[PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit taxes

[John Swindler]

It's amazing how generous people can be with other people's money.  And it's 
not just government.



>From: Herb Brannon <hrbran at sbcglobal.net>
>Reply-To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>To: pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org
>Subject: [PRCo] Re: Pittsburgh - think tank blasts possible new transit 
>taxes Date: Mon, 10 Sep 2007 22:17:19 -0700 (PDT)
>
>It has always been my viewpoint, since the demise of private public transit 
>in favor of public authorities that a new era, if you will, has emerged. 
>The transit service, anywhere it is supported by tax dollars, should now be 
>thought of as a part of its service area infrastructure. Just as the 
>electricity, water, sewage, gas, etc are public utilities so now is public 
>transportation. Albeit it is paid for by all taxpayers and not just the 
>users of the service. If only the users were to pay, then there would have 
>been no need to get rid of the private companies as everything would have 
>remained the same. In the early days of tax supported authorities and up 
>through the early-1980s the funding was pretty much a good thing. Money was 
>used were it should have been used and things worked nicely. Only after the 
>Regan administration with the @$$ backward "supply side economics", profit 
>taking, greed, and Elizabeth Dole as head of the US Department of 
>Transportation did things begin
>  to leave common sense behind. Today, some public funding is going for 
>good operations, however a lot is being wasted on pork barrel projects. 
>This is money that could better be spent on educating children, feeding the 
>hungry and housing the homeless.
>Fred Schneider <fwschneider at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>Look at my comments about riders in Lancaster ... one person in every
>other family in 1915 to one person in every 50 families today.
>Would it not just cheaper to send a taxi to pick up the guy? Yes,
>but there are those who argue that we cannot do that because that
>would be discriminating.
>
>What is wrong with a society that discriminates against you and me by
>charging us to run a 35 foot bus for two people?
>
>
>
>Herb Brannon
>
>

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