[Superman]

You're fine, Mike. I was poking fun at Island, as usual.

I don't disagree, Island, that there are problems with gubmint. No doubt. Some of them are disgusting problems that underscore the selfishness and vanity of the human animal. On the other hand, one of the notions that I would appreciate folks of your ilk considering is the notion that problems look very different on the inside, compared to the 'street appraisal' view. And the media does not help. They deliberately forget to include the few facts that explain much of what initially, without those facts, makes the problems and proposed solutions seem silly. Truly, there are actual degreed engineers working to solve some of these problems. And they often truly believe they are doing their best to address the problems in the most responsible and cost effective fashion. And WSDOT has truly been audited to death over the last 15 years and any legislator on either side of the aisle will report to you that additional internal "efficiencies" is now a dry hole to continue drilling. Believe it and become part of the group working to solve the problem or at least supporting that group.....or dismiss these notions, gather no more information and continue havign fun pretending that everyone is too dense to see the obvious solution. My 13 year-old daughter has this exact same attitude.

Gaijindabe, I dunno about the costs and maintenance. It was a story, and that is the word in the story. And they say it is reflective of art reductions across the country for similar reasons.

Craig, I'd largely agree. Everything we do is art, whether we recognize it or not. It makes us feel a certain way. Good architecture goes a long way toward uplifting our spirits. Which I think is important. Separate art pieces are nice, but right now we have a crisis in government. Lots of expectations, and voters' self-induced tax breaks.

The initiative and referendum process would be really sweet if there were no connection between funding and gubmint services. Those processes result in just one outcome. Services are increased while taxes are eliminated. Any math PhD's out there who can help us understand why that's a problem?