Repsonsible people keep the things they own in good repair.
Cutting taxes, or not allowing them to keep pace with the ecomony, has lead us to become irresponsible in many ways - one of which is our infrastructure.

We are past - Fix it now or pay more to fix it later.
We're now at - Fix it now or close it.

Shame on those who let our state fall into such disrepair, that we have to do this now.

Shame on democrat governors who have incompettently run this state for how many years. Shame on their supporters.

@Jan Schmidt, being a state Rep and author of the article you must be able to answer the two questions I posed right?

At the very least you can answer the first question and depending on your answer that could very well negate the need to answer the second.....why are you so slow to answer these questions?

Maybe a better title to your article would be

"What is the real cost of not using our tax dollars for their intended purpose?"

or how about

"The real cost of misappropriating the taxpayer's money"

Those titles sound good?

Now I know you didn't read it Charlie... I made it very clear who the author is.

Still no answer huh?

You and your husband @Atlant are in Cahoots on this eh?

Lets steal from the highway tax to fund rail and put everyone in danger when they cross a red listed bridge huh?

What way are you voting on this @jan?

Are going to vote to make sure our tax dollars are used for the intent for which they were collect or are you going to vote to squander our safety away on studies?

Why won't you answer the questions I have asked?

So you posted this rubbish as a local voice and you DO NOT agree with it?

Do you stand with the authors assertions or don't you?

Are you going to vote to use our tax dollars for the intention they were collected for or are you going to vote to spend them on special interest studies?

Re you going to vote for the people's safety or the misappropriation of taxpayer money?

What is it exactly @Jan? Please tell us...........tell your constituency you value studies over safety......awesome job representing the people @Jan awesome job.

"I'm sorry Jan, you're right... I didn't bother to read the entire thing. I am so against this, or any tax, that any reasoning just goes right by me, and no discussion is possible, so I failed to read past the title before I attacked you."

Still avoiding huh @Jan?

How about we try again; Do you support or have you voted to to use gas tax money for purposes other than expenses related to the the roads and bridges in NH?

Do you support raising tho the gas tax when those taxes are being used to fund rail studies instead of road and bridge repair?

Is the reason we have to raise the gas tax for road repairs or is it because the current gas tax expenditure is bieng used for something other than road repairs?

How about it Jan, do you support studies or the people's saftey? Stop dodging and answer the questions.........shame on you for being a dodgey politician instead of speaking directly to the peoples needs and inquireries!

"Charlie W":

Perhaps you should write, E-mail, or phone your elected representatives and ask them these questions. Of course, they may expect you to identify yourself rather than simply dun them anonymously via Internet comments.

Free speach requires identification now? And voting doesn't?

You liberals are so cute when you trow red tape at a situation your running from.

How about either of you Schmidt's answer the question; Do you favor spending money on special interest studies over spendin it on the people's safety?

Pretty simple question you all can't seem to bring yourselves to answer now isnt it? Why is that? Not proud of your position or actions? Go figure..................

@Atlant, I'm just learning from the Best....kinda sux when someone takes a page out of your own book doesn't it?

Charlie:

You can have all the free speech you want, but if you expect any of your elected representatives to actually give a damn about what you're saying, then you'd better:

1. Make sure you're talking to *YOUR* elected representatives and not just anyone who's willing to take your guff in public and

2. Be willing to identify yourself to your representatives.

All you anonymous cowards here on Patch talk a big act but when it comes down to it, thats all you are: anonymous cowards, bloviating in public and hoping somebody is listening.

@Atlant,

1) @jan staked her ground right here on the patch and you feel this is not a viable venue for a response? Sound slike you have a martial dispute with your wife and you feel she should change venues to espouse her rediculous postion on this.

2) Speaking of anonymous blow hards, I put more of my name in my Title than you do......what does that say about your absolutely rediculous posts?

What is the matter still don't want to answer the question?

Does NH State Rep Jan Schmidt support funding special interest studies over the people's safety or not?

So simple...yet all we get are the sound of crickets in the background, and pardon the pun, but the sound of distant far off train with our money for roads and bridges on board; yup there goes the people's saftey can you hear that?

Jack:

One way that highway effectiveness can be improved is to divert traffic away from the highway. Rail has the possibility of doing that.

And the effect is especially noticeable if a highway is already operating near the "knee" in its performance where even a small additional load puts the highway into overloaded condition; all traffic slows much more than proportionally to the small added load. You can see this effect seasonally as schools in Boston go in and out of session; removing just a few student commuters from the highway greatly eases traffic congestion for all, leading to everyone spending dramatically less time commuting and, by implication, less on fuel.

@Atlant, so rather than address the safety issue of "493 red listed bridges" in NH you would like to see the money spent on a study that is at best only of tangent relation to the highway system? People's safety less important than a rail study?!?!?! That is rich coming from you @Atlant real rich. Tell your wife @Jan Schmidt that people's safety is more important than "studies" will you?

Atlant: NPR did a study on the North-South Vermont Amtrack and a good day was 250. I dont know how many cars would be taken off the road but I would bet widening 93 will do more to reduce highway congestion than adding a rail to Boston. Also, I dont agree with the implied premise that the whole state of NH wants to work in Boston and take the train. And I thought it was pretty nasty how the Conservation Law Foundation and the rail advocates did everything they could to stop, delay and increase the costs of widening 93. It became a full employment program for lawyers. While I agree with your goal of lessening congestion, I dont agree adding rail would contribute significantrly to that goal and sending me another bill for something I dont use is just robbery by another name. Thanks for your response.

Jack:

> sending me another bill for something I dont use is just robbery by another name.

As I said elsewhere, you Libertarians are so cute when you get angry! "Robbery", ehh?

Jack:

A commuter train to Boston is a much different proposal than an intercity train to Montreal.

Each day, something like 60,000 NH residents cross the border to work in Massachusetts; a significant fraction of those folks are headed for work in the Boston metropolitan area, well within reach of public transit from North Station.

We'll see what the study says...

Atlant: Now your a calm rational person who wants to engage in a logical discssion? Dont think so. Its just a matter of posts before your name-calling starts. Bye.

" a significant fraction of those folks are headed for work in the Boston metropolitan area, well within reach of public transit from North Station"

That would be interesting to find out. Many decades ago, people tended to work downtown. Now, there are more and more people working in Cambridge, Waltham, lexington, Burlington, Bedford, Chelmsford, Andover... A train from Nashua to North Station won't help them....