Measure M
Measure M, a half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements in Orange County, was approved by voters in 1990. It will expire in 2011. The new Measure M would extend the tax 30 years, providing $11.9 billion to be spent as follows:
$4.9 billion to improve highways 5, 405, 22, 55, 57, 91 and the freeway service patrol.
$3.6 billion to improve regional roads, city streets and signal synchronization.
$2.8 billion for Metrolink, transit connections to Metrolink, gateways to future statewide high-speed rail, mobility for seniors and disabled, and community-based transit.
$237.2 million for environmental cleanup of runoff from highways and streets.
$296.6 million for administration and audits to ensure that all money is spent as promised.
Since 1986, OCTax’s mission has been to ensure that taxes and tax-supported programs are fair, understandable, cost-effective and good for business. Measure M meets those criteria.
Measure M is fair. Everyone pays it, roughly in proportion to his or her ability to pay. No one evades it.
Everyone benefits from it,even those who rarely travel depend on the transportation network for on-time delivery of goods, services and public safety.
Measure M is understandable. We know in advance what projects the money will buy. A citizens’ oversight committee and periodic audits will ensure that money will be spent as promised. No major changes to the plan can be made without a vote of the people.
Measure M is cost-effective. The Orange County Transportation Authority has an excellent record of delivering projects on time and on budget. One hundred percent of Measure M money will be spent in Orange County.
In contrast, Orange County taxpayers would pay far more for Proposition 1B state transportation bonds than we would receive in benefits.
Measure M is good for business. Workers, manufacturers, wholesalers, retailers and consumers of goods and services depend absolutely on efficient transportation.
The 1990s Measure M delivered as promised. All its major projects are completed or under way.
It staved off gridlock for a time. But unless we renew it, population growth will bring us back to where we were in the late 1980s, when “traffic congestion” topped every other concern in Orange County public opinion polls.
Reed Royalty
President
OCTax
‘Warus Interruptus’
The U.S. has a disease that could prove fatal. It’s called “warus interruptus.”
It occurs when our country, or one of its allies like Israel, get into a fight. When they really begin to win, warus interruptus starts to show its symptoms in all its unique strains and variations. Diagnosis is difficult, and the strains are potentially terminal, whether working alone or together with other strains.
There is the “U.N. strain.” A bunch of our enemies convince us that what we are doing is wrong. This is because we are too powerful, and that’s not fair. The “Democratic strain,” also known as, “the left wing strain,” roots for our failure, so they can win elections. The “PC” or “politically correct strain,” is made up of germs that think killing our enemy only is OK when our mainland is directly attacked first.
Last but not least, the most insidious version of this disease is the “righteous, limp-wristed media strain.” This strain is made of male and female germs. Most germs of this strain have never served in the military, nor earned their living doing manual labor. Worse, they have never participated in any act that has not involved typing.
The “righteous, limp-wristed media strain” needs to keep their air time, pages and “voices” going 24/7. It doesn’t matter if our enemy provides false, unsubstantiated information, they must show it. They give both sides, even if they have to make it up. They even show the spurious material at the same time. How do they do that?
Bottom line, warus interruptus seems incurable,maybe we have been a world power too long. We need to keep our borders open, continue to outsource our jobs, have our enemies do all our manufacturing and supply us with all our fuel …. does anyone give a damn?
Barry M. Gold
Irvine
