VARCom President Leads the Northern Virginia Business
Community on Rail to Dulles
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video below.
Businesses back rail to Dulles
By
Tom Ramstack
February 2, 2008
The Washington Times Danny
Vargas, chairman of the
Dulles Regional Chamber of
Commerce, was joined by area
business leaders yesterday
in announcing support for
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine's
efforts to resuscitate plans
for a Metrorail extension to
Dulles.
Northern Virginia business
leaders stood solidly behind
Gov. Tim Kaine's pledge
yesterday to complete a
Metrorail extension to
Washington Dulles International
Airport, even if the state must
change its plans to meet federal
guidelines.
Virginia's "unshakeable goal ...
is to make this project work and
to do so in partnership with the
federal government," Mr. Kaine
said in a letter to U.S.
Transportation Secretary Mary E.
Peters.
Business leaders led by the
Dulles Regional Chamber of
Commerce yesterday produced a
petition they plan to present to
the Department of Transportation
in support of a passenger rail
line from Tysons Corner to
Dulles.
The
petition was signed by some of
the region's biggest employers,
including Northrop Grumman, AOL,
Kaiser Permanente, Howard Hughes
Medical Institute and George
Washington University.
After Mr. Kaine delivered his
letter to Mrs. Peters, Danny
Vargas, chairman of the Dulles
Chamber, said, "He did
absolutely the right thing. This
project is essential for
citizens of the region. It's too
important to not be willing to
roll up our sleeves and make
that happen."
The
business group's petition was a
response to statements from the
Federal Transit Administration
last week notifying the Virginia
Department of Transportation
that the Dulles rail project
suffered too many financial and
management problems to win
federal funding.
Mr.
Kaine's letter said Virginia
transportation officials and
their partners in the project
were willing to cooperate with
the FTA in revising the plan.
Jim
Dinegar, chief executive officer
of the Greater Washington Board
of Trade, called the governor's
letter "compelling."
Mr.
Dinegar
blamed
the
dispute
over the
project
on
misunderstandings
between
Virginia
transportation
officials,
who
believed
the
federal
government
supported
their
proposal,
and FTA
officials,
who
insist
they
pointed
out
shortcomings
years
ago.
"The
mixed
smoke
signals
have
apparently
been
very
problematic,"
he said.
"I'm
very
glad
that the
governor
and the
[U.S.]
secretary
of
Transportation
will
clear
the air
and sit
down in
a
collaborative
manner."
Mr.
Dinegar
joined
Northern
Virginia
business
leaders
yesterday
morning
at a
press
conference
in a
Reston
hotel to
stress
the
economic
importance
of the
Dulles
rail
project.
"Every
day we
experience
the same
headaches,"
said
Kirk
Forman,
vice
president
of
business
development
for
Element
H2O, a
Chantilly
bottled
water
distributor.
Traffic
congestion
slowed
his
company's
deliveries
to
customers,
raising
costs of
doing
business.
Now the
company
is faced
with a
choice
of
raising
prices
or
shrinking
its
business
to
compensate
for the
costs of
traffic
congestion.
"We
don't
want to
raise
prices
and cut
jobs,"
Mr.
Forman
said.
John
Wood,
chief
executive
officer
of
Ashburn,
Va.,
computer
security
company
Telos
Corp.,
said
Northern
Virginia's
congestion
is
hurting
his
ability
to
retain
talented
employees.
"By and
large,
people
are
leaving
because
of the
time it
takes to
get to
work,"
Mr. Wood
said.
Darren
Lisse,
chairman
of
Reston
Hospital
Center's
emergency
department,
said he
witnessed
a fatal
accident
on
Virginia
Route 7
in which
an
ambulance
was
bottled
up by
traffic.
"We need
this
project
to get
cars off
the
road,"
Dr.
Lisse
said.
