With the furor over the proposed Waban meters but a dim memory and the snow turning to rain, it might be a good time to do some more math.
Motor vehicle traffic in Newton is heavily subsidized. By the city, by the commonwealth, and by the feds.
A highly visible example of the city subsidy is the cost of street snow removal, a cost that is borne by all, regardless of how much one drives.
Parking meters, whatever else their benefits, are a good way of recovering the cost of maintaining our city streets from the very people who use them.
We should be looking for more ways to have motorists more directly pay for the infrastructure and services that they use. If you drive over city-cleared streets to work or shop in Waban Center, you shouldn't begrudge the city a fiew pieces of silver.
Friday, March 2, 2007
Snow falling on Waban Village meters
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Yet in most of your arguments, you would like equal rights for bikes on the streets. To make streets suitible for biking, they must be maintained in even better condition than needed for cars. Yet the bikers shouldn't also pay the costs?
Regardless, almost everyone in Newton drives, so it is certainly easier (less money wasted on infrastructure) to pass the buck to everyone.
Post a Comment