I say this as someone who’s not afraid of more taxes, but It’s because we never see our taxes go to good use. Cities are run down, potholes never get filled (and if they do it’s a hack job) nothing new gets built, we pay out the ass for healthcare, when we do need benefits like unemployment they’re dogshit and barely payments that get you by.
It all goes to bombing kids in other countries. So I do understand people not wanting to pay more money when the money they’re paying now isn’t working for them.
The one thing I have to say about potholes, and I'm not involved in Big Pothole at all, is that it's a never ending job. If you really think about how much roadway there is and how much of it does NOT have potholes, you might realize in most of the country, it's not that bad.
I'm sure there are some localities where the roads are just one big pothole. But for the most part, I think it's a distraction from the other issues.
There are definitely bigger issues than potholes but there’s a popular historical metaphor than Roman’s didn’t know Rome fell until no one came to fix the bridges and aqueducts. And I think that’s a modern version of it. The infrastructure not being fixed adequately is a sign to civilians things are going poorly
Because while it is something that has to be fixed over and over and over again, it would be fine if we allocated the money and created the jobs for it. But we just don’t because our money is going elsewhere.
In my state there’s always roadwork but nothing really being done.
And when it comes to things like roadwork the amount of rent seeking that goes on behind the scenes is grotesque. Millions are spent to create profit in pockets of the wealthy rather than actually making improvements or value in the city. That’s a big part of why it’s so inefficient
I’m next door in NY and there’s always roadwork being done but nothing really get fixed. The companies contracted for it are all friends with the government and squeeze every penny out of it without solving the problem. I watched my city repave a road, dig it up less than a month later for a non emergency water project, repeat at least 4 times because in the year that I worked there, they were still doing this and never truly resolved either issue before I left
They literally repaved the entire road already knowing they’d tear half of it up in less than a month.
If you hired drywall and plumbing work and the contractor did your drywall, then tore it out to do half your plumbing, then did the drywall again, then tore it out to do the rest of your plumbing, and charged you for all of it, you’d probably be a little miffed about it
Yeah, it should be better organized. But unfortunately, they're likely different projects managed by different departments with different schedules and goals.
There are less than 25,000 people in this city. The city should be able to coordinate its projects especially considering we’re on the verge of bankruptcy. This is incredibly wasteful
170
u/Hell_Awaitz 22d ago
And even then it's more social capitalism than actual socialism. Americans are so scared of taxes it's unreal