From the office of Sen. Nancy Jacobs:
You told the Maryland Transportation Authority Board members your stories that your doctors, your friends, your schools and children’s games are often located across the Hatem Bridge. You told them how times are tight, that people are hurting and it’s no time to raise tolls that could drastically change people’s lives. You showed up in great numbers at the public hearings on toll increases and YOU HAVE SUCCEEDED!
We knew the Board did not want to continue the AVI Decal program despite our pleas. Now, a new MdTA proposal incorporates an alternative idea I submitted idea to create a “Hatem Only” EZ Pass. It will have no cost for the transponder, no deposit, and no administrative fees, and cost only $10 a year for unlimited use over the Hatem. That yearly amount does rise, though, to $20 in 2013. A final yes vote on this new plan is expected next Thursday Sept. 22.
The MdTA has scaled back its original toll increase proposal drastically. The initial proposal in the summer was to implement a Hatem EZ Pass Plan for 36 dollars a year plus fees that brought the first year cost to nearly 100 dollars. It would have risen to over seventy dollars a year in 2013. THIS NEW PLAN IS A REAL VICTORY!
I wanted the Board to keep the AVI Decal, but the Board insisted it’s outdated and dangerous for toll takers when motorists are stranded at the booth if their decal expires. But this new EZ Pass plan which will be available in February is great too! The Decal will also be extended through September of next year. People with boat trailers, horse trailers and RVs will also be happy with changes in the proposed toll plan.
I just want to thank you, my constituents for trusting that it was not a “done deal” and coming out to those hearings. You made the difference!
Nancy
Senator Nancy Jacobs
Minority Leader
Thank you for your hard work on this issue, Senator Jacobs.
Thank you Senator Jacobs.
Thank you senator Jacobs for your hard work in changing the initial proposal. Thanks again.
Great job Senator. Something (less) is better than nothing (less). However, O’Malley and Friends will find a way to squeeze what was compromised through some other means – you can bet on it.
I’m sure O’Malley will go into the ” . . . have to pay their fair share” mode and it’s likely we will see an increase in something (whether it’s during the special session or come January). Listening to O’Malley is as bad as listening to Obama . . . best thing to do is switch to the SyFy channel . . . it’s more believable.
Rob, you’re a partisan idiot. O’Malley had NOTHING to do with the proposed increases. In fact, he contacted the board to request relief from their proposals for the Hatem Bridge (which they did!) You should be thanking Governor O’Malley instead of beating him up on this issue. Based upon your previous postings, you reveal yourself as nothing but a non-thinking partisan hack.
B.T.Y., it’s spelled Si-Fi!
Actually, it’s SyFY. They changed the name.
@Noble, thanks for correcting Common Cent$, although it appears your shift key stuck. @Common Cent$: The only thing for which I will thank Martin O’Malley is when he goes back to leading an Irish bar band. Commanding a bar band is his first best destiny. Anything else is a waste of talent.
Oh, and to be specific, per the channel itself (122 on Dish), it’s Syfy; one word, no hyphen, no capital F. And while no one was looking (at the channel itself), NBC, which owns Syfy, changed its Sleuth channel to “Cloo” — another bizarre spelling designed for trademarking and marketing. Bring on the next dead horse.
Rob… is the mothership coming anytime soon to take you to that last haven of free thinking and right thinking, populated with hard working white people – you know somewhere out there beyond Omicron Persei 8?
I know you want to ship the rest of us off to our homeworld wherever you think that is, I was just wondering if you had a backup plan?
Somewhere in that twisted prose, did you really just call Rob a racist? Where did that come from?
No Phil Dirt. I suggested he was simply a mean spirited hateful elitist who disagrees with anyone that is not exactly like him. Thanks for allowing me to make the clarification. And the remark about “Hard Working White People” was also lifted from a Doonesbury cartoon from the 80s when referring to Ronald Reagan. Would you like a Pink Floyd reference? “Us and them”. I keep seeing division and hate here from the same folk and I just wonder if you see it before you post it or just decide to do it anyway. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should do something. Sort of like invading Iraq.
Right on!
And, as per the usual modus operandi, the “progressives” have managed to pull out the bloody race card where there is ZERO relevance – good heavens! Get a life and stop blaming the people who have managed to pursue and achieve the American Dream for the woes of those who choose to ignore the opportunities available to every thinking American. You people just continue to astound me in your narrow-minded focus on “redistribution of wealth.” Stunningly obtuse when it is applied to such a great illustration of “for the people, by the people.” You lead us to an acceptable compromise, Senator Jacobs, and we, the people, thank you for your untiring efforts in this arena. (But I still hate the idea of having one of those stinkin’ transponders in my car.)
Been there, done that: You wrote: “stop blaming the people who have managed to pursue and achieve the American Dream for the woes of those who choose to ignore the opportunities available to every thinking American.”
What opportunities are you referring to? The ones where billionaires have less of a tax burden than you do? Are you one of those “thinking” Americans who believe everything on the propaganda FOX network and vote against your own best interest because a blowhard like Beck tells you to?
When will you realize that what you call “redistribution of wealth” is just trying to get tax scofflaws to pay their fair share? Why should GE pay NO TAXES whereas every small businessman pays?
You guys have such awesome comments. I read all of them and I’ve been laughing at them for the last five minutes, they’re so great…. Keep it up!