Magnifisyncopathological

Leaders seek federal funding for transportation projects

Almost two dozen Central Texas leaders traveled to Washington D.C. on Monday to discuss transportation issues with U.S. legislators.

The delegation is made up of area business leaders and elected officials who want federal funding to pay for mobility projects that could curb traffic on major roads such as MoPac.

So a local problem should be pushed onto the shoulders of the federal government, and by extension, onto the shoulders of national taxpayers? Odd concept.

Does this work in reverse? How about forcing people in El Paso to help pay for the winter road maintenance budgets of the northeast states? Knowing scarce resources are being taken away to pay for things most will never have the chance benefit from...then again, considering the thousands of things federal taxpayers pay for and the relative quiet on the limited government front, I wouldn't be surprised to learn most people'd just shrug it off.

Rush hour traffic on MoPac is so thick, in fact, that it drove Susan Pickett to move.

"I found that the traffic was taking too much of my time, so we ended up moving closer to the schools to avoid traffic on MoPac," she said.

An example of the exit problems involved with government-run projects.

"Our congressional delegation needs to understand our priorities here in Central Texas," Austin Mayor Will Wynn said.

Copyright ©2004TWEAN News Channel of Austin, L.P. d.b.a. News 8 Austin

Assuming they're from Austin, of course they know what issues the city faces. I bet they get to hear from hundreds of bitching constituents every week, explaining how only a little more government involvement might fix things in their bedroom, neighborhood, and local grocery store.

But why go begging to the federal government for local concerns? It would be far more honest if Mr. Wynn toured Texas asking for spare change to go towards Austin's transportation problems.

It would certainly lead to a far more honest outcome.