Dear Editor:

For an area that hates taxes, we certainly don’t seem to understand why they keep going up. These new roads, the Pellissippi extension and Alcoa bypass, remind me of a Christmas gift that my Uncle Pinkie gave to my Aunt Bee one year. Uncle Pinkie bought her a new washer. Now the clothes could be washed faster and cleaner, he really made some points with Aunt Bee!

In January, Aunt Bee got a bill addressed to her in the mail. Uncle Pinkie had only paid the down payment on the washer! Our politicians are doing the same thing with these new roads. Sure, they’re getting built, but we’re stuck with the monthly payments.

With these new roads, we’ll have the cost of more police officers, paving maintenance and that means more taxes. It would be far better to get back to the frugality expressed by this country’s founders. Fix what we already have, and that means get our roads up to national standards and maintain them properly.

Tell our local politicians that you don’t want the temporary feel good approach that new roads bring, they’ll only bring in more cars, congestion and pollution. The root of the problem needs to be addressed, too many cars and no alternative to their use. Give us a bus system of some type like we used to have. And we also need to acknowledge some personal responsibility.

When you hop into your car to go to work, if you look to your right, is there anyone sitting there? If all of us would just add a passenger to our commute the congestion would be halved. And we would be saving money on gas as well as wear and tear on our car. And we would reduce the need for new roads!

Brien Ostby

Alcoa, TN 37701