Tag Archives: California

Subverting HOV lanes

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Diamond, Commuter or HOV lanes don’t make a lot of sense to me. Originally conceived to “reduce pollution and congestion” by removing vehicles from the road, California has subverted the original goal a couple of times. First was the 50,000 HOV stickers provided to early hybrid buyers – These stickers allowed hybrid buyers to use the HOV lanes solo. It’s unclear how that helped achieve either of the two original HOV goals.

But now California has pulled a real doozie – A new HOV lane along a 14-mile stretch of IH-680 includes a “solo” option. Essentially any FasTrak equipped car can pay a fee to use the HOV lane, even with only one occupant. But seriously, an HOV lane with a fee? Huh?

And this just keeps getting better:

  • If you are a FasTrak account holder, but have two or more people in the car, you’re instructed to remove the FasTrak device from its windshield mount and place it in the Mylar shipping bag (What? You didn’t save your shipping bag?) while in the HOV lanes so you don’t get charged.
  • The best is last – Solo drivers can use the HOV lane for a fee. In this particular case, the morning commute fee is a minimum of $1.00 but rises as much as necessary to maintain a “40-50MPH average speed.” The county’s website offers no maximum fee and some outraged customers are already complaining about $5.00 charges appearing on their FasTrak bill.

So let’s call this what it is – It’s not reducing pollution nor congestion – It’s a revenue grab, pure and simple. And in an area known for its poor public transit infrastructure, it’s opportunistic and greedy. I would like to shame the California legislators who subverted the intent of HOV lanes, but I doubt it would do much good.

Another Adventure

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Not really sure why SaddleSore rides fascinate me – Except for a pin that you have to *pay* for, there’s nothing to show for the effort. And if you tell anyone, the first reaction is that you’re nuts. But after the first ride turned out easier than expected, and the second even easier than the first, it’s just become somewhat of a hobby to collect them.

Last year’s SaddleSore completed entirely within the borders of Nevada inspired me to find a route within California. One friend suggested San Diego for lunch and then back home, but passing through LA twice might be a challenge, but certainly not fun. I thought about up to Yreka, down to San Bernardino and home, but that’s just 16-17 hours of Interstate 5 and interstate trucks. Boring!

Besides, any ride through California should include the Golden Gate bridge. What’s more Californian than the Golden Gate bridge?

And so, the ultimate California SaddleSore 1000 was born. Leaving from Sacramento before dawn, the plan is to reach Redding at sunrise. Sunlight will be important because the next 2.5 hours will be over twisty State Road 299. After that, it’s a couple hours of US101 down the “Avenue of the Giants” and back into civilization north of San Francisco.

The Golden Gate bridge should fall around 1:30PM and the southern reaches of the San Francisco Bay Area should be clear by 3PM when traffic tends to get bad. Then it’s down to Paso Robles, across to Kettleman City, cross the 1,000 mile mark around Patterson, and home by 10PM … Hopefully!

Armchair rider? Want to follow along. Click here, and assuming I turned my gadget on, you should be able to track me. Wish me luck!

No kidding?

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I live in California – The penultimate “Nanny” state. We don’t just have warnings on cigarette packs here. No, we have warning signs in front of restaurants stating that microwave ovens are in use. We have warning signs in front of bars that alcohol and pregnancy don’t mix. Why, I won’t be surprised to see a warning sign indicating lead paint usage in the very same warning sign!

“WARNING! This warning sign contains lead paint which causes bad things in laboratory mice who ingest chips of lead paint!”

Clearly I’ve lived here too long – None of those Nanny signs bother me any longer …

So imagine my surprise (glee?) at seeing a stenciled “CONFINED SPACE” above a manhole cover.

No kidding? Confined space? Really?!?!?!

Not Fooling Anyone

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Honestly, I don’t know if this is just a California thing, but it is good for a chuckle. In many areas of the state, but especially up here in the Sierras, the mobile phone companies try to camouflage or hide their cell towers.

If there’s a grove of pine trees near where they want the transmitter, they put up a cell tower camouflaged as a pine. If the area is full of oak, they install an ersatz oak tree. The problem is, they’re doing such a lousy job that it’s easy to spot the fake trees.

Like the one in the picture – Sticks out like a sore thumb, eh?

But that’s not even the worst – After all of last year’s forest fires, a large numbers of cell towers are the only remaining structures for miles. Tell me they don’t look stupid – A perfectly symmetrical, green tree surrounded by miles and miles of blackened land.

Frankly, I admire the effort of the cell companies to try to hide their unsightly towers – I just wish they would do a better job …

Taxes and Pablo Escobar

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taxespabloescobarIf you live in cash-strapped California and file your taxes on-line expecting a refund, you’ll receive a short email from the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) that states that … well … you may have to wait. As a courtesy, the FTB also provides a link to a page that tells you how long your wait will be.

But more intriguing was a link a little further down the page that exposed California’s 250 largest tax scofflaws. The #1 ranking went to Winson T Lee, who owes just under $10M – When you consider California’s top marginal tax rate is 10.3%, that means Mr. Lee earned $96M, give or take a couple million. I guess if you’re going to go delinquent on your tax bill, go in style!

Further down the list were performers Sinbad and Dionne Warwick – They made the top 10 – And somewhere close to the bottom was Burt Reynolds, but those were the only names that really stuck out … except for another guy around #200 – Pablo Escobar of Huntington Beach!

You were probably wondering when I was going to get to ol’ Pablo?

Last I heard, Pablo Escobar, the Colombian drug lord, died in 1993. While some details of his death are in dispute, it’s generally agreed he’s dead. Does the State of California not know that?

I’m guessing one of two alternatives – Either a) some part of the drug lord’s ill-gotten assets are in California financial institutions and this is California’s way of getting to them, or b) some one’s parents named some poor innocent kid Pablo Escobar not knowing about his namesake’s reputation. Talk about a double whammy, sharing a name with a drug lord (that probably puts you under the microscope every time you fly or apply for a passport) *and* being delinquent to the FTB.

So why am I even bothering? Can you figure out any better way to tie taxes and drug lords together?