Comment 20186

By Stapher (anonymous) | Posted March 20, 2008 at 15:45:19

Well, Staffer, I can only hope your username doesn't mean you work for the city.

"The principle is you don't pay for what you don't get."

Either a publicly provided service is a public good or it isn't. Everyone pays for libraries whether or not they use them, and whether or not there is a location nearby.

Transit is arguably an even better public good than libraries. Even if you never set foot on a bus, you benefit directly from good transit, because the economy is more productive, traffic is better, air quality is better, etc. etc.

"Give up on area rating drivel. Amalgamation is the problem. It bailed a dying community (old Hamilton) out of the poorhouse."

Balderdash. The biggest purpose Amalgamationserved was to make it (sort of) affordable for the Harris government to download social services by spreading the cost among a larger population of ratepayers. It hurts everyone, urban and suburban residents alike.

It bumps up taxes in the suburbs (though central taxes are still higher than in the suburbs) and it means people living downtown have less representation on council since one city councilor represents twice as many residents as a suburban councillor.

Permalink | Context

Events Calendar

There are no upcoming events right now.
Why not post one?

Recent Articles

Article Archives

Blog Archives

Site Tools

Feeds