Anybody else do a double-take while reading Rad Sallee's column about hype and truth regarding Metro? You have to read it a little closely because he never comes out and says it, but the bottom line is that there are a lot of dubious claims being made by anti-rail activists; Sallee does a good job of debunking them in turn. Sallee gives these folks the benefit of the doubt as far as their intentions go, but I'm not so charitable. My first reaction upon finishing Sallee's piece was to think about Daniel Davies' classic post The D-Squared Digest One Minute MBA - Avoiding Projects Pursued By Morons 101 (which, if you've never read, I highly recommend), in which he posits that "Good ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public acceptance." Seems to me that there's a corollary to this as well, which is that bad ideas do not need lots of lies told about them in order to gain public opposition.

Read the column for yourself and see what you think. I'll add that Tom Bazan, whom Sallee addressed three times in his column, sent out a long email to Sallee and others (on which I was BCCed) disputing everything Sallee said, mostly by repeating his previous claims. I'm sure it will turn up in some other forum, so I don't see the need to give it space here. My kudos to Sallee for taking on this task in a straightforward manner. I feel confident a repeat effort will be needed before all is said and done, but for now, this will do just fine.