Increase gas tax or toll increase?
Many of you know that I've supported tolls North and South of the City for some time now. And I do strongly believe, that an increase in gas tax will also be an increase in the tolls. This shell game will play out in the coming weeks and the public hearings on these subjects are just "public lip service" which will do nothing to stem the tide of our increased loathing of all of those Legislators who claim to be representing US.
From the MWDN
http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/
news/x1362386177/Legislators-mull-
gas-tax-vs-toll-hikes
posted by Jim Pillsbury @ 4:04 PM
25 Comments
25 Comments:
More of the same is all I am seeing, even though the world is coming down around their heads, they have that gold dome protecting them…..both figuratively and literally!
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on. Yada yada dee. Yada yada doe. Well, at least we are saving money heating the state house. We do shut the heat off when no one is there,right?
good point Frank S... the cost of running that whole "gold dome" building must be huge.
when all this plays out, we will be more upset than today. Public meetings are not... there're doing what they want, threatening us with extreme tax increases, while they drive freely, on our dime. Do they feel our pain?
Anon, Sooner or later, those who continue to ignore their constituents, will see ...much MORE public decent and condemnation from folks who are paying attention, regular people. The blogs and on line news are read by many and the sheer volume of disapproval and disgust has be turned up to 10. They have to be hearing this from all angles and perhaps begin to get it. It can't be business as usual, anymore
I agree with Jim that they have to be hearing us, but not sure they are listening. There is a big difference between the hearing and the listening part. I think they simply don’t care what we say. They act as if we are their children, and they know what is best for us better than we do. Problem is, for years we have allowed them to treat us this way, and now we are going to have to rattle some cages to change their mentality. Some will listen I am guessing if we rattle enough, but many won’t, because they don’t want to. Those are the ones we need to vote out next time around. But the question of how exactly we rattle their cages and let them know that things have changed is a question we have to answer. Jim, any ideas on that?
I find it difficult to accept that we are stuck with these people until the next round of elections. I know we made our bed by electing them, but laying in that bed is going to wipe us out financially if we allow them to continue on the course they have started on. Even the union employees who contract with the city of Boston have been asked to forego their raises for a year, but these legislators, who 2 months into the year still have not had one productive session, all got raises. Tell me how this is fair and equitable? Seems to be they are in direct opposition to what the President is saying he expects from companies who get bail out money. The state of MA is getting bail out money also, why aren’t the people running the state held to the same standard of no raises and accountability as the President is asking of other companies receiving bail out money. Guess the MA legislators think they are above the President’s authority. Someone needs to remind them that is not the case.
Jim is right, what ever happened to the option of charging people on other roads to drive on them the way we charge people to drive on the turnpike? How come that option does not seem to be in consideration now at all. Are the reps for those towns just much better at their job than our reps our at theirs? Maybe we can get those reps to move to Metro west and advocate to get rid of our tolls since they seem to be so successful at preventing their constituents from getting stuck paying anything at all.
TW.. let's wait a few days, perhaps a week or so.. and see what madness they have to bring to the table.
It may be time, to do some home grown picketing outside Pam, Karen, Tom and Lynsky's house.. to get our point home.
The public meetings are fro them.. not us... either you are a Democrat or a Republican at these meetings... Independents have no place with them.
Barney,
And your same thoughts can be applied to Framingham... they seem to be void of any type of fiscal awarness.
FinF,
My guess is that there's more of the heavy hitters living North and South of the City, than there are in the West. But why the Governor has dropped the idea of tolls on the boarders sleighs me.
Something is going to happen here... and some will stand up for what's right, in some form or another
Wait and see seems to be the statement of the day from everyone now a days. I get that we have to give some of these things the chance to actually work, but that means that if they don’t work, we have lost a lot of time, and sometimes it is to late to fix them. I think that is going to be the case with these toll hikes. Won’t matter if the gas tax goes into effect, once these hikes in tolls are approved, they ain’t never going to eliminate them. How else are they going pay that 10 % increase in salary?
What’s tax on gas for us? No pay tolls don’t drive on pike but still have to by gas to go local store and work. why I pay for other people to drive on pike?
Sox,
Good point on the time lost...
It will be very interesting to find out, somewhere down the road, that the Pike Board didn't have to make the call last week.... and this was a ploy to get both increases for Deval to work with.. and then force us to pick one or another.
Abra,
There's lots of you around and maybe more than us. But we must share the burden of cost for our streets and highways. You / we already pay gas tax and this is our fair share of the burden now. We don't like it, and the tax doesn't always go to the roads and bridges, but we really have little choice to get around it.
But the new increase is all about politics and huge dept from the Big Dig. We are asked to pay for huge mistakes for shooty construction and a place we don't use, mostly.
It's elected madness and hard to follow sometimes, buy very real in it's effect on us all.
I am shocked and amazed. Not by there actions, but by anyone being surprised by their actions. Where have you guys been? They have been screwing us for years now!
Jim, not exactly on topic here,sorry, but the question everyone wants answered is when is all this money from the stimulus package going to actually start changing things? When are there going to be jobs I can apply for, and when is there going to be a program that will help me on my home I am upside down by 125%, and unless I get a job that pays me what I use to make, I am going to lose my home. I don't see any hoe for people like me except if we can get jobs. That is fine with me, but I am not sure I can hold on long enough for that job to happen. Any insight on when we can expect to see any of this money at work?
We need someone to lead this fight against the old ways and to motivate people to change things. Without that, we will all just be complaining and whining, but nothing will happen. Next elections are not all that far away. We need to start preparing for them now. Grass roots efforts take a while to build. How do we start that process now to insure our success in 2010? Jim, are you still willing to take a leading roll in this and run for an elected office?
What about planning ahead? I hear all this talk about how we need this money to survive the current economic crisis. Does that mean if this crisis continues for another year, as most say it will, then they are going to hit us up again for more money? I would like to see some long term 5 yr plan for this. When you have a business you do a business plan. Where is the state transportation departments business plan? If we are being asked to fund it, shouldn't we at least get to see it? I personally doubt there is one, and I doubt even more that Richardson, Spilka, or any other elected official has even asked for this. What do we pay these elected officials for if it is not to look into this type of thing?
Does any of these increases fund new jobs? They say it is to fix the highways, well, does that mean they will hire people to do the fixes? Or is it just they are going to make the people already paid to do that work actually work? What is going on here?
Jamie,
As you state, your not alone. The monies are still being held and will have to be rolled out here very soon. As you may have seen from the shovel ready lists, if you are a union worker, then you will see work and openings as soon as the ground thaws.
Hold the bank off as long as possible. I've heard about asking the mortgage company for a copy of the paperwork you signed to get the mortgage... .it's solely a delay tactic, if the bank is giving you a deadline to get out.
I wish i could be more of a help.
FR,
I'm ready to do anything to get some justice and fairness back into our State House. I'm looking into weather we can recall or vote no confidence in our Reps any time before the elections.
We have 20 months and in the next few months as the economy slows to a crawl, perhaps millions of Mass residents will get the picture and demand better, complete and honest representation.
I've also been thinking about a way to have 120 to 150 regular people run for State Rep in 2010, all across the State. Our only hope, in taking back the State House is to get a majority of like mined human beings to stop the madness on the Hill. Not either Democrat's or Republicans, but un enrolled or independent's.
Deval will be here in 2010 to run. The poor minority party in this State has a fat cat who may decide to run for Governor, but we all know what that will do... absolutely nothing for the common man and women.
I'm ready now...and will be ready next year... it's just to bad the election wasn't held now.
I hear lots of things on the news about new jobs in these shovel ready projects, and from the stimulus money, and that is great news. But what I don’t hear is how you go about applying for these jobs, what type of training will be required, when they will start. Does anyone have any of this type of specifics? I am afraid by the time I hear how to apply for these jobs, they will all be gone, and I worry that all of these jobs will go to people connected somehow to someone who has some say in how these jobs are filled. I am not on any local politician’s short list of “friends” so does that mean I won’t be getting one of these jobs? I heard somewhere the figure of “over 70,000” jobs will be created from this money in MA. I know at least 10 people currently out of work, and I went to the unemployment office last week to see if they knew anything about how to find these new jobs, and there were well over 100 people there also looking for work. No one anywhere has any idea of how to be put in touch with anyone hiring for these new jobs. Is this just another scam?
Help,
The majority of infrastructure repair and improvements will go to union members who have been laid off during the past year or so. As we saw this weekend, Kerry was admiring himself at a work site on the north shore where thousands will be employed for a few years building and staffing this project. It's all about keeping the union rank and file members happy. These are the people who donate to campaigns of those who continue the same old way on the Hill.
Some jobs will come back as soon as we the people get some of our credit back and go shopping. The service industry will be smaller but will still need to hire. Health care jobs will continue to be promising, along with some green jobs.
J Price,
They haven't seen any plan... part of the problem. Deval is playing both sides to get what he wants and forcing the House to deal with it.
I'll bet the 2010 budget plans are as good as anyone will see this year. All bets are off for next year, as I see it.
I agree with you on the 5 year plan.. but those who are elected have only eyes for 2 or 4 years. They can't see anything past the elections.
Anderson,
It's no scam... the monies are going to get here very soon. There won't be companies hiring hundreds or thousands, it will be slow to mature. That 70k in jobs will be over the year. DUI will get the word from various companies who are hiring, BUT it's up to us to make our own way. We ALL need to be looking for work every day and in every way. Warm weather will help fill the employment sections of the papers and as we spend money, more of us will be employed.
There is no magic bullet here... we have to be patient and have hope. We will turn this around. I'm sure of it.
Good to know you are ready to run, but 20 months is a long way off. I hop you do look into a recall vote, or a no confidence vote. There has to be something we can do. I can not believe that one constituent supported increaseing the tolls, yet they are being increased. There is not a clearer issue to show how they ignore the will of the voter. What is the sense in having reps if they don’t represent us? I think that form of government is called a dictatorship. That is pretty much the state of MA politics from what I see. No one listens to the voter and they only care about how much money they can take out of our pockets to put into their own. This is criminal, not just unethical. They are paid to represent us, and if they accept that salary, then they are obligated to do what we pay them for, to represent our wishes. There must be some way to get them all kicked out simply based on that fact alone!
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