Posted on 04/17/2003 10:15:27 AM PDT by Behind Liberal Lines
I opened the newspaper Monday morning to be greeted by a headline announcing that "Potholes a problem but not a crisis."
This was certainly welcome news. Because driving around Ithaca during the past few weeks, I had been forming the opinion that our local potholes had already worked their way through the "annoyance," "nuisance," "problem," "pestilence" and "plague" categories, and were certain to be elevated to "crisis" status at any moment.
My peace of mind, unfortunately, was short-lived. I began reading the story, only to learn that the problematic potholes in question adorned our county roads, not our city streets. City of Ithaca potholes, at least as far as the story was concerned, were another matter entirely.
As luck would have it, I needed to go downtown to the post office the next day to mail my annual tax tribute to our rulers. I decided to combine that mission with a fresh assessment of the crisis-potential of Ithaca's own road craters. So on Tuesday morning I cranked up the family jalopy and rolled down West Hill.
Green Street opened before me like a lunar landscape almost as bad as its evil twin, Seneca. Where was a moonbuggy when you needed one? Or even one of the humvees our troops drove through the war-torn Iraqi countryside -- usually on better roads than I was on at the time? The long-suffering Serino Toyota didn't stand much of a chance under such conditions.
As I approached the post office, I found my path obstructed by a group of "tax resisters," who were proudly proclaiming they were withholding the portions of their tax payments they figured went to support the war in Iraq, and "redirecting" them to social causes they believed in. They didn't seem very worried about the government catching them.
"The worst thing that could happen to me is I might go to jail for a little while," one of them was telling a reporter.
Their bold political daring inspired me with a solution to the asphalt crisis looming in our streets. Inside the post office, I reopened my state tax return and added a hastily scribbled note.
"As a conscientious tax resister," I wrote, "I am withholding the portion of my taxes that goes toward providing free public defenders for people charged with civil disobedience. I am redirecting those funds toward the repair of potholes."
I dropped the letter into the mail slot, mentally shook my fist at the New York State Department of Taxation, and went on my way.
(Excerpt) Read more at theithacajournal.com ...
I dunno...an effort to encourage walking and/or taking the bus? ;-)
Let me guess... Pataki.
Indirectly, yes.
They said the roads most affected were actually subject to state maintenance.
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