, including interactive maps showing the exact location of each accident via Google Street View. The point is that you can look at at all pedestrian injuries along Maple for the past five years to see that the sidewalks along Maple are not dangerous. You incur some small risk when you cross the road. The risk of vehicular injury while walking down the Maple Avenue sidewalk appears to be negligible.
Continue reading Post 214: Accidents involving pedestrians along Maple Avenue
Post #213: The 3/27/2019 Planning Commission meeting on 380 Maple West, edited to correct a significant mistake.
More than 50 people attended last night’s Planning Commission meeting regarding 380 Maple Avenue West. Twenty-five spoke. Of those, just two people approved of the project.
The Planning Commission “held open” the public meeting, meaning, if you have not spoken up yet, you will have an opportunity to do so next month. Next month, the Planning Commission should vote on this project and forward its recommendation to the Town Council.
Go to this Google Drive link to find my audio recording of the meeting, along with an Excel spreadsheet that serves as the “index” to the audio, showing what was said at what time. The audio is a bit rough in spots due to the crowd noise.
In brief: The builder offered a second option of a somewhat smaller building, with less parking, and one less condo unit. He agreed to enclose the back wall of the garage (facing the residential area) as a noise-control measure. He will put a masonry wall on the back lot line or not, at the Town’s option. And he would not commit to burying the power lines as part of this until he sees the cost of that from Dominion Energy.
My review of the meeting follows.
Jump to:
- Initial discussion by Planning Commission.
- Public comments
- Commission response to public comments
- A few concluding thoughts.
Post #212: Planning Commission meeting TONIGHT 3/27/2019, on 380 Maple West
On Wednesday 3/27/2019 at 8:00 PM in Town Hall, the Planning Commission will have a public hearing to discuss 380 Maple West (40 condos plus retail at the intersection of Maple and Wade Hampton).
PUBLIC COMMENT IS INVITED. You may speak for up to three minutes regarding the 380 Maple West proposal.
Continue reading Post #212: Planning Commission meeting TONIGHT 3/27/2019, on 380 Maple West
Post #211: Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, 3/26/2019
I attended the 7 PM 3/26/2019 meeting of the Town of Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC). The BAC reports to the Town’s Transportation Safety Commission (TSC), and from there to the Town Council.
This BAC matters, in the context of MAC zoning, due to the Town’s much-hyped multi-modal transportation study, aka, the traffic study. “Multi-modal” means that in addition to cars, that study will include travel by bus, bike, foot, and possibly other means. Our Town government bike experts should matter in the ensuing discussion.
I recorded the meeting, and if you click this Google Drive link, your browser should open up an audio player. (If not, you can download it and listen to it.) Many parts are unintelligible as speakers frequently did not use microphones. Click here to get to my index of that recording (what was being discussed, when) is in this post, below.
In theory, the Town will post its own recording, but if so, I have yet to figure out where they are going to post it. Click here to see my final section on Town governance for a further discussion.
Otherwise, the first part of this post is about Capital Bikeshare. Continue reading Post #211: Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, 3/26/2019