In a gesture to become a clone of London, and with the subsequent EU policies and fallacies, the quasi-leadership of Seattle, has decided that penalizing the tax payers with yet another caustic directive, will only add to the lore of the car camping vagrant infestation of luxury homesteads and public injection heroin sites.
Never mind that the sculpted flora of urban gardens and planters have been replaced by hedges of detritus and the unthinkable shrub mounds of human and canine by-product, the hipsters and the occupants of the sidewalk shanties all share a stake in facilitating a ruinous environment. As the city council approved a firearms and ammo tax in 2016 in driving gun shops out of town, and inching a step closer to the nightmare that is the British capital in eventually removing all guns from the possession of law abiding citizens, the only logical choice which exists for the elected group of bureaucrats in bridging the gap for dystopia, is to tax the downtown roadways, and free workers and tourists from the daunting privilege and choice of operating a vehicle within the vortex of the metropolis. Imagine the chaotic harmony of self-driving buses and cars, drones, doomsday hackers, cyclists and pedestrians all thrown together in a maelstrom of self-righteous gridlock battling the temerity of the homeless industrial complex in a vain attempt to enjoy the cuisine views overlooking Puget Sound. The futuristic riddle is not as fun as originally promised- “Does a self-driving car have to apologize and wait at the accident scene after it plows over a senior citizen in a crosswalk and the dream of a world free from robot overlords?”
The proposed “congestion pricing” package, will impose usage fees on selected streets and daily travel windows, and Silicon Valley ride share giant Uber has joined the unsettling drama production of “Crony Capitalism- Eat My Ride App!” by opportunistically and deviously spending $10 million into the promoting the program, reports the Seattle Times. The floodgates may be opened for the proliferation of the ride share tycoons to seize the city boulevards.
Carelessly hidden behind a mulch pile of green movement ambiguous terminology, such as “sustainable mobility”, soothing and reassuring to the eyes of progressives, and the gem of “bipedal generated distance adjustment and reeductation”, is the ruthless campaign by Uber and other transportation entities in changing the rules of the game to further the assault on personal freedoms in increasing profit margin based on the pervading emotional attachment to junk science. The inane argument pertaining to reducing the “carbon footprint” will be deployed, with a complete detachment to financial infrastructure of the current state fuel tax and a feasible plan to dispose of the highly toxic batteries of the vehicles which will replace the current majority of the eff and flow of downtown traffic.
The moderate financial investment by the planet’s largest non-taxi ride service to increase public awareness about another regressive tax, will also serve to alleviate pressure from local government and unions demanding compliance. Inexplicably, Uber and competitor Lyft are exempt from the same standards as traditional cabs in certain licensing fees, liability insurance coverage, customer legal standing, the unionizing of drivers, and of course allowing drivers to carry firearms. Prospective customers are warned to read the “terms and conditions” of each corporation carefully before downloading the app to a device.
Also set to benefit from the fees are of course are the publicly subsidized transportation systems. Even though ridership is of no consequence thanks to a $70 billion dollar funding transit initiative approved by a liberal majority voting base, the public relations opportunities of trains and buses bustling with middle class workers displaced from vehicles by the misguided visceral whim of the city council, will only fuel the grand delusion of “democratic” socialism.
The entire narrative illustrates the lack of leadership in the entire region and a disjointed economic hierarchy. While the left-leaning tech community dominates the high salary element of the workforce, surprisingly and disgustingly, the average yearly income of a full-time city of Seattle workers passed the $100 thousand mark, almost $25 thousand a year than the median income. On the other end of the spectrum, the city council voted to increase the minimum wage in 2015, to $15 per hour, further pressing the average earning folks between a rock and a hard place. If the components for creating an elitist class funded by tax payers is not obvious, offering of streets on a silver platter to the tech realm, is a sure sign that elected officials are bordering on political insanity as the desperation in balancing the city budget nears a crises status, thanks to the existence of maintaining an impossible pension fund. As aforementioned, the city council is not immune to spurious and damaging political and financial maneuvers to remain in power.
As the homeless invasion of culminates in a five by five block parade of RV’s and SUV’s that according to a King County superior court judge can be defined as a residence, and are legally exempt from parking laws and civic penalties, did the officials in Seattle inform Uber of the possible complications from competing against an ominous and universal, bred from ineffectual policy? Stay tuned. This will only get worse, before it will get better.
“Come visit Seattle, but leave your car at home, because you have a home. You privileged SOB.”
Read the Seattle Times story here.