The Bay Area Toll Authority, otherwise known as BATA, is currently weighing a toll increase for all bridges in the SF Bay Area, purportedly for seizmic retrofitting and to make up a shortfall in revenue due to, according to this article, decreased ridership and increased operating expenses. They also reference to the fact that the bond markets have done poorly in the past couple of years.

Well, duh!

As a participant of casual carpool, I am especially concerned about one component of the proposed toll hikes: A new, $3 toll for carpool ridership. The carpool lane is currently free and we all know the benefits of that.

I wrote a letter to BATA last night and I thought I'd share it. If anyone else participates in casual carpool, I'd encourage you to do the same:

From: William Swan
Date: Sat, Nov 7, 2009 at 11:08 PM
Subject: Objection to proposed $3 toll for carpool lanes
To: tolls@mtc.ca.gov


Dear Bay Area Toll Authority:

I am writing to express my strong objection over the proposed $3 toll for carpool drivers as a component of BATA’s toll increase consideration for 2010. At best, the inherent logic in doing so is flawed. BATA states that among the chief reasons for the need to raise an additional $160 million in annual revenues is due to a “steady decline in toll-paying traffic on state owned bridges during each of the past five years.” Isn’t that the point of a carpool lane, to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions?

I am an avid participant in the “ad hoc” or “casual carpool” program, and it is my view that the $3 toll proposal for carpool lanes would in effect kill this arrangement, one that has been in existence for over 30 years and works well for many people of limited and fixed incomes across the Bay Area. It works well now because no transaction takes place, and both riders and drivers benefit. But I believe a $3 toll in the carpool lane would create an insurmountable logistical hurdle to this arrangement. Certainly the carpool ridership would decrease, and I wonder how close such a shortfall would get to offsetting any potential gain in charging the $3 toll for carpoolers in the first place? Further to the point: It certainly doesn’t look good in a state that constantly wrestles with smog.

The factors likely at play here: rising unemployment, fluctuating gas prices, poor investment on the part of the toll authority, make it even more objectionable that the ultimate decision of BATA to raise tolls would be done unilaterally, without being placed on a ballot. It used to be that proposed toll increases were put before voters. Perhaps something was buried in the fine print in one of those propositions so that public accountability is no longer required now?

Among the other reasons cited by BATA for the revenue shortfall is one that is sure to raise a few eyebrows: “Increasing operational expenses and rising debt, due in part to the upheaval in the municipal bond markets over the past two years.” It is not the carpool riders’ fault that the bond markets have tanked. Perhaps you can have a conversation with the Federal Department of Transportation if you really need a bailout.

BATA needs to step back and think more clearly about what is the greater good here. And charging carpool riders is counterintuitive at best, downright lunacy at worst.

With trepidation,

Bill Swan
Oakland, CA

From Happy Halloween!

Digging the new Flaming Lips record, thanks to Brian at work for letting me borrow it. I have a deep admiration for anyone who has gotten to the point where they can do whatever the fuck they want and eke out a living doing that. But I sit here not knowing what kind of sacrifices are made other than knowing what they do is extremely difficult for the average group of people to pull off. And I don't mean that just in talking about the execution of their art and taking the show on the road, itself a very impressive feat - having witnessed a sliver of it in person at sxsw 2000 and also in reading a recent SPIN article about the new record, but in the "spaces between," the stuff that's not as noteworthy in the art world. Need I go on? I assume anyone reading can catch my drift about feeling adrift. The good news is we're in the middle of the lake, not near a rocky shore. And there's plenty of joy in that.

From Livie Mini Movies

"Dancing with Daddy" is back. Starting this week, Livie has gotten back into this before bath time routine, now dancing on her own two feet instead of in the Bjorn like the early days. There was a time, when she was very little, where I would put her in the Bjorn and we'd dance to all sorts of fun obscurities. A favorite record became this one, an early record with the great Brazilian guitarist, Bola Sete. I'd hold onto little maracas, shakers and the like, eventually teaching her how to use them etc.

The following is a clip a little further along, as she was getting bigger:

From Livie Mini Movies

And then two things happened. She outgrew the Bjorn and there was a time when the dancing before bedtime got her too fired up to fall asleep. Back in those days we were at the in-law unit with limited, and open-plan space, so for a while every mouse fart on our side of the room would wake her up. So dancing with Daddy as we knew it ceased to exist.

This week, we brought it back. I am not sure what the catalyst was, but for the past couple of days, it's one of the first things she asks for when I walk through the door in the evening. Needless to say, I am thrilled that we can share this time and explore music together again. Oh, of course mommy joins in, too. Although right now she's almost 6 mos pregnant with our second daughter, so this dancing time give her a break. Video of dancing with daddy, part deux is forthcoming.

So, when I heard the news about Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize this morning, I'm sure my reaction was the same as everyone else's except for the committee in charge of awarding the peace prize: I was stunned. And for that brief split second, everyone on earth who follows the course of world events was united in that sentiment, probably. No one would have expected it.

Was it a bit premature? That was my next reaction. Probably. Obama's brief statement a little later in the morning acknowledged THAT. And I quote:

"To be honest, I do not feel that I deserve to be in the company of so many of the transformative figures who've been honored by this prize, men and women who've inspired me and inspired the entire world through their courageous pursuit of peace."

But he goes on to say:

"But I also know that this prize reflects the kind of world that those men and women and all Americans want to build, a world that gives life to the promise of our founding documents.

And I know that throughout history the Nobel Peace Prize has not just been used to honor specific achievement; it's also been used as a means to give momentum to a set of causes.

And that is why I will accept this award as a call to action, a call for all nations to confront the common challenges of the 21st century."

That about sums it up.

The expected hissy fits and coniptions were soon to follow from the predictable conservative pundits but, interestingly, except for a few of the usual suspects, by and large, the elected officials on the pachyderm side of the aisle have been silent. So far.

I am enjoying the ride in a sense, of watching those whose sense of entitlement and ego have blinded them to the fact that the world is moving on, and away from the conservative anti-government backlash of the past 30 years. This, of course, was a sequel. The original movie was more potent. You know, the one that talked about a return to normalcy, getting government out of our lives, etc. and all of those pesky progressive "regulations" getting in the way of the "business of america..." which was, of course, according to ol' Silent Cal, "business," as in, a vacuum. Surely a collective social contract which lead to the structures put in place for businesses of the type at the time to operate and come up with new ideas to sell had nothing to do with prosperity. And business was booming. There was certainly a lot of speculative behavior. And then, of course, the bubble burst and people with a more enlightened view, those who wholly understood what a "social contract" actually means, came in to try and clean the mess of the great depression.

Although it took a war to end it completely, you know the rest of the story. The post war years lead to the expansion of the middle class, the interstate highway system, GI bill and all the rest.

As an aside, I find it amusing that many conservatives hearken back to the 1950s as the good old days. Ike was President, after all. But, as I've mentioned before in here, the top tax rate was 91% (closer to 50% after writeoffs, loopholes and the like). I'd say that was still pretty progressive.

And then came Reagan. And the sequel. And only now it seems we've sort of come to our senses. Health Care is about to pass. And the Nobel was awarded primarily as a rebuke of the cowboy diplomacy of more recent years as anything else.

So let the wingnuts spew their venom. Fuck 'em! They're irrelevant. Well...when hate speech is so prevalent, this also means there are more John Wilkes Booths than usual, but I'll try and pretend I didn't say that out loud. Congrats Mr. Prez. As you've said, this award is a down payment for saner things to come. And what is a down payment but a statement of hope?

It's been a while. What, with Facebook, Twitter, trying to stay busy (and employed) at work, and a seemingly endless list of chores around the house, and with baby #2 approaching, I'm trying to find the brainspace to think other thoughts (besides politics and how outrageous some people in this country are at the moment). I will say things: something's bugging me, but I can't quite put a finger on it. I'm feeling a little restless or unsettled. Career blahs, perhaps. More on this subject in a while (when there's time and aforementioned brainspace).