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The problem is, even if every single dollar paid in was wasted or stolen up until yesterday, it doesn't change the fact that the infrastructure is there and needs repairs. You can't pull dead politicians and contractors and inspectors from the 50s out of the ground and make them rebuild the I-95 viaduct correctly for free today. I'm all for voting the current bums out of office, but even if we elected angels in their place the money still wouldn't magically come back; it's got to be raised from somewhere.
My objection to this plan is the gimmicky attempt to raise a ton of money at no political cost, since I think that is a bit too clever and likely to blow up in our faces (not least given the RI propensity to trip on our own feet when carrying out clever schemes).
Angry is it may make me, I don't see how you fund the infrastructure repairs w/o new revenue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by massnative71
So how would you like it if you paid child support to the mother (to feed, cloth the child, etc.), and you find that she had been spending it all this time on booze, cigarettes and scratch tickets? That is basically the current situation with the infrastructure.
Holly, your attachment to cars reminds me of Charlton Heston and his "you'll have to pry it (my carbon burning vehicle) from my dead hands," and it reflects neither urbanism or increasingly sought-after lifestyles. Younger folks and well educated folks are living perfectly happy lives without cars. And there is an unspeakable level of selfishness among people who could go carless or at least reduce their carbon burning. But then they'd have to be around people who "are from the other side of the tracks.
This "I Gots Mine" attitude is a root of evil, and I for one find it anti-social.
It would be very "social" to abolish all the suburbs and areas farther than a few miles from the downtown core and mandate that no autos of any kind will be tolerated. Contractors will carry their tools and building materials on the bus as will landscapers and people shopping for a family … you really do live in an alternate reality. if young people want to rent forever and live without cars- fine. That is not a lifestyle adaptable to everyone and if you don't get that you're simply being close minded.
If you have evidence of corruption it is your civic duty to report it. Otherwise, more toothless anecdote.
I was not implying corruption. I was stating that auto-related taxes and fees collected are not 100% dispersed to auto-related projects. Not every single penny collected from gas tax, tolls, etc, is used for road improvement. I think, if it was, the roads would be nicer in Rhode Island.
It would be very "social" to abolish all the suburbs and areas farther than a few miles from the downtown core and mandate that no autos of any kind will be tolerated. Contractors will carry their tools and building materials on the bus as will landscapers and people shopping for a family … you really do live in an alternate reality. if young people want to rent forever and live without cars- fine. That is not a lifestyle adaptable to everyone and if you don't get that you're simply being close minded.
Speaking of alternative realities, you twist my words: I was talking not about plumbers or a mother with three children, or those in Podunk where there is and will not be public transit.
No, I was talking about you, Hollytree from the urban, transit-rich ES of PVD who has stated that she can afford to be a single driver in spite of her options for public transit. That is why I used the term "selfish," because that's what it is. I can buy one two or three carbon burners, but that's not how I relate to the planet or to my own values as an urban creature. It's not about money, holly, it's indeed about morals.
No, public transit isn't an option for all, but it is for many. This greed is what's warming the planet. Where in God's name is your sense of being part of the solution? And they say kids are selfish!
Hardly. You carpers and whiners and "too fat to run, too scared to fight" carbon burners seem to forget a fact, a fact so simple that my guess is even you can understand it, and I'll even provide an easy analogy to help you:
When one Has a child, there are birthing expenses, serious ones. But does that end the requirements to feed and grow and keep the child healthy? No. Building a road is the relatively cheap part: maintaining and expanding them is whee one needs to dig deeply and frequently into their wallet.
If you can 't afford or will not pay the cost, then as they say in Hell's Kitchen, "Just shut the hell up."
Yes, EXACTLY! In PDX when the Central Library wanted to renovate, they had to come up with a budget that would MAINTAIN all the improvements. We own a condo and MAINTAIN it all the time. This keeps its VALUE up. I look at the TRUCKs passing through out our state, as a great resource for much needed revenue that needs to fund ONLY Transportation Infrastructure.
And might be an option for many more if people decided to properly fund it.
Agreed, but that's a different thread, because that which is available is not being used by a huge segment of the population.
I would make only two points:
1. People are moving to cities that are walkable, have good public transport and do not require a car to conduct most/all of their transportation needs. Providence is all of these. New residents thrive and rejoice in being liberated from owning a car.
2. Cars use carbon fuels and contribute to climate change. This is not speculation, this is not a drill, this is not Al Gore speaking, this is reality. Those who use cars when other means are doable contribute to the demise of the planet. I won't be a part of this. Sooner or later, people will have to change this lifestyle and one aspect that will need changing is their use of single-occupant cars. Why not do it now? I could speculate, but it would alienate people: the obvious, introspective truth would be scorchingly painful.
Cars use carbon fuels and contribute to climate change. This is not speculation, this is not a drill, this is not Al Gore speaking, this is reality. Those who use cars when other means are doable contribute to the demise of the planet. I won't be a part of this. Sooner or later, people will have to change this lifestyle and one aspect that will need changing is their use of single-occupant cars. Why not do it now? I could speculate, but it would alienate people: the obvious, introspective truth would be scorchingly painful.
Well, it was a rhetorical question, really. I already know you eat meat because I found some old posts where you talk about your love of burgers and hot dogs. It's OK; I eat meat, too. I like doing my research before opening up such conversations, lest I be embarrassed. Sometimes when I do that, I realize I'm wrong, change my mind and don't engage, which is kind of rare in America today, but I guess I'm funny like that.
Though I was a public-transportation enthusiast for about 15 years and still strongly believe in it, I don't currently use it on a regular basis -- but I'm not the one claiming that a failure to change one's lifestyle in order to combat climate change is selfish and immoral. It's a very well-documented fact that eating meat is one of the world's major contributors to climate change. I've even heard claims that it's the major contributor. I imagine this is debatable, but when I look for articles that make a direct comparison between the effect of cars and the effect of meat, they all say meat is worse for the environment.
I have a hypothesis that I can't prove -- it's just a suspicion, but it's a suspicion based on some knowledge of rhetoric and psychology. I fully admit I could be wrong. I hypothesize that your scorn for people who drive doesn't have anything to do with climate change at all. I think it has to do with a defensiveness born of your feeling that you're in the minority, a feeling of which humans are inherently afraid for very valid evolutionary reasons. You don't need or want a car, which is great -- there was a time in the pretty recent past when I didn't, either, and I have no regrets about that time. But it naturally makes you uncomfortable that you see so many people out there who make a car part of their lifestyle. Because of this discomfort, you have to frame your opposing opinion in terms of your own superiority and, consequently, in terms of the inferiority of your opponents.
Like I said, I can't prove that. But I do know this: Eating meat is roughly as bad as driving. And eating meat is even less necessary than driving in order to function in our society. Either you already knew that or you didn't. If you did, and people who choose to drive cars are immoral, it follows that you yourself are equally immoral. But I'm more fascinated by the possibility that you didn't know. Because if not, you now have two choices: You can deny this well-accepted scientific fact, or you can become a vegetarian -- or, preferably, a vegan, as producing non-meat animal products is bad for the environment as well, just less so.
What I'm guessing is going to happen is that for whatever reason, you won't stop eating meat. By your own logic, that makes you reprehensible. But that's by your logic. I don't think it makes you reprehensible. I think it just makes you like all the rest of us who don't do all we can to help the environment because it would involve a major lifestyle change we're not willing to make.
(For the record, while I feel kind of silly calling myself an environmentalist, I do try to do all I can to stop climate change, which I believe to be a devastating problem -- and like any good liberal, I feel guilty that I'm not doing more. I just try not to feel superior about it.)
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