The bridge


January 14, 2010 John de Rosier Editorial Cartoon

John de Rosier

10 Responses

  1. edgar says:

    The proponents, of the people surrendering more power to the government, will, no doubt, refuse to accept the realities that government failed to adequately maintain the bridges (while simultaneously paying vast sums to government employees for not maintaining the bridges), and that stripping the people of more power to give that power to the already corrupt government which failed in the first place.

    Power corrupts, as demonstrated by the corrupt failure of the government, and more power will simply further corrupt the government.

  2. jakester says:

    I’m afraid you’re right…

  3. Zufechten says:

    So, Edgar, what is your solution?

    A big part of the problem is 80% of the money going into the dedicated bridge and highway construction fund is going to things other than constructing bridges and highways.

    If NY’s state and local governments were simplified, perhaps we wouldn’t have to raid the “locked box” to pay for the DMV, snow and ice control, and transportation bonds.

  4. edgar says:

    Zufechten, thank you for your interest in my thoughts, on solutions to the problem of having tax payers’ money diverted, from the intended use for legitimate transportation infrastructure maintainance, to the payment of salaries and benefits for bloated bureaucracies and unions which failed to perform the intended maintainance.

    Would you not fire a contractor, who you had hired to build a home, if the contractor had used all the money allocated to the building of that home to pay himself and his employees, without having built the home he had been hired to build? Would you not then sue the contractor for ripping you off?

  5. zufechten says:

    I ask again: Edgar, what is your solution?

  6. edgar says:

    Asked, and answered, z. Please reread my first response, to your question; answer honestly the questions that I asked in that response; apply the same logic, as you used in answering my questions, to the issue of the corrupt misuse of your money by the folks responsible for maintaining transportation infrastructure; and you have your answer.

  7. zufechten says:

    To use the analogy in your second post, you fire the contractor you hired to work on your house, and take him to court. So, you’ve removed the source of the problem. Meanwhile, you still have a hole in your roof. Who do you hire to fix it?

  8. edgar says:

    z, Do you suppose that in the hundreds of thousands of unemployed, and under-employed New Yorkers, there might be some folks to replace the fired contractors?

  9. zufechten says:

    No, I don’t suppose that at all. Driving a 10 ton dump truck with 15 feet of plow hanging off the front through a blizzard is kind of a specialized skill. Similarly, it takes years for highway engineers to learn their craft, and you want to fire the people that can teach them.

    In any event, you are placing the blame at the feet of the wrong people. Most of the state and municipal highway workers and professionals I’ve met have been earnest and competent, doing the best they can with what they are given.

    The state dedicated fund is broken because the State Legislature is diverting our tax money from highway construction to the DMV and bond debt payments. The national Highway Trust Fund is broke because Congress is too chicken to index the gas tax to inflation. As road and bridge construction gets more expensive, the Trust Fund gets more and more impotent.

    But more to the point, the real problem is suburban sprawl. It costs 20-30 cents per person per mile to build and maintain a road to the suburbs, yet drivers only pay on average 2-3 cents per mile through the gas tax, vehicles fees, etc. Not one road we build pays for itself, yet as more and more people move to Clifton Park and Knox and Sand Lake, infrastructure costs go up and up and up. And it isn’t just roads. It’s water and sewer and utilities and fire and police and air pollution and obesity and asthma and stormwater etc. etc. etc.

    As Pogo said back in 1970: “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

  10. edgar says:

    Well, z, perhaps people are capable of doing more than you give them credit for.