"Thruway/canal gimmick bites back 16 years later"
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Thruway+Canal: Then & Now
Tom Precious did a great job in a Buffalo News column yesterday about who was responsible for connecting the Canal and Thruway together back in 1992, and who is fighting to split them apart now. You will be more convinced than ever that our Albany legislators, for the most part, just do as they're told rather than think about what they are doing. Give it a read.
1 comment:
Thank you, Strike. The Buffalo news column was a good read.
Our area definitely suffers more than other upstate cities with imposing a thruway rate hike to support the canal system. The Utica Rome area does not have a free super highway to get our goods and services to other cities. Binghamton has routes 81 and 88, Albany has route 87 and Syracuse has route 81, but the Utica, Rome, Herkimer, Little Falls, and Canajoharie areas have only I-90 the thruway. The tolls place us at a distinct disadvantage for any business that needs to import or ship their goods via truck. Why would any business relocate to an area that poses an additional handicap? The thruway tolls add up to an additional tax that handicaps us above other cities in the state. The canal system should become self-sufficient or allowed to go out of business. We should be clamoring to remove the canal system from the thruway authority. Moreover, we should be advocating a total abolishment of all thruway tolls altogether.
To all Legislators (Village, Town, City, County, State and Federal): Get some nerve and get off of your behinds and go to work. Stand up to the power brokers in Albany. Pass local resolutions, take your case to the local businesses, empower the people and the news media outlets and tell the stuffed shirts in Albany that we are sick and tired of being sent to the back of the economic development line. Force them to take this transportation millstone out from around our necks and allow us to compete with other New York State cities on a level playing field. Don’t just sit still and expect a raise in your legislative salaries. EARN IT!
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