Comments on: 6 months to go…

By: Seattle Transit Blog » STB Anti-Endorsements

Seattle Transit Blog » STB Anti-Endorsements — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:02:45 +0000

[...] 6 months to go… [...]

By: Seattle Transit Blog » Another Good Bill in Congress

Seattle Transit Blog » Another Good Bill in Congress — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 23:17:08 +0000

[...] 6 months to go… [...]

By: Wes

Wes — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:13:06 +0000

yes, but why was this idea of governments formed in the first place? it goes back further than our constitution…

By: phil on qa

phil on qa — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:33:35 +0000

Actually, defense is only priority number 4 for our government.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

By: Matt the Engineer

Matt the Engineer — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:30:21 +0000

Yes, I think I remember that in the Constitution. Something about the right to smooth and comfortable travel in fossil fuel based personal vehicle. There may also be a section about the right to gun racks.

By: Wes

Wes — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:32:49 +0000

Actually, the only primary duty of government is to protect its citizens. You can take that to mean they should protect us from looming economic collapse if we didn’t have our roads (or transit!!!! roads aren’t the only transportation dangit!)…but that would be a subsidiary responsibility, not a primary. Maybe I’m over analyzing your choice of words.

By: John Jensen

John Jensen — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:13:28 +0000

Yes they should maintain roads, but not at the cost of transit which is exploding in ridership. And I can promise you if any administration did this, this blog would be just as much against it.

By: andrew cencini

andrew cencini — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:04:01 +0000

i should say they’ve been *trying* to do this for a bit

By: Ben Schiendelman

Ben Schiendelman — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 06:54:25 +0000

I think that this would just jeopardize new FFGAs – I’d imagine that anything that’s already under way would be fully funded.

By: andrew cencini

andrew cencini — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 05:50:58 +0000

this is pretty old news actually, i think i saw it on the slog a month or two ago, and i also had a letter about it in the P-I awhile back as well.

just wait til our buddy mccain goes and kills amtrak!

By: vanderleun

vanderleun — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 01:00:14 +0000

One of the primary duties of government is to FIX the existing roads. Something we seem not to keep up with here.

It is going to be so sad to see so many so bereft when Bush is gone and yet, and yet, as if by magic, the same old crapola keeps unfolding. Whomever shall we blame then? The Republicans? The Fundamentalists. The Bush “legacy”? The McCainiacs? The Obamatrons?

Folks are going to need a whole new villain.

By: Nate

Nate — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:46:54 +0000

Here’s something interesting:
DOT Renews Opposition to Gas Tax

The Department of Transportation again urged a transition away from the gas tax toward a broader transportation funding base, in a comprehensive proposal released July 29.
The proposal, Refocus. Reform. Renew. A New Transportation Approach for America, urged Congress in the 2009 transportation policy rewrite to begin the gradual shift away from a gas tax “that is increasingly ineffective, unpopular, and unsustainable.” Direct user fees, such as tolls and congestion pricing, in addition to public-private partnerships, were recommended as funding sources that could eventually transplant the federal gas tax of 18.4 cents per gallon that currently provides over 90 percent of federal surface transportation funding.

The report is online at http://www.fightgridlocknow.gov/reform/reformproposal08.pdf.

By: The Overhead Wire

The Overhead Wire — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:44:40 +0000

I imagine its possible that U-Link could be affected by this. The funds given to a project in full are appropriated through a number of years after the initial agreement between the agency and the FTA. Under this scenario, the FTA program would not have full funding starting in 2010.

By: AJ

AJ — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:25:44 +0000

Dear Slog,

Please pick up this piece.

Love,
AJ

By: Alexjonlin

Alexjonlin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:07:28 +0000

uh oh…. is u-link in trouble?

By: justin

justin — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 21:06:26 +0000

When was the last time they raised the federal gas tax?

By: Matt the Engineer

Matt the Engineer — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:59:51 +0000

(sigh) The good old “driving is down, so where can we get money for more roads?” argument. At least when Discovery thought of that they only came up with selling our highways to the highest bidder. Leave it to the current administration to out-road even them.