Road block?

Marylanders are driving fewer miles and using less gasoline. They're buying fewer SUVs and more small cars.

[Rage]

Cut the highway money not the transit money.

[Richard]

The first sentence in the last paragraph shows the real problem."Pocari said it is too soon to identify specific projects that might have to be postponed or scaled back because of decreased revenue." Let's wait until next year, have a special session and raise some taxes.

[Henry Bowman]

Here it comes folks.....this is the set up for the pitch for higher taxes on fuel, higher titling taxes, etc all in the name of closing the structural deficit in transportation funding.

The Baltimore Sun continues to act as the PR firm for the governor's mansion.

[Truth Teller]

Uhhh, doesn't less miles being driven and lighter vehicles also translate into less wear and tear on the highways, i. e. less need to repair the roads? As usual the Big Liar only pushes the agenda to raise taxes.

[Zippster]

Question still remains what happened to all of the transportation tax revenue when the times were good? The roads and bridges didn't all fall apart in the last year.

[Michael]

Things are good? Raise taxes! Things are bad? Raise taxes!
It's Tuesday? Raise taxes!

[Fells Point Craig]

Decling tax revenue???? This IS Maryland right?? LOL I don't think we can be taxed anymore! STOP spending so much!

[joek]

Weren't these same type of people complaining a few years ago that we were driving too much and damaging the environment? Now we are and they're complaining because they won't get enough tax dollars--too bad. Wouldn't the condition of the roads be better off if there were fewer drivers on them? This article makes no sense...

[Frank]

Throw in the fact that tax income from cigarette sales is down 25%(as opposed to the 17% that was projected)- and we can expect another tax grab in the spring.

This state is about as "foreward thinking" as the local crack head looking to score another hit - at any costs (and you all know what I mean)- and can't see 20 minutes down the road.

[flyingcow]

Vote more taxes
Vote the ALL-IRISH ticket
Vote O'BAMA & O'MALLEY
"For change that can tax you"

[Ken]

Cut the transit money. Most employment centers are located next to roads. The few that are located near transit stops demonstrate that the number of people who benefit from transit is small compared to the number of people who benefit from increased highway capacity.

[schlomo]

This might be a good thing. I know it's overly optimistic, but the voters will remember two tax increases better than just one and O'Malley's prospects will dim. In turn, he will be more inclined to jump ship early (perhaps to replace Mikulski).

[Nick]

The voters must like more taxes, they keep voting for those who are in favor of big government, more controls, more government employees, etc., so what's the problem ?

[Matthew]

I agree with Ken. I hope the first project to go is the $1.75 billion Purple Line in Montgomery and Prince George's. They do not need more transit while the Baltimore region has nothing substantial.

[Lou - Paradise MD]

Why do we need to cut transportation? Remember omalley when he said "If they don't want the bridges to fall down" as a scare tactic for raising taxes? Why can't he hold a special session to go over the budget and cut UNNECESSARY SPENDING? That would be the sign of a good leader. I seem to remember him touting himself for saving a bundle(?) by cutting his fleet of vehicles in half. Then he turned right around and gave the head of the new PSC a $ 68,000.00 RAISE. This to a guy with no power experience at all. This administration is full of stuff like this. Remember the "Comprehensive Commission to study all facets of government to cut the "fat" out? That was to be instituted 3 months after he took office. We are still waiting.

[NoFreeRides]

I wonder how much sales tax revenues are down from projections?

Maybe now O'Malley understands why only an idiot raises taxes in the face of an economic downturn.

[A concerned senior]

What is the matter with you people? I thought all the sun readers were staunch leftists. You know, libs who always vote for O'malley. Seems you have proved me wrong. I guess maybe the sun revenue might go down next. What is this world coming to?

[Broke Taxpayer]

Maryland should be OK with it's transportation fund intact. The boy mayor promised that he would not raid the transportation fund like the previous governor...Oh wait a minute, never mind, I forgot that the boy mayor lied about that too.

[mkslaughter]

Nick wrote:

The voters must like more taxes, they keep voting for those who are in favor of big government, more controls, more government employees, etc., so what's the problem ?

Well, the republicans can be thanked for giving us the largest deficit in the history of the nation, in large part because, touting their short-sighted ideology of 'small government.' they hired private-sector contractors to do work normally done by the US armed forces. That work, by the way, consists largely of destroying foreign infrastructure, rather than maintaining our own. From making war to fighting forest fires, private firms are costing U.S. taxpayers far more than what we paid when these services were provided by government employees. The country is worse than broke, thanks to the Bush Administration. How do you think our neglected roads and rails are going to get repaired? Divine intervention?

[Humored]

A concerned senior wrote:

What is the matter with you people? I thought all the sun readers were staunch leftists. You know, libs who always vote for O'malley. Seems you have proved me wrong. I guess maybe the sun revenue might go down next. What is this world coming to?

The sun may be read by lefties, but, why would someone comment on an article if they dont disagree with its message... all forums on this site are people ranting, usually directing it to the democratic leaders in any way possible.

As for earlier comments, sure the number of miles driven is going down, slightly, but the number of gallons of gas being consumed is falling faster. The point of the article is saying a family sedan getting 30mpg uses less fuel, thus generating less tax revenue than a SUV getting 17mpg. Either way there is still a vehicle on the road causing wear on the facility and adding to congestion.

For those of you who are anti-transit, you are the one who chose not to live and/or work near it allowing you to take advantage of the service. Plenty of people pay top dollar to live near a transit stop, and just look around at where all the new major developments are happening now?- along existing or proposed transit stations. It is a stable investment - even in the light of $8 a gallon gas people will still be able to get around on metro/light rail.

Sure there is wasted spending happening every day, and it should be controled, but be careful to just slash transportation spending in the name of cutting spending. If you question my point there - go visit Virginia for a few days...