As I was traveling across the Walt Whitman Bridge yesterday, I noticed a sign on the entrance way warning people that there would be a DUI crackdown starting August 15th.
Ok, great. I don’t think anyone can be upset about a DUI crackdown on the bridge (except, of course, people who drive home from the Philly bars drunk, but they shouldn’t get an opinion anyway).
What I found hilarious and counter-productive about the sign was that it gave an ending date (September 1st, for all you bastards wondering when you can booze up again).
It’s like the sign was saying “we have to crack down on drunk drivers for this bureaucratic reason, but don’t worry guys, we know how awesome drunk driving is. You can totally do it again in September.”
*sigh*
I also learned while crossing the bridge that commuters are about to get royally screwed. The DRPA seeks to raise the price of the toll on all the bridges connecting Philly to NJ by $1 come September. Even worst, they want to make the bridge tolls be $5 by 2010.
The fact that they’re raising the price in September I see as a personal slap in the face, as my mother is a teacher and therefore will be crossing the bridge two to four times a day, five days a week come September.
I remember traveling to San Fransisco a few years back and crossing the Golden Gate Bridge, which at that point had a $5 toll. The entire bus of tourists was shocked (shocked I say) that bridges could cost that much. Now look where we are.
So, come 2010, it will costs teachers (and, granted, other commuters too, but think of how little a teacher makes when you wonder why I’m clinging to that profession) $25 a month to go to and from work. And that’s not counting all the late night events, if the teacher wants to go home before s/he chaperones the prom, or the weekend stuff like open houses, etc. It will cost all the DUI people the bridge wants to help $5 to come to Philly and get wasted. It will cost people like me who are dating people in another state $5 to keep the relationship alive.
Does anyone else see the potential problems with such a bridge hike? Businesses are already in enough trouble because no one wants to drive anymore. With a $5 toll, even people who once could afford to drive to another state to spend money there will probably think twice about it. What will the consequences be if Philly residents will stop going to the Jersey malls and begin to repopulate the sorta-dying Franklin Mills Mall? The Cherry Hill Mall is in the middle of a massive renovation right now. Will they be able to afford all those changes if their Philadelphia patrons stop shopping there? Yes, its just a mall, but there’s a lot of people, in all class levels, whose jobs depend on people going to that mall. Will Jersey residents stop coming to Philly for shopping/bars/theater/concerts/etc unless they absolutely have to? If that happened, bars like Mad River and Finnegan’s, which thrive on Jersey yuppies, will lose almost all their patronize.
Well…ok…maybe there are some benefits.
Think of it this way. Yes, its only $5. That’s just two more dollars than the fee is right now. But how soon before “it’s only $5″ becomes “it’s only $7…$8…$10″?
And, consider this, the Port Authority is planning for a fee hike in 2010. The Port Authority plans, therefore, for the recession to continue for another two years. Do they have inside knowledge, or are they just seizing on an opportunity?
