Closing of Highway Rest Stops Stirs Anger in Arizona (NYT)

[heli]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/05/us/05reststop.html

March 4, 2010
Closing of Highway Rest Stops Stirs Anger in Arizona
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER

PHOENIX — The people of Arizona kept their upper lips stiff when officials mortgaged off the state’s executive office tower and a “Daily Show” crew rolled into town to chronicle the transaction in mocking tones. They remained calm as lawmakers pondered privatizing death row. But then the state took away their toilets, and residents began to revolt. “Why don’t they charge a quarter or something?’” said Connie Lucas, who lives in Pine, Ariz., about a two-and-a-half-hour drive from here. “There was one rest stop between here and Phoenix, and we really needed it.”

Arizona has the largest budget gap in the country when measured as a percentage of its overall budget, and the Department of Transportation was $100 million in the hole last fall when it decided to close 13 of the state’s 18 highway rest stops. But the move has unleashed a torrent of telephone calls and e-mail messages to state lawmakers, newspapers and the Department of Transportation decrying the lost toilets — one of the scores of small indignities among larger hardships that residents of embattled states face as governments scramble to shore up their finances.

“People in this state are mad about this,” said State Representative Daniel Patterson, a Democrat from Tucson who has sponsored a bill that would allow other entities to reopen and maintain the rest stops. “This bill may have the broadest support among members of any bill this year.” Some residents see something sinister in the closings. Betty L. Roberts, who lives in Sun City, west of Phoenix, said the topic was a hot one among her friends. “I honestly think they are setting us up because they want to do a tax increase,” Ms. Roberts said. “I think by shutting down things people want, they will give us one.”

Arizona is not alone in singling out toilets. Colorado, Georgia, Vermont and Virginia are among states that have also closed rest stops, though Virginia’s new governor, Robert F. McDonnell, has vowed to reopen 19 stops that closed last year. “It’s a safety problem, not only for us but car drivers,” said Clayton Boyce, the spokesman for American Trucking Association, which has fought rest stop closings in Virginia and elsewhere. “We think it is a pretty bad idea.”...

[DesertFlower]

1. what do you expect?

the arizona senate voted the other day that texting while driving is not against the law.

[alstephenson]

9. but you can carry your gun into a bar or restaurant!

They are also closing many of the state parks. And they've pretty much cut education funding to the bare bone (AZ was already 49th in education spending). We spend more on our prisons than our education system here. Resources for the seriously mentally ill? Gone. Out on the streets with you!

Yeah, AZ really has their priorities in order...how pathetic.

[RKP5637]

2. Nice to see Arizona residents have their priorities in order...

:sarcasm:

[OrderedChaos]

10. Not All AZ Residents are Screwed up!

Just the ones who are in power right now. All we have to do is wait for the old, white, retired people to die off, and things should get better.

[blondeatlast]

12. I've been saying that for 30 years...

Siiiiiigh...

[RKP5637]

14. I'm old, white and retired and I'm not like those damn fools. I want an

exception for me! LOL Those people embarrass me and many in my generation (at least the ones I know)! PS: I know what you mean!

[onethatcares]

3. so pull over, take a leak

get arrested for indecent exposure, and have to register as a sex offender the rest of your life, well, even joe what's his name could see the logic in that. :sarcasm: Just think, another user fee imposed in lieu of raising taxes. Gotta hand it to those taxhaters.

[jdlh8894]

8. Nah, don't pull over

Keep a Gatorade bottle in the car! And yes,I do realize that the may not work for the female passengers. But at least they can put a cork in it! :evilgrin:

[City Lights]

4. You reap what you sow. nt

[williesgirl]

5. They did it last year in VA, but I understand this yr's budget reopens them. Stupid to close them

in my opinion.

[tularetom]

6. Years of tax cuts come home to roost

Bursting bladders is just the beginning of the discomfort we're all going to feel as the impact of the Bush tax cuts begins to be felt.

I know the maintenance of these rest areas is paid for out of gas tax funds and not impacted by the reduction of rich people's income taxes, but the states and the feds are scared shitless of raising ANY kind of taxes and the nation's road system is literally falling apart.

It's a shame too because gas taxes are the fairest kind of user based fee (those who drive the most in the heaviest vehicles and damage the roads the most buy more gas and thus pay more taxes). There is no way to solve the problem other than an increase in the gas tax. And it's an increase that is easy to explain and understand, if our legislators were not such utter invertebrates.

But I will say this - in 5 or 10 years people will be begging for a tax increase if our infrastructure continues to turn to shit.

[RKP5637]

16. We needed about another 4 or 8 years of Bush for this damn country to wake up! Bush

got off easy. All the shit slid onto Obama.

[xchrom]

7. Stop voting repuke and believing in your goddamned mavericky image

And maybe this self inflicted pain of stupidity will go away.

[B Calm]

11. As a truck driver, I can tell you its not only Arizona but, Indiana too!

Getting harder and harder to find a place to park for the night!

[here_is_to_hope]

13. Exactly, especially as you go further East.

Without rest area's (or pickle parks), truckstops get really packed up. How many close calls have you seen when that tired driver pulls in at 0200?
Just crazy.
In the West, we always found a safe spot and being mostly self contained (my wife and I ran team for ten years), we preferred rest area's for the quiet.

[RKP5637]

15. Me, I would like to piss on the republicans down there, don't need any rest stop for that one! n/t

[Sub Atomic]

22. Are you sure about that? I've heard rest stops are their favorites!

[RKP5637]

23. LOL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[Catshrink]

17. Don't raise my taxes!

Well, the sheeple are getting the libertarianism they've been voting for. I'm sure Grover Norquist is happy -- that's who the Legislators care about. The Republicant leadership all took his oath not to raise taxes and now they are in a bind wondering who's safer to piss off, their constituents or Grover. So far, they've opted for pissing off their constituents and kissing Grover's ass.

[MineralMan]

18. Hey, just treat the roadsides of AZ as a toilet.

It's fitting.

[hayu_lol]

19. AHA...a business opportunity for the ambitious...

Put wheels on Portapotties and station several across Arizona at strategic mileage points and then sit back and rake in the dough. All you have to do is sit there under a shady umbrella and wait for business. Great business for seniors to supplement their pensions.

[MineralMan]

20. There ya go! Capitalism at its best. See a need and fill it.

The true spirit of entrepreneurship. I like your idea very much.

[Jkid]

21. There's always a limit to what people can put up with.

Arizona has reached that limit.