L.A. Traffic Problems
Jim Sims’ interview (Metro, Dec. 16) reminds us of Mikhail Gorbachev and his doomed fight to rescue the Soviets by tinkering with the system. Like Gorbachev, our experts will not recognize that the key to congestion relief can only be correction of the wildly distorted market forces that have created the problem.
The nation’s policies have created a welfare state for motorists. Those who use motor vehicles are subsidized at rates that beggar the imagination; farm and welfare subsidies are trivial by comparison. The middle-class and the trucking industry are, of course, the principal beneficiaries.
The motorist must be confronted with the real cost of the use of his vehicle. Parking fees and tolls must be assessed for the space and improvements used for vehicle parking and operation. A substantial fuel tax increase is necessary to repay the community--to relieve property and sales taxpayers of an unfair burden.
STANLEY HART
Altadena
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