Council President Bill Gulliford wants to extend the gas tax so pedestrian, bicycle and road projects can be built by the city and JTA. No word about transit.
QuoteGulliford made the announcement during a speech at the Elected Leadership Luncheon sponsored by JAX Chamber.
Gulliford said by extending the gas tax, the Jacksonville Transportation Authority can issue $140 million in bonds to work on much-needed road construction projects.
Mayor Alvin Brown has repeatedly said he opposes extending the gas tax, putting him at odds again with Gulliford over city finances.
QuoteGulliford said his proposal would set aside 1 cent of the gas tax revenue for City Hall to do maintenance of city streets and build pedestrian and bicycle projects.
The rest would go to the Jacksonville Transportation Authority. Gulliford said he would expect JTA to use the gas tax to do road construction projects, including some Better Jacksonville Plan projects that have been on hold.
full article: http://members.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2013-11-01/story/council-president-bill-gulliford-says-he-will-file-legislation-extend
yeah, where's the transit? We could do some major bike/ped projects with $140 million.
Need to see a strategic plan before asking people for tax dollars. It is as simple as that. Just asking for dough into a generic need is ripe for corruption and political football.
I like this:
Quote
Brown has said the city should find "innovative ways" to pay for transportation projects without using the local gas tax. But he has not proposed any specific alternatives.
Next level, baby.
The article does mention some specifics, such as completing road projects currently on hold and taking over the ferry. More will be forthcoming, I hope transit will be included.
A gas tax is also one of the few ways to get any revenue from folks who live outside Duval County but still use our infrastructure, so it's good to that end.
Quote from: Tacachale on November 01, 2013, 04:31:06 PM
The article does mention some specifics, such as completing road projects currently on hold and taking over the ferry. More will be forthcoming, I hope transit will be included.
A gas tax is also one of the few ways to get any revenue from folks who live outside Duval County but still use our infrastructure, so it's good to that end.
And needs to be sold as such with an emphasis on the fact that it's a continuance and not a "new" tax.
Most here understand that, but I'm willing to bet that the TU, Action News et al. will do their best "tax increase" headline to drive clicks and sales.
If people would start paying what it really cost to drive a car mass transit options like rail and walkable high-density neighborhoods would be built so fast it wouldn't be funny. I get so aggravated at my fellow tea partiers who complain about government spending and handouts, but then don't want to pay what it cost to drive their own car. The public should fund public transportation, not subsidize private transportation.
Quote from: Kerry on November 02, 2013, 12:14:48 PM
If people would start paying what it really cost to drive a car mass transit options like rail and walkable high-density neighborhoods would be built so fast it wouldn't be funny. I get so aggravated at my fellow tea partiers who complain about government spending and handouts, but then don't want to pay what it cost to drive their own car. The public should fund public transportation, not subsidize private transportation.
Not everyone goes to an office and works there all day long, some of us have to leave the office to visit jobsites. This doesn't need to be an either-or thing.
So now I should subsidize your job as well? Anything else you want from me while you have your hand out?
Also - it is an either-or. We simply don't have enough money to keep building roads and trying to maintain what is already built. It really is no harder to understand than that. We need to come up with plan B.
With better design standards, it doesn't have to be an either or situation. Urban roads should always be designed to be multimodal friendly
Hold on - are you saying better design standards for new roads + multi-modal + current maintenance is going to cost us less money? We can't afford to build roads to the current design standards without multi-modal now, how is going to be cheaper in the future?
Yes. Primarily when you start thinking about retrofitting existing roads instead of building new ones for vehicles only.
Okay, so we build rail transit and congestion on existing roads starts to go down. It is only a matter of time before the newly available capacity is used up by the continued development of sprawl until the roads reach their current state of congested equilibrium again. Then what?
We can't keep building both. As existing roads reach the end of their life-cycle they need to be returned to gravel, dirt, or removed completely and we sure shouldn't be building new roads that we can't afford. Now if all of us car owners want to chip in more and actually pay for what we want city, county, state, and federal governments to build for us then we can talk. The current gasoline tax pays for less than 1/2 the cost of maintain our road network. Anyone up for doubling the gasoline tax?
I would actually prefer a mileage tax instead of a gasoline tax. Another problem is that our dendritic roads network isn't scalable.
Quote from: Kerry on November 02, 2013, 11:36:59 PM
Okay, so we build rail transit and congestion on existing roads starts to go down. It is only a matter of time before the newly available capacity is used up by the continued development of sprawl until the roads reach their current state of congested equilibrium again. Then what?
You can't rid yourself of congestion. Rail or no rail. What you do is change your land use patterns so alternative mobility choices actually begin to make sense to a much larger segment of the population.
QuoteWe can't keep building both. As existing roads reach the end of their life-cycle they need to be returned to gravel, dirt, or removed completely and we sure shouldn't be building new roads that we can't afford.
This isn't realistic. Legally, you can't cut off access to private property.
QuoteNow if all of us car owners want to chip in more and actually pay for what we want city, county, state, and federal governments to build for us then we can talk. The current gasoline tax pays for less than 1/2 the cost of maintain our road network. Anyone up for doubling the gasoline tax?
Since transit doesn't pay for itself either, this argument isn't going to get any type of movement in encouraging more investment in transit.
QuoteI would actually prefer a mileage tax instead of a gasoline tax. Another problem is that our dendritic roads network isn't scalable.
Why aren't they? They're the same type of roads that are in most metropolitan areas across the country. In Cleveland, they took two lanes out of a six-lane road and made them dedicated BRT lanes. In Houston, they've taken lanes out of existing roads for LRT. In Tampa, streetcars were added to existing streets. In Charlotte, LRT is being built on former freight railroad corridors. There's no reason we can't retrofit existing corridors in a similar fashion. IMO, our bigger problem is our sprawling unsustainable land use patterns.
Does anyone else see this as a ploy to avoid reinstating the mobility fee?
Quote from: spuwho on November 01, 2013, 03:51:18 PM
Need to see a strategic plan before asking people for tax dollars. It is as simple as that. Just asking for dough into a generic need is ripe for corruption and political football.
I would agree for a sales tax, but not for gas tax. Those often pay for operations and maintenance. And quite frankly, local govt doesnt charge enough already.
Quote from: Jumpinjack on November 03, 2013, 06:49:24 AM
Does anyone else see this as a ploy to avoid reinstating the mobility fee?
no...i think they are separate
Quote from: tufsu1 on November 03, 2013, 07:27:01 AM
Quote from: Jumpinjack on November 03, 2013, 06:49:24 AM
Does anyone else see this as a ploy to avoid reinstating the mobility fee?
no...i think they are separate
No. The mobility fee is already being reinstated in the form of an 18 month ramp up.