Of course, I've ALWAYS WONDERED how this PRO-GAY STATE ever elected a MORMON (Mitt Romney) GOVERNOR, but THAT'S ME!!! I have only LIVED HERE my WHOLE LIFE!!!
"Emotions high at toll hike hearing; Some foes want to boycott Pike" by Milton Valencia, Globe Staff | December 11, 2008
Protests against large toll increases planned for the Massachusetts Turnpike and Boston Harbor tunnels grew in intensity yesterday. Anger spilled out at a packed public hearing last night, while a group said it is organizing a massive boycott of the turnpike next week, which, if successful, could bring gridlock to local streets.
The first of four hearings, held at the Massachusetts Transportation Building, attracted about 150 people who say the impacts of the planned toll increases, including some hikes of as much as 100 percent, will land in dramatic and unexpected ways.
Related: Pike Hike Hubbub
For instance, it will make it more difficult for people in East Boston to travel back and forth to the rest of the city and will discourage visitors from going to East Boston businesses, they said.
"You're going to destroy a neighborhood," said John Antonellis, an East Boston resident for 12 years. He said the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which operates both the Pike and the tunnels, should consider ways to raise revenue other than increasing tolls. "This was a last resort, and you went to it first. Shame on you."
Others expressed the same concern. A law student, Shannon Flanders, said she is already struggling to pay her college debt and cannot afford the added tolls to get downtown from East Boston.
Ah, who cares when "flushing . . . millions of dollars away supporting a highly profitable industry" when it comes to $300 million in taxpayer dollars for Hollywood is o.k., even as the price of a school lunch rises; paying $13 million for a computer software system that could have cost less than $3 million is all right because the winner was a close friend of the House speaker, even as my poorer-than-dirt district "has been struggling to close a $2 million budget gap."; the lottery shelling out "millions of dollars" for sports tickets for "lottery officials, their family members, and friends" is fine, even as schools are closing; making interest payments to banks to the tune of "a staggering $22 billion" for the Big Pit, as we call it around here, is required, even as bridges are neglected across the state; and again, paying off banks like UBS, who can "demand repayment of an additional $2 million a month beginning in January" while also receiving a "$179 million payment," while the state pension fund loses $1 billion dollars -- which still didn't stop the executive director from carving himself a nice "$64,000 bonus on top of his $322,000 annual salary."
Oh, and did I not mention the $1 BILLION dollar giveaway to the pharmaceutical corporations, even though "it's never been easy to turn a profit in biotech?" Flush that money away, too, taxpayer. Of course, the war looters were next in line for a handout. And should the state be appropriating money for a "multimillion-dollar reconstruction" of golf courses?
Nor is it RECKLESS to BORROW the STATE INTO OBLIVION so they can PAY INTEREST to BANKS while SITTING ON $2 BILLION DOLLARS!
Need one final insult, Mass. taxpayers?
"Town officials... are trying to decide how much of a property tax break to offer and how they can secure state funding for infrastructure improvements.... although it could take several years for the studio to realize its potential"
Also see: Hollywood, Massachusetts
Hollywood (East) Disses Veterans
More Mass. $$$ to Movie Makers
Sorry, that wasn't it:
"$5m in tax breaks going to IBM for Littleton project
The Massachusetts Economic Assistance Coordinating Council approved $5 million in state and local tax breaks for IBM Corp., which recently began a $63 million expansion in Littleton. IBM vice president Bob McDonald said the company plans to create 42 jobs at the site over the next decade. McDonald said the computer giant, based in Armonk, N.Y., has already begun renovating a building and hopes to move into it next month. McDonald said the tax incentives were important, but the company would have gone forward with the expansion without them. IBM has 4,000 employees in Massachusetts, including about 2,000 in Littleton (Boston Globe October 30 2008)."
Yup, but TOLLS and TAXES need to GO UP!
Massachusetts "liberals' are SO DUCKING TOO-PID!!!!!!!!!
A taxicab union representative said drivers are already paying the brunt of costs to use the tunnels, when they drop a passenger off in East Boston and are left paying the toll with an empty cab on the return to downtown. Councilor Salvatore LaMattina said a toll hike would deter people from heading to East Boston, knowing they would have to pay $7 to use the tunnel to leave.
I really don't give a crap about Boston -- unless they start talking about RAISING TOLLS and TAXES OUT HERE to PAY FOR THEIR MESS!!!! Then I get ANGRY!!!
"People feel a toll increase would be like an embargo on East Boston," said LaMattina, who represents the neighborhood. Any vote to take an exemption away from East Boston residents would amount "to a war on our neighborhood," he said.
That's what governments do!
Last night's meeting was the first of four the authority plans before a final vote on the toll increase, possibly in January. By law, the authority is only required to hold two hearings, but other hearings are planned in Lynn, Framingham, and Worcester. If approved, the tolls could go into affect by late March or early April, said Mac Daniel, a spokesman for the Turnpike Authority.
But before then, officials expect crowded hearings like the one last night. As proposed, the cost of driving through the Allston-Brighton and Weston toll booths would jump to $2 for cash customers, up from $1.25. Tolls at the Sumner and Ted Williams tunnels would double, from $3.50 to $7 for cash customers and from $5.25 to $9 for taxicab drivers, who must pay a commercial fee.
Turnpike Authority officials have said that the increase could yield an additional $90 million to $100 million a year, providing a much needed jolt to the authority's finances.
How about getting it from HOLLYWOOD or the BIOTECHS, huh?
The agency is $2.2 billion in debt, mainly related to the costs of the Big Dig, and is on the verge of having its credit rating dropped again, which could put it in junk bond status.
I say JUNK the damn agency!
But the toll-hike proposal has already triggered a strong reaction from public officials and residents who were hit with an initial toll increase in January. A group calling itself Stop The Pike Hike was formed to protest the toll increases, by staging rallies. It plans a turnpike boycott Tuesday, the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party. Organizers are calling next week's boycott the Boston Toll Party.
I LOVE IT!!!
Under the boycott, the group is asking its 6,000 members to detour through neighborhoods instead of using the turnpike, in order to show public officials the consequences of not only losing out on the revenue from their tolls, but also of having increased traffic on their roadways.
The boycott drew quick opposition from Senator Anthony Petruccelli, a Democrat from East Boston who said the increased traffic could threaten public safety and quality of life in nearby neighborhoods. Petruccelli said he opposes the proposed toll increase just as much as the group members, but he called for debate on the topic. He cited ongoing hearings at the State House that are looking at other measures, such as a gas tax proposal that would spread costs of maintaining the turnpike across the state, rather putting the burden on those that use the corridor inward of Route 128.
Now I DO NOT LOVE THAT!!!!
Why should WE PAY for something we NEVER EVEN USE (and interest to banks, no less)!!!!?
"As much as people are angered and frustrated, it's not well thought out to put out a protest of that nature," Petruccelli said. "I think it's very dangerous. I think it's a risk of public safety and a risk to the quality of life to the people I represent in East Boston."
Well, WHEN ARE YOU GONNA START LISTENING THEN?!!!!! Just another scum politician!
Spencer Kimball, director of Stop the Pike Hike, said the boycott is the "least problematic way of trying to get our message across." He said the planned boycott by 6,000 members is only a fraction of what the Turnpike could lose if the tolls go into effect, adding that city and state officials estimate that up to 60,000 would stop using the roadway.
"Frankly, we're a little appalled that they're asking us to do nothing, that they're going to take care of the problem," Kimball said, "but we don't trust them to take care of the problem and our concerns."
They have LOST ANY TRUST they once had!!!! And YOU know what happens when TRUST is LOST, right?
The sentiment was echoed at last night's hearing. Residents and business representatives urged the authority to consider other ways to raise revenue, saying the burden of the agency's deficits should not be put on customers. Thomas J. Tinlin, a representative from Mayor Thomas M. Menino's office, said the tolls would force drivers to seek alternative routes that will clog neighborhoods.
Thomas Reilly, president of the Wintrop Town Council, said residents in his small town are already paying their share and should not face new tolls to use state roadways. "There needs to be a better plan," said Michael P. Kelleher, who founded Stop the Pike Hike.
What, from the Massachusetts state government?
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
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