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Recent Events in Louisville Kentucky

by Theresa Fritz Camoriano

Apparently jealous of the City of Louisville, which blew $260,000 of taxpayers’ money on a HipHop concert, Jefferson County now wants to blow $100,000 of taxpayers’ money on a concert of its own!  The competition to waste our hard-earned money is fierce!

And the Transit Authority of River City (TARC) apparently has spent a small portion of its huge tax take to do a self-serving survey on light rail.  Without reporting the survey questions or the profiles of the people who were surveyed, TARC reports that 80% of the people want a light rail system and over half the people of Jefferson County can’t wait to be taxed a little more to subsidize TARC’s proposed light rail project.  (I want an airplane and my own Caribbean island, and a few other items too, but who will buy them for me?)  The enormous outlay of tax money that would be required to build and maintain a light rail system is totally out of line with the miniscule benefits it would provide.  For example, it is expected to cost about $20,000 of tax money for each new rider to light rail who was not already using the bus system.  But, when you have the ability to force money out of people’s hands, why should you let that stop you?  And don’t forget that the federal transportation dollars are free money!  Still no word of anyone in government proposing a deregulation of the taxi cab industry.  No, it’s much easier to beat up on the taxpayers than to allow the free market to serve them.

The planning and zoning folks now want police protection at their public meetings, which apparently have become a bit heated!  Well, this should have been expected when they replaced property rights with politics.  Instead of respecting the rights of a property owner to control his own land, the planning and zoning folks have taken over control of the land.  This leads to competing interests vying for favor from the zoning folks – promoting political warfare instead of respectful free market exchange.  Since the zoning board is in the business of promoting violence (theft) against property owners, it should not be the least bit surprised when its meetings become a bit violent!

And all this in the place named after good old Thomas Jefferson!  Jefferson spoke of the need to tie down the elected officials with the chains of the Constitution.  Not a bad idea!