An Open Question to Those Who Pay Attention
I posted the following comments on Tom Cox's blog and I'm interested to see if he responds. He gives praise to Gen X GOP Governor candidate Jason Atkinson, whose website I reviewed and failed to see any policy ideas about the following:
By the way, I've been seeing links to Atkinson's campaign website in various places, but I have to say his site is not very well thought out. There should be immediate clarity of his policy positions - if he truly has committed to any - but instead you have to figure out that the "15 reasons to vote for Atkinson" tag is actually an attempt at a campaign platform.
Seriously, take a page from Mighty Newt's playbook and get that Contract front and center!
I posted the following comments on Tom Cox's blog and I'm interested to see if he responds. He gives praise to Gen X GOP Governor candidate Jason Atkinson, whose website I reviewed and failed to see any policy ideas about the following:
Why no pointed discussion about transportation funding and ODOT's economically adversarial priorities?
Thousands of dollars for the umpteenth futile Downtown Tigard visioning process, thousands of dollars to figure out how to take parking away from Lake Oswego businesses to provide never-used bike lanes, and a horrific track record of building freeway capacity decades after it has been needed.
ODOT, transportation funding, "transportation options," and land use planning and regulation to reduce vehicle "dependency" and sprawl are all insidiously linked in this state.
It's time to to address the problem upfront and frankly, is it not?
By the way, I've been seeing links to Atkinson's campaign website in various places, but I have to say his site is not very well thought out. There should be immediate clarity of his policy positions - if he truly has committed to any - but instead you have to figure out that the "15 reasons to vote for Atkinson" tag is actually an attempt at a campaign platform.
Seriously, take a page from Mighty Newt's playbook and get that Contract front and center!
posted by Screwtape at 8:23 AM
3 Comments:
{Why no pointed discussion about transportation funding and ODOT's economically adversarial priorities?}
Well, gee. I dunno. Maybe because he assumes that everyone recognizes by now just how messed up the transportation priorities are in this state. As governor, all one has to do is order a state agency.
What's to "discuss"? Do you want billions more spent on trains to nowhere and streetcar lines to soWhat? If so, don't bother to vote. Sleepy Ted can win by a landslide.
{ODOT, transportation funding, "transportation options," and land use planning and regulation to reduce vehicle "dependency" and sprawl are all insidiously linked in this state.}
Yes, but unfortunately, the worst of it all comes not from ODOT but from the only Regional government in the USA. There's a reason why they're the only one, I suspect. They show you what not to do: $7 million for a five-mile hiking trail is their latest proposal.
MAX light-rail? Billions of dollars for 17 miles of track while the freeways rot? Metro again.
There's no discussion because there's nothing to discuss. A strong governor will just issue the following orders to state agencies in the first week of office:
No, DHS, you will not provide services to illegal aliens.
ODOT, you will not work with Metro to plan anything other than road enhancements.
By all means, stick with sleepy ted and his clones if that's what you like.
It's a representative democracy.
We all get a vote. One person will win the opportunity to represent the citizens of our state. I hope you have as much confidence as I have.
Just know one thing for certain. That is that Ron Saxton is the architect of the airport max scheme.
Saxton is also a strong supporter of the smart growth crowd.
So that leaves us with two candidates. Of the two I've behind Jason this time around.
Elimination of cap gains taxes.
Jessicas law.
And he was the strongest proponent of the initiative system of anyone in the legislature. That is a hard position to take around a lot of politicians. Because most get to feeling very overly self important and begin to oppose the initiative system.
He gets kudos for that.
Thank you, gentlemen (apparently male?), for your input and I have a couple of questions:
How did you find out about our blog? I wasn't aware of any links yet.
Second, I think the point here is that ODOT/transportation spending could easily be a campaign issue that Kulongoski cannot answer.
Every jurisdiction hates ODOT because of their dictatorial policies re: throughways on State roads, underspending for capacity, regs, etc. ODOT is only your friend when a TGM grant is available.
Nameless, faceless agencies with lots of power, NO accountability, and tangible effects on people (traffic snarls, potholes, bad spending priorities) can be ripe political targets.
That is my point and I don't see that yet. And yes, Metro is a BIG problem, but ODOT - by far - is the biggest arbiter of federal transportation dollars and their wasted spending on ill-conceived plans for pedestrian, bicycle, and light rail zones and other impractical transportation boondoggles.
Beyond that, welcome to the 9th Circle.
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