Disappeared News

George Fox asks a very simple question over at his Blast-Em blog:

My question is: why does it cost more to collect 4.5% than 4.0%. The state is already collecting 4.0% if they collect 4.5% and write a check to the state for one ninth of the amount collected (the amount of the transit tax) why does this cost more than collecting 4.0% and not writing any check? So why does Governor Lingle demand five million dollars for setting it up? What am I missing here? I knew with all this new money floating around it wouldn’t be long before the politicians would start fighting over the spoils.

Maybe things are more complex than this, but the question cuts to the heart of this dispute. George's question deserves an answer. I hope someone is hurriedly thinking up one.

Heck, I have a pocket calculator. If the governor calls me in once a month, I'll help write the check for only 1/10th of that $5 million.

Or she can have the person in charge call me at home and I'll do it from there. I'll even split it with George, since this is his idea. Or I'm sure he wouldn't mind applying for the job himself.

What is it about our city and state governments that they can't work out simple things like this? I'm thinking of the recent Ala Moana Park eviction which was a textbook case for our city planners (in their case, they chose to throw away the textbook and do it without any planning). As you recall, the City summarily threw 200 people out of the park without a thought or care to where they would go or how they would get services. With little effort, the governor stepped in, ending the City's shame. Mass transit is more complicated than this. It takes more than a simple police action. It takes some smarts to do right. So you see why I'm hoping they can find where they threw that textbook and start reading it. I don't know where one gets the attitude adjustment which I think both the mayor and city council need very badly.

And is there a textbook for governors? Thanks for Kaka`ako, but withholding funds, asking for $5 million to write a couple of checks, and so forth, are not solutions.

We need solutions, not excuses and setting obstacles. We need our leaders not only to be smart, but to work smartly together towards solutions. We have an abundance of problems, it's time we got solutions instead of squabbles.

A good self-help book for both the city and state might be that childhood tale of the power of positive thinking, The Little Engine That Could. Hey, if they are planning a mass transit project they will need to at least master the basics.