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Keep the questions separate. To combine them is blatant demagoguery. Let the people decide.

Is the City Commission really that brain dead??? They shouldn't be raising taxes at all. They should be looking at ways to cut their budget. That's what the rest of us have to do. We don't necessarily get a raise just because we want, need, or even deserve one. Cut the fluff and then maybe we'll talk. But for now, my stand is:

Vote "NO".

Vote early.

Vote often.

And please vote in today's primary.

Another installment of the LJW award winning series, “Chad Lawhorn Touts New City Taxes!” Part 45, "More is More Progressivey and Grassy, says Transit Administrator!"

"The analysis — prepared by the city’s public transit administrator — concluded that it would be “highly likely” that the transit system would need additional new funding in the next decade over and beyond the 0.20 percent sales tax. The analysis showed a 0.25 percent sales tax would produce enough money for the transit system."

Any significant increase in taxes will likely push the empTy from the 6th to the 5th largest City of Lawrence budget item ahead of Parks and Recreation, Health Insurance, Street Maintenance, Outside Agencies, Planning, Building Maintenance, Technical Support, Legal Services, Municipal Court, Street Lights, City Managers Office, and the City Commission. Where is the end of the line of this corporate welfare that is sucking resources from our entire city? When will the riders be asked to pay an increased fare?
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul/27...

This Commission needs to either cut all existing departments equally (except Fire and Police) and raise fares for the empTy to at least 25% of the cost of the service ($2.00), or simply get rid of it and stop paying over $200,000/MONTH month after month $2,600,000/YEAR, year after year, in corporate welfare to MV Transportation.

Increasing taxes sucks money out of the local private economy. Every dollar in new taxes is a dollar less to spend with local businesses. Vote "No" for ANY new taxes. Then vote against all incumbents in the next general election. Redo until we get a Commission that can live within a budget and doesn't attempt to extort more and more money year after year.

Vote!!!! This is a chance to decide our future tax burden. My opinion is we can't afford tax increases at this time.

Also, Don't forget to Vote today ...primary elections

Agreed with Informed! The sales tax goes up automatically with each price increase of goods and services and utilities. It willl go up anyway. This commission is truly getting worse than the last one, and not one of them have any business sense.Again, a very simple math lesson. If your Westar bill is $30.00, the city gets 30cents, 1 percent at present. If your usage and the rates cause the bill to increase to $40.00, the city gets 40 cents. That is an additional 1 percent sales tax. Why would anyone vote for a sales tax, when your usage increases the tax due by a greater amount. The same with food costs which the local stores have raised. The recent figures about increase in sales tax doesn't give us the real story about how much hotel rates have increased which get charged sales tax, not to mention the other goods and services in town. But yet, not one person on the commission or the committee to save the T want to raise the T price , and not one of them are talking about how the KU students will ride the T for free but pay no money to the T system. I cannot believe that any of the commissioners would really put forward a sales tax increase proposal, really they cannot be that foolish, or are they?

"Any significant increase in taxes will likely push the empTy from the 6th to the 5th largest City of Lawrence budget item"

This is blatant disinformation which you continually try to foist off on the readers of this forum, Sigmund. The city has two main sources of funds-- property taxes and sale taxes, and you are ignoring the larger of the two sources, sales taxes, to come up with your complete distortion of the relative level of funding for the bus system. Even if the sales tax for the bus system passes, it will still be well down the list of city expenditures.

The question is do I want to continue to support a transit system that only benefits a very very small group of people at the expense of the rest of us. Answer: No!

I am against both of the proposed sales taxes and will be voting against them if they're on the ballot in November. The 'mT' should be immediately defunded and the monies we're wasting there put into public safety and infrastructure development/maintenance.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…“This is blatant disinformation which you continually try to foist off on the readers of this forum, Sigmund. The city has two main sources of funds— property taxes and sale taxes, and you are ignoring the larger of the two sources, sales taxes, to come up with your complete distortion of the relative level of funding for the bus system. Even if the sales tax for the bus system passes, it will still be well down the list of city expenditures.”

"Budget item" is agnostic to the source (sales or property tax) and the size of the expenditure for the empTy is what it is. Anyway present YOUR numbers and YOUR source and we can compare.

City Debt - 29.00%
Police - 16.01%
Fire and Medical - 14.74%
Library - 13.49%
Park and Recreation - 5.88%
Public Transit $2.24 - 4.84%
Health Insurance - 4.13%
Street Maintenance - 3.76%
Outside Agencies - 1.53%
Planning Department - 1.32%
Building Maintenance - 1.04%
Technical Support - 1.02%
City Legal Services - 0.78%
Municipal Court - 0.76%
Street Lights - 0.69%
City Managers Office - 0.63%
Human Relations - 0.32%
City Commission - 0.06%

Here is the 'infographic' I gathered my numbers from
http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2008/jul/...
If your point is it will only be the 6th largest expenditure, so be it.
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul/27...

This Commission needs to either cut all existing departments equally (except Fire and Police) and raise fares for the empTy to at least 25% of the cost of the service ($2.00), or simply get rid of it and stop paying over $200,000/MONTH month after month $2,600,000/YEAR, year after year, in corporate welfare to MV Transportation.

Increasing taxes sucks money out of the local private economy. Every dollar in new taxes is a dollar less to spend with local businesses. Vote “No” for ANY new taxes. Then vote against all incumbents in the next general election. Redo until we get a Commission that can live within a budget and doesn't attempt to extort more and more money year after year.

I can't support a tax increase when the economy is growing at its slowest rate in more than a decade and unemployment is rising. This will reduce buying power for many local residents who have little.

I say combine the questions so we can vote no on both issues and finally put the T out of its misery. Then the funds ordinarily directed at the T can be directed at infrastructure and non-profits that already provide transportation to the disabled and elderly more efficiently. Then begin discussions with KU to determine how much it would cost the city to bolster their bus system to meet the city's needs.

Sigmund, how does a community elect a commission that will not continue to extort more and more money from the populace. I fear that is not possible in Lawrence, KS, now or later. The only way to get through to the commisson and the chamber of commerce is simply, very simply to not shop or purchase goods and services in Lawrence. The economy needs to dry up, cut off the money flow. Sadly, with the university and the populace there, it is hard to get consensus to dry up the local economy. Vote NO and spend your money outside of Lawrence, then when the commisson realizes that the tax increase didn't work, didnt' give them enough money, they will begin to understand what caused the depression of the dirty 30s. Taxes! It is not only the commission, the school district is slowly raping the community financially.

Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax, Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax,Tax
Ah the Lawrence City Commissioners ya' gotta love 'em.

Yes, I know where you got it, Sigmund. Problem is, you are looking at only the property tax side, which is the smaller of the two major sources of funding for the city. The larger source is sales taxes, from which the "T" currently gets ZERO funding. Those expenditures are shown in the lower right of the graphic you linked to.

And even if the sales tax for the "T" passes, as I said previously, it will still be well down the list in total city expenditures.

Grassroots Action is like a spoiled, pouting child. The answer is NO!

This town has been in a recession for 7 years now. Why hasn't the City cut staff to coincide with their ZERO growth policies? Why does the City have more supervisors than workers!?!?

spiderman and svengalli - like Jekyll & Hyde?

Like...
Sherlock & Watson
Tina & Ike
Sonny & Cher
Bert & Ernie
Batman & Robin
Hale & Pace
The 2 Ronnies
Salt & Peppa
The Proclaimers
Pepsi & Shirley
Pinky & The Brain
The Krankies
Dracula & Mina
Super Ted & Spotty
Dennis & Gnasher
Bubble & Squeek
Topsy & Tim
Morcambe & Wise
Sylvester & Tweetie Pie
Chas & Dave
Pinky & Perky
Rhubarb & Custard
Pinky & the Brain
Dangermouse & Penfold
Little & Large
Penn & Tellar
Cannon & Ball
Kylie & Jason
Ant & Dec
The Krankies
Martin & Gary Kemp
Phil & Grant
The Lone Rnger &Tonto
Bill & Ben
Pixie & Dixie
Quassimodo & Esmarellda
Lois Lane & Superman
Garfield & Odie
The Blues Brothers
Hansel & Gretel
Frankenfurter & Rocky
Joseph & Mary
Tom & Jerry
Homer & Marge
Statler & Waldorf
Kermit & Piggy
Matt Lucas & David Walliams
Ronnie & Reggie Kray
Benny & Joon
George & Mildred
Tony & Cheri
Diana & Dodi
Rosey & Jim
Maggie & Dennis

No, your list doesn't work. Jekyll & Hyde were the same person.

Let the Grass roots group ask for a 10% (not a tenth of a percent) sales tax increase for the mT.... the bigger the request the more NO votes it will get.

No need to worry about 'future new funding shortfalls'... it's going to be defeated big time in November.

No, barry's list works...and I was thinking more like... Ace & Gary.

Hello,
The user spiderman sent the following message to you via LJWorld.com:
==============================

go take a hike !

==============================
Please do not reply to this e-mail message. To send spiderman a response, visit this Web page:
http://www2.ljworld.com/users/spiderman/...

Is this a good use of the email functionality LJW has? I think it's considered harrasment! and to top it off, it's obvious Cool's ID was banned and now the same clown is using spiderman... Can he be blocked as well?

I see a majority of "NO"s in the posts here this morning. Hopefully that's the result to both tax increases. And I agree with those who've said the city should look at other areas to cut, and reduce the fluff, instead of taxing.

Close the F'er down! I am not paying one more cent...if you want to raise sales tax, great, we will start shopping in other communities.

I am tired of this commission’s tax, tax and more tax policy. Vote No!!! Let the users pay for the service.

Remember, your water bill is getting ready to go up and now they want to increase the sales tax, what’s next? Cut your spending and conserve like the rest of us.

Svengalli,

Keep posting his worthless emails and let the moderator continue to remove them. Hopefully his latest ID will get revoked as well.

We shouldn't even be having this discussion, but our spineless city commission has decided that it is up to us to decide whether the bus service stays. We originally decided that we wanted bus service in town and had set aside the appropriate funding for it. Now we are being asked to cough up more. My question is- where did all of this money go? where did the tax money that was supposed to support this system from the beginning get re-apportioned to?

My sources say that taxes were cut several years ago when the housing boom was at it's greatest. This idea of cutting back when the economy is good and taxing when things go bad needs to stop. I don't want to pay anymore taxes than I have to, but I hate hearing about city services getting cut because we "couldn't see this coming." Of course we all saw this coming. The city commission should have acted quickly last year to shore up our tax income before this crisis hit. Instead, they are putting this all up for a vote. I'm a supporter of public transportation, but I'm not a supporter of an irresponsible city commission who refuses to fund city services at their current level. I'm looking forward to voting them out come april.

"My sources say that taxes were cut several years ago"

Not likely. The sales tax rate has gone up. Maybe they were thinking the property tax mil rate? But that still was not a "tax cut" because the property values were going up. The overall tax (sales+property) collections were very likely higher, therefore was a tax increase, and not a decrease.

And don't forget the significant School Board tax increases.

"Figures don't lie, but liars can figure" may be applicable?

I wonder how Boog is doing on his new blinking tax.

And for spiderman's pleasure, I am instantly on the other side of where ever Noam Chomsky is. Because, you know, I disapprove of Cambodian genocide, show trials, and suicide bombers getting all explodey on my bus. If Noam Chomsky were to call the sky blue, I'd get my umbrella.

I forgot my favorite.

Spongebob and Patrick

We can post all we want. The commissioners may read these posts, but they simply do not care. Both taxes are unnessary and will do little to solve the problems the commissions past and present have created. I am going with my original plan. shop outside Lawrence as much as possible for all big ticket items, Vote No and try to use in elec and gas to keep the tax down on those bills. Eliminate long distance on landline phone bills. buy a phone card .and pay only the sales tax on it, plus the minutes are cheaper. The commissioners have made up their minds, and they are not going to change them or admit failure. When we have a commission that is going to allow ku students to ride the T for free while everyone else pays, when we have a commission that refuses to raise the fares on the T and operate it more efficently, we will continue to pay for their ineptness. Vote no and spend less until they fiugure out the plan didn't work.

If the city commissioners would cut off pork barrel spending for developers Lawrence would not need a tax increase and there would plenty of money for the necessary for public transportation,funding older infrastructure maintenance and maybe a on site library expansion.

Pork barrel spending tax projects dollars include new water lines,streets,traffic lights, new sewage treatment plant@50 million or more, north Lawrence prep for the warehouse project @$42 million,new fire departments,more LPD coverage etc etc. Lawrence Kansas does not need any of the above. Developers are dictating growth and demanding the above from taxpayers.

Without new sewage treatment plant@50 million or more, north Lawrence prep for the warehouse project @$42 million and new infrastructure to the Schwada project public transportation could be funded for 22 years. Or fund the T for 10 years and fix the streets and sidewalks that have been ignored for more than 25 years.

Instead of approving projects that add NEW streets and sidewalks to the taxpayer maintenance bills why not fix what needs to be fixed first...it's wiser and fiscally prudent use of tax dollars. Use money that is set aside for new projects on their agenda instead of raising taxes.

City commissioners really want that .3 sales tax because they have NEW pork barrel projects like maybe a new TIF project downtown in mind instead of applying all of that money to fix older infrastructure.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/1/18/fr...

If the city commissioners would cut off pork barrel spending for developers Lawrence would not need a tax increase and there would plenty of money for the necessary public transportation,funding older infrastructure maintenance and maybe a on site library expansion.

While the city commission has many of us in a tizzy over the T, that is keeping taxpayers distracted from the really big time high dollar local corporate welfare projects.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says… "Yes, I know where you got it, Sigmund. Problem is, you are looking at only the property tax side, which is the smaller of the two major sources of funding for the city. The larger source is sales taxes, from which the “T” currently gets ZERO funding. Those expenditures are shown in the lower right of the graphic you linked to."

Doesn't matter to my discretionary income if the new tax comes out of my sales tax pocket or my property tax pocket it is still gone and money not available to spend with local businesses and it doesn't matter much to city finance which budget either. Many items in the budget are funded with both real estate and sales taxes. The empTy is currently the 6th largest expenditure of "property tax dollars" not an insignificant amount of money that is not available for police, fire, parks, roads, sewers, libraries et al.

This Commission needs to either cut all existing departments equally (except Fire and Police) and raise fares for the empTy to at least 25% of the cost of the service ($2.00), or simply get rid of it and stop paying over $200,000/MONTH month after month $2,600,000/YEAR, year after year, in corporate welfare to MV Transportation.

Increasing taxes sucks money out of the local private economy. Every dollar in new taxes is a dollar less to spend with local businesses. Vote “No” for ANY new taxes. Then vote against all incumbents in the next general election. Redo until we get a Commission that can live within a budget and doesn't attempt to extort more and more money year after year.

clyde_never_barks (Anonymous) says…

Close the F'er down! I am not paying one more cent…if you want to raise sales tax, great, we will start shopping in other communities.

Let us know how much you spend on gas going to Topeka or KC to save .5cents here.

"Annual report:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgct5zpx_0...

The total fares collected by the T (not the T Lift) last year were only:

$155,640.99

OMG, that's pathetic! Having the drivers instead stand on corners with donation buckets would result in more revenue.

2-3 new houses in the west side of town pay more taxes than the entire 1200 block of Prospect Avenue here in town... I'm guessing a whole block of them pay more than enough of the fair share of their costs such as roads, etc. Those are the houses we want.. the ones that generate enough taxes to pay for their roads.

In the mean time, merrill and his neighbors pay next to nothing in taxes and demand taxes from the west side to be used to maintain his road and sidewalks ....

"Doesn't matter to my discretionary income if the new tax comes out of my sales tax pocket or my property tax pocket"

Exactly my point, Sigmund. But you were more than willing to separate them in an effort to distort the reality of how much of the overall budget is spent on the public transportation.

Despite all the petty whining here about the relatively paltry amount spent on public transportation, even if the budget on the "T" were tripled, it'd still be down somewhere in the middle of the list in terms of overall expenditures, and well less than the amount spent on the fire or police departments, parks and rec or on road repairs.

But if that amount were tripled, combined with a merger with the KU system, there would be a very viable system that all but the most antisocial types, so well represented on this board, would ride, and ride often.

"Why *anyone* pays any attention to the guy is beyond my comprehension."

No one pays more attention to him than you do, glock. You're downright obsessed.

clyde_never_barks (Anonymous) says…

Close the F'er down! I am not paying one more cent…if you want to raise sales tax, great, we will start shopping in other communities.

foodboy (Anonymous) says…

Let us know how much you spend on gas going to Topeka or KC to save .5cents here.

clyde replies...doesn't matter foodboy. I am already there on business in either community 2-3 days a week, so can plan my purchases accordingly. I'm only one purchaser, but can vote with my dollars. Heck, sales tax is more in OP and Topeka than in Lawrence...catching my drift yet?

I'm not interested in supporting a money waster that benefits only a few people. Raise the rates. Take a cab. Thumb a ride. I don't care. If my business is losing money, I am going to make changes to save the business and produce a revenue flow that supports my operation...Lawrence can do the same thing.

What a pissmire of taxsopathic tropsy!

Vote no!

Send the rooter's back to SF!

We need all new CC's that are willing to slash and burn the budget.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says…"But if that amount were tripled, combined with a merger with the KU system, there would be a very viable system that all but the most antisocial types, so well represented on this board, would ride, and ride often."

I don't ride the empTy because I am anti-social, I don't ride the empTy because I am not a filthy looser with no job. Cut the crap bozo, I and 99% of Lawrence don't ride the empTy because it doesn't go where where w want and when I want. A simple trip to the store and back that takes two hours on the empTy can be accomplished in less than a half the time in a private vehicle.

At approximately $2,600,000/year the empTy represents a huge waste of money. $200,000 per month, each and every month, every year, year after year, is NOT a insignificant nor paltry amount of corporate welfare to MV Transportation. There are other city services that are being hurt financially because of it. Triple that amount and except fire and police I can't think of any other City service that is as costly and benefits so few.

If the riders had to cover 50% of the cost of a ride, $4.00/ride the empTy would die because they would find a cheaper way to get from here to there (car pool, walk, bicycle, moped, sharing taxi). This Commission needs to either cut all existing departments equally (except Fire and Police) and raise fares for the empTy to at least 25% of the cost of the service ($2.00), or simply get rid of it.

Increasing taxes sucks money out of the local private economy. Every dollar in new taxes is a dollar less to spend with local businesses. Vote “No” for ANY new taxes. Then vote against all incumbents in the next general election. Redo until we get a Commission that can live within a budget and doesn't attempt to extort more and more money year after year.

"I and 99% of Lawrence don't ride the empTy because it doesn't go where where w want and when I want.."

Yep-- it's an underfunded system that performs inadequately. Designed for failure by those who need it to fail as validation for their precious ideology.

By your logic, if we cut the funding to the police and fire departments by half, the resulting failures in their ability to carry out their functions would be grounds for abolishing them altogether.

"Those who hate public transportation get on here and complain.

But those who support public transportation are the majority of voices heard at the City Commission meetings."

That pretty well sizes it up. Even though the discussion of the sales tax proposals didn't even start till well after ten, there were still a number of concerned citizens who showed up, and everyone of them was in favor of doing what it takes to make the "T" a viable and useful system. Not that it did any good. Hack, Dever and Chestnut might as well have been on Mars, as they had clearly made up their minds how they would vote weeks ago. They were all almost comically defensive about it, especially Dever.

The most comical aspect of the night was when they asked Corliss whether the funds for infrastructure and those for transit could be kept separate if they were both included in one ballot measure. He assured them they could be, but they continued to contend that someday all that money would be sucked up by the evil bus system, even though Corliss had just explained to them otherwise.

While they gave lip service to wanting the vote on the "T" to pass, clearly, the message from on high is that the infrastructure tax needs to pass, while the "T" can be a sacrificial lamb.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says… "By your logic, if we cut the funding to the police and fire departments by half, the resulting failures in their ability to carry out their functions would be grounds for abolishing them altogether."

Fire and police are essential services for a city of 80,000 and provide great value and everyone benefits. Running empTy buses around Lawrence a town that isn't growing appreciably is waste of $8.00/ride, especially when those riders are unwilling to pay 25% of the cost per ride ($2.00). If Lawrence was 800,000 or didn't have a KU bus system to get students on and off campus the economics might be completely different.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says… "While they gave lip service to wanting the vote on the “T” to pass, clearly, the message from on high is that the infrastructure tax needs to pass, while the “T” can be a sacrificial lamb."

I'll vote no against ALL new taxes for whatever reason. The bus isn't "evil" it is a waste of money. Still, if the City wants it they need to raise the fares and cut everything except fire and police to pay the difference. Blame the pro bus crowd for their unwillingness to compromise as well. Regardless these dire threats every year from every Commission if taxes aren't raised is crap. Lawrence's raises plenty of taxes they just need to grow a pair, tell a few people "No" and then learn to set their priorities with the money they have even if that means wasting money on the empTy and laying off workers or reducing other services.

Badly underfunded police and fire departments would not adequately provide essential services. Neither can a badly underfunded public transit system. But the correct solution isn't to abolish them. The correct solution is to adequately fund them.

BTW, as badly underfunded as the transit system is, it actually does provide essential services to many hundreds of people. There is nothing out there that can take up the slack if the "T" goes down, and your ideological tirades don't change that, Sigmund. What's your solution for those people? Will you just send them a sympathy card, and then tell them to suck it up?

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says… "Badly underfunded police and fire departments would not adequately provide essential services. Neither can a badly underfunded public transit system. But the correct solution isn't to abolish them. The correct solution is to adequately fund them."

If we had the money we could gold plate the buses and still less than 5% would ride them and it would be a waste of even more money and what is inadequate about the current funding anyway? If we spent more money more would ride? Huh? If the buses dripped the tears of baby foxes instead of spewing diesel fumes Lawrencian's still wouldn't ride them in sufficient numbers to justify them. If we had the money we could build a monorail and it still isn't needed in a town of 80,000 with zero growth and a KU bus system.

just_another_bozo_on_this_bus (Anonymous) says… "BTW, as badly underfunded as the transit system is, it actually does provide essential services to many hundreds of people. There is nothing out there that can take up the slack if the “T” goes down, and your ideological tirades don't change that, Sigmund. What's your solution for those people? Will you just send them a sympathy card, and then tell them to suck it up?"

Buy a car, car pool to work, take a taxi, ride a bike, walk, do all the things that people did for years without buses. If all that many of the bus rides were essential then the riders would willing pay $2.00-$4.00 for their "essential ride." If they won't then it isn't essential and other options exists.

My "tirade" is the Commission needs to EITHER cut all existing departments equally (except Fire and Police) and raise fares for the empTy to at least 25% of the cost of the service ($2.00), or simply get rid of it, one or the other.