BIKE: CAMPO hearing tomorrow

[Bob Farr]

Nevermind that toll roads will create yet another layer of barrier roads to all
cyclists and pedestrians. Toll roads are poison to cyclists because large
numbers of car drivers will be encouraged to seek out non-toll service roads and
side streets -- turning the places were we currently ride into something else
entirely.

Like Mike Dahmus. below, I too was persuaded -- temporarariarly, at least -- 
that this proposed  toll road scheme would be an equitable way to have the
suburban crowd paying the lion's share of the road building budget. It is, after
all, a fair way of distributing the burden to the majority users. But there's a
problem besides the rancid smell of anti-tax self-interest at work there.

With gasoline at a new high with no end in sight, China is now charging into a
automobile & energy consumption oriented economy. Competition for remaining oil
with emerging third world economies like China's will continue to drive oil
prices higher. And China will be in a great position to bid on the world market.
China produces real goods -- what do we sell? Culture? Lifestyle?

This huge local investment in concrete is essentially a dying gasp boondoggle by
a dead-end business plan. It sounds really good to those who think we can build
out of the gridlock problem, but it won't work because the majority users, who
we are proposing to pay for it won't be able to afford to drive as much as they
have been. They'll be forced to economize by driving less or moving closer in,
and therefore the roads won't pay for themselves. So when the bonds eventually
do default, the distribution of cost will eventually work its way down to us
anyway.

Now is the time to begin building the alternatives to allow for the graceful
transition to more responsible energy policy. Not the time to dig deeper.

Robert Farr
Austin, TX
bobfarr
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Mike Dahmus" <mdahmus>
To: "Jeremy Elliott" <moteltan>
Cc: <forum>
Sent: Monday, May 10, 2004 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: BIKE: CAMPO hearing tomorrow


> Jeremy Elliott wrote:
>
> >--- rcbaker wrote:
> >
> >
> >>[Here is the leaflet I worked up to pass out at the
> >>toll road hearing at the <snip>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >I, for one, am immensely thankful that Roger Baker is
> >out there filtering all this hoopla and presenting me
> >with the boiled-down version.
> >
> >The "enemy" has a nice web form set up to email CAMPO
> >members with you comments. Though there are others
> >available, I found the irony of using this form
> >against them quite tasty.
> >
> >http://www.congestionrelief.com/joinus.htm
> >
> >Try not to be so "over-the-top" that they hit the
> >delete key after the first few sentences.
> >
> >
> For one, I'm not sure that I agree with the idea that we're better off
> without these toll roads. While I'll hate to see 360 ruined, the fact is
> that the available alternatives are, most likely first:
>
> 1. Keep building roads, but do it out of increases in property and sales
> taxes while keeping the gas tax constant
> 2. Keep building roads; increased funds come out of Capital Metro dollars
> 3. Keep building roads, but do it out of a combination of p/s tax
> increases and moderately higher gas taxes
> 4. Build less roads, maintain current taxing regime
>
> I think anybody who looks at these options would consider #1 and #2 to
> be the worst for cyclists, since the tax burden on all increases without
> regard to driving, with #2 even worse because it will destroy transit in
> this area. #3 is very unlikely but at least marginally possible; #4 WILL
> NOT HAPPEN.
>
> Those of you in the central-city echo chamber might not get it; but the
> fact is that 95% of the population here thinks we don't build enough roads.
>
> With these toll roads, at least, the people who do the most driving (far
> suburban metro residents) will finally pay a greater share of the cost.
> Today, Central Austin drivers and non-drivers massively subsidize
> suburbanites through roads like US 183. City of Austin drivers get
> screwed twice - they pay gas tax when they drive in the city on a
> network of roads far less likely to receive gas tax funding than those
> in the hinterlands, and they pay property taxes for the city's
> right-of-way contribution.
>
> Yes, #4 would be the preferred solution among the ones listed above;
> preferable even to the "build more roads and levy tolls" option. But
> it's not going to happen, people.
>
> - MD
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