Spokesman-Review Letters to the Editor
Motorists must share tab revenue
Mr. David Bray (Letters, Feb. 21) comes out periodically in his negative ways to complain the new tab tax should only be used for street maintenance and not to allocate a few pennies of it toward sidewalks and bike lanes.
Mr. Bray should realize that pedestrians, cyclists and automobile drivers are not mutually exclusive. Some of us do three and, yes, we pay fuel tax, shop at the same stores as those that only drive and purchase shoes as well as fuel, tires, etc.
How narrow-minded and selfish to think that those of us that choose to live downtown and walk on sidewalks are somehow depriving drivers of cars in some way. Mr. Bray and those that believe there should be no funds allocated toward anything other than curb-to-curb paving are living in the dark ages.
Time to wake up and stop segmenting those of us that in actuality use the streets and sidewalks to not only drive but ride our bicycles and walk. After all, some of us actually pay taxes, too.
Steve Berde
Spokane
Kudos to Mr. Berde for pointing out that everyone is a pedestrian at some time and that those who ride their bikes are also using the street.
4 comments:
Well, nice of SRTC to throw in here. Objectivity isn't one of the strong points of SRTC, historically speaking of course.
I think bicycle riders are a serious problem in Spokane. Too many are careless, arrogant and inattentive. I believe they all should be licensed, their bikes registered, insured, and required to take a course in bicycle safety to get a license. Then their own fees can pay for the freebies bike riders get. After all, what is the percentage of people who ride bikes compared to those who don't,98% to 2%?? Yet 100% of the taxpayers will be required to pay for those bicycle lanes? Yeah, that's fair. As for the personal insults by Berde....real mature.
Typical liberal tactics.
David Bray
Hello Mr. Bray- glad to see you're reading our blog. You're right about bicycle riders. There are careless and inattentive bicyclists. There are a lot of careless and inattentive drivers too though. We've had the discussion around here many times about registering or licensing bikes/bicyclists. Believe me, that's a HOT BUTTON issue. Bring it up with any bicyclist and they will point out, like in the letter I posted, that most also own cars, so they ARE paying into the transportation system. As for bike lanes, we're being required to cut vehicle miles travelled, so it's an effort to get more folks from driving alone and finding alternate ways to get around. Maybe with better facilities we could up that number from 2% to much higher? Thanks for commenting :)
The carelessness and selfishness of many drivers like yourself, Mr. Bray, make it unsafe for most people who would commute by cycling.
Be assured that cyclists and non-motorists are paying their share, but more importantly, YOUR SHARE MANY TIMES OVER. Here's a link with objective data if you have the attention span and critical thinking skills to follow it: http://www.grist.org/article/2010-09-27-why-an-additional-road-tax-for-bicyclists-would-be-unfair
Ok vanillajane, keep it respectful please :)
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