Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Bridge repair fund looted

From the Times-Union:

Here in New York, the state "lockbox" created to pay for rebuilding aging bridges and roads -- a fund that's augmented every time you buy gas, renew a driver's license or rent a car -- has been raided for cash by state leaders during the last decade to such an extent that it will need $3 billion in taxpayer bailouts over the next five years.

And those added billions won't fuel a massive rebuilding, but will rather simply let a state with more than 2,000 structurally deficient bridges -- more than one span in every 10 -- keep chipping away at the problem.

Some highway advocates are questioning whether the Dedicated Highway and Bridge Trust Fund, created in 1991 as a reliable source of cash, may be too depleted to handle the job.

For every dollar that the fund will spend on roads and bridges over the next five years, it will spend almost $3 to cover rising debts and help run the state Transportation and Motor Vehicle departments, according to figures in Gov. Andrew Cuomo's capital plan in the just-completed state budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

To hell with this Crappy - the mentality of Shity Council is to rename every Goddamn Bridge, Pier and Abutment after every two-bit hack they can think of.

Who has time for this garbage?

Anonymous said...

It's time for a federal audit!

Maybe a portion of that loot wound up in the Stavisky's North Flushing Senior Center.

They take in thousands but spend peanuts on the old folks.

WHERE DID ALL THAT MONEY GO?

Tubby Stavisky said...

(To the tune of "London Bridge").

"New York's bridges falling down...falling down...falling down...my fat lady"!

ew-3 said...

"It's time for a federal audit!"

But who audits the feds ?

All that money we've paid into SS is part of the federal budget ever since LBJ and the Dems changed the system back in the 60s. That system is broke too.

Anonymous said...

The system ain't broke "ew-3".

I'm a year away from 70 and gettin' my SS payments just fine.

You sound like a general malcontent extremist to me bub!

I hate radical extremists on either end...left or right...because they only complain but never want to sweat changing things.

Armchair assholes is what I call 'em...crap in their seat rather than take the long walk to the bathroom.

And WTF has LBJ & the Dems got to do with the subject we're talking about..."BRIDGES"?

Jeezus, Joseph & Mary!

Anonymous said...

What's "ew-3" stand for, anyway...ear wax with 3 centimeters of brains in between?

Anonymous said...

H-m-m-m-m....
what was Alan Hevesi doing while this all happened?

Anonymous said...

Was Joe Bruno busy playing with his Lyndon Baines "JOHNSON" while this all went down?

Anonymous said...

LOL...maybe Parkside's Tony Avella can fix things up...if Tubby Stavisky will allow him to try.

Anonymous said...

Tru dat #1!

How much is it costing NYC to rename Queens borough's namesake the Koch bridge?

A lot of new expensive signs have to be made up and ultra high paid city contractors have to install them.

And who gets all these contracts...Democratic clubhouse friends?

It's giving me a case of Ed Krotch itch!

ew-3 said...

ew-3 Electronics Warfare Tenchician 3Rd. The rate/rating I achieved after leaving Vietnam. It is something I'm proud of. Guess you are proud of Anonymouse.

"I'm a year away from 70 and gettin' my SS payments just fine."

So because you get your just fine things are fine. Well I'm only 58 and it's not looking so good for me and others about my age. Because LBJ and the Dems made SS part of the general funds the deficit the government is currently running directly effects SS. And the deficits we are running are totally obscene.

Anonymous said...

there is $37,000,000. in federal and $6,000,000. in n.y.c. taxpayer money to construct bike lanes in Bridge Plaza qnd under the former Queensboro Bridge ,though.

D.O.T.,s ,BIKO-PSYCHO, SADIE-KAHN, gets what SHE wants again...

Anonymous said...

ew-3 said...
ew-3 Electronics Warfare Tenchician 3Rd.

-Do you know -why- you were sent to Vietnam?

Phone recordings of Pres. Johnson in conversations with several pols and cabinet members show that he was not at all convinced of the viability or necessity of that war, but that he and the Democrats "will get killed by the republicans in the midterms" if they pulled out.

That also ties into why the Nation's debt structure was changed..which included S.S. -to help fund a war to assuage the right wing and their contractor patrons, but had no, ZERO value to American security.




That fact

ew-3 said...

"-Do you know -why- you were sent to Vietnam?"

Yes, because I volunteered. Which is how most people actually got to visit. (2/3rd of vets were volunteers, 70% of KIAs were volunteers)

" but that he and the Democrats "will get killed by the republicans in the midterms" if they pulled out."

He was right. Look at what happened to McGovern. Curiously this kind of kills the notion the war was really all that unpopular. The images on TV of all the protests belies the fact the republicans would have killed the dems if they pulled out.

Actually LBJ and the Dem controlled congress changed SS so they could fund BOTH the War and the Great Society programs. While the war is long over, the great society programs live on, further draining our resources to the tune of 10s of trillions of dollars.

Why would Kennedy and LBJ and a congress totally controlled by large Democrat margins want to assuage the right wing and their contractor patrons ??

Remember, it was Eisenhower who warned of the military-industrial complex. He was speaking specifically to Kennedy's plan to increase military spending, which in the end he did. Particularly closing the "missile gap" which did not really exist.

Joe said...

It just it cost me $50 to register my small small 8X4 300Lb gardening trailer.
It expires Dec 31 It used to be $12.
Get ready for $500-$800 automotive registrations, good chance that's coming to make up for all this stealing.

Anonymous said...

"Look at what happened to McGovern. Curiously this kind of kills the notion the war was really all that unpopular"

That "popularity" had waned by the time McGover ran against Tricky Dick, I do hope you are positing that wars should be enter based on their popularity among a highly propagandized segment of the public.

By 1968, this country had the highest per-capita standard of living of any nation in history.

In that year though the cost of that pointless war was more than three times the combined spending on education, health and housing -Johnson's Great Society, which you obviously revile.

At it's peak the U.S. spent upwards of one billion dollars per day...a staggering sum that was financed by borrowing that eventually dragged down our economy in the 1970's.

"Why would Kennedy and LBJ and a congress totally controlled by large Democrat margins want to assuage the right wing and their contractor patrons ??'

The answer here lays in two factors:

the way military programs and defense contracts are spread out (ofter against better advice) among Congressional districts in America.

Also, the highly propagandized electorate who, at that time, had been taught a blind fear of "godless communists".

The contractors themselves are -huge- campaign contributors -both overtly and through donations to "patriotic" front groups, covertly.

But you are basically right on this point, there is blame on both sides of the aisle.

ew-3 said...

"That "popularity" had waned by the time McGover ran against Tricky Dick, I do hope you are positing that wars should be enter based on their popularity among a highly propagandized segment of the public."

I take it reality was not a required course in your education. This statement is not even logically correct, much less good English.

BTW - It was "Tricky Dick" that ended the war, not a democrat. The only thing the Dems did was cut off funding to the government of VN. We can all thank teddy kennedy for that.

So how many people did Pol Pot kill? So how many Vietnamese were sent to "re-education" camps never to be seen again? So why did the boat people bother to run like hell at complete risk to their lives?

You sir, have no soul.

ew-3 said...

"the way military programs and defense contracts are spread out (ofter against better advice) among Congressional districts in America."

Please explain how this is possible? The democrats controlled congress. That is a simple fact.

"Also, the highly propagandized electorate who, at that time, had been taught a blind fear of "godless communists"."

And you are one of the rare people that sees the truth despite being highly propagandized?

Did you ever go to Vietnam?

Anonymous said...

as long as you have changed the topic to covert contributions to the international sector,check this out , secret donations, by war contractors et al ,to the Clinton Foundation:

BLACKWATER WORLD WIDE(U.S.diplomat security),BERNARD L. SCHWARTZ (LORAL CORP.)

FREDDIE MAC,WALMART,BILL &MELINDA GATES, etc etc.

only made public ,because Hillary ran for president of U.S.

Anonymous said...

will the Queens Tea Party become a reality before the 2012 elections, or will the electorate remain living in a democrat/progressive/rino dictatorship?

Anonymous said...

"BTW - It was "Tricky Dick" that ended the war, not a democrat. The only thing the Dems did was cut off funding to the government of VN. We can all thank teddy kennedy for that."

Right, after extending it another four years and into Cambodia. Tricky Dick could have ended it with the same ferocious bombing campaign that he instituted in late 1972 (AKA Christmas bombing) in spring 1969, in fact that is what the Vietcong feared when he took office.

Had he done so, he would have been a hero of sorts among the college kids...but it was too profitable I guess.

"So how many people did Pol Pot kill? So how many Vietnamese were sent to "re-education" camps never to be seen again? So why did the boat people bother to run like hell at complete risk to their lives?"

This was the typical result of a protracted war in which whatever reasoned parties have either fled or been killed.

The rise of Khmer Rouge which had been an extremist minority in the effort to end French colonialism is a classic example of this.

The same condition led to the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan in 1996.

"And you are one of the rare people that sees the truth despite being highly propagandized?"

Yep, it's also known as education. If you are willing to look under the hood of how your government actually works, it's amazing what even you might find.

"Did you ever go to Vietnam?"

No. At fifty-four I was too late for that party.

I do have friends, business interests and an apartment in Bangkok. Thailand has profited greatly from our presence both then and now. Your bunch sure kept the cat houses busy.

ew-3 said...

"Your bunch sure kept the cat houses busy."

You are an absolute ScumB.
We're you within reach I'd kick the cr@p out of you.

If you were 54 back then, you'd be
about 90+ now. So you are easily a liar. Typical dem.

Anonymous said...

do not get upset with the U.E.S.left-winger, who commands a fleet of illegal alien bike delivery jockeys, for a living.

continue to refute his progressive ,socialist ....communist misinformation.

that will warn the amateurs on Q.C.

remember his father was a pal of Armand Hammer(the self admitted communist) who's father Julius founded "COMMUNIST PARTY U.S.A. ,who was a pal of communist butcher,Joe Stalin of the U.S.S.R.

Anonymous said...

"ew-3 said...You are an absolute ScumB.
We're you within reach I'd kick the cr@p out of you."

What the American forces did over there during their down-time is well known. The small change of those escapades still walk the streets and suffer discrimination all over S.E. Asia.

"If you were 54 back then, you'd be
about 90+ now. So you are easily a liar. Typical dem."



I'am 54 -today- 16 when that pointless war ended. 'Also well trained in Muay Thai.

Anonymous said...

Anon No. 23;

English translation, please?

Goor May said...

Also well trained in Muay Thai.

I love freshly made noodles!

Anonymous said...

And all this Vietnam trash talking has to do with bridge repair fund looting how...?

Anonymous said...

RE ":what the american forces did over there"..

you might read wikipedia ,concerning the raping and butchering of the Baltic (Lithuania,Estonia,Latvia) women ,by the Mongol Communist invaders from the communist U.S.S.R, during WWll.

there are some women in all occupied war zones who interact willingly with their military protectors. it is a fact of war history, of the past and present.

i guess Thailand did not give them free condoms in school.Cathy Black would have really educated them about birth control.

did you at least honor the Vietnam Vets at the parade down Central Park West,when they returned.?
i am betting that you were in the group ,that was spitting at them.

i was there with my children,so that they could view "real" american heroes.
U.S.Navy Minesweepers,Radarman,Korean War

P.S. there were no parades for us. but i get thank you's from many Koreans whose families suffered under the N.Korean,Chinese,Russian communist invasion of the peninsula.

Anonymous said...

AHEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And all this Vietnam trash talking has to do with bridge repair fund looting how...?

Anonymous said...

RE: "ahem"

which "bridge repair fund looting "group will you be marching with on MAY 1,INTERNATIONAL WORKER"s DAY?

Anonymous said...

"there are some women in all occupied war zones who interact willingly with their military protectors."

Oh brother, this idiot will try to spin anything as long as it shields his con-servative opinions.

The drug use and rape and prostitution that went on over there was far worse than what our nation's soldiers had been known for in previous conflicts.

My Father who spent over two years as a commissioned officer in WW2 never told in detail what he had seen in his war years 'till after my Mother's death in 1987.

When liberating towns in France they rounded up any male of Germanic decent and "interrogated" them with lit cigarettes and fists in order to find out if booby traps had been laid. They often took no prisoners.

I asked him pointedly about the issues of drugs and sex during that period. There was NO drug use and little fraternizing in the unit he commanded.

Korea did have the issue of "comfort women" but this was mostly forced prostitution for the north Korean soldiers. That period is well documented.

Overall, American troops were still as well behaved as could be hoped for in war.

Vietnam was another matter.

"i am betting that you were in the group ,that was spitting at them."

Stupid, cheap shot. I would never spit on nor denigrate anyone returning from a conflict.

You are a bitter and intolerant old man who can't seem to learn from history.

Anonymous said...

which "bridge repair fund looting "group will you be marching with on MAY 1,INTERNATIONAL WORKER"s DAY?



Don't get it, do you TROLL!!!

Anonymous said...

If you wrote in plain English, gramps, people would understand you.

"Ahem" is the one guy here who sounds like he's making sense. You sound like you're about to fall off of the barstool.

For the record, I'm spending May 1st marching to a baseball game.

Anonymous said...

do not tell me ? let me guess. YOU WILL BE SITTING IN "LEFT" FIELD SEATS.

Anonymous said...

Nice try.

Behind home plate.

Anonymous said...

you belong with the "foul balls".

Anonymous said...

Nice try again.

Where there's a good view.

Anonymous said...

OF THE UMPIRES ASS...