and now they're under siege for it.
The terrific Nashville Scene article linked above notes how Bredesen challenged the TDOT culture upon arrival in the Governor's Mansion. The "PAVE EVERYTHING" mentality has beren curbed under the watchful eye of TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely, who has taken powers away from the TDOT engineers, and actually considers that there are such things as mass public transit.
The good-ole-boy rural legislators, who only have schools and roads to bring back to their districts (why? so people can leave them for cities quicker?), have decided to try and pass legislation that would shift the power back to the Ledge, where those fat road contracts (and those fat campaign contributions would come back in return) could be dealt out to their buddies.
Disturbingly, the legislation would gut any money going to mass transit in Tennessee, according to this excerpt:
Another provision ensures that, even if TDOT experienced a budgetary windfall, public transit wouldn’t benefit. The draft decrees that no money shall be spent on the operational costs of mass transit in counties with a population of more than 100,000. The affected counties collectively contain more than half of the state’s population.
In short, a nice fat UP YOURS to MATA and Nashville's Metro Transit Authority, as well as any other urban public transportation. Call your legislator (you DO know who your Rep and Senator are, of course) and tell them to stop this garbage.
Screw those rural bastards; let 'em ride mules!
No comments:
Post a Comment