Blogtown, PDX

Friday, June 22, 2007

Politics Filling Potholes With Wads of Cash

Posted by Scott Moore on Fri, Jun 22 at 4:05 PM

If you’ve flipped on the TV news in the past week, you’ve likely heard about Commissioner Sam Adams’ campaign to raise funding to pay for street maintenance—filling potholes, repaving, replacing street signs, etc.—that Oregon’s gas tax is no longer meeting.

Politically, it’s a nutty situation for Adams—he’s the transportation commissioner, so it’s his obligation to do something, and the roads really are falling apart at an alarming rate, and there aren’t many ways to make up the extra money, but the idea of raising a local gas tax (or increasing property taxes) appears to be hitting with a resounding thud.

Which is, of course, utterly ridiculous. The money to pay for street paving—statewide—comes from the state gas tax, which isn’t indexed for inflation and hasn’t increased since 1993, despite the fact that street maintenance costs have skyrocketed. According to figures provided by Adams, the city has a $425 million maintenance backlog, which grows by $9 million every year.

The state legislature won’t be increasing the tax this session (like the Dems want to give the anti-tax rightwing any more ammo), which only leaves local alternatives. Unfortunately for Adams, early, completely unofficial polling shows very little support for the plan. In fact, the “Mark and Dave” radio show on 1190 KEX had a listener poll about the tax. These were the results:

Commissioner Sam Adams is proposing a gas tax or property tax to pay for Portland’s street repairs. Which idea best addresses this problem? 11% Gas Tax. 5% Property Tax. 84% A new commissioner.

Then again, if there’s one trait you can pin on Adams, it’s that he hates to lose. Unlike other commissioners, who laudably will propose policies even if they’re doomed to fail, Adams is known for not bringing anything forward that he doesn’t feel confident on. (Parking meters on Hawthorne? Gone after a few meetings of the neighborhood business association, because it was a political loser.)

So it’s not surprising that he’s got a comprehensive opinion survey compiled by Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, showing where voters might actually be. It’s broken down by what kind of tax people will support and at what levels. I won’t bore you with the numbers, but there’s a bit over majority support for a combination of options (gas tax and property fee) that will bring in some, but not all, of the needed money.

When it comes down to it, though, I think it’s pretty obvious that everyone just needs to get on a damn bike already—not only do bikes not damage the roads, but if you’re worried about a gas tax, well… Over at BikePortland.org, Jonathan Maus has a post about the need for bicyclists to chime in on the policy.

Head over to Adams’ blog to chime in.

Permalink

Comments

But what about existing potholes? Bikes fall into 'em, too.

Posted by Amy J. Ruiz | June 22, 2007 4:05 PM

Right! THAT was the last point I meant to make. Thanks for reminding me, Amy. As a cyclist, I can affirm that potholes are about a billion times more dangerous for bikers than motorists. A pothole can hurt your car's shocks--on a bike, you very well might end up sprawled across the road or forced into traffic.

The crappiest part? It's not bikes creating those potholes.

Posted by Scott Moore | June 22, 2007 4:24 PM

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Oregon's gasoline tax already slightly higher than the 50 state average? Last I checked we were shelling out 24 cents per gallon. Here's a wild idea. Let's direct 100% of those particular funds toward the roads as intended rather than siphoning off $$$ for other transportation projects. That, or we could institute a wacky vegan bicyclist tax. It would suck if your anemic ass took a nasty spill as a result of poor road maintenance. You're probably a bleeder too. ;)

Posted by Trollbot9000 | June 22, 2007 4:55 PM

Wow, it's as if you've got a personal--completely anonymous--vendetta against me. Are you this much of a prick in rel life, or only when hiding behind a fake name?

Posted by Scott Moore | June 22, 2007 5:16 PM

> and the roads really are falling apart
> at an alarming rate,

As someone relatively new to Portland (16 months), I don't see this at all. Where are these terrible roads? Columbia Ave. could use a little resurfacing, and perhaps western Burnside up near 20th. But where else? I have lived many places and the roads here are better than the roads just about everywhere else -- a few need repair, but most are just fine. I do not trust engineer's reports -- they are mostly CYA. Comm. Adams is just trying to justify his job.

You do not find the enormous potholes here that you find back east. In fact, you find very few potholes here at all -- the weather here is just not all that bad. So I would like to know where, exactly, these maintenance priorities are....

Posted by David | June 22, 2007 5:26 PM

Roads are made with Oil. Transportation of road materials, workcrews, etc all have to do with the cost of oil. That is why costs have skyrocketed.

Since gas prices have increased, shouldn't the already increased prices help the taxes directly?

And you haven't seen bad roads. Go out east to Jersey, NY, you will then regret the thought of car ownership.

Posted by indy | June 22, 2007 5:42 PM

indy:

Maybe you're just sticking to the streets that get regular maintenance. Because I've seen some really, really bad streets. Some that are so bad I'm afraid to drive my car down them.

Trollbot9000:

The difference is that many states have add-ons to their vehicle registration (plus the base registration fee is higher).

In Texas (my home state) for instance, you pay a reg fee based on the type of vehicle you have, which is much higher. Then you pay an add-on fee to the county you live in for the roads and bridges. And if you've ever been to Texas, you'd have noticed the roads are always having work done to them. It's a running joke down there.

All that extra money goes into the transportation system in the state. I paid twice as much for just the vehicle registration in Texas as I do for the registration and inspection here in Oregon. And that doesn't include the two inspection fees - one for emissions and one for lights/brakes/etc.

Maybe we need to consider raising vehicle registration fees to help cover the costs of repairing our roads and bridges.

Posted by Jenni Simonis | June 22, 2007 11:52 PM

I agree with David, the streets here are in pretty good condition. Portland does not get the freeze and thaw that casues so many potholes back east (I am also a relatively new resident here).

I wish I could bike to work, not everyone has that option.

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