Posted on 05/16/2005 4:17:36 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
The Trans-Texas Corridor, an ambitious plan to crisscross the state with new highway, rail and utility lines, is generating increasing opposition from rural counties.
So far this year, commissioners courts in 25 rural counties have passed resolutions opposing the plan, complaining that the 1,200-foot-wide corridors would divide farms and communities while giving rural areas little but headaches in return.
"It's just too much," said Guadalupe County Judge Donald Schraub last week, when his county went on record as opposing the plan. "It's a good concept, maybe, but it's not well thought out at this point."
Texas Department of Transportation officials said much of the rising opposition is based on misinformation. The corridors would help the economies of rural counties by generating commercial activities and boosting land values, they insist.
"We need to get out accurate information on the corridor and why it's needed," said TxDOT spokeswoman Gabriela Garcia. "I think some of their concerns will be addressed."
TxDOT is conducting preliminary environmental studies for the first two legs of the plan, the Interstate 35 corridor and the planned Interstate 69 corridor from the Rio Grande Valley to Northeast Texas.
"Those two are the focus now," Garcia said. "Nobody can argue that they are not congested and what we've got on the ground now is going to be sufficient in the future. Does anybody else have another plan for how to address what's coming in the future?"
The Trans-Texas Corridor would feature toll highways with separate lanes for cars and trucks, freight railways, high-speed commuter railways and water, oil and gas pipelines, as well as electric and telecommunication lines, all running together on 1,200-foot-wide rights of way.
The routes have not been determined and likely would incorporate portions of existing and new highways, railways and utility rights of way.
The plan envisions completion in 50 years.
Last month, TxDOT signed a comprehensive development agreement with Cintra-Zachry, an international group of engineering, construction and financial companies, to develop TTC-35, the first element of the corridor plan, which would reduce congestion on the I-35 corridor.
Cintra-Zachry is proposing to invest $7.2 billion to help build the corridor. The first phase of the proposal calls for building a $6 billion toll road between Dallas and San Antonio by 2010.
Fayetteville residents David and Linda Stall formed a group called Corridor Watch in February 2004 after they became concerned about the plan and the speed with which it was being pushed. Many of their objections are echoed in the resolutions being passed in commissioners courts around the state.
They claim putting highway lanes, rail and utilities adjacent to each other will be a security problem by creating a "soft" target for terrorists. By avoiding urban areas, the corridor will create a public safety problem because rural emergency services do not have the resources and response times needed to deal with potential disasters along the route.
The group's Web site also claims the corridor would harm the environment by paving over 580,000 acres of land and would fragment communities and the habitat of many species. The group also has concerns about the effect on tourism, property rights and local property tax revenues.
Rural counties often welcome highway projects, which bring the promise of increased property values and commercial and industrial development. But not this time, David Stall said.
"What's different about this one is that it's a closed corridor," he said. "It will have very limited access."
But that is just one of the many myths TxDOT needs to debunk, Garcia said. The department recently developed a three-page paper, "Myth vs. Reality," which addresses more than a dozen of the criticisms leveled at the project.
Local officials in counties that have come out against the project often focus on the sheer size of the corridors, with the projected 1,200-foot rights of way.
"The fear factor is that it's a quarter-mile wide," said Kendall County Judge Eddie Vogt. "It's taking way too much of a swath through the county. It's just the huge size of this project that has boggled everybody."
Hill County Judge Kenneth Davis complained that the preliminary alignment would be too far from the county seat of Hillsboro and would draw business away.
"We just don't want to make ghost towns out of some of our communities," Davis said. "We'd like to think (opposition from rural counties) would have an impact at the Legislature, but the reality of it is 60 percent of the representatives in the state Legislature are from urban areas. So any hope we have depends on getting some comrades from urban areas to join us."
It's a boondoggle.
About as smart as the Maginot Line.
Our Texas RINO's at work.
CorridorWatch.org FENCE SIGN (05.14.05)
SEND TxDOT A MESSAGE & HELP SUPPORT CorridorWatch.org
We have printed large fence signs that read:
No TxDOT Trespassing
The Trans-Texas Corridor Is Unwelcome On This Land
KEEP OFF
Save Texas For Texans
Join CorridorWatch.org
See the artwork and photographs online at http://www.corridorwatch.org/ttc/cw-signs.htm
We would like to see them popping up on fences along state highways everywhere.
We are selling the sign in two sizes.
The Large 48w x 32h signs are $25 each.
The GIANT 96w x 48h signs are $40 each.
All proceeds benefit CorridorWatch.org.
Text is black and red silk-screened onto a light-weight white corrugated plastic panel. These signs can be attached to wire fences with cable ties or galvanized wire. Roofing nails work well for attaching these signs to wood fences or frames. A Giant version is available for those who have the space and want to make a BIG statement. The same size as a full sheet of plywood this sign can be seen at a great distance and from fast moving highway vehicles. These large signs will require a frame or some means of support to withstand wind loads.
To Purchase Your Signs:
Call, fax or e-mail us and we'll figure out how to get your signs to you.
We are planning deliveries to points all over Texas. Perhaps you can meet us half-way.
We'll be making deliveries to: Austin, Bastrop, Baytown, Brenham, Cameron, El Campo, Giddings, Gonzales, Houston, Huntsville, Katy, La Grange, La Porte, League City, Lexington, Navasota, San Antonio, Sealy, Seguin, Smithville, Taylor, Temple, Victoria, Waco, Weimar, Wharton and others to be announced.
Phone: 512.791.4628 or 512.784.6539 / Fax: 512.828.6494
signs@corridorwatch.org
David & Linda Stall
CorridorWatch.org
Toll agency wants to transfer project
Two weeks after a private consortium made a pitch to operate toll roads here, the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority decided Wednesday to get moving on efforts to transfer a state tollway project to local authorities.
"It's time for the RMA to step up and say we're the tolling agency for Bexar County," said board member Bob Thompson.
Spain-based Cintra and locally owned Zachry American Infrastructure delivered a proposal to state officials to build and operate toll lanes on the northern arc of Loop 1604 and on U.S. 281 north of the loop without using public money.
The Texas Department of Transportation had planned to build part of the tollway, using $450 million in gas taxes and other public funds, and give it to the Mobility Authority, which would then use toll fees to expand the system.
The consortium would save public money upfront, but would collect toll fees for up to 50 years, money that local officials would otherwise reinvest in more toll roads.
Texas Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson said in a letter last week that local officials could either help the state evaluate the Cintra/Zachry proposal or take over the project themselves and consider the consortium's offer.
Williamson made no mention of whether or not the state would pull public funds from the project.
But Mobility Authority Chairman Bill Thornton said there's no reason for that money not to be there.
"I am confident they will keep their commitment," he said.
Mobility Authority board members also fretted over how much they don't know about this new twist, such as weighing the saving of public money against reinvestment of toll fees over five decades, and how construction timelines would differ.
"I feel very uncomfortable that I don't know more about it," said board member Bill McBride, a retired Air Force general.
The authority's staff will meet with state officials to come up with answers and report back to the board within a month.
In related news, the Texas House late Wednesday approved a bill that would expand the Texas Department of Transportation's ability to construct, with a private partner, the Trans Texas Corridor. Cintra has signed a contract to build the first 600 miles of the system.
"This bill insures that TxDOT will have the necessary tools to address congestion on our highways and push the Trans Texas Corridor," said Rep. Mike Krusee, R-Round Rock, the bill's author.
The bill would provide the Texas Transportation Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation additional flexibility to acquire, finance, maintain, manage, operate, own, and control rail and highway facilities in Texas and allow the agency to enter into non-low-bid contracts in connection with the Trans Texas Corridor promoted by Gov. Rick Perry.
The measure specifies that TxDOT secure the permission of county commissioners and voters from the affected counties before the agency could convert a state highway into a toll road. The bill also orders that all toll revenue collected by TxDOT be deposited in the State Highway Fund.
Its just a project to keep TXDOT employed. Talk about empire building, boodogles, and vested interests.
JOINT PRESS RELEASE (05.12.05)
Big Money Paves the Way for the Trans-Texas Corridor
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 12, 2005
CONTACT:
Patrick Hansen, Campaigns for People, 512.472.1007
Linda Stall, CorridorWatch.org, 512.784.6539
Groups Release Report on Road-Builder Contributions Leading to the Nation's Most Expensive Toll Project
Austin, Texas — At a press conference today at 10:00 AM at TxDot’s headquarters (the Dewitt Greer building, at the corner of 11th & Brazos), CorridorWatch.org, the TexasTollParty.com, Citizens Against the Trans Texas Corridor and Campaigns for People released a report detailing the political contributions of road building interests that are lining up for a piece of the $183.5 billion Trans Texas Corridor (TTC).
The report, "Big Money Paves the Way for the Trans-Texas Corridor," documents political contributions from Texas’ Top 10 Road Contractors as well as the Bidders on TTC-35 (the largest Trans-Texas Corridor contract to date). In the past four years, these road-building interests alone gave over $2.7 million in contributions to executive and legislative candidates for Texas state office. The State’s leadership (the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, and House Speaker) received over $1.2 million and the applicable Senate and House Committee members over $215,000.
Legislation and constitutional amendments over the past four years have enabled what few Texans are aware of or sought: the $183.5 billion Trans-Texas Corridor, the largest toll project ever proposed in the United States. The Trans-Texas Corridor is 4,000 miles of 10 lane toll roads AND high-speed rail, freight rail, and utilities running from Mexico to Oklahoma and New Mexico to New Orleans and skirting every major city in between. The Corridor is to be built with very limited public oversight, turning enormous power over to private toll operators.
"The public deserves congestion relief, not a massive boondoggle that will benefit a handful of big money road building interests that will profit every time we have to stop at a toll booth," said Sal Costello of the TexasTollParty.com.
"The State of Texas claims one of the top economies in the world, and should not need to allow a private partner to build and operate critical elements of our infrastructure," said Linda Stall of CorridorWatch.org. The "Comprehensive Development Agreement" (CDA) the state has signed with CINTRA grants the company exclusive rights to plan, build, and operate all TTC-35 corridor facilities.
These "facilities" include "revenue enhancers" like gas stations and restaurants along the toll corridor. CDAs are common in third-world countries where the capital to finance public works projects is scarce. "This project isn’t about good transportation policy in Texas," noted Mrs. Stall, "It’s about corporate profits."
The report outlines over $800,000 in campaign contributions by the winning CINTRA bidding team, which will collect and keep all tolls on TTC-35 for 50 years.
# # #
===========
Full Report:
www.cleanuptexaspolitics.com/images/TollCorridorMoney.pdf
===========
CorridorWatch.org
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
That's all we need is another 50 highways. Of course, they are still working on the ones that need correcting.
Oh, so this is what this about. Toll roads so the tax payer can pay for it rather than the big Corps.
The way I see this is that a myriad of comapanies both foreign and domestic, exchanged campaign donations for a promise of piece of this highway deal. The legislators, bypassed the public and made the deal. Now, the companies make money, and the taxpayers now will have to pay to drive on these new highways... and the legislators that want to stay in office sit around and find new money from outside interests to keep them in office, whether they are doing the bidding of the people or not.
Classic Pay for Play, but this time, to stay in power.
What else are they doing to Texans without consent of the voter?
But we must have a quicker means of getting all those illegals, um, undocumented citizens to all that work Americans don't want to do.
I hope they move traffic as well as some of the system is doing now. I made a 1301 mile run last week in 18 hrs, 16 minutes engine run time.
I didn't think tax money would be used to build these roads? The taxpayers are not paying for these roads?
"Classic Pay for Play"-----Classic User Pays
You pay for your ride, I'll pay for mine.
Quoting from CorridorWatch:
News Flash - March 11, 2005>
See HB-3363 Note Below - Updated March 20, 2005
Without advance public notice, and announced late on the last day for legislative bills to be filed without the Governor's approval, TxDOT Officials joined by Governor Perry and Federal Highway Administrator Mary Peters signed a 342-page agreement with Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte SA (Madrid, Spain) to create a master plan to finance and build the TTC-35 Trans Texas Corridor generally parallel to IH-35 from the Valley to the Red River. Despite growing concerns over the TTC project, Governor Perry and state officials are charging ahead as quickly as possible to build the first 600-mile segment of the 4,000-mile Trans Texas Corridor. Portions of this agreement are being kept secret under the guise that they contain proprietary business information.
CorridorWatch.org believes in open and transparent government.[snip]
I think corridorwatch.com explains it much better than I can, as well as the link in post #6:
Full Report: www.cleanuptexaspolitics.com/images/TollCorridorMoney.pdf
Taxpayers will not have to pay to drive on the toll roads because there are no taxpayers.
Sheese, my point is that the PEOPLE DID NOT CHOOSE TO BUILD THE FRIGGIN' HIGHWAYS. The friggin' GOVERNOR went behind the people for CAMPAIGN DONATIONS. THAT IS THE PROBLEM FOR ME!
Now, people have highways eating up their land, or forcing them to move via a gigantic government LAND GRAB.
If the people don't want to increase taxes for roads, it could be that they feel they pay enough and there is already too much WASTE and FRAUD in government.. To ease the road problem they perhaps wanted the government to CUT OTHER SPENDING elsewhere, and use the taxes they already pay for new road projects that will be under the supervision and view of the public. But noooooooooooooooooooooooo... to build the illegal alien highway, he went behind their backs. Thats just the way I see it.
If you have more information on this that contradicts my view of things, I would truly like to see it. I really DO want to fully understand what is going on with this boondoggle.
TEXAS TAX ALERT! State Senate Passed Pay Roll Taxes In the Middle of the Night!
May 11,2005
Posted on 05/11/2005 7:13:31 AM PDT by ArmyBratproud
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1400953/posts
Texas Freepers, We are starting to get the word here in the North Texas area that the State Senate passed their version of the House bill, including a Pay Roll tax provision, this morning.
AT 1:45 AM THIS MORNING!!!!
That's right, they snuck it through in the middle of the night. A typical tactic used by many crooks.
They made the Pay Roll tax, which is just a backdoor state income tax, "optional". Which likely means that is is not actually "optional.
This will just give them an opening to make the pay roll tax mandatory in the next session.
There is hope that some groups will file law suits against the pay roll tax as unconstitutional, but that is not known for sure.
If what was reported on the radio is correct, the claims that Texans would benefit from property tax reductions seems shady at best.
They mentioned that on a 100,000 dollar home, after homestead exemptions and the other usual deductions, the property owner's savings would be $350.
That would be in 2006.
COMPARE THAT $350 in savings to the TAX INCREASES they passed. At years end, the Texas taxpayer will likely pay more then he/she did in the past! The tax increases will likely be more than the property tax reduction.
They raised taxes on tobacco products and beverages.
They increased sales taxes and motor vehicle taxes.
The State Senate Republicans (RINOs) seem to be touting that they removed the proposed State Property Tax from the bill.
HOWEVER, it is worth mentioning again that radio reports are indicating that the reduction of property taxes that would result from the legislation may be less than the amount of tax increases that state taxpayers will have to shell out.
It is now time to focus on Calling and Writing the Governor and warn him that he will not get a single vote if he does not do one of two things:
Either veto the legislation, as he said he would do with a job killing legislation, or warn the joint committee to pull the pay roll tax option in order to avoid veto.
I will look for news articles and post them on this thread. I just thought it would be good to get the word out as soon as possible.
Is there a road in front of your house? If there is, it is because of a LAND GRAB.
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