Yesterday, The Lehigh Valley Planning Commission announced a new traffic study for Lehigh Valley. In that article they mentioned how much traffic there currently is, how much is expected, and which routes it will be using. With that information already in hand, what do they expect to learn from the new study? Last night, a symposium on the Valley again discussed our future. This blog in the past discussed Renew Lehigh Valley, the $3.4 million dollar study completed last year, which defined our present and future. Has our future changed that much in the last four months? What we really have is a cottage industry of recycled public bureaucrats, who conduct endless studies on the public's dime. Unfortunately, they're not really cottage, but fully funded organizations, costing the taxpayer extra, for those redundant reports. They in turn hire professional journalists, mostly former reporters, to publicize and legitimize their function. It's not easy for Pennsylvania to have a $30 Billion dollar budget and still be broke. That takes many Commissions, which study nothing new, but recommend another study.
Maybe instead of using taxpayer money to pay for the studies the state could take out bonds to cover the costs. This is how Governor Wolf's wants to pay for this year's PSER obligations. A real money saver.
ReplyDeletePennsylvania Democratic Voter
many of these studies were created out of the $3.5 mil grant and are all included under it. However it is easier for the public to digest in separate categories. The traffic study has roots in the grant as well as having information gotten from the State and specialized for the LV, using the same money once for separate studies, not additional tax payer money.
ReplyDeleteWhere is the study that recommended minor league hockey?
ReplyDeleteThe Ruling Class really knows how to play We The People for suckers.
ReplyDeleteAlthough some of the audience members at this symposium were the usual suspects, the event itself was organized by WHYY's Keystone Crossings. They have conducted six of these throughout the state. It does include about nine people from their newsroom bc they want to know what they should be doing stories about. This has nothing to do with the Envision LV grant. This is NOT a state-funded effort. So far as I know, about half of the people there are far from Ruling Class material. Nr were they urbanista types. it was somewhat mystifying why they were there, and they certainly had an impact on the discussion.
ReplyDeleteYou can argue this was a colossal waste of time, and that people like me who did go are idiots. But this had nothing to do with tax dollars or the usual LV grant-spenders. In fact, the message that is usually preached in these officially sanctioned studies dies is NOT the message that was being sent at this symposium, where the idea if haves and have nots was much more prominent, as well as the unrest over the socio-economic divide.
Of course this would never happen, as the cost would be astronomical, but imagine for a second if LANTA had a rail transit system in place similar to SEPTA. imagine how much daily commuter traffic would be eliminated, and imagine how much money could better spent on transit instead of widening highways. Maybe I'm a dreamer... but it's a nice thought.
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