Category: Town of Vienna, VA

Post #1090: Making decisions about $5,000,000,000 worth of private property based on a $400 self-selected internet survey.

 

I’m a Ph.D. health economist, now retired.  I have significant professional experience in both conducting and analyzing surveys.  I’m only bringing that up so that you’ll know that I have the bona fides to discuss what does and doesn’t work in surveys.

And I don’t think it’s very smart to do what the title of this posting says.  That is, to use a low-quality survey to make decisions affecting roughly five billion dollars’ worth of residential property in the Town of Vienna.

But that’s exactly what the Town of Vienna is doing. 

Worse, for a few hundred dollar’s worth of post cards and stamps, they could easily check the results of their low-quality survey.

But I’m betting that they won’t do that.

Read on if you want to know further details.  First, I’ll describe the Town’s survey and the risk they take in accepting the results.  Then I’ll describe how, for a few hundred dollars, they could avoid that risk entirely.  And why they really, really ought to want to do that.

No screeds this time, other than to point out that I’ve been saying the same thing for years now.  And that we used to have people on Town Council who understood the basics of surveys.  But apparently we don’t any more.  Or they aren’t speaking up.  And that’s a pity. Continue reading Post #1090: Making decisions about $5,000,000,000 worth of private property based on a $400 self-selected internet survey.

Post #1087: Do you want bigger houses in Vienna, VA?

And I don’t mean, “more houses of the size currently being built.”

I mean, do you want the Town to change the zoning rules to allow new houses to be, say, 25 percent larger than the ones currently being built?

The Town is in the process of doing just that.  And here’s the thing.  Nothing that you will see from the Town of Vienna will ever let you know that this is (part of) what the revised zoning will do.  Instead, if you look at what’s available from the Town, you’ll get the impression that this is some harmless revision to allow more outdoor living areas. Continue reading Post #1087: Do you want bigger houses in Vienna, VA?

Post #1068: Save the library by moving it.

The Town of Vienna is now well along on its plans to become Tysons South.  Or perhaps Little Tysons.  The new Town-wide rezoning is being structured to encourage the center of the Town to be converted to a high-density housing district.  The Comprehensive Plan is being rewritten to accommodate the new zoning.   And then, later this year, Town staff will cram all that down Town Council’s throat and dare them not to pass it.  All nice and legal.

One unfortunate early casualty of this is the Patrick Henry Library.  Even as one Town Council set us on this current rezoning path, the next followed in their footsteps and decided to finalize the idea of putting the new Patrick Henry Library underneath a big concrete parking garage.  Like so.  That’s the library, with the yellow awnings.  And that’s the Town of Vienna municipal parking garage on top of it. Continue reading Post #1068: Save the library by moving it.

Post #1065: $22M worth of lipstick for the Town of Vienna

Note how vastly better the right-hand side of the road looks, due to the absence of power lines. /s

The question here is, how much would it cost to take all the utility lines along the main thoroughfare in my home town (Vienna, VA) and put them underground?  This is about a 1.5 mile stretch of five-lane urban arterial road, and is the main business district in Vienna.

The Town just got the official (gu)esstimate from their consultant, who puts the cost at a mere $22M.  Continue reading Post #1065: $22M worth of lipstick for the Town of Vienna

Post #1059: The final Town of Vienna May election.

N.B., That exceeds the population of Herndon because that’s total votes for all open seats, not total voters.

In Post #340, August 2019, I made the case for moving the Town of Vienna elections to November, to coincide with the general election.  If you think that voter participation is a good thing, all you had to so is look to the well-run Town of Herndon to see what happened to voter participation when they did that (above). Continue reading Post #1059: The final Town of Vienna May election.

Post #1056: Town of Vienna, am I having a senior moment, or where’s the sidewalk?

Against my better judgement,  I’m going to start posting occasionally about the Town of Vienna again.  That was, in fact, the original purpose of this website.

I decided to start on an upbeat note.  And so, on one of the nicer days last week, I took a stroll to document some of the  progress the Town had made in putting in new sidewalks.  Using the millions of dollars it had been granted for that purpose by the estate of a former Council member and by reference, a revered former Mayor.

Because, seriously, one posting that combines good weather, free money, a bit of exercise, and civic progress in the form of new sidewalks?  Toss in a kitten on a  roomba and surely this had to be an upbeat post. Continue reading Post #1056: Town of Vienna, am I having a senior moment, or where’s the sidewalk?

Post #1052: The end of pandemic: Sobering up and paying off the bezzle.

Source:  Norm’s Beer and Wine, Vienna VA, nearly one year ago.

Source:  Caffe Amouri, Vienna, VA, yesterday.

The first picture above is a bulk purchase I made early in the pandemic, from a  beer and wine shop here in Vienna, VA (Post #578, Stock Investing 101).  The second is a bulk purchase from a local coffee roaster and coffee shop, made yesterday.

The drugs differ, but the rationale is the same.  This post isn’t literally about the drugs, and it’s not going to propound some some false dichotomy between ethanol or caffeine as the favored recreational drug of the pandemic.  This post explains why we need to keep supporting local merchants as the U.S. recovers from the COVID pandemic.  Plausibly, they need your purchases now more then ever.  Continue reading Post #1052: The end of pandemic: Sobering up and paying off the bezzle.

Post #876: Town of Vienna, please see the forest through the trees.

This will be of no interest to anyone outside of the Town of Vienna.  Unless you are a student of how “silo thinking” can lead to truly inefficient decisions.

Let me cut to the chase.  The Town of Vienna is using a $16M piece of land to produce (arguably) $20,000 in annual cost savings to the Town.  Probably, less than that.  And using that in such a way that, in practice, prevents any better use of that valuable property for benefit of Town residents in general. Continue reading Post #876: Town of Vienna, please see the forest through the trees.

Post #832: Trick-or-Treat 2020, the Simplified Rules

Source: The Patch.

Homeowners / Candy Givers

  • DO place individual bags of candy in a location clearly visible to passers-by.
  • DO wave at trick-or-treaters from behind a window or glass storm door.
  • DON’T attempt to give out candy face-to-face.

Trick-or-Treaters and their families

  • DO go trick-or-treating with your family (only).
  • DO yell “trick-or-treat” as you take a bag of candy.
  • DO wave back at the homeowners / candy givers.
  • DO wave and say hello from a safe distance as you pass friends and neighbors.
  • DON’T approach a house unless bags of candy are clearly visible.
  • DON’T ring the doorbell or knock on the door.
  • DON’T accept candy face-to-face.

This is my proposal for a simple set of rules that allows for safe trick-or-treating during the pandemic.  Obviously, this is for families and homeowners / candy givers who choose to participate this year. Continue reading Post #832: Trick-or-Treat 2020, the Simplified Rules