Dear Editor:
Americans will witness a new battle now estimated to cost $247
billion (but with bond fees and financing charges approximately
$375 billion).
Dear Editor:
Americans will witness a new battle now estimated to cost $247 billion (but with bond fees and financing charges approximately $375 billion).
USDOT’s new highway bill “Safe, Accountable, Flexible and Efficient Transportation Equity Act of 2003,” is nicknamed “TEA-3,” short for the third version of the six-year Transport Equity Act. Hold on to your wallets as we witness the spectacle of Congressmen, lobbyists and vested transport interests from all modes, clashing over federal subsidies for pork barrel projects. It will culminate this September.
Played upon a backdrop of trillion-dollar debt burdens and historic high state and local government budget deficits, Congressional suspension of disbelief in fiscal irresponsibility will convert Capitol Hill into Pork Chop Hill. Each Congressional District’s highway and transit wish list projects have been placed on Santa Uncle Sam’s “to do” list, whether we have the money to pay for them or not. From bike lanes to bullet trains, rickshaws to lunar escalators, no constituents “unmet transit needs” will go unfunded. Forget logic, economics, accounting, efficiency and science, as we embark for points beyond the looking glass.
Joseph P. Thompson, Gilroy
Submitted Tuesday, June 3
