Being
a fourth-generation Californian, one of the certain unalienable rights that
should be self-evident to all is the fact that tax money supports the building
and maintenance of roads. Therefore it’s an abomination to God and man to
charge highway tolls or parking fees on public streets.
Arlington
County obviously thinks differently. I don’t believe there’s a business
district in South Arlington that doesn’t have either parking meters or pay-and-display devices,
and every one of them burns my bacon. Even the parking lot between the Aurora Hills branch of the library and Virginia Highlands Park has meters at every space.
But
what crisps me even further is this slogan that you find on all the meters:
I
just cannot believe they paid money to slap up that piece of snottery on every single post.
You have been spoiled by a state and a municipality that, despite all those Props, are still able to collect enough taxes to pay for roads and streets. That has not been possible for the municipalities in this area -- or in most of America -- since the era of No New Taxes, the author of which resides in nearby Great Falls VA, almost the wealthiest suburb in America. I would still be driving to work over Route 7 and Route 193 had the Commonwealth of Virginia not grudgingly accepted the availability of the federally foresighted Dulles Airport right-of-way to build a parallel bypass from Reston to Arlington, and then hit on the expedient of installing toll booths to pay for it and for other capital and current expenses like the Metro extension with escalating fees.
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