Stop The Pike Hike! - Massachusetts

[Funny]

There is going to be a rally, a protest, if you will. This rally is taking place on Wednesday, December 3rd. Please, if you live in Massachusetts, visit this organization's website: STOP THE PIKE HIKE, and join the protest, whether you are a resident of east Boston or not. The purpose of this organization is a protest of the gasoline and toll hikes Massachusetts residents, and anyone who works in and around Boston, are going to face in the upcoming months. A third of our state pays 90% of the tolls, day after day, and the average toll payer will be socked with an additional thousand dollars in tolls and 79 dollars in gasoline taxes per year. Massachusetts politicians say that we will, supposedly have the choice of a gas hike or a toll hike. This is Massachusetts folks, we are GOING to get both!

Thank you for your support. - Funny-

[HObart]

Once upon a time in Jersey........Cigarette tax was increased by 5 cents per pack for snow removal on the highways.....seems that only smokers drove during the winter months....also around the same time , the toll on the Turnpike was raised from 25 cents to 35 cents..The alternative was to drive Route 9 through 55 towns with the assorted traffic lights and 55MPH speed limit droping to 35MPH in town...........I chose to spend the 35 cents and arrive at my destination in my lifetime....
"They" are going to pretty much do what they want to...Take the long way , or not.......You have options for toll roads........you don't have options for taxes , unless you choose not to purchase the product....

[Funny]

Originally Posted by HObart

"They" are going to pretty much do what they want to...Take the long way , or not.......You have options for toll roads........you don't have options for taxes , unless you choose not to purchase the product....

The problem is "they" are constantly re-elected because no one runs against "them". So the incumbent politicians get in unopposed, and there is no change, except higher and higher taxes and services. We, Massachusetts, need to implement a term limit on all political offices and rid them of the ability they have to vote themselves their own raises! There is no option for some people. They just go along with everything that the government tells them is okay.

But we allow the politicians to tell us what we can have. That is not the way that the founders of this country planned it. I subscribe to the Jeffersonian standard and ask the question of everything in my state, "Does it break my leg, or pick my purse?" to determine if something is good for me. If it harms me or takes my money needlessly, then I vote against it!
Rant over.

[trebuchet03]

Originally Posted by Funny

The problem is "they" are constantly re-elected because no one runs against "them". So the incumbent politicians get in unopposed, and there is no change

You should run for public office

That solves the problem of no one running against them and gives everyone an alternative It's hard though - people tend to vote for the incumbent because they're the incumbent - even when they do a crappy job


I'm curious though - 1/3 of the state pays 90% of the tolls....

Is that 1/3 by area? Population? And, what percentage of highway road usage does that 1/3 utilize? (Just curious)

[Funny]

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

You should run for public office

That solves the problem of no one running against them and gives everyone an alternative It's hard though - people tend to vote for the incumbent because they're the incumbent - even when they do a crappy job

The other problem is that "Funny" is a virtual unknown, even if I had the knowledge of civics and law that one must have in order to run for a governmental position, it would be too much stress for a B type like myself. These jerks just get me all fired up.

Originally Posted by trebuchet03

I'm curious though - 1/3 of the state pays 90% of the tolls....

Is that 1/3 by area? Population? And, what percentage of highway road usage does that 1/3 utilize? (Just curious)

This is around the Boston area. To give you some examples:
In 2000 the population of Suffolk county (Boston) was 689,807 people. The whole of Massachusetts in the same year had a population of 6,349,097.
That is where the percentage comes from (I know that it is only a little under eleven percent, but I am counting commuters into the city.)
In 2000 the population density of Suffolk county (Boston) was 10000 people/ square mile. The whole of Massachusetts in the same year had a population density of 810.

Land area (square miles) Suffolk county: 58.52 - Massachusetts: 7,840.02

HOW MUCH WILL TOLLS GO UP?

The Ted Williams and Sumner Tunnels:
$7 for cars paying cash (currently $3.50)
$6 for cars using Fast Lane (currently $3)
$9 for 2-axle for commercial vehicles (currently $5.25)
$3.50 per axle for all other commercial vehicles

Allston-Brighton Tolls:
$2 for cars paying cash (currently $1.25)
$1.50 for cars using Fast Lane (currently $1)
$1 per axle for commercial vehicles

And currently it costs 79 cents in wages for the toll collectors for every dollar of tolls collected. That means that only 21 cents on the dollar are going to pay the debt on the road (many of whose tolls have already paid for the cost of building its highway twice over, thus having no debt on them other than maintenance!)

The State gas tax (not federal) is at 21.5 cents per gallon. They are going to raise it by nearly 50% (an additional 9 cents), and 70% (I was one of the other 30%) of the state just voted to KEEP the income Tax! They are now coming around like crack-heads saying "I still need a little more money, can I have a little more money, please a little more." ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.

You scared the ignorant, uninformed people of Massachusetts to forgo keeping the money that they earned, threatening higher taxes, and proceed just two weeks and two days later to "Punch the tax payers in the face" with more taxes. This is definitely not cutting the wasteful spending that you promised, Mr. Patrick. It is another screw-job on the people of my state.

Thanks for the question and being interested, Treb, I always value the opinion of someone as intellectual and intelligent as yourself.