There are two issues circulating around Beacon Hill today that I’m particularly focused on today.
The first is a $35 million bailout bill for the City of Lawrence that’s up for a public hearing today and scheduled for a House vote tomorrow.
There’s no question that the people of Lawrence are in a tough spot and they need help. But I don’t think the solution is to give more money to the same politicians who got the city into trouble in the first place. I think we need to be taking a more serious look at placing the city under receivership or a finance control board that would make the difficult decisions the city needs to get back on-track responsibly, and to make sure that state taxpayers ultimately won’t be on the hook to pay back any money the city receives in loans.
The other issue is a proposal by Governor Patrick to institute electronic toll collection systems along the Mass. Turnpike. Open-road tolling sounds attractive when you hear the Governor talk about the fact that it would dramatically reduce or eliminate toll collectors along the Turnpike and thereby save money. But, as the Boston Herald reports, the system would cost us $100 million to implement, and we can’t afford that – especially while we still have a bloated Turnpike and toll collection system in place.
And, at a more basic level, I wish the Governor would place more emphasis on eliminating tolls along the Turnpike (especially the Western Turnpike) instead of finding more efficient ways to collect them from drivers.
I’m interested to see what my colleagues think about these proposals. I’ll keep you updated on what I hear from them. But more importantly, I’d like to hear from you. What do you think about the Lawrence bailout bill or open-road tolling? Please post a comment to let me know.
