Pay to Play

In life you have to "pay to play". If you don't agree just ask high school student athletes or musicians. Many of them are required to pay certain fees if they want to participate in their sport and musicians are required to have their own instrument to be in the band. This is a concept lost on many people. If you want things to work and to continue to work you have to support them for those things to continue to work. Many things that we use in our lives we pay to use, just like the student athletes and musicians. If you go to a state or national park you pay an entrance fee, that fee supports the park. Then those who use the service pay for using that service. What about things that everyone uses, like roads or sewer or other infrastructure? So if we want things to last, like roads, bridges and other infrastructure, we need to pay for the upkeep. In the recent past there have been two examples of public infrastructure failing due to lack of upkeep and support. First the explosion of a steam pipe in downtown Manhattan. This was an aged pipe and had been inspected and was thought to have been in good condition, obviously not. Recently in Minnesota a bridge collapsed. This bridge is the busiest bridge in the state of Minnesota. It had been inspected many times and was found to be deficient. In 1993 the state of Minnesota increased the frequency of inspections to annually from every other year because of concern. In 2005 the bridge was rated 50 out of 100 by the Federal government for structural stability. This was a tragic disaster that could have been avoided if proper precautions and repairs would have been made. When the state decided to inspect annually, this was decided on instead of repairing the problems, due to the cost. What cost has been paid? You have to "pay to play". I know that it is not fashionable politically to talk about spending tax money, but had that money been spent instead of an "arms length" inspection then the bridge that spanned the Mississippi River might still be standing. How does this effect Idaho? Our elected officials need to have the political wherewith all to make the hard decisions and spend the money that we pay to fix and support the infrastructure that we need to live. Are we going to wait until a bridge spanning the Snake River collapses before highway funds are allocated? Better to prepare then to react to a disaster. "An ounce of prevention is worth a Pound of cure", that means pay to play now or pay a higher cost later.