OT: Open source voting machines and other gizmos (was Re: Comcast and SORBS)

[jkinz at kinz.org (Jeff Kinz)]

On Tue, Nov 23, 2004 at 01:20:19PM -0500, Jerry Feldman wrote:
> On Tuesday 23 November 2004 1:08 pm, Seth Gordon wrote:
> > As I understand it, when the Turnpike Authority was set up as an
> > independent quasi-government agency, its charter provided that once it
> > paid back all its bonds, the authority would be dissolved and control of
> > its roads would go back to the Commonwealth.  To prevent this from
> > happening, the Authority keeps issuing more and more bonds for more
> > expensive construction contracts.  Since the legislature can't prevent
> > the Authority from setting tolls as high as they want, investors are
> > happy to keep buying those bonds.
Yep.

> I believe that this is correct. The issue that keeps being raised is that 
> the tolls support ongoing efforts to maintain the turnpike. We can go to 
> every other state that has a turnpike authority and you will get the same 
> answer. But if we get rid of the turnpike authorities, what have we 
> achieved. 

Just TA removed:
A reduction in the beauracratic headcount for the state gov't
A correlative reduction in benefits costs 

Tolls and both TA removed:
A 90% reduction in the cost to maintain the pike. 
Reduced transit time on the highways
Less gas wasted waiting at tolls
I-90 becomes a safer highway (and Tobin, and ??? tolls to/from Airport)
Safe/shorter rush hours for all Eastern Mass (maybe)

> Note that the Big Dig was originally a Mass. Highway project that only 
> recently has become a turnpike authority project because of the funding. 

Yep.  "Hey! Look!  A goose that lays Golden Eggs!  Lets get some!"
(Governmental view of Turnpike Authority style institutions)

-- 
Linux/Open Source.  Your base belongs to you, free, forever.
Idealism:  "Realism applied over a longer time period"
http://www.scaled.com/projects/tierone/
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Jeff Kinz, Emergent Research, Hudson, MA.
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