Toll trolls emerge from under bridge issue

In today's Lens news link-a-thon, Mark Moseley raised a fun question about the upcoming CCC tolls re-vote.

My view is much less cautious. I believe the tolls are doomed in the May special election. After nine weeks of free cruising, area voters will surely not turn out to re-install them. I’m interested to see if any public officials will bother to spend any political capital in support of the tolls. Remember, some toll proponents said that the collection stands actually improve traffic flow over the bridge. I suppose the next nine weeks will test that claim.

And then almost immediately, here is the mayor expressing concern that discontinuing the tolls might jeopardize "trash collection" and "capital improvements." I guess that's an improvement over the nonsensical assertions of toll proponents that removing the tolls would cause the bridge to collapse or the ferries to stop running.  But even so, it seems there is hardly a single regressive tax or service fee which disproportionately affects poor-to-middle class New Orleanians, that Mitch Landrieu isn't in love with.