Freeway Display a Taxing Situation

Friday, May 29, 2009

Page 15

AT THE SIDEBAR (Column)

Freeway Display a Taxing Situation

By J’AMY PACHECO

As I understand it, hardly anybody was surprised when California voters said, “Heck, no” to all of the tax-related ballot measures last week. Voters, it seems, have had it with a state that takes and takes…and then starts taking away services because it can’t pay its bills.

I have nothing against paying taxes. I don’t mind being taxed on my earnings, my car and property, and nearly every single object I buy. I appreciate having good roads, police officers, firefighters, judges and courthouses, free school for my child, and whatever else my tax dollars finance.

What I don’t appreciate is waste. Now, I’m no political watchdog. To be honest, I have no idea where most of my tax dollars go. My eyebrows do go up when press releases come through my inbox indicating The Governator has appointed some individual to a board or panel that pays a hefty salary, but since I don’t know what’s involved in those posts, I try to withhold judgment.

I freely admit that I have no idea how much money is wasted by the Golden State. I don’t claim to be a financial expert, nor do I pretend for one moment to have definitive answers on how the state can solve its gargantuan financial problems.

What I do have is two eyes, and a brain that works more often than not, and that occasionally recognizes when something isn’t right.

Last Friday, I took my daughter to see a concert in Los Angeles. We set out more than two hours before the concert, armed with driving directions provided by an online service which recommended I access the I-10 freeway by driving south on the 605. But since I’m more familiar with the 57 Freeway, I decided to take that route instead. Big mistake.

Coming around a bend to the I-10, I had to hit my brakes as I realized both freeways had come to a sudden halt. The congestion was such that I had a lot of time to notice that the junction served as a merge point for not only the 57 and 10 freeways, but also for some multi-lane roadway that came up the middle of both. The net result was that a whole lot of lanes all had to merge into very few lanes, and I’d hit it at peak traffic time on the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend.

Time dragged as I crawled toward the 10. After about half an hour, I noticed a tiny orange diamond-shaped roadway flag in the distance.

“Tell me that’s not Caltrans,” I implored my daughter, who was immersed in a book and oblivious to the whole situation.

As we drew closer, I realized that it was indeed a Caltrans road sign indicating that – to my utter disbelief – the two right lanes of the 10 Freeway were closed ahead. During peak traffic time, on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend.

The idea was so incomprehensible to me that I decided there had to be a major accident ahead. But traffic reports on multiple radio stations I checked reported absolutely nothing even close to the area in which we were trapped.

I winced at each impatient driver who opted to race up the shoulder, adding even more congestion to the tangled merge ahead. Eventually, I made it to the “cone zone,” and realized that not two lanes, but three were closed to traffic. All those lanes from all those roadways were being shoved into a mere two lanes. Did I mention this all took place during peak traffic hours on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend?

I couldn’t wait to see what critical task was being performed that required holiday weekend traffic to come to a halt. Imagine my reaction when I got to the trouble spot, and found not an accident, not emergency road repairs, not even the removal of a dropped mattress from the traffic lanes.

What I did see, inside those coned-off freeway lanes, were two guys having a conversation. I didn’t see a truck, shattered car parts, a porta-potty and bags of trash – not even a shovel. Just two guys in neon safety vests having a conversation, and looking like they had all the time in the world to finish it.

For all I know, they may have had important work to do. It may have been the most important conversation two guys ever had on a freeway. But all I as a taxpaying motorist saw was two guys talking on the freeway for no apparent reason, and thousands of motorists paying the price. The only thing that would have made it look more wasteful would have been if they tossed tax dollars into the breeze as we drove past.

Observed during peak traffic hours on the Friday of Memorial Day weekend, it sure looked like justification for saying “Heck, no!” to me.