tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366199.post8361443927743964658..comments2023-12-24T00:27:57.613-06:00Comments on Kole Hard Facts of Life: Erika Smith, IndyGo ReporterMike Kolehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17573721231319244630noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366199.post-87859548049774239642011-08-27T12:53:35.046-05:002011-08-27T12:53:35.046-05:00Rail's just a pet peave of mine, because I'...Rail's just a pet peave of mine, because I'm a railfan. It's a strange position to be in: I love trains and ride them when I can. I just don't expect everybody else to provide them for me.Mike Kolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17573721231319244630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366199.post-52349467974791713862011-08-27T12:51:19.985-05:002011-08-27T12:51:19.985-05:00Which is this? Red herring, or straw man? I've...Which is this? Red herring, or straw man? I've never been good at identifying these.<br /><br />I don't want subsidies to trucking.<br /><br />I don't want a federal road building shell game empire whereby there is no accountability due to the fact that as much as 80% of the money for any given state's construction comes from the other 49 states.<br /><br />I was opposed to building I-69 in southern Indiana.<br /><br />I'd prefer to see user fees pay for the roads. That could be tolls, gas taxes, or a combination.<br /><br />If you think there isn't any zoning in Fishers, try to build without a permit and see what happens.<br /><br />In sum, rather than adding another boondoggle (light rail) as justification for all the others, I'd rather not launch the new boondoggle, and reign in the others to the extent it can be done.Mike Kolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17573721231319244630noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5366199.post-87059006956104799702011-08-27T10:25:44.535-05:002011-08-27T10:25:44.535-05:00Fifty percent of Federal highway funding comes fro...Fifty percent of Federal highway funding comes from general revenues. That means that in Indiana $450 million of the $900 plus million in FY 2009 came from some source other than highway use taxes. <br /><br />Nationally we subsidize the trucking industry to the tune of $2 billion a year in highway maintenance costs. <br /><br />Indiana's now spending 20-30% of its total highway budget on the I-69 boondoggle, scheduled to be completed sometime between the end of the Toll Road lease and the invention of the personal atomic-powered rocket car, to benefit what percentage of Hoosiers? <br /><br />We're also about to spend half-a-billion dollars widening I-69 in Hamilton county as a reward for Fishers' program of incontinent, unfettered, and zoning-free development. <br /><br />So, y'know, $1.5 million, none of which is yours, for a less-than adequate mass-transit system seems relatively low on the outrage meter to me; ask me again when I start paying vanity and graft fees for a light rail system that'll benefit literally dozens of Fishers residents. In the meantime, I pay a wheel tax for the upkeep of Marion county roads. I've put a tip jar out in front of my house. Toss in a few coins next time you drive by.James Briggs Stratton "Doghouse" Rileyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05378802364709433791noreply@blogger.com