Merchant’s Tire left the Town of Vienna last month.
And this month — Va Tire and Auto is moving in. My wife just spotted a help wanted sign.
Could I possibly have been more off-base in my prior post about Merchant’s Tire. No, I don’t think so. That was about as wrong as wrong gets. For an economist, that showed a shocking lack of faith in the market. Mea culpa. Continue reading Merchant’s Tire, 8/17/2018
The Town of Vienna Planning Commission met 8/8/2018 to discuss, among other things, some potential changes to MAC regulations. There were perhaps 20 citizens in attendance, and maybe 8 people got up to speak. My overall take is that MAC zoning will proceed as business-as-usual, with minor changes.
For me, the absolute low point of the evening was when a Commissioner (who shall remain nameless) called out the citizens for spreading false information — and then proceeded to spread false information. Continue reading Planning Commission Meeting 8/8/2018 – Review
Thoroughly updated 8/5/2018: As it turns out, there’s an app for that. And a modern slug is a well-organized slug.
On this page, I argue that maybe the best commuter use of the Mill Street garage is to make it the base for the first successful I-66 slug line from Vienna. And that the Town should work to make that happen. The question I address here is, could that work? Continue reading Slug line
I’m going to start a series of pages that wander through the Vienna Town budget. This is the FY 2018-19 Adopted Budget — for the year starting July 1 2018. At first glance, it’s just a welter of numbers. But if you study a while, a few interesting stories emerge. Continue reading A few items from the Town Budget, 8/10/2018
As I was walking down Maple yesterday evening (7/24/2018), I did a double-take at the former Merchant’s Tire and Auto building (Maple between Lawyers and Center). I hadn’t realized they had vacated that. But the Merchant’s website no longer lists the Vienna location. Continue reading Et tu, Merchant’s? Revised 7/26/2018 to walk back a previous version
Updated 7/24/2018 to add reference to Town of Vienna 2016 Community Survey.
One of the arguments that the Town makes regarding MAC zoning is that it will make Maple Avenue more “walkable”. I find that puzzling, as I walk on Maple all the time. On this page, I want to take the “walkability” issue apart and analyze what I think the Town means by that. My conclusion is that the “walkability” they are aiming for will not reduce car traffic on Maple.
First, 81 percent of Vienna residents are satisfied or very satisfied with the “Safety/ease of walking in Town of Vienna”, according to the Town’s 2016 Community Survey. That certainly matches my impression: Once on Maple, there are no barriers to walking anywhere on Maple. Continue reading Walkability, updated 7/19/2018
Anyone who has walked along Maple during rush hour knows that the traffic generates significant noise. This page answers the question, just how noisy is it?
This is an important question for two reasons. First, the only “public open space” that the Town appears to be getting is small paved areas directly adjacent to Maple Avenue, and the MAC zoning rules appear to enforce that. The Town expects people to enjoy the space directly adjacent to the road. Second, the Town promotes MAC as a way to make Vienna more “walkable“, by which I think they mean that they expect people living on Maple to walk to destinations on Maple. For that as well, high noise levels will be a significant disincentive to walk to Maple Avenue destinations. Continue reading Traffic noise and air pollution adjacent to Maple Avenue, updated 7/28/2018
The Tequila Grande (444 Maple West) MAC project was discussed at the July 9 2018 Town Council meeting. The room was filled to overflowing, nearly 60 citizens spoke, and more-or-less everyone hated the proposed building. Here’s what I learned there, in my estimate of order of importance: Continue reading July 9 2018 Town Council Meeting
Updated 8/1/2018 after I found that the Mill Dominion Residents Association had already made the same points I make here, some time ago. I have included references to their analysis. And again on 8/2/2018 based on updated information in the Town’s last newsletter (.pdf).
The Town is going to pay $4.6M for 121 parking spaces in a new 4-story building on Mill Street, just down the street from the Pennywise Shop. It will replace the building where, among other things, Vienna Hardwoods is located. (Read some reporting, with a drawing of the proposed building, here.) Continue reading Mill Street Parking Garage, updated 7/18/2018