Government Spends $4 Million on a Bike Rack!
by Tad DeHaven
The $4 million Union Station Bike Transit Center is scheduled to open in Washington, DC on October 2nd. According to an August Washington Post story, 80 percent of the cost of this opulent bike center is being borne by federal taxpayers via the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Look, I harbor no animosity against bike riders, but under what authority — legal or moral — does the federal government tax me in order to build bike centers for parochial, special interests? The Constitution?
But let’s pretend — and I mean pretend – that such federal expenditures are legitimate. The Post article say the center will have 150 indoor bike racks and 20 outdoors. A recent NPR article says it will hold 130 bikes. Whatever the figure, at a cost of $4 million, it comes out to around $25-$30 thousand per bike. And, yes, I recognize that the “1,700-square-foot building west of the station will also have changing rooms, personal lockers, a bike repair shop and a retail store that will sell drinks and bike accessories.” But the ultimate purpose is to hold bikes. In my mind, the extra extravagance merely reflects the fact that taxpayers are picking up the tab.
There’s the old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. In this case, it’s more like 4 million:
There you go, America. Your taxes are funding this multi-million dollar bike rack in Washington, DC — the beneficiaries of which will probably be the same Capitol Hill lobbyists and congressional staffers who spend all day pilfering your paychecks.
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Whether or not it should have been built is open for debate, but I love how the Cato Institute tries to submit that building a bike rack isn't even legal under federal and constitutional law . It's just laughable how ignorant these people are.
I agree.
But in general this is not the kind of thing I like to see going on when it takes a loan to do it.
It's an awesome bike rack, but not worth more debt and more interest.
My problem with it isn't that we were building a bike rack. Building certain things that have consumer use is often the job of the government, in this a context bike rack. My problem is that we could have gotten the same result and employed a similar number of people (maybe slightly less due to the technical aspects of it) for significantly less cost. It's not so much a bike rack, it's that this bike rack is absurd. It looks like it was done as an architectural art piece rather than something of practical use. I'm not opposed to quality, beautiful architecture that has both purpose and function - but, c'mon, this is a bike rack.
Granted, pork spending like this really accounts for virtually nothing in terms of the budget ; but I suppose it's more about making a point of fiscal prudence.
4 mill/300 people =
1.33 cents. Bah- I'm not going to get too up in arms about it the lobbyists can have my cent.
1.33 cents sound like chump change for such a pretty structure indeed. It is so easy to shrug and say "But it is just a cent..."
It takes just $.01333 worth of common sense to see that these cents add up.
Before you start doing the math to figure out how much you spend everytime a lawmaker lines a bill in pork, start at this number:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock /
At the time I write this, you owed $38,571.90 in National Debt. Then add to the 1.333 cents you happily pay your share of all the pork in all of the bills congress passes every month.
Change.
You can shrug and exclaim "Bah". But only if you keep yourself from knowing the truth.
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
The truth? What's the conspiracy this time?
You know sanitizer is harmful to your body...
I did.
In my post.
You skimmed over it.
(lol, yeah. I have heard the conspiracy theory surrounding hand sanitizer. I buy into it, though. I also sneer at the over-prescription of antibiotics.)
The plural of 'anecdote' is not 'data'.
it was really more and intellectual game than a serious comment.
I admit this seems like an exorbitant amount for bike storage, but this is the direction we should be going. Promoting truly energy -neutral forms of transportation is exactly what I like to see my taxes going toward. I would prefer they didn't stop there. We could use more bike lanes and subsidized metro/bus/light-rail fares.
And really what is four million dollars in governmental terms? We spend billions everyday in an unpopular and unnecessary war. I would rather see the money go to the betterment of this nation.