‘O.C. Transportation Tax Increase a Tossup’

Orange County voters are almost evenly split over the half-cent sales tax increase now proposed for the November ballot. This, according to The Times Orange County Poll conducted by Irvine-based Mark Baldassare & Associates, is because “a stunning 66% (of the voters) are highly unsatisfied with local traffic and transportation conditions, and only 8% are satisfied.” It may be stunning to the pollsters, but it isn’t stunning to Orange County commuters.

The Times “O.C. Transportation Tax Increase a Tossup” article (July 9) goes on to say that “some of the poll respondents said Saturday that they didn’t know what the proposed tax increase would pay for, and wouldn’t vote for it unless they did.” And it is very likely that they won’t vote for it when they find out that most of the half-cent tax dollars for roads (around $975 million of the $1.3 billion) will be used to add diamond lanes to all Orange County freeways. (The Orange County Transportation Commission disputes this figure; however, to date, no exact figure has been published.) The half-cent sales tax could rightfully be labeled a “Diamond Lane Tax.”

The OCTC’s 20-Year Master Plan of Transportation Improvements clearly says that all Orange County freeways will get diamond lanes although the plan carefully avoids using the “D” word. Instead, hidden under freeway “widening projects,” the Riverside Freeway from the Riverside County line to the Los Angeles County line, and the Orange Freeway will get “car-pool lanes.”

Interstate 5 will get a “transit-way” that will be eventually open only to buses. The 54-foot-wide “transit-way” will cost more than twice as much as ordinary freeway lanes and will require “flyovers” at all interchanges to keep out mixed-flow traffic.

A 30-member, special 20-year Master Plan Citizens Committee has steadfastly called for a “Citizens Watchdog Committee” to oversee implementation of the sales-tax plan. In the end, the citizens committee watchdog plan will be watered down by the League of Cities and the OCTC to not have any real power. From the outset, the citizens committee has not had any impact on what went into the plan.

Interestingly, The Times Poll pits “north county versus south county” and Democrats against Republicans but never mentions the diamond lane issue. Orange County activist groups opposed to diamond lanes, such as Drivers for Highway Safety and Sanity in Government Now, include north and south county residents, Democrats, Republicans and Libertarians.

WAYNE KING

Orange

Wayne King is a charter member of Drivers for Highway Safety.