Or: "Yes, Donna, there really is a Dalby Claus."
Donna Rudy
I am a registered democrat but voted for you because Bill Cocoran was one of the good old boys. We needed a fresh young person. Today I received a card from Shane Gibson saying that you was for the toll on our bridges. I hope you are not. We pay enough and as a disabled person would not be happy with your choice. I feel like our bridges have been long paid for and our gas and road taxes are enough. Please keep in mind all the people in southern Indiana who works in Louisville. Gas is high enough without another expense. Please let us know how you feel about this issue.
8 comments:
I'm guessing he won't delete it, but he'll put out a strongly worded bit of double-speak about how he's not for tolls, just for the project that will require them, and by golly, we need this project to help hard working Hoosiers out.
The last time someone asked about Clere's tolls position on his State Rep. Facebook page (Sept. 24), he just ignored it or should I say is still ignoring it.
Oh, I don't think he'll actually comment on FB. I'm just thinking his next political mailer will be along those lines.
I'm confused. Are the bridges needed?
If Yes, how are you going to pay for them?
Traffic studies show the East End bridge would provide the most traffic congestion relief for the buck. Basically 99% of the benefit of the project would come from the East End bridge. The downtown bridge would only provide a further 1% of benefit, which is a pretty horrible return on investment. Furthermore, the money is there to build the East End bridge without tolls. Let's not forget that we pay state and federal gas taxes which go toward road construction and maintenance, and let's further recognize that those of us who live on the Indiana side but work in Louisville actually pay taxes to Jefferson County specifically for the use/maintenance of their infrastructure. So we've already paid into the system several times over.
The downtown bridge/Spaghetti Junction rebuild (which includes burying downtown Jeff under a 24 or 26 lane California-style superhighway stacked 4 decks high) has been thrown into this mess to delay and complicate things because a dozen well connected folks out in Prospect don't want a bridge on their end of town. In the 1980s when Louisville wanted to displace hundreds of families to expand the airport in the name of economic growth, no one batted an eyelash. The East End bridge is just as important if not more so, but these folks have funded the hell out of their local politicians, so obviously they're more equal than the rest of us.
The current ORBP, including 2 bridges and a massively rebuilt and stacked up Spaghetti Junction, is filled with the kind of bloat that fiscal conservatives otherwise decry. Governor Daniels recently made a huge photo op trip down to Madison to find a way to get their new bridge built with less cost and at greater efficiency. He found a way to make that happen, and no one said, "How are you going to pay for it?" nor did they suggest tolls be used.
Bottom line, the money is there to pay for the East End bridge, which is due to be built first anyway. Since studies show that the East End bridge will have the most impact (and it's due to be built first anyway), wouldn't it make the most fiscal sense to build that bridge, then evaluate what--if anything--we need further?
To suggest we have to build absolutely everything, regardless of current fiscal realities, public sentiment (87% of area folks currently oppose the entire 2 bridges-4 deck high Spaghetti Junction rebuild), or actual traffic data is a delusional vision, as 1Si's Michael Dalby would say.
And remember, they're not just talking about tolling the new bridge(s), they're talking about potentially tolling all existing bridges and Spaghetti Junction. Several of the Bridges Authority people have kind of hemmed and hawed and suggested that tolling Second Street bridge wouldn't be their first choice, but it is included (along with the Sherman Minton, the Kennedy, and Spaghetti Junction itself) in their master plan they're currently shopping around.
Aside from the fact that it is quite likely illegal for them to toll one interstate to pay for another--like tolling the Sherman Minton/I-64 to pay for the East End bridge/I-265 (Pennsylvania just got smacked by the Feds for doing this, btw), it's plain unfair given the roads/bridges in question were paid for long ago.
So I greatly sympathize with the woman in question, and I'm greatly disheartened that Ed Clere lacks either the ability to see the mess this ORBP is or the political will and leadership to influence a more fiscally sound and responsible use of taxpayer money. What a disappointment.
Karen, you write:
"Let's not forget that we pay state and federal gas taxes which go toward road construction and maintenance, and let's further recognize that those of us who live on the Indiana side but work in Louisville actually pay taxes to Jefferson County specifically for the use/maintenance of their infrastructure. So we've already paid into the system several times over."
This reads like you think you are entitled to the bridge since you have "already paid into the system several times over."
Sounds nice, but who has done the math?
Why burden those who will rarely if ever use the bridge with the debt that will be incurred in the construction of the bridge?
I guess you missed the part where I said the money for the East End bridge is already there. Between Indiana selling off its toll road, Indiana and KY state gas taxes, and federal gas taxes (road construction is exactly what those taxes are supposed to fund, btw), the East End bridge is acknowledged to be paid for. It's the rest of the mess they can't fund. Not easily, anyway.
And if you simply want to toll the new East End bridge (or the new downtown bridge if you really want that one built), I'll not argue the point very vehemently. But the Sherman Minton, 2nd St., and Kennedy shouldn't have tolls on them to pay for a different bridge. Or two. Especially when studies show there's no return on investment for the downtown bridge. If you want to argue entitlements and not wanting to pay for something you won't use, then argue against building something that studies show we don't need in the first place. Regardless of how it's funded.
Also, unless you live in Madison, IN/Milton, KY area, you're already paying for a bridge you aren't using. Mitch Daniels found a way to pay for that without tolls. Daniels and his BFF Ed Clere could use the same leadership here that is getting the Madison bridge built faster and cheaper than projected, but inexplicably they refuse to do that. Odd, since they'd be scoring some major political points in doing so...
As an aside, the Bi-State Bridges Authority's own research team has finally admitted that all-electronic tolls will not work because out-of-state people (as evidenced in other areas of the country) don't pay tolls when sent a picture of their license plate after the fact with a "pretty please pay us" letter. So while electronic transponders will be an option for local folks (though it will still require slowing down, complicating traffic patterns), there will have to be toll booths placed on whatever bridges they decide to toll to capture all possible revenue. It's one thing to do that to a new bridge(s) that can be build to accommodate the extra lanes and traffic congestion it will create, but to put toll booths on the Kennedy, 2nd Street, and Sherman Minton? If you think Spaghetti Junction backs up bad now, just wait till there are toll booths on the Kennedy...
Sierra, that's two, and your profile is restricted, so ... please review the NAC terms of engagement on the front page, right column (scroll down).
Thanks.
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