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October 24, 2011 at 7:03 pm #600998
hooper1961Memberthe city needs to put street maintenance as a top priority, per tom rasmussen the city has shifted money that used to be spent on street maintenance to social services since 1984. failure to maintain infrastructure led to the down fall of the roman empire and history is repeating itself.
seattle spends way more per capita on social services than other agencies in king county and our streets (and vehicles) are paying the price. it is time the city adjust social service spending to be in line with other agencies in king county.
the city’s future prosperity depends upon good infrastructure!
October 24, 2011 at 7:32 pm #738224
chrismaParticipantYou’re repeating yourself, hooper.
October 24, 2011 at 10:21 pm #738225
TDeParticipantSo… political corruption, incompetence, Christianity, splitting of the empire, climate issues, lead water pipes, cost of defending against the “barbarians,” inflation, decadence and crime ridden streets in Rome were just incidentals to the overwhelming issue of street maintenance? Really? It was potholes that caused the fall of the Roman Empire?
October 24, 2011 at 11:09 pm #738226
skeeterParticipantI agree with you on this one Hooper. It is downright irresponsible for the city to let its infrastructure fail to the point where we’re at. I’ve seen too many people dodge potholes and drive dangerously into another lane in doing so.
I encourage you to contact the city council with your concerns. I already have. I believe that Seattle should be able to keep it’s roads in decent condition like other cities in Washington State.
In more positive news, I have seen several street repair project in West Seattle in the past 12 months. There has been some progress.
October 24, 2011 at 11:33 pm #738227
kootchmanMemberThis is why Seattle is over the edge. Whereas we have a city council so steeped in liberal claptrap, so union vote dependent, be it therefore resolved we will never negotiate on behalf of the taxpayer, we shall forthwith use every measure and contrivance to increase revenues to the point of civil liberty infringements. Be it also further resolved, to suggest fiscal responsibility, is an act of civil heresy. We will meet any special interest demand with in increased city payroll until there is no evidence of arterial blood left in a single taxpayer. Sales taxes, user taxes, increased fee permits, traffic light spy cams, parking meter nazis, speed traps, dog licenses..nothing shall be construed to be beyond the pale. $100,000 Bicycle coordinators for the mayor with office staff, benefits, because he was a bike buddy of Mike .. and his wife is on the dole too. We will insert ourselves into the very structure and format of private contracts between employee and employers..Ahhh yes.. it was far more than infrastructure collapse that did Rome in… they exhausted all the treasure of the empire…to sustain the empire. Vote for the Eyeman initiative to restrict funds for road and bridge maintenance. It’s a start.
or the accepted mantra:
http://www.seiu925.org/Seattle_City_Council_Public_Employee_Appreciation.aspx
October 25, 2011 at 12:12 am #738228
JanSParticipantyou don’t like the city and who runs it…you don’t like the public schools and who runs them…why are you here? serious question. If it’s so frigging bad here, why do you stay?
October 25, 2011 at 12:37 am #738229
kootchmanMemberFor you.
October 25, 2011 at 12:46 am #738230
JanSParticipantlolol..
October 25, 2011 at 12:52 am #738231
kootchmanMemberI saw this city before it was overrun. The core elements of a hard working people, skilled craftsman, lots if enterprise, jobs, affordable housing for everyone at any income level. It was in a word, egalitarian. I should cut and run? Oh hell no. Too easy. There are still cadres of folks out there who still retain that self reliant enthusiastic streak. It’s still up in the air. I believe we are going to recapture civilian control and reassert ourselves. Look at all the encouraging signs.. parents are actually starting to demand changes in schools. Conservatives, Libertarians, and Independents are questioning how much autonomy to cede, and the ranks are getting bigger. No.. I am going to stick it out. I would be remiss in my civic duty to not cast that essential conservative vote in 2012. I believe there are surprises in store yet.
October 25, 2011 at 1:08 am #738232
JanSParticipantyou think there’s not one liberal in the world who may feel that there’s more to come in this city? Or are liberals just evil “socialists”?
October 25, 2011 at 1:09 am #738233
JanSParticipantoh, yeah…that’s right…liberals are the cause..they just want something for nothing…they’d rather take a handout, and leech off the masses…
October 25, 2011 at 2:29 am #738234
metrognomeParticipantkootch, you need to get out of this city and travel around the country … it’s happening everywhere, conservative and liberal areas alike. And there is no simple cause and no single group to point the finger at. Post-WWII, the US went on a public (interstates and sewage treatment and dams and bridges and, and, and…) and private (factories and huge hotels and more factories, and, and, and…) building spree, with little or no thought about maintenance or rebuilding. We spend $$millions if not billions rebuilding Europe and had not a single thought about the future. Why? Cuz we’re Americans and we can beat any challenge that comes our way. Except America changed and now we can’t even have a civil conversation. Oddly, many of the environmental protection rules were enacted by Republicans with cooperation from Democrats; now the neo-cons, who have demonstrated that their only interests are money and power, are trying to dismantle them, using the guise that regulations are stifling economic recovery.
Americans think they pay enough in taxes? Not hardly. Of course, most live their lives the same way. We are a culture addicted to immediate gratification, with no desire to take responsibility for the consequences of said actions. This applies to liberals as well as conservatives; the results just look different because the groups are approaching problems from opposite ends.
If this doesn’t give you something to say besides, ‘it’s the liberals’ fault, well, it won’t be anything new.
October 25, 2011 at 4:14 am #738235
kootchmanMemberI know the ASCE report, I read the thing. You are right, we needed to set aside and reserve maintenance funds. But we didn’t. We took every stream of revenue we could lay our hands on and we deferred the maintenance for less essential but more politically expedient and pleasing promises. Every physical plant has a useful design life, and a relatively known maintenance cost. Replacement and upkeep? Doesn’t get votes. We “rebuilt” Europe indeed. We also made fortunes doing it. You can’t sell to customers neck deep in rubble. There is a finite capacity to all of this. The national treasures and resources. You don’t want to repeat the 50’s… the dioxin loads in the Hudson River, the Chicago River, Love Canal, The Cayuhoga River, Great Lakes, hell, the Duwamish.. I don’t want to repeat them. but they are costs. Cost we need to incorporate into the capital budgets. Simplistic… but true, no one wants to prioritize. We have a 16 trillion dollar deficit. We were not borrowing 40 cents for every dollar we spent. You can’t trust elected governments to prioritize until you make it painfully obvious it’s time to trim the sails on the USS Good Ship Lollipop. The conversation gets idiotic..you can fund the government for 167 days if you confiscated all the wealth of all the “1” per cent. A bump to 45, 50, 60% ain’t even close to closing the gap. That’s it, that’s all there is. There is a compromise. I will listen to tax increases, but not for more of the same. Ya know who is taking the biggest bite? State and local governments. How did we get to a place where we have to send a dollar to the feds, where they take off 35%… to send it back to our local government? We don’t want a bigger government. what the hell are we doing sending 529 million to Fisker Motors in Finland? when 180 plus West Seattle residents in NVille have no drinking water tonight? And that idiot Joe Biden actually defends it!!! Now tell me again… you want to increase taxes? these things drive a taxpayer NUTS! I want to spend more on schools… not more for more of the same. The revolt is in the futility of paying taxes. We want to feel good, generous, effective, alturistic,… not suckers. A 100K bicycle coordinator, 340K to replace the windows at the private and very exclusive University Club, .. those two issue alone are the lifes work and sweat of one taxpayer. Did we need it? Is this what we have McGinn and McDermott for? This the best we can get? And you can throw in the iraq war, and the GM bailout for a horribly mismanaged company..and the protections and shieldings of Wall Street…. make this make sense to me….what am I missing?
With the approval of the Obama administration, an electric car company that received a $529 million federal government loan guarantee is assembling its first line of cars in Finland, saying it could not find a facility in the United States capable of doing the work.
That is almost the budget of the entire Seattle Public School System, for a little perspective. I love NPR… it doesn’t need a tax subsidy. The list is endless.
October 25, 2011 at 4:20 am #738236
metrognomeParticipantif you want me to make a list of all the things you are missing, I would be here forever. Since you make perfect decisions all the time and have crystal balls with 20/20 hindsight, why don’t you run for office?
October 25, 2011 at 1:27 pm #738237
redblackParticipantmetrognome: what? and actually work for the public good instead of oneself? and on a civil servant’s salary?
surely, you jest.
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