[OKC] The upcoming OKC bond election

[Robert Waldrop]

Oklahoma City folks should pay close attention to the news that the City is thinking about having a bond election later this year which, among other things, would borrow $500 MILLION to fix roads and only $9 million to fund capital investments in mass transit.  They propose to waste a third of those mass transit dollars on buying those fake trolley buses that are all eye candy and very little practical use for a working transit system. Below is an email I sent tonight to the mayor and city council.   For email addresses, go to http://www.okc.gov/council/index.html 

Bob Waldrop, OKC

To the mayor and city council:

I've read in the newspaper about the proposed bond issue for later this year and I am dubious.

My first question is:  what is wrong with the allocation of the gasoline tax that Oklahoma City has to borrow half a billion dollars to fix its roads?  I did a quick search of the city website to see if it had any info on that and then I checked the state tax commission's site and came up empty.  If Oklahoma City isn't getting enough money to fix its roads from the gas tax, it seems to me that a high priority for municipal government should be to get the allocation changed and the gasoline tax increased.

The proposal also has about $9 million for mass transit.  My understanding is that about 1/3 of that money will be used to buy more of those fake trolleys.  I ride the bus system with reasonable regularity, and I hate it when one of those fake trolleys comes along on my regular route.  They are 100% eye candy.  They are uncomfortable.  I don't think they are even equipped with shock absorbers.  They are probably more expensive than regular buses.  They are a waste of money.  I don't think tourists are impressed by them, considering how uncomfortable they are.

Regarding mass transit, what I am still waiting for is a plan with timetables and funding and a fast track for implementation.  Maybe this is coming with Maps 3, but as it stands now, even though this bond issue has $9 million for mass transit, I am inclined to vote against it.  At the rate you propose to borrow money, Oklahoma City will go broke trying to fund these repair bills.  We should be spending more money to get people out of their cars and onto a multi-modal mass transit system.  Fewer cars on the roads means less wear and tear on the roads and thus less maintenance and less need to take out 30 year mortages and thus pay 3 times the principle amount to repair roads. 

I am also waiting for Oklahoma City to start doing its part in this war on terror.  During World War II, people on the home front supported the war effort.  They didn't send money every week to Nazi Germany or fascist Japan to help them buy bombs and bullets to kill the Allied troops and innocent civilians.  If the people of Oklahoma City had responded in 1941 the way that the government and people of Oklahoma City are responding now, we would all be speaking German or Japanese.

Every time we fill our tanks with gasoline, we send money to fascists who kill civilians to make political points and who are also shooting and killing our soldiers.  I accuse myself first of all of this material cooperation with evil.  But Oklahoma City government, and those responsible for that government, are also guilty of material cooperation with evil because we are doing nothing to lessen the flow of Oklahoma City money into the bank accounts of fascist terrorists in the Middle East.  

I understand that this isn't your intention, nor is it mine, but that is the practical result of our addiction to gasoline and the single car driving down the road with one passenger.  Whether we like it or not, our actions have these consequences.  Your bond issue proposes that we borrow $500 million to make it easier and more comfortable for us to continue sending money to fascists in the Middle East.  

Maps 3 and this bond issue provide Oklahoma City (and other area governments) with opportunities to start doing our part in the war on terror by reducing our use of gasoline through the fast track implementation of a mass transit system that serves all of central Oklahoma.  Instead, as configured thus far, mass transit is once again the unwanted step-child of Oklahoma City government.  

However, there is one very interesting thing about the city's desire to borrow $500 million to fix the roads that deserves some comment.  Opponents of mass transit are fond of saying that mass transit is subsidized transit, and that cars and trucks "pay their own way" through the gasoline taxes, licenses and other fees.  Obviously this is not true, since Oklahoma City is proposing that the property taxpayers of Oklahoma City subsidize the automobile system by approving $500 million in city mortgages to pay for its roads.

Bob Waldrop
1524 NW 21
Oklahoma City, OK 73106
405-613-4688
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