3-1-10

The state mandated environmentally motivated Commute Trip Reduction code before the Council is directly opposed to freedom.  I voted against it because I do not wish to put my name to any code that restricts liberty.  The Commute Trip Reduction or CTR code is built upon the premise that employers must bear the costs associated with dictating to its employees alternatives to driving to work alone.  This may seem like a simple and good thing to mandate unless we ask why should the government have the right to mandate such things in the first place.

While promoting this code, the legislature of the State of Washington imposes its will upon the counties and municipalities and then attempts to sugarcoat the mess with dollars.  The sugarcoating comes in the form of dollars to implement and improve the CTR system.  Employers have the ability to apply for grants to upgrade their facilities to put in place lockers or showers or other capital improvements that make their compliance with the CTR code more palatable.  It is not easy to decry a funded mandate, but why should the citizens of Washougal pay for such improvements to the employers of King County?  We have only one employer which is subject to the CTR code.  Does the amount of taxation from Washougal residents equal the benefit provided to that one employer?  Sensibility will eventually return to Olympia during budget discussions and at some future budget overhaul, the funding for this mandate is likely to disappear.  If that happens, then Commute Trip Reduction becomes an unfunded mandate.  It would remain an abridgment of liberty, but without the sugarcoating.

It would be far better if Olympia were to leave freedom intact.  We should have the freedom to decide for ourselves without mandated pressure from our employer whether we wish to bike to work, carpool, or drive alone.  It really is none of the employer's business how we get to work.  Their job is to harness the workforce efficiently to make a product that the marketplace desires to buy.