Sound Politics: "How a Web site could fix our traffic"

November 28, 2007

"How a Web site could fix our traffic"

I'm highly skeptical this idea actually has any substantive merit. Not because the input isn't important, it is and public officials should seek more of it.

Rather, it's because in my experience the typical voter is not much different than the typical elected official on this score: everyone has their own ideas about transportation solutions and thinks the other guy's ideas are amazingly moronic. It's like the old saying, "ideas are like..." well, you know.

Everyone has one.

Posted by Eric Earling at November 28, 2007 07:39 AM | Email This

Comments

1. Give me the 2.6 million. I could find a better use for it- my back pocket.

Only 1/2 of the study group stuck through the marathon boring study. More telling than the vote they took.

Posted by: swatter on November 28, 2007 07:40 AM

2. At this point ANYthing's worth investigating regarding our traffic/transit mess. IMO we DO need to utilize our technology more in regard to disemmating thoughts and processes. I'm floored that we don't have a voting system where one can vote from their computer. Simply archaic that our apparent mind-set is that it would be more prone to fraud!

Posted by: Duffman on November 28, 2007 07:43 AM

3. The best idea I've heard to reduce congestion is giving a business tax credit for each day they allow employees to telecommute. That will get more people off the road than transit ever will.

Posted by: Palouse on November 28, 2007 09:00 AM

4. #3: I like that...and agree!

Posted by: Duffman on November 28, 2007 09:07 AM

5. I'm mindful of the traffic re-routing onto the streets when the bus tunnel closed for remodeling.
They (whomever "they" are) broke the problem down into a bunch of little problems and Voila! -the traffic flow actually improved along 3rd Ave. Some things were as simple as re-timing the stop lights. Moving a bus stop one block, etc.

Posted by: John425 on November 28, 2007 11:05 AM

6. Agent J: Why the big secret? People are smart.
They can handle it.

Agent K: A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky, dangerous animals. You know it.

Men in Black

Traffic control by on line opinion poll is foolish. Individuals can't see the big picture and don't have the expertise to understand the fallout of different decisions. It can be used to determine levels of frustration with specific situations, overall approval of general plans, but not system design. Which seemed to be what the article was recommending. But 2.6 meg for the study is ridiculous.

Hairy

Please don't feed the Paulzis. If you ignore them then they won't be able to turn yet another thread into a pointless discussion of Paul's absurd campaign.

Posted by: Hairy Buddah on November 28, 2007 05:47 PM

7.
I think this "populism" is exactly how the politicians around here exploit the masses.

This is not design.

It is not architecture.

It is a mess of giving each individual a little bit of what he or she desires and letting it ball up into a gigantic ugly mess.

It is Puget Sound politics (the real thing; not your blog) as it stands now.

What the Puget Sound really needs is a Robert Moses...a superior being with an overarching vision that will serve the city and environs for decades.

Posted by: John A. Bailo on November 28, 2007 11:23 PM