Silly us

Some of us placed an op-ed in yesterday's LA Daily News questioning the wisdom and the merits of raising the sales tax by one-half cent (possibly to be voted on in LA County in November)to pay for new transit and transportation infrastructure, mainly more rail transit. It was the old story, looking at ridership and costs and benefits.

Silly us. That's the exact phrase ("Silly you.") that LA Times columnist Tim Rutten uses in his column of August 13, ("Transit held hostage"). He does not address us (ours ran a couple of days later) directly, but he notes (and worries) that the measure may not reach the ballot because of a dispute between two local county supervisor about whose district would get the most pork.

Of course. These are jobs programs that happen to appeal to "greens" and those who expect everyone else to use transit. Silly us. But for the time being, we'll gladly take the political gridlock.