Tom In the News

Jerry Boone may not absolutely agree with me on all points, but he finds me interesting - or at least interesting enough to write about. Thanks, Jerry!

Grandiose rail schemes do little to reduce congestion

Seattle is going rail-crazy. Look familiar to anyone in Portland?

Key quotes:

If initial goals are not met, the board sets new goals at a fraction of the level once promised. Current performance then is compared with revised goals set so low that nearly any improvement is cause for celebration.

and:

At present, the taxpayer subsidy for each round trip on the Everett-to-Seattle rail commuter line is about $547! Not included is the $6 fare ($3 each way). The $547 subsidy is 32 times more than the round-trip taxpayer subsidy for Sound Transit's regional express buses.

Amazing.

Open Space... or Public Safety?

As Metro considers whether to ask area voters for a bond to purchase open space, voters are increasingly saying "no" to new taxes.

I believe that the similar 1995 bond was, among other things, proof that voters are willing to pay for what they want. The anti-Measure 37 crowd has long insisted that government has to confiscate land (through uncompensated regulatory takings) rather than pay for what it takes.

One reasonable concern - brought up in the Oregonian article - is that voters do have an upper limit for how much they're willing to pay, and sometimes the last person to ask for money gets told "no" regardless of how worthy the purpose may be.

Will voters pay for open space, only to say "no" to other demands like public safety or local school options? Will they see this as a chance to buy open space now before the price goes up? Or will public safety get a "yes" and open space a "no"?

I have no crystal ball on this. I'm expecting the open space bond to pass. But I expected the Washington County public safety levy to pass in 2004, and it didn't.

I think the wisest course of action includes these steps: (1) trust the voters and abide by their wishes, (2) encourage economic growth that grows the pie and expands the tax base, so we'll have the money to pay for government services, and (3) relentlessly look for ways to save money and do more with less in delivering government services. Indianapolis managed to increase services for years while cutting taxes, and ended up with more cash at the end than at the beginning.

Post Dorchester

Attended my first Dorchester - I didn't expect there were so many reasonable Republicans. I don't say "moderate" because that's code for "Republicans who will raise your taxes" - I didn't see any of those.

But the Taliban wing of the party were few in number and apparently keeping a low profile. (No open handling of snakes, etc.)

Saxton won the straw poll - no surprise - and Atkinson finished a strong second - big surprise. Mannix was spanked, but the nonrepresentative sample of the party present makes that less significant.

Best parts for me: meeting key conservative bloggers (hello, Sailor) and dancing with three generations of pretty women.

Big Government Databases

The next time someone tells you the answer to some pressing social problem is a massive new government database, read this first - an audit of Australia's main social-service database.

Even more cautionary is this information about Canada's failed gun registry database. Or this one. Or this web site.

Private databases often do poorly as well - see the opening paragraph here. The difference is, when the private firm screws up, they can't tax you - at worst they go out of business and someone smarter takes their place.