Michigan transit tax Rejected [MI Prop 15-1]

[Bobl]

One of the few advantages of being older than dirt is the ability to vote early, via absentee ballot. No lines, no bother with inclement weather. Why should voting not be this convenient for everyone, in all elections? I voted no.

[Dan Wesson]

One of the few advantages of being older than dirt is the ability to vote early, via absentee ballot. No lines, no bother with inclement weather. Why should voting not be this convenient for everyone, in all elections? I voted no.

It is. Just tell 'em you won't be in town. That's what I did.

[sumas]

One of the few advantages of being older than dirt is the ability to vote early, via absentee ballot. No lines, no bother with inclement weather. Why should voting not be this convenient for everyone, in all elections? I voted no.

Most likely you are not older than dirt. More fun to say, well seasoned. Easy to vote via mail but we actually like voting in person as we do not trust mailed ballots to be counted properly. The poll workers are local residents and so showing up is almost a social event. Taking cookies.

A resounding NO. As mentioned, I think most tack ons are worthy. The bill is just too evasive. No way to track the money.

[Dan Wesson]

https://michigantaxpayers.com/donate-radio.php

A coupla radio ads

[Cincinnati_Kid]

^^^ Sounds like a plan to me. Tired of being taxed up the gazhoo, and the burden being put on the working class citizens. But who says life is fair right? They will have to go back to the drawing board as far as I'm concerned. I will be voting a resounding NO.

[Scottathew]

Right now, I plan on voting yes, although I'm not fully committed.

Roads are underfunded and neglected. We must maintain our infrastructure. It also helps out schools and local governments a little bit too.

People bitch and moan about roads no matter what. If they're broken the bitch that they're broken. If you want to raise taxes, they bitch and moan about taxes. If we close a lane to fix a road, they bitch that the lane is closed.

Some people are just not content, they want to complain no matter what. Proposal 1 isn't perfect, it's missing some stuff I'd like to see, but the world can't conform to everything I want, exactly how I want it.

It's a compromise that's good enough.


This is what I see happening: Right now the media is reporting that polling indicates the proposal would fail. However, there are too many unions behind this. They are most likely right now taping their commercials, building their war chests, and getting ready to go to battle. In the weeks leading to the election, you'll see nothing but VOTE-YES commercials.

I think it will pass. The only reason I can think it won't pass is old people that always vote no to anything tax related sending in their absentee ballots before the big advertising blitz.

[freckles]

I only wish there was an, "Oh, HELL no" box I could check.

[gazhekwe]

NO. It's not the taxes so much, it's the impact. These bills will further confuse the already insanely Machiavellian school and road funding messes. It raises user taxes without providing any clear and adequate funding stream for road repairs. Allegedly there will not be any money for repairs until we have paid enough to settle existing bills. I am willing to throw this back onto the legislators for another year, since we have to wait that long anyway to see any results.

So, ineffective and lazy legislators, it's fine to raise taxes if you try and confuse voters enough so they can't tell how much impact their sacrifices will make?

I would also like to see some teeth in the construction regulations. For too long we have watched the lowest bidders do the most temporary repairs, only to have to shoulder the burden of early repairs and replacement with more of our tax dollars and less to spend on additional needs.

PS I have been practicing holding my nose and voting YES just to get SOMETHING done. I keep sticking on the question, WTF will this accomplish? I cannot see any direction other than paying off bills. No immediate action on roads.

[Jimaz]

Some of the mailings are getting very deceptive.

One today was fashioned in an attempt to look like a hand-written letter from an individual but each letter of the alphabet was identical wherever it appeared. The true author appeared at the bottom but in barely perceptible print.

I figure it's either a weak attempt by the pro side to fool people into voting for it or a shrewd attempt by the con side to depict the pros as deceptive. Either way it's pretty disgusting.

I often fantasize about forming a guerrilla team of citizens who clandestinely hotpatch the potholes but that's likely been made illegal. It's too activist—y—ish. Can't have any of that now, can we? LOL!

[Dan Wesson]

You don't say... who woulda thunk it?

http://www.9and10news.com/story/2889...hike-for-roads

[Jimaz]

I'm not sure whether anyone has mentioned this story from a couple months ago.

Audit faults MDOT oversight of flawed road projects

MDOT doesn't properly followup on road warranties -- intended to hold contractors responsible for poor work -- which can then shift cost of repairs to state, according to a new audit....

"Our review ... identified 48 of 92 expired warranty projects that needed corrective action," the report said. "As of June 30, 2014, 24 of the warranties had been expired for over one year without MDOT having addressed the corrective action."...

But the auditor noted that similar issue[s] were raised in an earlier audit, released in 2010, and at that time the department said it would "strengthen its procedures to assure the completion of inspections."...

Would it be cheaper to fill potholes with cash rather than asphalt?

[Honky Tonk]

Well, I'm going to drop this right here, in case anyone wants to hear both sides of the proposal....

http://wdet.org/posts/2015/04/27/803...llot-language/

[Gpwrangler]

I watched the resurfacing of Mack Avenue from Cadieux to 7 mile. All last year the road was restricted to one lane while crews worked only on Sunday to resurface and replace some curbing. The work was half-assed and looks like it will last 2 years.

It's down to one lane each way again, while they rip out a few sidewalks and wheelchair ramps at the crosswalks and re do them. Again working mostly on the weekends. The lanes could easily be re opened during the week. And the bridge repair being done near the Chrysler plant is another masterpiece of engineering.

I can't stomach putting one more cent into road repairs if these are examples of what we are going to see.

[rb336]

yes, it's a very flawed bill. but I drive. Until we stop sending corporatist tools to Lansing, stop sending lackeys for the 1%, this is as good as we are going to get

[Gpwrangler]

yes, it's a very flawed bill. but I drive. Until we stop sending corporatist tools to Lansing, stop sending lackeys for the 1%, this is as good as we are going to get

I don't purchase flawed merchandise.

[313WX]

yes, it's a very flawed bill. but I drive. Until we stop sending corporatist tools to Lansing, stop sending lackeys for the 1%, this is as good as we are going to get

Good point. Bolded for emphasis.

Otherwise, I guess folks want to have their cake as well as eat it. That's not going to happen...

[ABetterDetroit]

yes, it's a very flawed bill. but I drive. Until we stop sending corporatist tools to Lansing, stop sending lackeys for the 1%, this is as good as we are going to get

Your points are exactly why I am voting NO.

Why in the world would anyone want "very flawed" legislation from "tools"?

Everyone should write in WTF? after their vote.

[rb336]

Your points are exactly why I am voting NO.

Why in the world would anyone want "very flawed" legislation from "tools"?

Everyone should write in WTF? after their vote.

Why? because our roads are in dire straights. Why? because I personally know 5 companies that were contemplating relocation here but didn't because of the roads. Why? I'm sick of blown tires, cracked rims, suspensions becoming prematurely soggy. Why? I'm sick of nearly getting hit by people dodging potholes. The status quo on this will not work

[TheUsualSuspect]

No plan B my ass. I've got a plan B. Vote all the dunderheads that came up with this crap legislation back onto the streets.

All those knuckleheads REALLY had to do to make the bill palatable was limit the tax increase to a fixed time period, say two years...and put the increase up for renewal.

If we like what we saw and got the improvement we needed, we go another two years.

For every dollar I earn, I pay federal tax, state tax, Fica [[or whatever it's called nowadays).

Then, when I finally get to take the 60 cents home out of the dollar I earned, I pay ANOTHER 6 cents every time I spend a dollar. And you want ANOTHER penny? Nope. Nada. Nill.

[ron]

Your elected representatives would never, never, ever vote for a tax increase. However, they would very much like all of us to do so to resolve their problem.

To that end, they have presented us with a deliberately bewildering array of issues, each of which deserve its own consideration. To bundle such disparate issues within a single proposal exposes the cowardice of our legislature.

I can't imagine that those who voted these people into office expected such flimflam tactics. They were probably expecting the actual idiotic laws that they deserve.

[sirrealone]

So the problem is that now we look and realize that we voted in the wrong people? The problem with that is that even if we somehow manage to vote out the incompetent assholes, there's a line of even more incompetent assholes waiting to take their place, and odds are they're even more incompetent than the last bunch.

It's scary to think of how many people are voting no because they think a better solution awaits. You want to know what's going to happen after this gets voted down? Nothing. Nothing at all.

I got a rotation at the tire shop and was talking to the workers. They brought me out to show me that I have three rims with imperfections that will eventually fail. He asked if I want to replace them, and I said Heck no, not until they fail, because if I do get them fixed, I probably won't make it home before the new ones get bent. He tells me that probably at least half of rims he sees now, some on cars with less than 10,000 miles, have some form of this. Eventually they'll all fail but even then I bet people will still just wait for the Road Funding Fairy to show up and make it right. But they'll still complain about the condition of the roads and blame someone, that much is for sure.

A small subset of the population will vote yes next week. But a vast majority will sit home or vote no, then after the dust settles, they'll get right back to complaining about how bad the roads are and magically expect that someone is going to come do something about it.

If you really expect that your no vote or don't vote will yield something better, then please make sure to go out next Tuesday and get a bag of sand before they run out, because a lot of people apparently will be needing some to bury their heads into.

[ABetterDetroit]

So the problem is that now we look and realize that we voted in the wrong people? The problem with that is that even if we somehow manage to vote out the incompetent assholes, there's a line of even more incompetent assholes waiting to take their place, and odds are they're even more incompetent than the last bunch.

It's scary to think of how many people are voting no because they think a better solution awaits. You want to know what's going to happen after this gets voted down? Nothing. Nothing at all.

I got a rotation at the tire shop and was talking to the workers. They brought me out to show me that I have three rims with imperfections that will eventually fail. He asked if I want to replace them, and I said Heck no, not until they fail, because if I do get them fixed, I probably won't make it home before the new ones get bent. He tells me that probably at least half of rims he sees now, some on cars with less than 10,000 miles, have some form of this. Eventually they'll all fail but even then I bet people will still just wait for the Road Funding Fairy to show up and make it right. But they'll still complain about the condition of the roads and blame someone, that much is for sure.

A small subset of the population will vote yes next week. But a vast majority will sit home or vote no, then after the dust settles, they'll get right back to complaining about how bad the roads are and magically expect that someone is going to come do something about it.

If you really expect that your no vote or don't vote will yield something better, then please make sure to go out next Tuesday and get a bag of sand before they run out, because a lot of people apparently will be needing some to bury their heads into.

The commissioned salesman's best friend selling fear, "it's going to fail!". I can only suggest that you don't take a tire salesman's word as gospel. I have replaced rims from pot holes. I make the decision myself based on inspection and handling characteristics. I do feel bad for the people that lack this ability and get ripped off by tire sales people but garbage legislation like this will not fix that problem.

[Gpwrangler]

Don't lump people who vote no together and call them stupid. A lot of us have never had a tire or wheel damaged from roads. And if you think it's all from potholes I can show you quite a few curbs gouged all to hell from being hit by car rims.

[softailrider]

Don't lump people who vote no together and call them stupid. A lot of us have never had a tire or wheel damaged from roads. And if you think it's all from potholes I can show you quite a few curbs gouged all to hell from being hit by car rims.

I drive the roads around here about 30,000 miles a year, my vehicles are all a few years old, other then one blown tire from a huge pothole about 15 years ago no other damage. My 2011 Accord has 119,000 miles, 3rd set of tires, the tires wear perfect, never had a wheel alignment.

[Pam]

Don't forget to vote tomorrow.

http://www.eclectablog.com/2015/05/v...ve-choice.html