The Thinking Man's Insurrection
No need for riots in the steet or hurling molotov cocktails. The thinking man's insurrection has arrived. Just sink into that ergonomically incorrect chair in front of your PC and peruse the Jan. 30, 2006, edition of Bacon's Rebellion here. Our columnists clearly had transportation -- and transportation-related tax hikes -- on their mind.
Columns include:
The Waste in Maintenance
If the General Assembly doesn't tackle the $200 million-a-year waste in road maintenance, lawmakers can't even pretend to be serious about curtailing state spending.
by James A. Bacon
Transportation Hold 'em
Most of the cards on the General Assembly's transportation table are lying face up. But it's still too early to know who's got the winning hand.
by Doug Koelemay
Kaine's Plan Doesn't Cut It
Tim Kaine's transportation plan will cost more money - and it won't work.
by Patrick McSweeney
Not Again (Sigh)
Once again, the General Assembly is talking about taxes for transportation. You'd never know that a global revolution in highway privatization and financing has taken place.
by Geoffrey Segal
How to Fund Transportation without Really Trying
These six strategies will stretch Virginia transportation dollars by billions of dollars -- and put off the need for tax increases for years.
by Michael Thompson
posted by James A. Bacon @ 10:13 AM
1 comments
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1 Comments:
I think McSweeney is prone to incomplete thoughts, or else he is writing a serial with cliffhangers at the end of each episode.
This month he makes good arguments that Kaine's plan doesn't cut it, but offers no suggestions as to what might work better.
When he says that channeling development towards infrastructure is based on a misconception about growth, he is entirely correct and effectively repudiates EMR's wistful dreaming.
He is right when he says that allowing localities to deny development is a beggar thy neighbor approach, that simply puts growth someplace else, he is right again.
He says the broken link between land use and transportation is a result of the bureaucracy being broken, and that the proposed intermodal office is based on more misguided perceptions. Right again.
He is right about the effect of TDR's, but only describes a small part of the problems they entail.
What I don't understand is that he calls for better public policy and more authority to carry it out. At the same time he says only private development can solve our problems.
I'm not convinced that privatising public capital is such a good deal for the public, or the state. Citizens paid for the roads we have. If we are going to turn them into private enterprises, then every member of the public ought to be made a stockholder in the company. It is our money.
As it stands now, we are all stockholders in our roads, and we all have an equal opportunity to put the to our own best use. Handing that opportunity over to private enterprise doesn't buy us anything.
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