The Advocate - I-49 advocates ask for funds
I went into the surplus in one of yesterday's posts. As I noted there, the people behind TIMED are looking at the possibility of tapping into an expected $865 million state surplus next year. Well, they'd better do it soon, because another group is proposing using some of it to work on the southern I-49 extension (a.k.a. That Highway That Should Be Designated Interstate Six!).
The I-49 South Coalition, dormant for years, is poised not only to lobby for some of the state surplus, but also to try to get some place in next year's federal transportation bill. Even then it'd be a drop in the bucket; several billion is still needed to bring the route (currently designated as US 90) up to Interstate standards, including about $700 million for an elevated connector through Lafayette itself and upwards of $4 billion possibly needed for the section between Bayou Lafourche and New Orleans.
According to them, however, drops in the bucket can help. $25 million could build an overpass, they say, and that's about what they say they're looking for - enough for one or more overpasses. (Memo to them... interchanges help too!)
...This seems oddly familiar... ah, well. I guess the chance to get ahold of some piece of nearly a billion dollars will attract everyone, especially in an economic downturn.
Just expect more of these as next year rapidly approaches... and expect them to spend like there's going to be another surplus. Which there probably won't...
Showing posts with label lafayette. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lafayette. Show all posts
02 August 2008
Lafayette seems busy lately...
The Advocate (Acadiana bureau) - Traffic tickets plummet since cameras installed
(You happy now, Anthony?)
*cough* Ok, so the outsourced revenue-takers aren't raking in the funds like they should. People appear to be catching wise. (And if that's the case, why is it that every day the Advertiser's website seems to have 45767443570237 new pictures of red-light-cam violators?)
Aha. You saw the dirty "o" word. Outsourced. This traffic camera revenue machine reeks to me much worse than every major company's outsourcing of work. At least with companies like Dell, the outsourced work isn't out to steal your money. (Ok, they steal your jobs, which indirectly steals your money... but anyway.)
This outsourcing is even more insidious, though. Run a light, get a letter in the mail. You're guilty, of course, so you need to pay the Corporation. Consequences? No, just pay the Corporation now, little Sheep. Wait. You're not guilty? Too bad. No due process for you, silly Sheep. Pay up, there is no other option.
It's one thing to be outsourcing tech support, it's another to outsource the LAW, especially with technology that can't get it right sometimes. Suppose someone takes the Deathmaschine to Lafayette and decides to make one of the Advertiser's vids. Also suppose that that person who took the car is not me, in no way could be confused with me... yeah, you get my drift. Totally not me. Guess who the outsourced revenue takers would mail and harass? Yep. Me.
At the least, in the same situation but with a flesh-and-blood Revenue Taker, they'd actually pull the person over and realize it's not me, but actually Calrog in a dress or something. The actual "who" of the equation is unimportant. I would probably never even know about this unless the Takers thought my car was stolen. Needless to say that I wouldn't see hide nor hair of any ticket. The system, stacked against us all and broken horribly as it is, would work.
With the cam, though, I've got a ticket to pay for a drive I never even took. Where's the justice in that? Where's the legality?
Sometimes they nail the right target and that Sheep happily feeds the Corporation's coffers, rightfully so, but it's when they get it wrong that the whole experiment falls apart.
Of course, someone's suing over this hypothetical scenario and a couple of little Constitutional issues as well. It's how we do things these days in Amerika, you know. Don't like something? Sue it or them. Like I said, these cameras and the subsequent way in which You Are Simply Guilty via a civil, not criminal process seems to run afoul of things like constitutional guarantees that you get to confront witnesses, the ability to refute evidence, or holding the government to a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. There's also some question to the legality of using the mail for this.
Aside from that, there's also no way to really check up on the Corporation here. The system in Lafayette operates "off the books," supposedly. There's no public accountability for the Corporation. What a surprise there...
Lastly, is this really happening at all? Guess the source of the material in the linked news article. No, really, guess. I'll be waiting here while your brain churns.
.........
Finally figured it out? Redflex and some employees of the City put out the news release. The Corporation pats their own back. The City stands idly by, smiling, all the while with their thumbs up their asses while the Corporation "diverts" the funds of the populace into their own pockets.
At this point, I don't care if they hire more Revenue Extractors... sorry, more police... just get RID of these cameras and the law-circumventing Corporation.
(You happy now, Anthony?)
*cough* Ok, so the outsourced revenue-takers aren't raking in the funds like they should. People appear to be catching wise. (And if that's the case, why is it that every day the Advertiser's website seems to have 45767443570237 new pictures of red-light-cam violators?)
Aha. You saw the dirty "o" word. Outsourced. This traffic camera revenue machine reeks to me much worse than every major company's outsourcing of work. At least with companies like Dell, the outsourced work isn't out to steal your money. (Ok, they steal your jobs, which indirectly steals your money... but anyway.)
This outsourcing is even more insidious, though. Run a light, get a letter in the mail. You're guilty, of course, so you need to pay the Corporation. Consequences? No, just pay the Corporation now, little Sheep. Wait. You're not guilty? Too bad. No due process for you, silly Sheep. Pay up, there is no other option.
It's one thing to be outsourcing tech support, it's another to outsource the LAW, especially with technology that can't get it right sometimes. Suppose someone takes the Deathmaschine to Lafayette and decides to make one of the Advertiser's vids. Also suppose that that person who took the car is not me, in no way could be confused with me... yeah, you get my drift. Totally not me. Guess who the outsourced revenue takers would mail and harass? Yep. Me.
At the least, in the same situation but with a flesh-and-blood Revenue Taker, they'd actually pull the person over and realize it's not me, but actually Calrog in a dress or something. The actual "who" of the equation is unimportant. I would probably never even know about this unless the Takers thought my car was stolen. Needless to say that I wouldn't see hide nor hair of any ticket. The system, stacked against us all and broken horribly as it is, would work.
With the cam, though, I've got a ticket to pay for a drive I never even took. Where's the justice in that? Where's the legality?
Sometimes they nail the right target and that Sheep happily feeds the Corporation's coffers, rightfully so, but it's when they get it wrong that the whole experiment falls apart.
Of course, someone's suing over this hypothetical scenario and a couple of little Constitutional issues as well. It's how we do things these days in Amerika, you know. Don't like something? Sue it or them. Like I said, these cameras and the subsequent way in which You Are Simply Guilty via a civil, not criminal process seems to run afoul of things like constitutional guarantees that you get to confront witnesses, the ability to refute evidence, or holding the government to a "beyond a reasonable doubt" standard. There's also some question to the legality of using the mail for this.
Aside from that, there's also no way to really check up on the Corporation here. The system in Lafayette operates "off the books," supposedly. There's no public accountability for the Corporation. What a surprise there...
Lastly, is this really happening at all? Guess the source of the material in the linked news article. No, really, guess. I'll be waiting here while your brain churns.
.........
Finally figured it out? Redflex and some employees of the City put out the news release. The Corporation pats their own back. The City stands idly by, smiling, all the while with their thumbs up their asses while the Corporation "diverts" the funds of the populace into their own pockets.
At this point, I don't care if they hire more Revenue Extractors... sorry, more police... just get RID of these cameras and the law-circumventing Corporation.
21 July 2008
Lafayette: Loop and I-49 connector slow to get funding
The Daily Advertiser: Proposed road projects tied up
Funding crunches seem to be hitting everywhere these days, and Louisiana is proving to be no different. Lafayette's wanting to build a connector for I-49, an elevated freeway roughly covering the existing Evangeline Thruway route. This looks like it would be the "missing link" for the future route. There's also talk of a toll loop, which on a preliminary basis would connect I-49 near Carencro, I-10 near Scott and US 90 near Youngsville. (Personally, I think the loop would see little use as a toll road, but that's my opinion... this from someone who used to go out of the way to I-55 or I-10 to avoid Causeway tolls when gas was cheap. ...Anyway.) They think tolls will pay for the loop, but they can't find the startup money for it.
I can think of a few projects around the state that could use work first, to be honest. Still, as the price rises for everything and even state Departments of Transportation start feeling the hurt, I'm not optimistic. Until oil prices crash, I see DOTs struggling even to fund emergency maintenence, unless taxes go up drastically... and people can prove to be NIMBYs about taxes just as easily as they can about roadways or other development.
Funding crunches seem to be hitting everywhere these days, and Louisiana is proving to be no different. Lafayette's wanting to build a connector for I-49, an elevated freeway roughly covering the existing Evangeline Thruway route. This looks like it would be the "missing link" for the future route. There's also talk of a toll loop, which on a preliminary basis would connect I-49 near Carencro, I-10 near Scott and US 90 near Youngsville. (Personally, I think the loop would see little use as a toll road, but that's my opinion... this from someone who used to go out of the way to I-55 or I-10 to avoid Causeway tolls when gas was cheap. ...Anyway.) They think tolls will pay for the loop, but they can't find the startup money for it.
I can think of a few projects around the state that could use work first, to be honest. Still, as the price rises for everything and even state Departments of Transportation start feeling the hurt, I'm not optimistic. Until oil prices crash, I see DOTs struggling even to fund emergency maintenence, unless taxes go up drastically... and people can prove to be NIMBYs about taxes just as easily as they can about roadways or other development.
15 May 2008
Lafayette: I-10 design plan presented
The Advocate (Baton Rouge): I-10 design plan presented
Let's go with the last line first. A redesign of the I-10/I-49 interchange is badly needed... even more so if Future I-49 South takes the current routing of US 90 and 167 through the city. Right now, it's a cloverleaf, and it's already straining to handle traffic, especially SB I-49 to EB I-10. The weaving on it is unbelievable. If another Interstate connection is made from the south, it will become completely inadequate to handle the task. A stack would be a much better option for that interchange. Better to get it done now before I-49 South is built.
Now, as to the rest. I've driven that corridor a decent bit. Right now, east of I-49, it's beautiful. Due to the fact that downtown Lafayette exists south of I-10, most of the natural splendor of the corridor is still there. Go west of I-49, and you see more development along the interstate. There's not too much of it, however. A lot of the natural beauty still exists. Traffic counts are a bit heavy east of I-49, somewhat lighter west of it. There's not too much reason to stop there, though. Sure, you can go south or west from the I-10/I-49/US 167 interchange and explore Cajun country, but as for Lafayette itself, it has few attractions in any position to draw in traffic from the Interstates.
Acadiana is one of the greatest scenic regions in the entire state of Louisiana. While development is needed in the Lafayette region, especially for interconnectivity, they need to be careful in how they develop.
If they do it right, it'll be beneficial for all. Let's hope they can.
(from article)
...A plan for future development along Interstate 10 calls for a balance of commercial and residential areas, buffers to shield neighborhoods from traffic, and better road connections in a city not known for ease of travel.
The design proposal, presented Wednesday to a city-parish planning group, was developed by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Community Design Workshop.
The group’s plan addresses how best to guide the development expected to follow completion of a frontage road system along I-10 in Lafayette Parish — road work now in the early planning stage...
...The resulting land-use plan attempts to balance the desire of residents to be shielded from increased traffic and the desire of business owners for increased visibility.
The plan includes provisions for green belts between neighborhoods and new roads, such as a stand of trees that could cut noise and hide cars from the view of nearby houses.
Community Design Workshop Director Thomas Sammons said sound walls were discussed, but most residents were more interested in vegetative buffers.
“We want to be buffered, but we don’t want to be walled in,” he said...
...The design workshop’s I-10 plan comes as city-parish government is studying several options for frontage roads along the interstate.
Planners are also considering a redesign of the I-10/I-49 interchange.
Let's go with the last line first. A redesign of the I-10/I-49 interchange is badly needed... even more so if Future I-49 South takes the current routing of US 90 and 167 through the city. Right now, it's a cloverleaf, and it's already straining to handle traffic, especially SB I-49 to EB I-10. The weaving on it is unbelievable. If another Interstate connection is made from the south, it will become completely inadequate to handle the task. A stack would be a much better option for that interchange. Better to get it done now before I-49 South is built.
Now, as to the rest. I've driven that corridor a decent bit. Right now, east of I-49, it's beautiful. Due to the fact that downtown Lafayette exists south of I-10, most of the natural splendor of the corridor is still there. Go west of I-49, and you see more development along the interstate. There's not too much of it, however. A lot of the natural beauty still exists. Traffic counts are a bit heavy east of I-49, somewhat lighter west of it. There's not too much reason to stop there, though. Sure, you can go south or west from the I-10/I-49/US 167 interchange and explore Cajun country, but as for Lafayette itself, it has few attractions in any position to draw in traffic from the Interstates.
Acadiana is one of the greatest scenic regions in the entire state of Louisiana. While development is needed in the Lafayette region, especially for interconnectivity, they need to be careful in how they develop.
If they do it right, it'll be beneficial for all. Let's hope they can.
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