(The following is a flame. Had it been an actual debate I'd
bury you with statistics and it would be much longer...) If you really
_like_ breathing smog and would rather never have a livable county just
delete this message now and save time and effort for both of us.

	I just can't let Gary Stark's petition and mail stand unchallenged.
Measure 'A' was sold to the voters by signs alledging (falsely) that the
money would be spent to solve "the 237 problem". In fact (and the fine
print of the measure) the express purpose of the measure was to fund the
extension of Hwy 85 into the Almaden valley so that developers could get
rich building condos on ex-open space and hwy 280 could get as jammed as
101 is now. I read the measure and voted against it. I lost, but I'm not
crying about it now. Stop and think about the insanity of funding road
construction _at_all_ with sales tax money when fuel costs are already the
most massively subsidized of any nation. What happened to "pay as you go".

	The automobile is already massively subsidized by the extensive
use of sales tax, income tax, depletion allowances artificially lowering
oil prices, etc. The highway system was _built_ partially with ticket taxes
levied on railroad (!) passengers. (The rest of the ticket tax money went
to build airports, not one cent went back to rail). In short, the auto
(and those who maintain their "right" to drive at our expense) has been
massively subsidized at the expense of other forms of transportation for
at least 50 years. The bitching and moaning when the rest of us get a
small piece back (in the form of diamond lanes built with a sales tax)
is ludicrous.

				There is no such thing as a free lunch
				Mike