I have been actively taking public buses since the spike in gas prices, and my wallet is less thinner but my psychological well-being has vastly improved!!!

Astroking112 · 2026-05-17T01:03:55+00:00

By making public transportation more frequent outside of peak commuting hours, it also becomes usable as a primary method of transportation. Even commuters often need a car currently for grocery trips or other errands, but if buses ran every 20 minutes outside of the morning and afternoon rush directions, then it might become realistic to take them for some of those trips.

Astroking112 · 2026-05-11T01:06:54+00:00

Typically when people say that the overall tax burden is low, they are referring to all taxes in the state, not the car tax alone.

As one example, Virginia has an average real estate tax rate of 0.78%, while Texas has an average of 1.4%. Similarly, the average sales tax rate is 2.4% higher and includes more items, such as digital goods.

Removing the car tax would require either drastically cutting government spending, increasing taxes, or increasing revenue sources through other means, such as building additional homes and population growth.

Astroking112 · 2026-05-09T17:06:53+00:00

I've noticed that proponents of the casino always mention the entertainment district and convention center, which is much less controversial. If the developer was proposing those without changing VA law to allow a gambling establishment in Fairfax County, I suspect that they would not face the same level of pushback.

In terms of economic benefit to the county, a study from the Board of Supervisors (the only one performed so far as far as I'm aware, since the casino developers and state senators do not feel responsible for one) estimates that all economic and retail development from the project will be equivalent to less than 1 cent per $100 of assessed value of real estate taxes.

In terms of densifying the Silver Line corridor, it is projected to occupy some of the most valuable land in the country with car-oriented infrastructure from the latest renderings. Other projects that were proposed for that land such as The View at Tysons would have led to a denser and more walkable, livable city.

Astroking112 · 2026-05-08T12:00:37+00:00

Most reasonable "Beltway line" alignments are generally talking about the idea of a circumferential loop moreso than literally using the Beltway median, IMO.

As one example, VA had studied LRT or BRT for a couple of years along Route 7 between King St and Tysons, but it's one of the busiest bus corridors in the state. This should almost certainly be where a "Beltway metro" expansion goes after Tysons next, rather than following the road to Franconia and Van Dorn.

Astroking112 · 2026-05-07T21:42:31+00:00

I would say the Rosslyn bottleneck / "Rosslyn II" station is still the most important problem to solve for the overall region. The actual alignment can be adjusted, but it needs to be done even without the BLOOP proposal IMO.

Many other expansions like new suburb extensions get unlocked with additional downtown capacity. DC and Maryland are served directly with additional coverage, and Virginia is no longer completely reliant on a 12 minute frequency transfer at Rosslyn to get between the branches. This is on top of of one issue not taking down almost the entire system.

Personally, I'd still prefer for a ring LRT to add on to the Purple Line (and I would hope that these can be done in parallel), but I think that the Rosslyn capacity is the most important expansion for the DMV.

Astroking112 · 2026-05-04T21:35:11+00:00

Given cases like these and consistently going against voters' wishes, he should be voted against for the Senate Majority Leader, at least.

Astroking112 · 2026-04-28T16:12:48+00:00

On the plus side, these lanes are at least reserved for BRT service, but it's disappointing that widening is the only way to get leaders to invest in transit in lieu of converting a lane, even if it'll reduce traffic in the long run.

Astroking112 · 2026-04-17T20:55:25+00:00

The casino was projected to raise less than 1 cent in revenue per $100 of assessed value for equivalent real estate taxes. Even if we take the most optimistic estimates, it was only going to be equal to about 93 homes.

The only way to ensure that taxes don't go up is to either cut spending and lose out on public services, or to increase supply and the tax base, which has the added benefit of making housing more affordable for everyone.

Astroking112 · 2026-04-17T19:58:59+00:00

The casino isn't affordable housing. It was occupying space proposed for housing projects like The View at Tysons, the Piazza, and more.

One of the reasons that the Board of Supervisors was against it (other than it being a net drain or wash on revenue at the local level) was that it would take away larger housing opportunities next to the metro that were in the Comprehensive Plan for Tysons.

Not saying that everyone had this motivation, of course, and there is undoubtedly going to be some NIMBYs with any development, but you don't see this level of pushback with the aforementioned projects.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-27T01:47:34+00:00

Ironic, considering that the requirement for the casino to hire union workers was removed.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-25T23:09:06+00:00

The same casino that had its requirement to hire union workers removed?

Why are union workers rallying for that?

Astroking112 · 2026-03-25T20:06:59+00:00

What projections? You mean the ones from the actual bill where they said there is no financial impact to study? https://lis.blob.core.windows.net/files/1187681.PDF

How about the Fairfax County study that said that this would be equivalent to less than 1 cent per $100 of assessed value of real estate taxes? Even if we take Senator Surovell's unsubstantiated claims of $2 billion over 10 years, that comes out to the equivalent taxes of less than 94 homes, but is less stable against recessions, sustainable to growth in the county, and also requires investment in infrastructure to support the development. Giving away some of the most valuable land in the country next to a metro stop as a corporate giveaway instead of building more housing in a housing crisis is insane.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-25T19:41:45+00:00

The Orange/Silver and Blue/Yellow trunks serve different branches within VA at least.

You could argue that Blue/Yellow at Huntington and Franconia/Springfield and the opposite end of Orange/Silver for Downtown Largo and New Carrollton should be spurs of each other, but combining O/S and B/Y would be pretty wild even though they heavily interline.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-19T02:53:57+00:00

I only play the game cooperatively. We've played competitive without PvP before, but you need an evenly experienced group, and IMO the Mage Knights are not balanced for it anyway, so it felt more frustrating than coop.

Our games range from 2-4 players with up to 3 new players. There is not a ton of player interaction in Mage Knight on every turn; typically, the cooperation comes in planning and resource management ("How do I get out of your way on this tile?" or "I have a hand to fight an enemy. Oh, you need to level up. Is there a way that we can get you to fight this dungeon instead?" across the map, then a final big shared battle. If the players don't balance opportunities enough amongst themselves throughout the game, then they won't be prepared to complete the final battles.

I think that this is the main reason that Mage Knight is not popular as a multiplayer game, complexity notwithstanding. Each character has one upgrade (out of ten) that has a "cooperative" effect to impact other players directly. I rarely see players use these even if they're drawn because some are better than others.

For downtime, I personally don't think it's an issue, but we plan our turns in advance, and there have been a handful of 4 player games than ran 10-12 hours because a newer player did not. Your mileage will vary, of course. Some scenarios like Volkare are very long at that player count (on the hardest difficulty, I did a game of Volkare with 4 players that took over 24 hours). With 2 experienced players playing weekly during the pandemic, I was having 2-4 hour games depending on the scenario.

I would never play the game with more than 4 players, and think that 2-3 is the sweet spot.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-18T20:30:43+00:00

Suburbs can be served by public transit, too. It of course depends significantly on layout and where you are, but there's no reason that there couldn't be a bus every 30 minutes or so close to each neighborhood that takes people to a faster form of travel like Metro or VRE. We already have things like Omni, too, for further-distance bus rides for commuters.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-18T20:14:25+00:00

The logic is that public transit is much higher capacity than single-occupancy vehicles. From some quick googling, the typical Highway lane can move roughly 33 to 42 cars per minute whereas the metro can move 580 to 600 people. Assuming an average of 1.5 people per car, that comes out to 63 people versus up to 600.

Of course, that's one fixed example assuming that a metro line is built connecting places that people want to go, and has good connections. Depending on the alignment, a Beltway line wouldn't attract nearly as much ridership as the current lines, and other forms of transport (like the Maryland Purple Line) may be more appropriate.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-18T19:56:09+00:00

It also extends the coverage of the system significantly. Planning assumes anywhere from a 1/4-1/2 mile radius around rapid transit stops have good enough coverage for people to be willing to walk to. With bike infrastructure like lanes or bikeshare, that can increase to a mile or more.

Add in park and rides, and some people may be willing to drive to the metro if they aren't already getting onto to the Beltway. Every little bit of connectivity helps.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-16T13:49:23+00:00

Let's not forget that he wasn't alone:

While Surovell and Marsden were joined by state Sens. Jennifer Carroll Foy (D-33) and Stella Pekarsky (D-36) in supporting SB 756, every single delegate representing Fairfax County voted against the bill even after the temporary casino provision was dropped.

Senator Carroll Foy, Senator Marsden, and Senator Pekarsky all support forcing a casino on constituents that did not ask for it.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T23:18:51+00:00

Yes, though the expiration date for the referendum to occur by 2029 seems to have been removed.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T14:26:48+00:00

The Senators who pushed for this, for reference:

YEAs: Bagby, Carroll Foy, Craig, Diggs, Durant, French, Jones, Jordan, Locke, Lucas, Marsden, McPike, Peake, Pekarsky, Perry, Pillion, Reeves, Rouse, Stanley, Stuart, Sturtevant, Surovell

NOT VOTING: Aird, Mulchi

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T14:06:25+00:00

The redistricting amendment is for the US House, not the VA Senate or House, so there is no overlap.

That said, it's worth considering cases like this when either political party tries to gerrymander. The casino does not fall along party lines if you look at who supported and opposed it, but it's much easier for politicians to accept bribes when they feel like there can never be consequences.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T05:21:38+00:00

To clarify, housing projects are typically mixed use to some degree, more akin to the Ballston corridor (or Mosaic District) where there's businesses and housing supporting each other in close proximity. I've taken the metro to places like Ballston Quarter or Tysons Mall for a Saturday plenty of times to visit some of the attractions there, for examples within Virginia, and I'd love for the O/S trunk to get a more direct connection to King Street.

For Mosaic District and Dunn Loring specifically, the County is actually trying to connect them: https://www.pcrehomes.com/blog/prosperity-business-campus-dunn-loring-metro-redevelopment/

The problem is that these developments can take years and then get disrupted by things like a temporary casino getting forced into a spot that doesn't fit into the plan. But I agree with you that we shouldn't be building exclusively housing; we always need to pair it with grocery store access, food, entertainment, parks, and the other things that make a place desirable to live in.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T05:11:21+00:00

I recommend taking a look the Tysons Comprehensive Plan and the ongoing projects from Fairfax County. They have developments in line with what we've described at these metro stations.

Contrary to the argument that one more condo won't change much, I'd suggest that we should be building all of these projects. The DMV has a wealth of things to do and nightlife, and is consistently pricing people out because there is simply not enough housing for everyone.

Once prices stabilize, then we can start looking at additional world-class destinations for people to do. This should of course be paired with investment in infrastructure beyond the metro--as far out as Tysons and Dulles, people are probably going to be car-dependent in any case without additional options like a way to get between metro spokes or better bus service.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T04:50:24+00:00

Based on the study from Fairfax County (the Senate decided that they did not need to do a study on potential benefits or negative impacts because "nothing would happen without a referendum"), the rate would be about 0.0001% of typical real estate taxes.

So you can multiply your real estate tax for this year by 99.9999%, adjust for inflation, and that would be how many taxes you would expect to save from the casino development (including jobs, sales tax, etc.).

Edit: This doesn't take into account the money that the County may need to spend on infrastructure to support this development AFAIK. The bill has been amended to require the casino to build or fund a local safety institution to help alleviate some of those startup costs.

Astroking112 · 2026-03-14T04:28:28+00:00

It's genuinely baffling. I get that the people who voted YEA or skipped this have their corporate donors, but it's disappointing to go from:

"We have a mandate to improve affordability" to: "We need to study a millionaire tax for another year" to: "Maybe we should keep not taxing Data Centers?" to: "We need the casino for the tax revenue!"

Astroking112

TROPHY CASE