The Burden of BRAC: An Interview with Bill Euille
The second part of a continuing series of interviews with key officials
Photos
“Burdensome” is how Alexandria Mayor Bill Euille describes the September move of thousands of federal workers to the City’s West End. Euille, who said that City staff are partly to blame for the selection of the Mark Center site, also characterized the move as a “transportation nightmare.”
“One would like to think that having 6,400 potential new jobs come to your city is a good thing, but the headaches and the angst, the frustration, time consuming, all of that, you have to question if it’s been worth it,” said Euille, who spoke with Patch on Monday from his office at City Hall. ”No, it’s not worth it.”
Scores of elected officials, including Republican Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell and U.S. Rep Jim Moran (D-8th), want a delay as the Sept. 15 move-in deadline steadily approaches. Moran has introduced legislation in the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would push the deadline back a year.
“Any delay is helpful. It affords you an opportunity to take a sigh of relief, a break, a breather to say, ‘OK, where are we?' ” Euille said. “A year delay enables [the Army] to slow this train down, to rethink, to work for a smoother transition, a lesser impact and allow things to be addressed on a case-by-case, day-by-day, week-by-week basis as challenges evolve...”
Miscommunication?
The Mark Center site, situated along I-395 at Seminary Road, is three miles from the nearest Metro station, but was the Army’s least expensive option. “I think it’s a mistake that all of us - the Council, City Manager and senior staff - all have to admit to,” said Euille. “If we had more time, we would have reflected more on the impacts, the consequences. And the fact remains: in your wildest dreams, no one would have ever thought that the Mark Center site would be selected over a half-dozen other sites that the Department of Defense had to choose from. All of those other sites had transit and Metro station stops and shuttles, and so, one would just think: Why did they do it?”
The Army considered three properties in the final stage of the site selection process: the General Services Administration site in Springfield, and the Victory Center and Mark Center properties in Alexandria. In August 2008, a month before the Army made its final decision, Alexandria City staff signed a letter stating that a move to the Mark Center or Victory Center sites would result in “No Significant Impact” on the environment or traffic surrounding the area.
Euille said the letter most likely influenced the Army’s decision. “It probably did, obviously in some regard,” he said. “What that letter failed to mention, and I haven’t seen it in a while, was that it made no reference to transit.”
The Army failed to make accurate transportation impact studies on the Mark Center area, according to a 200-page DoD Inspector General report released last month. “I think they came to realize that they made a very bad mistake in selecting this site, and to make amends, [the Army said] ‘OK, let’s now work with the City to address transportation,’ ” Euille said.
The Alexandria City Council did not negotiate with the Army during the site selection. “Council pretty much yields to the advice of its professional staff - the planning staff, the transportation folks – that’s what you pay them to do, to do these analyses and provide you with their best judgment,” Euille said. “It’s not like you approach the property owners and say: ‘Hey, we’re thinking about talking to the military about making our site available for BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure]. What do you think?’ What happens is that these folks come in and it’s like we’ve got 10 days to complete our [site request] package to submit [to the DoD].”
Economic Development Potential
The Mark Center move could spark the long-needed development of Landmark Mall. “People at the BRAC site will hopefully not go to Pentagon City or elsewhere to shop, but [rather] look at Landmark Mall as a very convenient place for them because it’s so close,” Euille said.
The BRAC influx of federal workers makes up for thousands of lost Defense-related jobs.
“The positive side was that we would have an opportunity to replace them with either another non-DoD federal agency and/or other private sectors or other businesses,” Euille said. “Had we known that DoD was going to really be hellbent on the [Mark Center] site we would have probably just done everything and said everything to the Duke Realty folks, the owners of that site.”
Tied Legal Hands?
Alexandria had 60 days from the moment the Army selected Mark Center to seek legal action, but is not actively doing so. “We are not looking at legal action, but if Congress is successful in making any amendments as part of the Defense Authorization Bill, our legal folks believe that this will trigger a new period of time to file appeals,” Euille said. “But right now, we are not going down the road of doing any legal maneuvers. Fairfax County and Arlington have reached the same conclusion that that 60-day window has passed, so why do something you know you can’t win?
“But, there may be a window of opportunity to consider some legal action...should Congressman Moran be successful with some of these legislative amendments to… cap the parking at 1,000, which means that you can’t have more than 1,000 or 1,500 folks in the building at that time because you don’t have the parking.”
Last week, the Alexandria City Council approved a daytime parking district for residents affected by incoming BRAC traffic. “We’re addressing the challenges, in terms of the short-term and long-term solutions, the traffic enforcement officers there during … rush hours in the mornings and evenings to prevent blocking the box and keep the traffic flowing,” Euille said. “It may be tweaking it block by block, or neighborhood by neighborhood, or area by area, but you’ll find a sweet point where there’s a balance, and you’ve done everything you can do and it is what it is, and that’s it.”
Greg Crider
8:34 pm on Thursday, May 19, 2011
Like I commented before, the Army's selection of this site was dumb, dumb, dumb. Even Alexandria's Mayor Euille admits : "And the fact remains: in your wildest dreams, no one would have ever thought that the Mark Center site would be selected over a half-dozen other sites that the Department of Defense had to choose from. All of those other sites had transit and Metro station stops and shuttles, and so, one would just think: Why did they do it?”
Now the Army is ready to move into the building, while local politicans are trying to delay its opening. I think the DOD officials who made that decision should be put in one car and made to commute to the Mark Center until the transportation issues are resolved, if that's even possible.
George Colgrove
6:21 am on Friday, May 20, 2011
Get together a RAPID ACTION task force of key legislators from the federal/state and some local officials along with a contingent of transitionally DoD officials to start the process of developing a public corporation to redeveloped the building into a luxury and highly secure apartment/condo complex that would ultimately attract buyers willing to pay in excess $1.5 to $2.5 million dollars per flat. This building has all the external features of a high-end high-scale luxury apartment complex. The views cannot be matched anywhere! It will be perfect for diplomats, high-ranking federal officials, corporate heads and so on willing to pay a little bit more to live in a secure building meeting minimum DoD blast protection criteria. Since the building is up, the elevators are in and the security infrastructure is in the only thing that needs to happen is for the internal walls to be stripped out and the floor plans repartitioned into apartments/condos. The additional costs need be no more than $50/sq ft – or an additional $85 million or less. If the average 2,500 sq ft condo sold for $1.75 million the complex could offer up to 620 condos – totaling over a billion dollars revenue.
I am tired of government saying “we can’t because of . . .” We need to recover these costs. This building should have never been built. We have yet to spend 100's of million in transportation fixes that ultimately will not work. Then there are the lawsuites.
B. Friendly
9:26 am on Friday, May 20, 2011
Capping parking spaces is a good idea but it's going to take people on the street to fix this. I say we have them pay for scores of traffic officers (with real ticketing power, not just whistles) to conduct traffic in the BRAC area and in Old Town to properly maintain the flow of traffic. If you keep traffic flowing in an orderly fashion you'll be in business. It's the jerks that gum up the works!
Lee Hernly
10:17 am on Friday, May 20, 2011
Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille had a very different take in 2008. Has he now flip flopped like the true liberal politician he is? Why did PATCH not ask about this?
From an Alexandria Gazette piece in Oct 2008 - Bill Euille's quote:
"The Department of Defense's decision to purchase this site and construct a major office building complex, within close proximity to Washington, D.C. and the Pentagon, affirms Alexandria as one of the top locations in the region," he said.
"Our quality of life is unmatched in the region, and the quality of our neighborhoods, vibrancy of our commercial areas, and low crime rate make the city a great place to live and work. We look forward to welcoming WHS' employees in 2011," Euille said.
"It is satisfying to know that when DoD considered many sites in Northern Virginia, Alexandria had both of the top two private sector sites as finalists. This demonstrates our work in expanding Alexandria's economic development opportunities and creating a government responsive to those wishing to relocate their offices," he said.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/article.asp?article=320289&paper=80&cat=104
Lee Hernly
10:20 am on Friday, May 20, 2011
Mayor Euille comments:
“But, there may be a window of opportunity to consider some legal action...should Congressman Moran be successful with some of these legislative amendments to… cap the parking at 1,000, which means that you can’t have more than 1,000 or 1,500 folks in the building at that time because you don’t have the parking.”
The site plan for the BRAC building calls for no more than 4,000 parking spaces and the BRAC building meets that specification. The Army even prepared a draft TMP even though they are under no legal obligation to do so.
http://alexandriava.gov/uploadedFiles/localmotion/info/BRAC133TMPDraft060210.pdf
Greg Crider
1:10 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011
LeeH, Yeah, I have to agree with you. There's lots of backpeddling now by local (Mayor Euille) and federal (Rep Moran) politicians now that the Army is ready to move in and the traffic issues with this site are upon all of us. Too bad they (and the Alexandria City staff) ignored the potential traffic problems and apparently were focused on getting the jobs in their "district". And what about the Army selection official who made this decision? He is probably long gone and won't have to deal with traffic issues. He's the first one I recommend be put in a car and forced to commute to the site.
Lee Hernly
1:24 pm on Friday, May 20, 2011
Not to mention the fact that Duke Realty & Clark Construction rewarded Congressman Moran after the decision was made. Good editorial from March in the Washington Examiner:
http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/editorials/local/2011/03/examiner-local-editorial-brac-exposes-failure-local-government-plan
Will Radle
6:38 am on Thursday, January 19, 2012
Hold politicians accountable. Vote June 12. Moran was for cash, I mean the Mark Center before he was against it. Since BRAC was announced 7 years ago, no asphalt has been poured for traffic solutions.
Moran supported the Mark Center location. In 2008, he said, ". . . this decision is a victory for Northern Virginia commuters.”
Three weeks after the federal government bought the land, Duke Realty’s CEO made a maximum contribution to Moran’s campaign. After Clark Construction contracted to build, Clark executives made contributions to Moran’s campaign.
As the public learned how the project impacts gridlock on I-395 during rush hour, Moran began a media blitz acting like he had nothing to do with the Mark Center choice. In May 2011, he said, “I just have to say [I am] disgusted with some of the people who, either through indifference or wrongheadedness, have allowed this to happen.”
Moran began pushing hard to stop the move. His strategy to delay the move keeps DOD in their Crystal City offices and money flowing to Moran's campaign.
Summary: Moran applauds the Mark Center choice and gets campaign cash from the companies benefitting. Then, he takes cash from the company losing big from the move and feigns disgust. His performance has been pathetic.
Jim Moran benefits from your headache. Thousands of middle income families face 2 or 3 hour one-way commutes. Moran provides no solutions; he takes money. It's time to move forward. Don’t you think?
RJ
8:25 am on Thursday, January 19, 2012
First: Do you have any tangible proof of the above?
Second: The BRAC 133 (Mark Center) decision was in 2008, not 7 years ago; the overall BRAC decision was 7 years ago. Moran first fought for either the GSA location in Springfield (which is being proposed for the new FBI HQ) or the Eisenhower location. Do you have proof that he advocated for the Mark Center location, or are you bending the truth? Note the Mark Center location was a very late entry into the process.
Third: The carmegedon envisioned never transpired, yes some areas need cleaning up, but it is far from the nightmare that was hyped up to be.
RJ
8:32 am on Thursday, January 19, 2012
BTW. Mark Center, the GSA Location and Eisenhower location were all in his district. BRAC 133 never threatened to take the jobs out of his district. So your whole theory is suspect.
Will Radle
2:27 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
Please show where I mention anything resembling your comment. I did not say BRAC threatened jobs being taken from VA8 and do not understand your point here.
As for theory, I make this comment publicly and welcome a public response from the incumbent. It would be good to see his public response. Don't you think?
He is a career politician with one goal: being elected. I am a citizen taking responsible action who will not seek to serve in the US House of Representatives more than 3 terms. My focus remains creating effective, sustainable solutions to the challenges confronting our community and our nation.
It's time to move forward. Don't you think?
Will Radle
2:00 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
RJ, thank you! Your questions are spot on and deserve an answer. Here:
1. We have public records and contemporary media reports.
2. BRAC announcement was made in May 2005, nearly 7 years ago. As your representative, I will hold myself accountable for shepherding important projects in our district. Do you hold anyone accountable?
Moran supported the Mark Center location saying, "Preventing the Washington Headquarters Service from moving to the Engineer Proving Ground benefits the region's commuters. Transportation studies showed that locating the headquarters there as dictated in the Army's original plan would increase commuting times along I-395 and Route 1 by two to three hours per day. In that respect, this decision is a victory for Northern Virginia commuters."
Moran went on to praise the Army, "I appreciate all the hard work Army officials and civilians put into coming to this decision. It was a monumental effort and they did an excellent job keeping all the stakeholders informed throughout the process."
Famously, now he blames the people who put forth a monumental effort and did an excellent job keeping all the stakeholders informed throughout the process.
3. As I wrote, the federal government continues to rent office space in Crystal City and the full transition has not yet transpired. Separately, Supervisor Hyland in southern Fairfax County said in Nov. 2011 the daily congestion on Rt 1 is worse than he had ever seen in decades of serving the region.
Will Radle
5:12 pm on Thursday, January 19, 2012
Does anyone question why the Washington Post editorial board says Jim Moran is unfit for public office? No, not really.
It's time to move forward. Don't you think?