The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 3 of 15)

br> Windham, New Hampshire /p>

Good article by Mr. O'Toole. The examples of foolish government decision-making regarding infrastructure are numerous:

* Boston, 1960s. The lively, working-class West End was deemed "blighted" (Kelo, anyone?) by the legislature to make way for "urban development." Tens of thousands of residents were displaced as pork-laden demolition and construction contracts were doled out. Today the area is a sterile, lifeless zone of high rise apartments and the nation's ugliest government office building, the still-unfinished Hurley State Office building.

* Boston again, 1960s -1970s. Instead of creating a "loop" interstate like most major American cities have around their periphery the state decided to "invest" in public transportation. The Orange Line elevated street railway was sunk underground and the area where the trestles stood were made into "green space." The project failed spectacularly to relieve traffic congestion, necessitating the much more expensive ($15 billion), corruption-ridden "Big Dig" to put the Central Artery under the city.

* New York City/New Jersey Transit today. NYC has a subway and New Jersey a commuter rail system that ceases to operate during the rain, but Mayor Bloomberg wants to impose "congestion pricing" to reduce traffic. But New York will make a lot of money the next time folks need to drive in because the subway and trains aren't running due to weather. In the meantime the city wants to be a landlord and spend half a billion dollars on housing while the sewer system blows up. Priorities, please.

* New Jersey today. Hudson/Bergen Light Rail system that doesn't go into Bergen County because that part of the project has been abandoned to instead fund a third commuter rail tunnel from NJ to NYC. This tunnel should have been built years ago, as anyone who commutes into New York via New Jersey Transit rail knows all too well.

* United States Air Traffic Control. Grossly under-invested by the government in regards to equipment, stuck with decades-old radar systems and 1960's mainframe computers, the Federal Aviation Administration is a political football kicked around by both the executive and legislative branches. Privatization of ATC is okay for Canada, Germany, Australia and the UK but not here?

p>And some people want the government to run health care? br> -- Paul DeSisto br> Cedar Grove, New Jersey /p>

I am a child of the 1940s and as I grew up many huge infrastructure projects were underway: The National highway System; sewer systems and water treatment plants everywhere. At least in part, these activities must have fueled the economic boom of the 1950's.

Then in the early 1960's everything changed. President Johnson finagled the welfare system through a democrat congress and economically enslaved millions of Americans. The focus then changed forever. Democrats now had a captive constituency and they intended to keep it. Billions went to "improving" the lives of our poorest citizens. And to be sure they stayed poor Mr. Johnson required that fathers not be in evidence in the home. Thus ended the family in the African-American household.

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