The big rumor floating around, that seems to be substantiated somewhat by the front page article on streets in the Sunday Tulsa World, is that Kathy Taylor is planning a $375 million bond issue to fix streets.
If true, I just might support this one. However, word is that the vote will occur on the same day in October that the County Commission is favoring for the River Tax question.
The other interesting thing to keep an eye on will be if some (or most likely all) of the road work on Yale from 96th Street to the proposed Bixby Bridge will be included and expedited, so that Mayor KT can be absolved from her "no bridge" pledge.
Monday, July 23, 2007
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3 comments:
They can propose all the bond issues they like; I ain't a-votin' for squat. I've bloody well had enough. They've spent my hard-earned simoleons so poorly for decades, and now someone has the cheek to come ask for money to do what they should have done long ago? I think not.
I've said before that when I was a kid, I remember distinctly that sales tax was four or four-and-a-half cents on the dollar. Shockingly, we had roads, we had police, we had fire, etc. Then somebody decided that we could add a penny temporarily to add some needed things.
I ain't been a kid for a long time, and that temporary penny ain't never went away, and neither have the other pennies that have been added over the years.
And overall, I can't tell that we are all that much better off. The mayor can stuff it in her ear when it comes to me voting for any taxes at all, for any reason whatever.
You're doing well at KFAQ, by the way.
Not only NO but HECK NO. Tulsa is badly over taxed. This administration and previous administrations have spent our tax money like drunk cowboys on everything from entertainment venues, to the most luxurious city hall in the United States. Now that they are finally realizing that the streets might prevent them from being re-elected they are going to try to get us to pay even more in taxes. UH UH. Ain't gonna happen. Cancel the City Hall deal. Tone down the arena. Fire some executive staff. Maybe the mayor can donate her salary for a year. But not one more penny in new taxes until an administration proves it deserves our trust.
Personally, I don't think we are "over"taxed here in Tulsa. But then again, I moved here from Seattle. That being said, I believe that in order to see investment in your community, we need to make investment in our community. Not only do we need to directly fund a streets and roads issue, I believe that we should broaden that issue to include REAL transportation alternatives (not in place of roads, but complimentary to them) to our community. Alternatives that will reduce our wear and tear on our roads, that will address our air quality, that will slow down future congestion issues stemming from growth, that will provide timely and reliable transportation to those who most need it, and that will stimulate new investment in our community (rooftops, retail, jobs). The definition of insanity is what? Doing the same thing over and over, while expecting a different result. We cannot keep buoying suburban growth without considering a true comprehensive transit/transportation system. We have catered to the automobile for decades, and all it has gotten us is an unmanageable network of streets and roads (from a maintenance standpoint), that has, in effect, drained the core of our city of its vitality. So, yes, fix the roads and implement the current streets plan, but include in that plan room for bicycles and pedestrians, and let's begin, BEFORE the crisis, to implement a REAL mass transit system.
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