Two of the basic tasks of government are protecting us from criminals and building roads. In Cabarrus County - the government is failing on both counts.
In the past, I’ve heard assertions from those in the criminal justice system that the jail overcrowding doesn’t affect what kinds of sentences our local nerdowells are given. Well, our friend Aaron at The Brain Cell Destroyer offers some evidence to the contrary. He gave a profile of three criminals that are roaming the streets of our fair city and closed with this:
While the Jail Trail folks keep us in Neutral, guys like this roam the streets. But if you’re a member of the Jail Trail Lawsuit, you don’t care, as long as they never make it to Union Street.
So, I’ve got a new stance on the jail. If the latest compromise results in construction delays that would make the necessary jail beds available one day later the Commissioners should reject it and quote the Vice President for the resources that dealing Jail Trail people have diverted to the rest of us here in Cabarrus County.
And now for our roads. According to a recent Cabarrus Neighbors article - 44% of the bridges in Cabarrus County have a safety rating similar to that of the I-35W bridge that collapsed. I like this part in particular:
The state and AAA agree the poorest-rated bridge in Cabarrus is the one on Poplar Tent Road over Coddle Creek (near Dorton Park and Cannon School).
That bridge has a sufficiency rating of only 2, but has just been repaired.
“It was my least favorite bridge in my territory,” said Garland Haywood, bridge engineer with the N.C. Department of Transportation. His division includes Anson, Cabarrus, Mecklenburg, Stanly and Union counties.
Haywood said he must balance the need to make repairs against the desire to use taxpayers’ money wisely. As a temporary fix on Poplar Tent Road, this year he installed steel piles to make the old timber beams redundant. The bridge was reopened in May.
Prior to the repairs, some drivers had reported they felt the bridge vibrating as they drove over it. Many school buses and heavy trucks cross the 53-year-old span in a once-rural part of the county.
“The bridge had too much movement to it,” Haywood said. “We had to do something…. We couldn’t afford to wait.”
That bridge is part of my morning commute.
Now that one is less the fault of local government and has more to do with the lack of leadership in Raleigh. The Democrat-controlled state legislator has a penchant for building roads for “economic development” (AKA pork for their cronies) rather than handing traffic. Of course, it would be unfair to blame in all on the Dems - Republican Mayor Pat McCrory has been pushing for millions and millions for the choo-choo train.
Here’s the bottom line: it’s high time that government from the bottom up start taking infrastructure seriously. It’s time that We The People reject the “report cards” from special interests on both the left and the right, consult the respective Constitutions, and review performance of our elected officials on the basic functions of government.
I got a feeling if more people would do that - incumbency wouldn’t be such an advantage.
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21 responses so far ↓
1 Aaron // Aug 13, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Thanks for the link! Very Well Said!
2 LiberalNC // Aug 13, 2007 at 4:09 pm
regarding the roads, if you read a little further ,in the same article you’re quoting, it says this:
The Poplar Tent bridge is on the state’s Transportation Improvement Program, which lists bridges the state plans to replace through 2012.
In all, 13 Cabarrus bridges (10 maintained by the state and three by Concord or Kannapolis) are included in the TIP plan; all but one has approved funding.
It seems to me that the Democratically controlled state government has made sure that all the bridges that aren’t safe will be replaced by 2012.
So you consider that “pork for their cronies” even though we don’t have even one Democrat state legislator in the whole County??
The only thing you could complain about is that the replacement maybe isn’t going fast enough.
3 Justin Thibault // Aug 13, 2007 at 9:28 pm
LiberalNC: How precious…you actually believe them.
Note that they plan to fix the bridges. At one time, I-85 was planned to have 6 lanes through Cabarrus County. You can hit a pitching wedge down the length of I-85 that’s 6 lanes in the County. That’s do - in part - to raiding the highway fund for a few years.
2012 isn’t a lofty goal for fixing bridges built in the earlier part of the last century.
We should be able to fix these bridges in 3 years…not just planning to build them in 5 years.
4 Aaron // Aug 13, 2007 at 9:29 pm
Well, if you read even further down than that youll find this little quote while talking about the 2 bridges on Hickory Ridge Rd. “In four years, they’ll be rebuilt as wider, longer spans.”
So although, the bandaids will be put on these two bridges maybe with less “pork” they could have been repaired properly. But Goodyear really needed that 35 million to upfit its Fayetteville plant…
5 LiberalNC // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:26 pm
LiberalNC: How precious…you actually believe them.
Maybe I’m naive…
Though I know I’m less naive than the folks who believed the Iraq War was a good idea.
But don’t get me started on THAT.
6 Justin Thibault // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:30 pm
And, stretch, two, three, four…
7 LiberalNC // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:32 pm
And avoid, five, six, seven, eight….
8 LiberalNC // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Also interesting to see Aaron push for more government money for roads, since according to libertarian views government shouldn’t even be in the business of building roads in the first place.
9 Justin Thibault // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Nobody is avoiding any of the topics of the post.
10 Justin Thibault // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:42 pm
LiberalNC: While I find Libertarianism an impractical ideology - they are pro-roads. Pro-tool-roads; but pro-roads nonetheless.
I’m sure Aaron will cover that in much greater detail than I would ever care to.
11 LiberalNC // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:46 pm
They’re pro privatized roads…
hence my surprise at seeing a libertarian push for more government money for road building.
12 Justin Thibault // Aug 13, 2007 at 10:58 pm
If the choice is between having roads built where there is traffic supported by tolls as opposed to building them based on a deal made in a Men’s Room - I’ll take EZ-Pass.
13 Aaron // Aug 13, 2007 at 11:57 pm
Well private roads are better than government roads. The EZ pass private roads around LA are much better maintained and serviced than the public roads.
The problem in NC is that there are no privatly maintained thoroughfares. The Yadkin River bridge might be rebuilt as a toll road so Mike Easly can keep his 14 million dollar “walking around money.” And again, so Goodyear can get new machinery.
It’s called LIMITED government. not, build new stadiums, art galleries, opera houses, and choo choo trains while the basic infastructure of commerce degrades to unusable extents.
While local and NC politicians are playing “Sim City” claiming that they’re acting for “economic development” they are neglecting what has made our area successful for over 100 years. The road. Our food, clothing, shelter, goods and even services need roads.
That’s pretty much the textbook definition of a “public good.”
Oh, and not all “libertarians” disapprove of public roads, just like not all NC democrats voted for “Porkfest 2007″ (AKA the 07-08 state budget)
14 LiberalNC // Aug 14, 2007 at 12:53 am
Private companies are in it for the profit.
Government is not.
Result: if you privatize roads, companies will pick the heavily trafficked ones and make them in to toll roads, cuz that’s where they can earn money.
They won’t be interested at all in construction and/or upkeep of roads that aren’t heavily used. Guess we’ll have to go back to horse and carriage on those then?
15 Aaron // Aug 14, 2007 at 6:21 am
“Government is Not” Yep so why is government in it at all? Because looking at our current infastructure situation its pretty obvious that government doesn’t really care too much what happens. Or, atleast they haven’t cared for the last 20 years or so. Maybe some profit motivation could do some good.
Who is more responsive to your needs, your phone company or the DMV, SSA, TSA or DOT? That’s an easy answer if you’re honest with yourself. (I’ll wait for the dodge)
Furthermore, if you drove from Wilmington to Tennessee on I-40(420 miles) and I-40 had a toll booth every ten miles, At 1.00 per ten miles, you’d still pay less in tolls than in gas and vehicle taxes. Plus, you’d have better roads with more lanes. And no bridges falling down…
16 Bob Carruth // Aug 14, 2007 at 6:47 am
Solutions. We need solutions. We have an archaic state transportation system, with the greatest percentage of roads under DIRECT state control than any other state in the country.
The State DOT, rather than being responsive to the needs of the local community, has become an unwieldy bureacracy that can only be effective when “walking around money” is thrown at it.
We must have a new effort to (a) bring our principal interstate highways up to national standards, reflective of the modern, progressive state we claim to be, (b) reorient the MPOs to be more reflective of where road demand is greatest, and (c) provide local governments, including counties, with more authority over the improvement and maintenance of the local secondary road network.
17 Justin Thibault // Aug 14, 2007 at 7:59 am
Aaron: “Furthermore, if you drove from Wilmington to Tennessee on I-40(420 miles) and I-40 had a toll booth every ten miles”
You would be stopping an awful lot.
Just sayin’
Bob:”Solutions. We need solutions. We have an archaic state transportation system…”
I know it’s a little more complicated than this; but the State took an unfunded mandate (Medicaid) and some source of revenue as a “relief” to the County. If you had to come up with a way for the County to take the responsibility of taking care of the roads that aren’t designated state/federal highways (I-85, US29, NC49, etc.) - which unfunded mandate would you trade and/or what revenue source would ask for from the state to make that happen?
18 Aaron // Aug 14, 2007 at 5:04 pm
“You would be stopping an awful lot.”
Thats what EZ Pass is for…
19 LiberalNC // Aug 15, 2007 at 5:59 pm
Or you could pay like this:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=D6v8D5yxhyg
20 LiberalNC // Aug 15, 2007 at 6:09 pm
and if you don’t want to pay at all you could try this:
http://www.garagetv.be/video-galerij/ghostwriter/Als_je_niet_graag_tol_wil_betalen_op_de_autostrade.aspx
Don’t mind all the dutch text, just look at the images and you’ll get the idea…
21 Justin Thibault // Aug 17, 2007 at 2:11 am
LiberalNC - That looked like it hurt
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