Silver Line completion remains a soft target
Once ‘substantial completion’ is achieved, Metro has 90 days to begin service
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/article/20131211/NEWS/131219667/1117/silver-line-completion-remains-a-soft-target&template=fairfaxTimes

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority is opting not to project a new completion date for the first phase of the Silver Line.

There are too many variables to be able to accurately project completion, Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project Executive Director Pat Nowakowski told the authority’s Board of Directors on Wednesday.

“I am reluctant, at this point in time, to put a date on it,” Nowakowski said. “We are working aggressively and as quickly as possible.”

The Silver Line was originally slated to open by the end of this year but, earlier this year, the date of “substantial completion” was pushed back by about two months, pushing the start of service to early 2014. Substantial completion marks the point at which the airports authority accepts the project from its contractor and can transfer the system to Metro.

A second delay occurred during the testing phase. As recounted by MWAA board member Frank “Rusty” Conner, the contractor responsible for the automated train control system, Allcom, discovered a problem during testing and needed more time to address the issue.

Based on the timeline Nowakowski presented on Wednesday, it will be at least another three weeks before the project is ready to hand over to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority.

Nowakowski said the next step is for Allcom’s engineers to present their proposed solution to MWAA’s engineering team, which was slated to happen on Wednesday. If all the engineers are in agreement on the solution, the software fix can be installed fairly quickly and retested, he said.

Once that is complete, the project still has to pass one big test — running simulated train service. Nowakowski said that, because of conflicts with the Orange Line, Metro can only accommodate this testing overnight between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Therefore, every missed opportunity to conduct that test causes a one-week delay.

After the simulated train service test is complete, contractor Dulles Transit Partners has to finish compiling the reports and other documentation required to demonstrate that the project has reached substantial completion. Nowakowski said he believes this will take two to three days after the simulated service testing.

MWAA has 15 days to review the documentation and either agree or disagree that the project is at substantial completion. Once the agency accepts the work of its contractor, it can turn the system over to WMATA.

Metro then has 90 days to make its final preparations to begin service on the Silver Line.

“They have indicated to us that they’re going to try and beat that, but that is something that is totally within their control,” Nowakowski said.

So now we have yet another delay for the Silver Line Completion. This was no surprise, because we had seen some other threads on this. But now they won't commit to any date? Why aren't our elected leaders holding the contractor's feet to the fire? Each time this is delayed, its more tax money being spent.

So where is he? Bob used to be the "Avenging Angel" of this subject and is nowhere to be found.

I don't give a shit. Let the shitty masses use the Metro. I'm quite content to drive my comfy Acura TL to work every day.

I'll assume "at least 3 weeks" = 4 weeks + 15 days + 90 days = Around May 1st.

Wasn't it supposed to open for this season's Christmas rush?

Projected Timeline Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'll assume "at least 3 weeks" = 4 weeks + 15 days
> + 90 days = Around May 1st.
>
> Wasn't it supposed to open for this season's
> Christmas rush?

Yes

fuckemall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't give a shit. Let the shitty masses use
> the Metro. I'm quite content to drive my comfy
> Acura TL to work every day.


Quite Honestly, I'm not going to take the Nigger Hauler. Maybe if there is a massive snow storm, but then again, the Hauler gets fucked up in the bad weather also. What fucking good is it?

Soft target deadlines in bureaucratic speck means we fucked this up so badly we don't know when it will work. If you are a government contractor or are in the construction trade soft target deadlines are the firm deadline for completing the work that you knew you wouldn't meet when you took the job.

I'm really looking forward to completion of the Silver Line.

commuter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm really looking forward to completion of the
> Silver Line.


Yeah, if you have to deal with that fucking toll road everyday, it would be a nice option..Pay all of that money just to sit in traffic.

I predict the Silver Line will not be completed until July. Any takers?

Predictions now Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I predict the Silver Line will not be completed
> until July. Any takers?


What year?

No chance it's done by july 2014

Remember when a certain douchebag assured us a few months ago that Metro was the greatest thing since sliced bread and there was NO POSSIBLE WAY the Silver Line would be delayed. I believe he also said that anyone who thought differently was just an ignorant moron. But then again he pretty much thought everyone besides himself was an ignorant moron.

I think his name screen name was Vienna Architect, or something like that.

What ever happened to him?

Tysons Engineer.

Bill.N. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Tysons Engineer.

I think your sarcasm detector is malfunctioning.

Gee, another asshole Silver Line thread. I guess some just can't get enough stupid.

Error, error. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bill.N. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Tysons Engineer.
>
> I think your sarcasm detector is malfunctioning.

You're probably correct. I didn't get much sleep last night.

The delays in the Dulles Rail / Silver Line Phase 1 completion are unfortunate, but that is just another smokescreen. Even if the delays cost $2 million a month, and even if the opening is delayed six months, the resulting $12 million cost is small, compared to the overcharge for any ONE of the parking garages or rail stations in this project. Why aren't people concerned about the overcharges?

People should really be looking at the excessive prices in the whole Silver Line job. How about the $1.4 Billion charge for 'Professional Services' (about $700 million in each phase)? There must be some very happy professionals out there! But the spotlight has been orchestrated to point at the delay. And gee, if the orchestrated spotlight points there, well then that's all we are supposed to think about, isn't it. That's why nobody mentions the OUTRAGEOUS overcosts. Well, nobody but me, it seems.

The prices for Phase 1 were hidden in the Public-Private Partnership of that deal. Look up the documents available to lowly citizens, and you will find a whole lot of black stripes covering up the line item prices. That allows those prices to be ridiculous. But you can see what happened to the Phase 1 Wiehle Avenue parking garage estimate - it started inside of the Phase 1 project at $26 million in August 2007 per Fairfax County, and of course it quickly proceeded to balloon to $47.6 million in September 2007 per FTA and MWAA. That got it dumped onto Fairfax County, where it continued to balloon to $87 million in February 2011 per Reston Patch, to $90 million in June 2012 per Fairfax County, to $121.4 million in September 2012 per Fairfax County.

The whole Dulles Rail project was supposed to be affordable when it was first presented, but then the bait-and-switch game jacked the price right into the sky, and all we got were political games from MWAA, our political 'leaders', and a bunch of fake-name comment trolls, all releasing huge quantities of red herrings, and busily misrepresenting the facts and the issues. And then even when the US DOT Inspector General exposed MWAA for the bad actor circus that it is, former US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood proceeded to congratulate that collection of powerful, politically-connected bigwigs for 'getting better'. And the public just stares blankly.

Look at the prices.

Above-ground parking garages at $32,462 to $41,560 per space? That's mighty high, when nearby Herndon, Virginia expects to pay $15,000 per space for its own town parking garage.

An elevated rail station at Dulles Airport for $268.5 million? That's insane. But that is the number that MWAA recently released, while looking to raise passenger boarding fees at Reagan Airport to help pay their 4.1% non Dulles Toll Road share of the Dulles Rail project.

$268.5 million is a RIDICUOUSLY high price for an elevated rail station. But, ridiculous prices are entirely typical of this rail project. This region will probably never finish paying for this robbery - but people are only worried about a few months of delay.

The second phase of this project was approved based on a shell game of a conditional removal of expenses from the project (the parking garages and a rail station, to be arranged by the counties - IF they can get the money). And already, Fairfax County could only get about half of the money for the rail station, so the shell game escape clause was very quietly invoked back in May 2013, and the $89 million rail station cost went back into the project books. YOU were never told, except by me when I discovered it in August 2013. And nobody but me is talking about how that change added tens of millions of dollars of cost to the tollroad tollpayers, Loudoun County and MWAA. Now it is not even clear if the half-funding for the rail station will be provided at all, or where it will be applied if it IS provided. Of course, that's $41 million from NVTA that comes from Northern Virginia taxpayers, so it's just a big game of "who gets stuck with the bill" anyway. How could it be otherwise? The prices are ridiculously high!

Prices are ballooning on projects like these, and every new project points at the prices for the jobs that were overpriced before. People need to pay attention when prices are too high. But all they do is worry about delays - if they are even aware of the project at all. People need to wise up.

Thanks Bob, I so miss your articles on these scandals with this and other related projects.

Bob Bruhns Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The delays in the Dulles Rail / Silver Line Phase
> 1 completion are unfortunate, but that is just
> another smokescreen. Even if the delays cost $2
> million a month, and even if the opening is
> delayed six months, the resulting $12 million cost
> is small, compared to the overcharge for any ONE
> of the parking garages or rail stations in this
> project. Why aren't people concerned about the
> overcharges?

People aren't concerned because most of them are not assholes. Many undertstand the difference between projected and actual costs and between projected and actual timelines. You don't seem to be one of those.

Where is Bob Bruhns? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks Bob, I so miss your articles on these
> scandals with this and other related projects.

Yes, yes...a scandal behind every bush. Did the four-mile Dulles Aerotrain end up costing $1.4 billion? Did the cost of the Springfield interchange double between the start of construction and completion? That's the real world, folks. You know -- the place Where the grown-ups live.

"Yes, yes...a scandal behind every bush. Did the four-mile Dulles Aerotrain end up costing $1.4 billion?"

Interesting that the very first example that you chose to point to, was a grossly overpriced project that was ALSO managed by MWAA. Thanks for making my point.

As I said, prices are ballooning on projects like these, and every new project points at the prices for the jobs that were overpriced before. People need to wise up to the pen-name operatives, and pay attention when prices are too high.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> People aren't concerned because most of them are
> not assholes. Many undertstand the difference
> between projected and actual costs and between
> projected and actual timelines. You don't seem to
> be one of those.

You're argument is ridiculous. These are tax dollars we're talking about here.

Bob Bruhns Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting that the very first example that you
> chose to point to, was a grossly overpriced
> project that was ALSO managed by MWAA. Thanks for
> making my point.

Your point is that particularly large scale projects tend to take more time and money to complete than is originally projected. In other startling revelations, the sky is blue, and the sun rises in the east.

> As I said, prices are ballooning on projects like
> these, and every new project points at the prices
> for the jobs that were overpriced before. People
> need to wise up to the pen-name operatives, and
> pay attention when prices are too high.

People need to wise up to the fact that there are always going to be fault-finding Chicken Little pedants and whiners whose quixotic ramblings would lead us to improve and develop nothing. These people are a part of the problem and need to be ignored.

Where is Bob Bruhns? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're argument is ridiculous. These are tax
> dollars we're talking about here.

Tax dollars are not different from other dollars. Take an econ course. Too many have been browbeaten by ludicrous corporate media into belief that tax dollars are somehow the equivalent of saintly relics to be venerated, preserved, and cherished. It's all hooey. Taxes are merely the means by which we pay for public goods and services. Nothing more. There is no reason for Gregorian chants to be playing in the background when we talk about tax dollars.

I read anything Silver Line when I see it on the web. I am interested to see if everyone around here thinks its as much of a disaster as I do.

I am working on Phase 2 right now. I work for one of the companies that makes up the joint venture that won the project. Nobody thought we would win the job and nobody in my office wants anything to do with it whatsoever. It is difficult to get anyone to work on it.

You people would not believe what this project looks like from the inside. I'm just a worker bee, so I don't get to see everything, but I tell you that I've seen enough. I would estimate that 50% of the "work" we do on this project has almost nothing to do with building anything. Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours are spent/billed on things that don't have much relevance. Someone in this thread mentioned the $1.4 billion price tag on phase 1 for "professional services." If the taxpayers actually knew what that was, there would be a revolution tomorrow morning.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where is Bob Bruhns? Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You're argument is ridiculous. These are tax
> > dollars we're talking about here.
>
> Tax dollars are not different from other dollars.
> Take an econ course. Too many have been
> browbeaten by ludicrous corporate media into
> belief that tax dollars are somehow the equivalent
> of saintly relics to be venerated, preserved, and
> cherished. It's all hooey. Taxes are merely the
> means by which we pay for public goods and
> services. Nothing more. There is no reason for
> Gregorian chants to be playing in the background
> when we talk about tax dollars.

Well I'm a project manager, and projects that go past their dates mean serious budget issues. As we are both taxpayers, I would have assumed you would want your tax dollars spent wisely. Am I right? Hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overuns = poor planning/management.

SilverLinePhase2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read anything Silver Line when I see it on the
> web. I am interested to see if everyone around
> here thinks its as much of a disaster as I do.
> I am working on Phase 2 right now. I work for one
> of the companies that makes up the joint venture
> that won the project. Nobody thought we would win
> the job and nobody in my office wants anything to
> do with it whatsoever. It is difficult to get
> anyone to work on it. You people would not believe
> what this project looks like from the inside. I'm
> just a worker bee, so I don't get to see everything,
> but I tell you that I've seen enough. I would
> estimate that 50% of the "work" we do on this project
> has almost nothing to do with building anything.
> Hundreds, if not thousands, of hours are spent/billed
> on things that don't have much relevance. Someone in
> this thread mentioned the $1.4 billion price tag
> on phase 1 for "professional services." If the
> taxpayers actually knew what that was, there would
> be a revolution tomorrow morning.

In reality, you don't even play a Phase-2 worker on TV. You're just another ranting right-wing anti-transit puffball caught in a worse than 4th grade attempt to enhance your own nonexistent credibility. Pathetic.

Where is Bob Bruhns? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well I'm a project manager...

Last hired, first fired? Just sayin'. And of course, actual project managers would understand that the time and cost estimates they plug into their software are just that -- estimates. They are dependent upon what is and can be known at a particular point in time. These are not fixed or static in any sense, and no serious person ever takes them to be,

> ...and projects that go past their dates mean serious
> budget issues.

So, you are saying that costs go up over time? Wow! How many of us would have realized that without your having told us about it. Thanks so much.

> As we are both taxpayers, I would have assumed you
> would want your tax dollars spent wisely. Am I right?
> Hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overuns =
> poor planning/management.

HINT: Your say-so on things like "wise" and "poor" means less than nothing. The whining and carping of clowns and troglodytes has brought no improvement to the Dulles Corridor Rail project at all. Only pointless and costly delays. Be proud.

The Realist Wrote:
>
> In reality, you don't even play a Phase-2 worker
> on TV. You're just another ranting right-wing
> anti-transit puffball caught in a worse than 4th
> grade attempt to enhance your own nonexistent
> credibility. Pathetic.

You're funny. I'm not right-wing or anti-transit. Been in the infrastructure/engineering field for well over a decade, and all of it has been spent in the metropolitan area, so I'm pretty familiar with how these big projects go.

You're just another rant-filled FFXU moron who exercises their above-average vocabulary in an effort to hide the fact that they are talking directly out of their ass. Hope you enjoyed the diarrhea cereal that you obviously ate for breakfast this morning :)

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where is Bob Bruhns? Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Well I'm a project manager...
>
> Last hired, first fired? Just sayin'. And of
> course, actual project managers would understand
> that the time and cost estimates they plug into
> their software are just that -- estimates. They
> are dependent upon what is and can be known at a
> particular point in time. These are not fixed or
> static in any sense, and no serious person ever
> takes them to be,
>
> > ...and projects that go past their dates mean
> serious
> > budget issues.
>
> So, you are saying that costs go up over time?
> Wow! How many of us would have realized that
> without your having told us about it. Thanks so
> much.
>
> > As we are both taxpayers, I would have assumed
> you
> > would want your tax dollars spent wisely. Am I
> right?
> > Hundreds of millions of dollars in cost overuns
> =
> > poor planning/management.
>
> HINT: Your say-so on things like "wise" and
> "poor" means less than nothing. The whining and
> carping of clowns and troglodytes has brought no
> improvement to the Dulles Corridor Rail project at
> all. Only pointless and costly delays. Be proud.

The Realist =
Attachments:

Phase-2 worker on TV Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You're funny. I'm not right-wing or anti-transit.
> Been in the infrastructure/engineering field for
> well over a decade, and all of it has been spent
> in the metropolitan area, so I'm pretty familiar
> with how these big projects go.

You're sad. No one with pertinent credentials would post as you do. Or claim that experience on one project made him an expert on all of them. You are a fraud, pure and simple.

> You're just another rant-filled FFXU moron who
> exercises their above-average vocabulary in an
> effort to hide the fact that they are talking
> directly out of their ass. Hope you enjoyed the
> diarrhea cereal that you obviously ate for
> breakfast this morning :)

Way to put that grade school nonsense on the table. From the claims, one would have thought you capable of more. Guess not.

????? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist =

I will take as a compliment the fact that the best you could do was so utterly feeble. Projections such as project budgets and timelines have a short shelf-life and need regular updating due to changing demands and constraints. Pinheads of course fall short of perceiving this elementary fact. There is further nothing beyond a bunch of puerile propaganda to suggest that dollars in the public sector are qualitatively any different from dollars in the private sector. Again, scant evidence of perception among pinheads.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ????? Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > The Realist =
>
> I will take as a compliment the fact that the best
> you could do was so utterly feeble. Projections
> such as project budgets and timelines have a short
> shelf-life and need regular updating due to
> changing demands and constraints. Pinheads of
> course fall short of perceiving this elementary
> fact. There is further nothing beyond a bunch of
> puerile propaganda to suggest that dollars in the
> public sector are qualitatively any different from
> dollars in the private sector. Again, scant
> evidence of perception among pinheads.

Says the feeble minded mental-midget with poor math skills.

Does anyone else think this douchebag "The Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other douchebag "Tysons Engineer"?

He's got the exact same condescending "my shit doesn't stink" tone to his posts.

Isn't it interesting how often when people say "You wouldn't understand...", what they are really saying is that this is something where normal morality, logic or legal norms should not apply.

A Dbag by any other name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone else think this douchebag "The
> Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other
> douchebag "Tysons Engineer"?
>
> He's got the exact same condescending "my shit
> doesn't stink" tone to his posts.


Then don't read their posts...

BITCH ASS BABY

GO FUCK YOURSELF

A Dbag by any other name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone else think this douchebag "The
> Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other
> douchebag "Tysons Engineer"?
>
> He's got the exact same condescending "my shit
> doesn't stink" tone to his posts.


Then don't read their posts...

BITCH ASS BABY

GO FUCK YOURSELF

A Dbag by any other name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone else think this douchebag "The
> Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other
> douchebag "Tysons Engineer"?
>
> He's got the exact same condescending "my shit
> doesn't stink" tone to his posts.


Then don't read their posts...

BITCH ASS BABY

GO FUCK YOURSELF

????? Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Says the feeble minded mental-midget with poor
> math skills.

Actually, my math skills are quite good. I'm not sure that the gang here has any skills at all, so I'll repeat a few things for the benefit of those who are extremely slow on the uptake...

Projections such as project budgets and timelines have a short shelf-life
and need regular updating due to changing demands and constraints. Pinheads
of course fall short of perceiving this elementary fact. There is further
nothing beyond a bunch of puerile propaganda to suggest that dollars in the
public sector are qualitatively any different from dollars in the private
sector. Again, scant evidence of perception among pinheads.

Could you follow along any better that time, or is it all still too far above your grasp and pay-grade?

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ????? Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Says the feeble minded mental-midget with poor
> > math skills.
>
> Actually, my math skills are quite good. I'm not
> sure that the gang here has any skills at all, so
> I'll repeat a few things for the benefit of those
> who are extremely slow on the uptake...
>
> Projections such as project budgets and
> timelines have a short shelf-life
> and need regular updating due to changing
> demands and constraints. Pinheads
> of course fall short of perceiving this
> elementary fact. There is further
> nothing beyond a bunch of puerile propaganda to
> suggest that dollars in the
> public sector are qualitatively any different
> from dollars in the private
> sector. Again, scant evidence of perception
> among pinheads.
>
> Could you follow along any better that time, or is
> it all still too far above your grasp and
> pay-grade?


YOU SIR ARE A DUMBASS

A Dbag by any other name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone else think this douchebag "The
> Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other
> douchebag "Tysons Engineer"?
>
> He's got the exact same condescending "my shit
> doesn't stink" tone to his posts.

Probably the same guy. Its hard to imitate that level of self-satisfied arrogance.

And he even changed his name a 3rd time and posted as Baby Crying to try and defend himself. Pathetic.

A Dbag by any other name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone else think this douchebag "The
> Realist" sounds an awful lot like that other
> douchebag "Tysons Engineer"? He's got the
> exact same condescending "my shit doesn't
> stink" tone to his posts.

The problem that so many here have is that everything they post absoluteey does stink. No talent, no background, no knowledge, no value, no point. Tysons Engineer's problem is that while he does know quite a lot and is capable of useful commentary, he assumes that he knows everything there is to know when that is not the case. The Realist understands only too well that there are many things that he doesn't understand. It's just that -- like so much else -- you all don't understand any of those things either.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The problem that so many here have is that
> everything they post absoluteey does stink. No
> talent, no background, no knowledge, no value, no
> point. Tysons Engineer's problem is that while he
> does know quite a lot and is capable of useful
> commentary, he assumes that he knows everything
> there is to know when that is not the case. The
> Realist understands only too well that there are
> many things that he doesn't understand. It's just
> that -- like so much else -- you all don't
> understand any of those things either.

Ah, I see at last. Realist is really a quitter. Oh well it's raining outside and there's nothing we can do about it. Oh woe is me.

Pssst...Guess what? Every problem has a solution. If you don't know what it is, get the hell out of the way.

Bill.N. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Isn't it interesting how often when people say
> "You wouldn't understand...", what they are really
> saying is that this is something where normal
> morality, logic or legal norms should not apply.

What you want to call "normal" may in fact be long ago outdated and demonstrably inferior. If it were the case that everyone was on the job and on the ball, there would be no need for terms like "early adopter", "laggard", or finally "misbegotten troglodyte".

Baby Crying Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Then don't read their posts...
> BITCH ASS BABY
> GO FUCK YOURSELF

Fair enough, but once would probably have been enough.

The Realist is a Retard Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> YOU SIR ARE A DUMBASS

Certainly proven through your inability to raise even a single salient point in response to or contradiction of anything I have posted. You, sir, are making an utter ass of yourself. Which was quite possibly unavoidable.

I can see clearly now. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, I see at last. Realist is really a quitter. Oh
> well it's raining outside and there's nothing we
> can do about it. Oh woe is me. Pssst...Guess what?
> Every problem has a solution. If you don't know what
> it is, get the hell out of the way.

If a train is coming, it is NOT you. Nor any of these other useless clowns. Meanwhile, I suggest you go back and reread the earlier post. Its meaning seems to have gone sailing right through your dilapidated little podunk station.

Dear lord, please have animal control catch The Realist and remove his ovaries so that he may not spawn.

Ah, classic FFXU thread: 10% about the actual topic, 90% people flaming each other.

Oh Noes! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Dear lord, please have animal control catch The
> Realist and remove his ovaries so that he may not
> spawn.

Too late. Not to mention too stupid. I suspect that you however still have time to work hard and pay attention in school and perhaps even eventually learn something. Smart is beautiful, you know. Dumb is a downer. Hot chics don't dig dumb at all. Not in this economy.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a Retard Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > YOU SIR ARE A DUMBASS
>
> Certainly proven through your inability to raise
> even a single salient point in response to or
> contradiction of anything I have posted. You,
> sir, are making an utter ass of yourself. Which
> was quite possibly unavoidable.

You know you are not getting any chics. Unless you are bisexual? HOMO's get guys not girls..

snowdenscold Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Ah, classic FFXU thread: 10% about the actual
> topic, 90% people flaming each other.

The ass-clowns ran out of material quite a long time ago. Here are a few of the actual points that have been raised...

Many understand the difference between projected and actual costs and between projected and actual timelines. Did the four-mile Dulles Aerotrain end up costing $1.4 billion? Did the cost of the Springfield interchange double between the start of construction and completion? That's the real world, folks.
-----
Tax dollars are not different from other dollars. Take an econ course. Too many have been browbeaten by ludicrous corporate media into belief that tax dollars are somehow the equivalent of saintly relics to be venerated, preserved, and cherished. It's all hooey. Taxes are merely the means by which we pay for public goods and services. Nothing more. There is no reason for Gregorian chants to be playing in the background when we talk about tax dollars.
-----
...actual project managers would understand that the time and cost estimates they plug into their software are just that -- estimates. They are dependent upon what is and can be known at a particular point in time. These are not fixed or static in any sense, and no serious person ever takes them to be,

None of these points received any sort of serious response. Just one childish whine after another. The majority of folks at FFXU don't seem capable of anything better.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> None of these points received any sort of serious
> response. Just one childish whine after another.
> The majority of folks at FFXU don't seem capable
> of anything better.

Agreed, especially this guy...

The Realist

The Realist is a HOMO Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You know you are not getting any chics. Unless you
> are bisexual? HOMO's get guys not girls.

Dude, I'm 70 years old, and I still have more tail chasing after me than you do. Smart is beautiful, I'm telling you. You're rapidly running out of time to get your shit together on that score. Nobody needs a connection to a dumb shit.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a HOMO Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You know you are not getting any chics. Unless
> you
> > are bisexual? HOMO's get guys not girls.
>
> Dude, I'm 70 years old, and I still have more tail
> chasing after me than you do. Smart is beautiful,
> I'm telling you. You're rapidly running out of
> time to get your shit together on that score.
> Nobody needs a connection to a dumb shit.


Sorry....you are an OLD HOMO...my apologies to you and your partner.

Backflip Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Agreed, especially this guy...The Realist

So another punk-mouth without any actual arrows in the quiver. Where I'm from, we call that...

A HOOT

.
Attachments:

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a HOMO Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > You know you are not getting any chics. Unless
> you
> > are bisexual? HOMO's get guys not girls.
>
> Dude, I'm 70 years old, and I still have more tail
> chasing after me than you do.

I doubt it...
Attachments:

The Realist is a QUEEN Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry....you are an OLD HOMO...my apologies to you
> and your partner.

No, in stark contrast to yourself, I am a veteran smart person with as many women and children as I know what to do with. You should be so lucky one day, but very likely will not be.

Mr. Mean Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I doubt it...

BFD.

.
Attachments:

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a QUEEN Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sorry....you are an OLD HOMO...my apologies to
> you
> > and your partner.
>
> No, in stark contrast to yourself, I am a veteran
> smart person with as many women and children as I
> know what to do with. You should be so lucky one
> day, but very likely will not be.

Hhahahhahahahahahahhaha! Who spends his entire day debating with middle schoolers...And still didn't win.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a QUEEN Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sorry....you are an OLD HOMO...my apologies to
> you
> > and your partner.
>
> No, in stark contrast to yourself, I am a veteran
> smart person with as many women and children as I
> know what to do with. You should be so lucky one
> day, but very likely will not be.


Congratulations to you and your partner on all of those adoptions. Hopefully real soon before you die VA will allow Gay Marriage. I look forward to you and your partner tying the knot.

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Realist is a QUEEN Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Sorry....you are an OLD HOMO...my apologies to
> you
> > and your partner.
>
> No, in stark contrast to yourself, I am a veteran
> smart person with as many women and children as I
> know what to do with. You should be so lucky one
> day, but very likely will not be.

The staff at the nursing home don't really count. Sorry...

The Realist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bill.N. Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Isn't it interesting how often when people say
> > "You wouldn't understand...", what they are
> really
> > saying is that this is something where normal
> > morality, logic or legal norms should not
> apply.
>
> What you want to call "normal" may in fact be long
> ago outdated and demonstrably inferior.

Which is simply another way of saying "You wouldn't understand...."

If you were being honest with us you would admit that the initial estimates were not merely incorrect. They were works of fiction designed to qualify the program for some level of Federal support, and also to insure that it was able to obtain the necessary approvals from the relevant local governmental entities. This was a project that many opponents were arguing from the beginning was seriously off when it came to cost v. benefits. Had there been a real understanding among the electorate what the actual cost would be, and had commuters on the Dulles Toll Road been told what would actually happen to their tolls, it is almost certain that this project wouldn't have been built.

Interesting that you have mentioned the Springfield interchange. A study of that project indicated a substantial portion of the overruns were largely due to "understated project costs because it excluded known, planned and easily predictable costs that are standard cost elements in major highway construction projects". Dulles AeroTrain-Do you really want to rely on another example under the control of MWAA? Why not throw in Boston's Big Dig, one of the most mismanaged projects in national history?

Bill.N. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Which is simply another way of saying "You
> wouldn't understand...."

Which is simply another way of saying that you don't understand. The Silver Line is not some new-fangled idea. Recognition of the need for transit dates from the early 1960's and a DC Transit proposal to build a monorail line from Georgetown to the airport. The FAA's Dulles master plan in 1964 included both the Access Road and the still-to-be-decided rail line running in the median. The "K Route" metrorail plan for the corridor came about in the 1970's and was ultimately endorsed by the FAA in the 1980's. This resulted in the 1985 DARTrail proposal that essentially defined the Silver Line that was just built. The mid-track pier for the Silver Line flyover of I-66 was poured as Metro was extended through West Falls Church at about that same time. Local tax districts and state funding buy-ins were in place by 1990. In other words, this has all been going on for quite a long while and budget and timeline projections have been a part of all of it, each generation of those of course being replaced by the next because -- THAT'S HOW THESE THINGS WORK. Projections are a snapshot from a particular point in time. As time passes, conditions change and the projections need to be redone. As it was in the beginning, is now, and evermore shall be.

> If you were being honest with us you would admit
> that the initial estimates were not merely
> incorrect. They were works of fiction designed to
> qualify the program for some level of Federal
> support, and also to insure that it was able to
> obtain the necessary approvals from the relevant
> local governmental entities.

I'm sorry to say that this is complete and utter horseshit. You could hardly be more confused as to the actual process. Eligibility for state and federal funding was a givem, as it exists by definition. The Feds were in fact already providing money directly to the Silver Line project in 1991. As noted above, the state and local buy-ins had come a year earlier. Stakeholders typically have their own budgets and their own interests. These are what need to be dove-tailed as a multi-party project takes its final form. Various stakeholders also have their own staff and their own sets of projections. There was no single example from the lengthy iteration of anyone's projections that could have tricked or hoodwinked anyone else except perhaps for gullible and out-of-the-loop private citizens looking for some bone to pick.

> This was a project that many opponents were arguing
> from the beginning was seriously off when it came to
> cost v. benefits.

So was the Revolutionary War. The fact that some people were against the project for whatever inexplicable reasons carries no weight at all. Some people can be found who are against just about anything.

> Had there been a real understanding among the electorate
> what the actual cost would be,..

Gee, I thought you were all against such "You just don't understand" arguments. Pretty two-faced to be dragging one in at this point.

> ...and had commuters on the Dulles Toll Road been
> told what would actually happen to their tolls, it
> is almost certain that this project wouldn't have
> been built.

The state transportation board ordered Silver Line set-asides from DTR tolls in 1990. It was in all the papers and has been many dozens of times since. Maybe people should have cut back on their "American Idol" consumption.

> Interesting that you have mentioned the Springfield interchange.

Like AeroTrain, the Springfield Interchange Project is just an example of a large and recent infrastructure project that people are likely to be familiar with. The point to be taken is that their cost and time-frame projections grew over time. This is again because THAT'S HOW THESE THINGS WORK. Being shocked and dismayed that things turned out as expected is simply silly.

'The Realist' is correct that the bait and switch game that brings us incredible project price hyperinflation is common practice.

Where 'The Realist' goes wrong is to conclude that since it is common practice for a remarkably unquestioned class of economic rulers to rob the People for just about every infrastructure project that is built, therefore it is right, proper and financially sustainable for that robbery to continue - even though, for example, Northern Virginia alone is looking at a three Billion dollar transportation budget hole, while Virginia is looking at a $20 Billion hole in its retirement fund, and the USA is looking at $17 Trillion of national debt, etc, etc, etc. We can't afford to waste money, but the so-called 'Realists' are saying "Just shut up and keep shoveling unnecessary and unjustifiable debt onto yourself, and your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc, until you all choke on it."

When you stop and think about it, it is obvious why the people who say that to us, use fake pen names to do so. When their pet projects are seen to have been disasters, they don't have any intention of answering for their bogus statements and claims. They will simply change pen names, or disappear as they move out of the formerly prosperous area.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/2013 10:28AM by Bob Bruhns.

Bob Bruhns Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 'The Realist' is correct that the bait and switch
> game that brings us incredible project price
> hyperinflation is common practice.

'The Realist' would also be correct in pointing out that there has been no "bait and switch game" involved with the Silver Line construction, and that this term -- along with such absurd notions as "incredible hyperinflation" -- is an example of mere hypebole made necessary by the fact that Silver Line critics lack defensible facts to put on the table.

> Where 'The Realist' goes wrong is to conclude that
> since it is common practice for a remarkably
> unquestioned class of economic rulers to rob the
> People for just about every infrastructure project
> that is built, therefore it is right, proper and
> financially sustainable for that robbery to
> continue - even though, for example, Northern
> Virginia alone is looking at a three Billion
> dollar transportation budget hole, while Virginia
> is looking at a $20 Billion hole in its retirement
> fund, and the USA is looking at $17 Trillion of
> national debt, etc, etc, etc.

This is nothing but paranoid TEA Party nonsense. There is no other basis for it. There is no "robbery" going on and there is no "ruling class" somewhere perpetrating or perpetuating that robbery. What there has been over many decades now is a succession of at least hundreds of elected officials and thousands of staff members across multiple jurisdictions convening inumerable meetings and public hearings to develop and implement the best possible means for getting what has been one of the area's top transportaion priorities for half a century built and paid for. What a terrible thing that they were successful at this in the end.

> We can't afford to waste money, but the so-called
> 'Realists' are saying "Just shut up and keep shoveling
> unnecessary and unjustifiable debt onto yourself,
> and your children, grandchildren, great
> grandchildren, etc, until you all choke on it."

What 'Realists' are pointing out is a gross fiscal incompetence and absence of real-world connectivity that are each so rampant among FFXU's Silver Line critics. Also to be noted are the various forms of free-floating gloom-and-doom emotionalism that so exclusively underpin so many of their swiss-cheese arguments. The so-called "Greatest Generation" for instance dumped a considerably larger pile of debt onto us than anything we will be dumping onto any of our descendants, and how much pain can anyone say they are feeling from that?

> When you stop and think about it, it is obvious
> why the people who say that to us, use fake pen
> names to do so. When their pet projects are seen
> to have been disasters, they don't have any
> intention of answering for their bogus statements
> and claims. They will simply change pen names, or
> disappear as they move out of the formerly
> prosperous area.

'The Realist' will be happy to stand and defend his statements just as soon as any rational argument can be raised against them. That has not happened yet and is not actually expected to. The fact that maladroit insouciants choose for their own entirely specious reasons to proclaim this or that project a disaster does not register on the Richter scale of rational debate. Put some meat on those hapless bones or be gone.