Pundits (the self-interested kind) are claiming that the positive economic impact on the Valley from the Super Bowl was over half a billion dollars. Baloney! Did you see any more money in your pocket? Did you get a pay raise? No. The people who benefited from the Super Bowl were a very small number of businesses who catered to Super Bowl travelers AND…of course….various governments, who benefit from the sales taxes. It is much more likely that the effect on the average Valley resident was negative. You probably were inconvenienced by the Super Bowl traffic on the freeways or local streets. Or, you probably paid more for travel because of Super Bowl traffic driving prices up. Or, if you had friend visiting you from out of town you probably could not find accommodations for them at anything close to normal prices. Or, if you tried to go out to a dinning or social event you probably could not get in.
The next time someone wants to promote a big event like the Super Bowl and promises a big economic impact I suggest that the majority of Valley residents should remember where all that “impact” money goes.
Phoenix residents should pay particular attention to the January 11 Arizona Republic article “Garcia, board differed on discipline.” The article questions whether the Phoenix Civil Service Board undermines the authority of the Chief by reducing punishments meted out to offending police officers. Most Phoenicians will agree that police officers should be held to a higher standard of behavior and character than other Phoenix employees, especially those who do not carry weapons and who are not asked to place their lives (and the lives of their fellow officers) on the line every day. This higher standard requires a more authoritarian approach to discipline than some people who have never worn a uniform will understand. We need only look to Chicago or New York or Washington DC for examples of what can happen when police discipline is not maintained at very high levels.
Phoenicians should know that this problem is not new to our city. Some with longer memories will recall an incident in the 1980s where seven Phoenix police officers were dismissed for public drunkenness, firing their weapons, and public disturbance. These incidents occurred under the Seventh Avenue bridge, a spot that had become a gathering place for off-duty cops, and these officers came to be known as the Seventh Avenue Seven. At that time we had another police chief who believed in very high standards for his officers, just like our recently terminated Chief Garcia, and he enforced those standards strictly. He terminated all seven officers.
I was serving on the Phoenix Civil Service Board when these seven officers appealed the terminations. At that time the Civil Service Board members also believed in very high standards for police officers and we upheld the terminations by a vote of 5-0. What happened next should be a lesson for Phoenix residents. Over the next three years the police officers appealed the decision to the Maricopa County Superior Court. The court eventually remanded the case to the Civil Service Board. During the intervening three years there were three new appointments to the board. The case drew so much publicity that the rehearing was conducted in the Phoenix Council Chambers.
Unfortunately (in my opinion), the new appointees to the Board did not have the same concern for police discipline. The Board voted 4-1 to reinstate the officers. By the time of the rehearing I was chairman of the board and I was the only board member who stuck to upholding the terminations. (One member changed his vote.)
I believe that this decision partly caused, or at least revealed, a decline in the authority of the Chief of Police and a consequent increase in behavior that should not be tolerated. Let’s not let it happen again.
As a current member of the Citizens Committee on the Future of Phoenix Transportation (CCFPT) I have been disappointed in the fact that we have nearly completed our scheduled meetings and almost all the discussion has been about mass transit and, of course, the inevitable tax increase to pay for it. This is backward thinking. We are just entering the dawn of individualized, point-to-point, on-demand transportation ideas like autonomous vehicles, Zip Cars, Uber, Lyft, etc. The time will soon be here when you can use your smart phone to pre-program a ride exactly to your destination and at the time you want to go. Under these circumstances why would anyone want to wait for a bus or the even less-convenient train?
The CCFPT should be examining ways that we can accommodate the future of autonomous vehicles and individual transportation. The CCFPT is, instead, stuck in the past. Most of the early meetings of the committee dealt with the light rail system and bus transit. The only discussion of roads was limited to how roads could support transit. This means that discussion about synchronized traffic signals or time-of-use pricing for the streets or zone systems or preparation for the latest advances in ground transportation were not addressed. The Committee spent almost no time on the areas of worst congestion in the city, namely the major freeways. Even though I am not one of the people normally stuck on the freeway parking lots (because I am usually going the opposite direction) my heart aches for all the people whose vehicles are stopped or traveling at a walking pace
What should the CCFPT be studying? How about adding a lane on each of the major freeways or building new freeways? Or, if that is too expensive, how about making one lane a toll lane on existing freeways? The tolls could be adjusted to keep the traffic moving at near the posted speed limit. That would allow high value travelers to get to their destination on time and would also provide additional revenue for new construction. Such a proposal employs this simple but basic concept called time-of-use pricing or congestion pricing.
This concept is already being tested in Phoenix in its regulation of parking meters. Meter pricing is being adjusted during the day to keep about 10% of all parking spaces open. This makes eminent sense because it allows the highest value users to count on being able find a parking spot and it also provides extra revenue during the peak use periods.
But why not look for even more innovative ideas. One of the proposals I advocate is to consider making a major north-south street, such at 7th Street or 7th Avenue, and a major east-west street, such as McDowell Rd or Thomas Rd, into a high speed thoroughfare during rush hour. This could be done with no additional construction by employing the same time-of-use pricing mentioned above. Drivers would be allowed to purchase an electronic sticker for their vehicle and use of these major roads would be restricted during rush hour to vehicles with these stickers. The fees charged could be adjusted to keep the traffic flowing and speed limits could be increased during rush hours in combination with synchronized traffic signals.
A common response to proposals such as those mentioned above is that they are not consistent with current laws. But what are groups like CCFPT for if not to recommend changes to laws that impede solutions?
Our CCFPT belatedly recognized that we must pay attention to our streets and appointed a sub-committee to do that. But the fact that this is an afterthought reveals where the CCFPT real priorities lie—getting more mass transit, mostly rail, and getting the tax increase to support it. Passenger rail is a 19th Century solution to a 21st Century problem. We need to change our priorities to reflect the changing world we live in. And most would agree that these changes are only going to come faster.
In the Arizona Republic Opinions page Jan 4 was printed “The Year Ahead” and “What will surprise Arizonans in 2015?” The first surprise on the list “Sweeping tax reform,” offered by Grady Gammage, is the best one and I would call it a home run. The idea of eliminating income taxes and simplifying our archaic property tax classification system and replacing the lost revenue with a more inclusive sales tax is an idea that both conservatives and libertarians (like me) can get behind. Taxing production is always a bad idea and property taxes are next in line. To the extent that taxes are necessary we should tax consumption, not production. The change Grady suggests should spark an economic boom. I agree that we should “give it a shot and see if it works.”
As a current member of the Citizens Committee on the Future of Phoenix Transportation (CCFPT) I have been disappointed in the fact that we have nearly completed our mission and almost all the discussion has been about mass transit and, of course, the inevitable tax increase to pay for it. This is backward thinking. We are just entering the dawn of individualized, point-to-point, on-demand transportation ideas like autonomous vehicles, Zip Cars, Uber, Lyft, etc. The time will soon be here when you can use your smart phone to pre-program a ride exactly to your destination and at the time you want to go. Under these circumstances why would anyone want to wait for a bus or the even less-convenient train?
Our CCFPT has finally recognized that we must pay attention to our streets and has (belatedly) appointed a sub-committee to do that. But the fact that this is an afterthought reveals where the CCFPT real priorities lie—getting more mass transit, mostly rail, and getting the tax increase to support it. We need to change our priorities to reflect the changing world we live in.
Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airport is finally in the black but has $75 million in debts to pay. The logical solution is not to further burden Mesa taxpayers or any of the other owners of the airport but rather to sell it. Airports around the world often have operating expenses that are much too high because they are owned by governments or run by governments. They also often extort aircraft companies that use these airports by charging exorbitant fees.
These facts have been well recognized for years and there is a trend around the world to privatize air operations and to sell airports. However, airports in the United States have been slow to catch on. Gateway should set an example by selling itself and letting the flying public see what wonderful things a private owner could accomplish when they are freed from bureaucratic and inefficient governments.
As a lifelong Republican I have found little to praise in the Obama administration but Obama was right to allow immigrants to work and he is right to restore relations with Cuba. I am embarrassed and disappointed that so many of my Republican friends do not agree. These are decisions that make sense to most reasonable Americans and they should be supported by Republicans. Senator Jeff Flake, our junior senator from Arizona, has been beating the drum for reasonableness and sanity for many years in the House and he is continuing the fight in the Senate. Republican victories in the last elections were great but I hope that the Right Wing of our party does not make them a pyrrhic victory.
As a 47 year resident of the Valley my heart goes out to rush hour travelers every time I am on one of the freeways that goes into/out of Phoenix. Besides the misery that traffic congestion causes there is also, in some cases, substantial loss of money in the delay. Building more freeways is one possible solution to this problem but that takes many years and hundreds of millions of dollars. In the meantime, there is no excuse for any road or freeway in Phoenix not to have at least one lane of traffic flowing at normal speeds. This can be accomplished easily with time-of-use pricing. One lane could have variable pricing based on demand that would keep traffic flowing in that lane. Then, if there were significant potential losses from idling, the driver could elect to pay for the right to keep moving. A vacationer coming back from Flagstaff who is not in a great hurry might be willing to endure slower traffic and avoid extra charges but a trucker with a very valuable cargo might not want to be delayed and might also be willing to pay a large amount to keep his cargo moving. There is no need build toll booths or stop traffic to collect this money. With today’s technology these payments can easily be collected electronically. Plus, these “extra” revenues could be a valuable addition that could be used for new transportation infrastructure.
This philosophy of traffic management is already being tried in Phoenix with respect to parking. Phoenix is experimenting with varying the parking fees to keep about 10% of the parking spaces available at all times. It is time to try this same idea on our roads to end frustration and freeways that become parking lots during rush hour.
We could also use this time-of-use philosophy to essentially create a new east-west freeway (say McDowell Rd) and a new north-south freeway (say 7th Street) by simply passing a city ordinance making these streets special use during rush hour and requiring an electronic sticker. The traffic lights could be timed for 40 or 45 miles per hour and, instantly, a new freeway is created. The charges for the required sticker could be varied to keep the traffic moving. Then, the most valuable cargo (whether passengers or freight) could get to the destination in a timely manner.
There are many similar ideas that we should be exploring but our transportation planners are stuck in the 19th Century when they advocate rail as a solution. Individual transportation is the future, not mass transportation. Let’s get on it.
President Obama is right in his recent immigration action. As a libertarian by philosophy and Republican by registration it is a pleasure for me to say this because there has been very little to celebrate in Obama’s first six years in office. My expectations were low because Obama is basically a socialist by philosophy but I thought that he might actually do the right thing in two important areas; ending the War on Drugs and getting our military out of the Middle East. Since he failed miserably on these two issues there has been little to celebrate. Therefore, it is with great pleasure that I commend his action in his immigration decision.
There is a saying “If you put the slop in the trough, all the pigs will gather.” As this applies to public spending it means that, if you propose to spend a bunch of taxpayer money, all the critters who want some of it will show up. This is the case with Proposition 480, the plan to throw nearly a billion taxpayer dollars at the Maricopa County Hospital. Even in today’s era of pork barrel spending a billion dollars is still a lot of money so the “Yes on 480 Committee” has generated over 50 letters in favor of the spending which are included in the information brochure sent to voters. I would simply suggest that voters “follow the money” and look at what the people and organizations who signed these letters stand to gain as their share of the one billion dollars.
Rather than throwing a billion dollars at the County Hospital, it should actually be sold or closed. There are so many other options now for medical care that the County Hospital is a dinosaur. Also, under Obama Care everyone is forced to have medical insurance, and when you combine that with the fact that no hospital is allowed to turn away patients at emergency rooms, there is no need for a hospital for indigents, as once was the case. I suggest that taxpayers give themselves a tax break on this boondoggle and vote “NO” on Proposition 480.
roymilleraz 