There are sections of Hood River streets in such bad repair that they are traffic hazards.
    The pothole archipelago at Seventh and Sherman received a minimal repair last week but there are still missing chunks of pavement at this high-use, poor-visibility intersection. You can see cars swerving wildly to avoid suspension-rattling holes in that street.

Look at 10th Street between May and June streets. Strewn for half a block are golf ball-sized rubble from growing potholes.

This situation was drawn to the attention of Mayor Arthur Babitz and Police Chief Bruce Ludwig at a meeting at May Street school several weeks ago but nothing has been done about it.

We mention these things not to do a street-by-street, corner-to-corner assessment of every pothole in town. That would take awhile; and anyway that is the city’s job.

No, we bring it up because fixing potholes would be one result of the gas tax to be proposed by the city next week (details on page A1).

The proposed tax comes at a tough time for consumers, and it is consumers who would pay the increase, at the pump. A gas tax at city fuel stations without the same increase at pumps in the county would be unfair. And gas prices are already expected to rise, in the annual post-Memorial Day spike.

But the number of cars using city streets just keeps increasing, and so does the wear and tear on the streets.

It is understood that the city is emerging from a budget deficit, and is looking for ways to increase revenue to counter reductions in systems development charges as well as federal forest payments.

Many sections of streets took a beating during the tough winter weather. Now upon us is summer, the heaviest time of use.

Public safety is a paramount concern, and the city must also protect its liability by doing timely repairs to hazardous streets. (Then there are the sidewalks …)

The city should come prepared Monday to say precisely where it would spend gas tax revenue to make repairs. The apparent lack of attention to 11th Street suggests the need to revise the priority list.

Then, when council discussion and public comment on the gas tax idea illuminates the illogic of the idea, the city will have a newly revised set of street repair priorities to take care of — with the funds on hand.