Loyal Antiplanner reader MSetty let me know about a Tennessee proposal to spend $200,000 studying the idea of building a monorail from Nashville to Murfreesboro. The irony is that the proposal comes from a tea party member of the state senate. Senator Bill Ketron is a social conservative, not a libertarian, but he should know better than to think that giving a government agency a bunch of money to do a study recommending whether to give that agency even more more money will lead to a reasonable outcome.
Take, for example, Florida’s Pinellas County transit authority, which has spent $800,000 on “public education” regarding a proposed $1.7 billion (but likely much more) light-rail line that will be on this November’s ballot. Critics question whether it is legal for the transit agency to use “taxpayer money to engage in political advocacy leading up to a referendum vote.” The agency, of course, says it isn’t advocating anything, just educating people.
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Fat chance. The Antiplanner hasn’t reviewed the agency’s “educational materials” in detail, but a quick glance at the web site reveals a lot of glaring problems. First, the agency claims this is a “comprehensive transportation plan” when in fact all it is is a transit plan. Second, planning documents imply, if not fully assert, that the plan will relieve congestion, when the truth is that light rail is mostly likely to increase congestion.
Finally, the website says tripling spending on transit will give “economic CPR” to the region. In fact, there is no reason to expect that raising taxes and spending the money on obsolete transportation systems will boost the economy; it is more likely to drag it down.
Ninety-nine point nine percent of all bureaucrats think they are doing a great job and could do even better if only they had more money. So giving them money to study whether they should get more money is a recipe for disaster, especially since they are likely to spend part of the money on “education.”
I hear those things are awfully loud
It glides as softly as a cloud
Is there a chance the track could bend?
Not on your life, my Hindu friend
What about us brain-dead slobs?
You’ll be given cushy jobs
Were you sent here by the Devil?
No, good sir, I’m on the level
The ring came off my pudding can
Take my pen knife, my good man
I swear it’s Springfield’s only choice
Throw up your hands and raise your voice
Monorail
What’s it called?
Monorail
Once again
Monorail
But Main Street’s still all cracked and broken
Sorry, Mom, the mob has spoken
Monorail! Monorail! Monorail!
Mono…..d’oh!
Well, I suppose advocacy is just a specific type of education.
There is something especially nefarious about using taxpayer money to advocate for a project. I wish this sort of use of taxpayer money was not allowed.
The bigger problem itself if democracy w/out limited government. There is little incentive to kill these sort of projects. For example, pie in the sky projects like high speed rail for Rochester, MN, the 205th largest MSA in the USA by population , should have at least died once the Chicago – MPLS HSR route was “finalized’ and did not include the expensive detour through #rochMN.
It has not. The county throws some resources at them to keep lobbying for money. They got some the last budget and have done some more studies. Even though they’re looking at spending $3B – $5B for green field HSR construction ( there’s no existing freight line to use to cut corners ) for a paltry 2500 people / weekday to ride, they are still advocating pushing forward.
These things just don’t die. They’re zombie projects that wander around until they bump into something and have a chance to suck up some more resources.
The lesson from The Simpsons is that transit projects are sold as shiny new public monuments that make the city look better than its peer cities and paid for by free money.
The Simpsons uncovered by the problems of the monorail by visiting the other cities that already had monorail and discovering that it was not used, cost the city a lot of money, and wasn’t maintained.
Seems like that is a good political lesson on how transit projects are sold and defeated.
The Tennessee Legislature is BizzaroWorld right now in terms of their approach to transit. On the one hand, they don’t blink at the potential spending of $1 billion+ for an elevated monorail (really $4-$5 billion if the per mile cost of the Vegas Monorail is any guide).
On the other hand, they interfere with the City of Nashville’s efforts to create BRT lanes in that city’s busiest transit corridor, at the behest of an auto dealer who doesn’t like bus lanes, I guess–plus his pals the Koch brothers (why the Kochs are interested in a local issue like BRT in Nashville is also perplexing, unless the enviro conspiracy mongers are correct, and the Kochs are just doing strategic protection of their oil industry interests…but I digress…)
I suggest all conservatives, libertarians and other “right wingers” (sic) who naively believe that freeways (sic), water and sewer subsidies, downzoning and the myriad other government actitivities that drive our current development patterns, are actually a manifestation of the “free market,” start from Square One and examine the real root of the problem before spending billions on monorails or the 12-14 lane freeways places like Nashville will need to continue current growth patterns, as this blog post discusses: http://www.smartgrowthforconservatives.com/2014/04/03/sprawls-hidden-subsidies/.
Also perhaps the seminal book on the the topic of subsidies to sprawl, with mountains of empirical evidence: http://www.amazon.com/Perverse-Cities-Hidden-Subsidies-Policy/dp/0774818964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1396532046&sr=8-1&keywords=Perverse+cities. Only $40.00 for the paperback version…
Cool do it.
No cost-benefit analysis needed.
No need about unintended consequences.
prk166 wrote:
There is something especially nefarious about using taxpayer money to advocate for a project. I wish this sort of use of taxpayer money was not allowed.
I agree in part and disagree in part.
Taxpayer dollars to pay for professional lobbyists is almost always a bad idea, and the consequences are frequently not good.
However, I have no problem with elected officials lobbying other elected officials (for example, county or municipal elected officials lobbying a state legislature or Congress) on things that matter to their constituencies. Or if a public entity is run by a board of elected officials, then one of those elected officials can lobby on behalf of that entity. In any cases above, such lobbying activities should be on-the-record and open.
The Antiplanner wrote:
Take, for example, Florida’s Pinellas County transit authority, which has spent $800,000 on “public education” regarding a proposed $1.7 billion (but likely much more) light-rail line that will be on this November’s ballot. Critics question whether it is legal for the transit agency to use “taxpayer money to engage in political advocacy leading up to a referendum vote.” The agency, of course, says it isn’t advocating anything, just educating people.
Fat chance. The Antiplanner hasn’t reviewed the agency’s “educational materials” in detail, but a quick glance at the web site reveals a lot of glaring problems. First, the agency claims this is a “comprehensive transportation plan” when in fact all it is is a transit plan. Second, planning documents imply, if not fully assert, that the plan will relieve congestion, when the truth is that light rail is mostly likely to increase congestion.
That is propaganda and lobbying and electioneering of the worst kind, and it has been going on for many years.
Here is an example in favor of a regionwide vote on bonds for the Washington Metrorail system in 1968 (this was the only time that voters have had a chance to express their opinion directly about the system).
Aside: I thought this thing in Pinellas County, Florida was rejected several years ago in a public referendum?