Why the Tea Party is hurting Ohio

[SWOH]

I'll start with the last point first. The new traffic plan in the UD area is to make Brown a more urban, "slower" road, while making Main (where you cite there is currently construction) into the "faster" through road. The current four lanes will be taken up to 5, speeding up traffic from getting people turning left out of through traffic lanes. I'm assuming part of the reason why this is being done is because of the new developments coming to the Fairgrounds site:

Major construction on Main Street in Dayton starts Monday | www.daytondailynews.com


As for Steve Whalen, you might not be aware of the history behind it. Here's some good insight from this thread:
US 35

It was designed to be part of I-675, before I-675 was decided to be moved to its current location. Neighborhoods that would have been torn up for it include Belmont, Patterson Park, and a lot of Kettering. So no, Steve Whalen is majorly over-designed and highly unnecessary. It never had anything to do with "industry to the north".

Which leads to my third point. We're not talking about roads "at or near capacity" (although I'd argue that people adjust to lanes reduce no matter the situation - take Pittsburgh's two-lane freeways in each direction dominating the area with no issue as one example. More lanes only encourages faster and more dangerous driving, but that is outside the scope of this thread). I'm only talking about roads which are not at capacity. Or anywhere near it, as the Google shots, taken clearly during the middle of the day when there should be traffic, show.


And that's where my main issue with the Tea Party as a whole lies. They say they stand for less government and less taxes and a whole bunch of other stuff THAT THEY DON'T. They only care about maintaining the status quo, no matter how stupid or idiotic it may be. Like paving roads designed for 40,000 cars a day that only receive 400, for instance. Or not paying people a living wage. Or not caring what happens to their workers if they get sick, only caring about whether or not they are in for their next shift instead. Because those on the Tea Party side of the fence know how good they have it.

It's simple strategy, really. How much can you bank on the fear of others to keep them not asking questions? That's what the Tea Party does every day - instill irrational fears to keep people quiet. All while "not seeing" a lot of problems that exist and need solutions. Easy stuff. And it works a lot more than it should.


So for those minimum wage workers - a system has been designed where there is no way out. It's a radical statement, so take the Atlantic's word for it and their data as proof. Btw it was just posted today:
It Is Expensive to Be Poor - The Atlantic

Minimum wage workers can't ask questions and they can't make a living wage because they know they can't afford to lose what little they have. So they get beaten down by the system and eventually just have to accept its terms, without questions. Whatever they get told to do goes. Until they snap.

So if the Tea Party really cared about the welfare of our nation, they would understand how stupid it is to allocate money to infrastructure projects that only destroy neighborhoods, like the Steve Whalen project would have done. They would know there is no reason to pay a paving cost of $502,000 per lane mile for a road that never has anyone driving in those lanes.
Source: https://www.dot.state.oh.us/Division...ostpermile.pdf

They would also know they could just as easily make money in their businesses if they paid their workers a wage where they could work 40-50 hours a week and not be in poverty. Because that would keep their workers happier and healthier, which would benefit all aspects of their business. But either they are too stupid to see it (aka the ones being manipulated), or they look at their balance sheet and think they can squeeze more profit by working their labor harder for less, and fight for policies which support their notions.

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by hensleya1

2.5 cents per gallon go to deficit reduction and another 2.5 go to fund a "Mass Transit Account" ... So, a third of the gas tax never actually goes to maintain roads.

Coincidentally enough, the highway trust fund faces an annual shortfall of... about a third.

You are making the assumption that if the highway trust fund just had that "third" back, the roads would be fine.

Originally Posted by hensleya1

If the government stopped siphoning off gas tax money to pay for mass transit, the highway trust fund would be self-sustaining.

You need to make up your mind whether the problem is the 2.5 cents for deficit reduction *and* the 2.5 cents for mass transit ***or*** just the 2.5 cents for mass transit that "would be self-sustaining" ( for the highway fund ).

Nope. There are trillions of dollars needed for things like bridge repairs that have been put off for years. The tax needs to be raised by way more than the 5 cents you are complaining about.

Do I need to capitalize that word "trillions?"

Not only that, the amount from the tax that goes to mass transit also needs to be raised. Mass transit takes a lot of clunkers off the road by making riding the bus a better choice for clunker owners than nursing them down the road.

Spending money on mass transit is a legitimate function of the fuel tax and it needs to be expanded. The more people that decide to get the heck out of my way and on the bus, the better.

I'll agree with you that there is no justification for allocating any amount from the fuel tax to go toward reducing the deficit. I guess that's the only agreement we have.

The price of gasoline should never have been allowed to go below $4/gallon. When the free market price dropped below $3.50, the tax should have been raised to compensate. ( It is currently $2.13/gal as of this writing. )

There are a jillion bridges that need to be replaced in this country. Even at $1.50/gallon for the fuel tax, none of us will live long enough to see them all repaired.

There are many many things that can be done to make the bus more desireable such as improving the roads that the bus routes take to smooth out the ride and make it more quiet. There are also ways to put a signal on the bus that allows it to always have a green light at the intersection.

Again, all this stuff gets people out of my way when I do drive and makes my bus ride better when I go that route.