Recent letters by me-first, "I'm-not-helping-out" writers only show how poorly we educate people regarding their civic responsibilities ("High taxes and fees won't end until voters act," July 5). It takes taxes to run an economy such as ours, which is so dependent on functioning infrastructure — roads, bridges, utilities, water, sewer and schools.
But the short-sighted, self-interest do-nothing approach to local and state government just allows our infrastructure to crumble, our roads to fill with potholes and our bridges to fail under the stresses of ever increasing traffic congestion.
Such shortsightedness overlooks the simple fact that for every rider on light-rail and transit there is one less person on the highway. Just in Baltimore, one of every four commuters uses transit.