Town of Vienna, VA – Page 33

Review of the 10/4/2018 Town Council work session

At some small risk of sacrilege, I will subtitle this one “An Appeal to Saint Jude”.

I attended the Town Council’s 10/4/2018 work session where they reviewed the revised plans for 444 Maple Avenue West. Though, honestly, sitting here this morning, I’m not sure why I bothered.

Here’s what I think I learned. Five Town Council members will vote for every MAC project, no matter what. Two won’t. Everything else is detail. Until the Town Council changes, every MAC project that complies with the law will be approved. Continue reading Review of the 10/4/2018 Town Council work session

Whom Does Town Government Serve?

I’m not going to answer this one. You decide for yourself. Continue reading Whom Does Town Government Serve?

The traffic legacy of the W&OD railroad, 10/2/2018

Few people other than avid bicyclists know this, but to some degree, the awful traffic on Maple is a legacy of the W&OD railroad. That railroad cut Vienna in half about a century ago. And today, Vienna is still very nearly cut in half. For a roughly 4.5 mile stretch, the W&OD road bed prevented roads from crossing Fairfax County in an East/West direction. And now, for that entire 4.5 mile stretch, the only roads that cross the W&OD are a handful of streets in downtown Vienna. And of those, the only one that can handle any traffic is Maple. Continue reading The traffic legacy of the W&OD railroad, 10/2/2018

Town of Vienna Capital Plan, 9/26/2018

On 9/24/2018, Town council looked at a draft plan for future capital expenditures. This is the “Town of Vienna CIP Review (Fiscal Years 2019-2034) Presented to Council September 24, 2018″. I did not attend that meeting, but I can see from the documents that it differs materially from what was in the current budget. Let me line out the differences that matter vis-a-vis MAC zoning. The major differences I see are: Continue reading Town of Vienna Capital Plan, 9/26/2018

Fox, meet hen house, 9/22/2018

Ever since I first started looking into MAC zoning, I was struck by the absolute and total disconnect between what the citizens of Vienna asked for in the Maple Avenue Vision, and what MAC zoning actually does. I have rung the changes on that theme many times on this website. Continue reading Fox, meet hen house, 9/22/2018

The Mayor’s rhetoric on traffic, 9/5/2018

If you want to know how the Mayor views your concerns about traffic, there’s no better place to start than to look at the Mayor’s own words, here: Continue reading The Mayor’s rhetoric on traffic, 9/5/2018

August 20 Town Council Meeting Review

STATUS OF VOTE ON 444 MAPLE WEST: UNKNOWN

The agenda and meeting materials are now available here, as of 11:30 AM 8/16/2018.

My initial take on this is that the Town is setting this up for approval. They are (e.g.) introducing materials never before presented, all of which support passing this proposal. For example, there’s a fiscal analysis, a re-analysis of the traffic situation and so on. Continue reading August 20 Town Council Meeting Review

The $16M police station renovation, 9/4/2018

The Town of Vienna has budgeted $16M to renovate and expand the police station. In fact, they are planning to raise the meals tax from 3% to 4% to cover (most of) the additional debt service cost that will entail. You can read the details in my posting about the Town capital budget, here. Continue reading The $16M police station renovation, 9/4/2018

First Tuesday in May, 8/22/2018

At the 8/20/2018 Town Council meeting a decision was made to suspend MAC for between 120 and 270 days. In fact, that announcement was how the meeting started. Continue reading First Tuesday in May, 8/22/2018

Review of the 8/20/2018 Town Council Meeting

First a summary of the facts, then detail on the facts and my take on the meeting. Continue reading Review of the 8/20/2018 Town Council Meeting