Reply to D.C. needs to get a lot more car friendly

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If D.C. continues to implement measures that it make it more difficult to drive -- especially in this new era when more and more people are turning away from mass transit -- then I think the cars, the people, the jobs that people drive to, and the tax base will simply go elsewhere.[/quote]

The tax base in DC is people who live there because people who work there don’t pay income taxes to DC. I would argue the opposite of your conclusion here- people who like living in cities are more likely to favor better public transportation over more car infrastructure. So DC should cater to residents who pay property and income taxes and not the people who like living in the suburbs and want to drive everywhere.

I am a DC resident and if you make it easier to walk, cycle and take public transport then that is attractive to me and will keep me in the city. With the increase in remote work I also have the ability to work remotely and stay in DC rather than have to take a job in VA (I work in tech) [/quote]

People who commute to DC For work and entertainment so pay taxes everything they purchase anything. Sadly it’s harder to purchase anything becisss so many merchants and service businesses have closed. Because people coming in from the burbs stopped coming. There weren’t enough locals to bike into these establishments to keep them open.

Also the businesses that people commute to pay taxes. From a business standpoint it is easier and cheaper to operate a business in  VA.

The taxes generated by commuters do help to support the streets, schools and residents of DC. In fact Commuter taxes are a freebie, no sickle service program dollars are spent in them and no monies are spent educating the children of these commuters.

If it’s too hard to get into the city for work then the employees will out pressure on business to remain remote.  When that happens it sets off its own cascade.  Eventually businesses from office space. Less active commercial real estate means less tax revenue generated. Less. Workers in the city spending., etc., eventually offices start moving to Tysons free parking and metro access that is convenient for the folks that lives there and folks who live in the city start doing the reverse commute to Dulles and Tyson’s via the public transportation and bike trails you all regard so highly.

Win, win for the suburbanites and Va state coffers who now are able to add to the tax base through the demand for services created by all the jobs moving to VA. We don’t want you all to move here our schools are full and we like the ease of access to well functioning public services. Va will gladly take the workers and commuters and the revenue that they and the companies they work for generate.  Do you think it’s just happenstance that Tyson and Reston/Dulles are being made more commuter friendly through the widening of 66 and the introduction of the silver line through to Dulles.  They never actually thought anyone would take the metro to the airport. No sillies it was to accommodate highly skilled workers from DC and the close in suburbs to jobs in those areas. Same thing with Crystal city.

In time when DC residents who now have to commute by car or rail  to VA for work realize that the infrastructure to get them out of the city to their suburban jobs has been destroyed to make room for bike paths. The bike paths will be stripped to add vehicle capacity and the open spaces and vacant office buildings downtown will be bulldozed and razed to make room for commuter garages to make access to downtown metro easier for commuters to VA.

Heck who knows maybe once the infrastructure returns to DC streets some VA and MD commuters will start wanting to venture back in to the city. It’s all about balance people and capitalism is what makes this country function. [/quote]

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