Price, price, baby

I had to laugh along with crying at this little piece in the Weed. It's about the latest bleats from Portland's civilian car haters, who are always available to back up their official bureaucratic comrades when it comes to making life miserable for drivers.

This week the Quixotes of the Schwinn are complaining that the state isn't getting tolls instituted on the freeways fast enough. In fact, they say the state ought to forget widening I-5 through the Rose Quarter, and just slap tolls on the embarrassing status quo instead.

Right on, kids! Yes, just what we all need as we head into a recession: tolls! Now's the time.

But the chuckle is that they'd rather not even use the word "tolls" any more. The new mindscrew is to call it "pricing."

“Although ODOT has nominally expressed intent to toll the project area as part of the Regional Mobility Pricing Project, it is clearly dragging its feet, and is more interested in widening the freeway than using pricing to manage demand and reduce traffic and pollution,” states a June 20 memo to the City Council from No More Freeways, Allan Rudwick of the Eliot Neighborhood Association, and Mary Peveto of Neighbors for Clean Air.... 

Portland Bureau of Transportation spokesman Dylan Rivera says: “Everyone agrees that pricing is essential and that it is expected to be in place before the opening of the Rose Quarter project...."

No, Dylan, you hack. Not "everyone."

Anyway, please make a note of the new terminology, working people of Portland. The next thing that the politicians will be doing to you as you struggle to make ends meet here is "pricing."