Posted on 09/17/2006 1:10:01 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
ENNIS - Corridor Watch, a nonprofit organization designed to inform the public about aspects of the Trans-Texas Corridor, presented its perceptions about the highway project to an Ellis County audience Thursday evening.
The event was sponsored by Independent Texans and held at the Ennis Sixth Grade Center.
Corridor Watch, which was founded by Linda and David Stall of Fayetteville, is “first and foremost an educational entity,” said David Stall, who added that the group’s “biggest concern is stopping the Trans-Texas Corridor.”
Stall, speaking for the anti-TTC Corridor Watch, raised several questions about the TTC, ranging from its origins to its scheduled return to the state of Texas by Cintra-Zachry LP after 50 years of operation. These questions include the impact of the loss of tax revenues by local governments, perceived procedural improprieties, the wisdom of selecting Cintra Concesiones Infraestructuras SA of Madrid, Spain, as the primary contractor for the project and the dissemination of information about the agreements between Cintra and the state. He also discussed the group’s beliefs about the proposed eminent domain takings by the state and questioned the design and intentions of the project.
Tax Revenue Impact
Stall said any decrease in sales tax revenues would likely result in a corresponding increase in property taxes.
Using the finances of the city of Columbus as a basis for his statements, Stall said that if sales tax revenues were to decrease 25 percent due to a redirecting of traffic away from towns and their businesses, it is likely property tax revenues would have to increase 50 percent to make up the difference.
During the last fiscal year, Stall said Columbus had property tax revenues of about $250,000 and sales tax revenues of about $500,000, providing a 2:1 ratio. If the tax revenue ratio for another town were different, the resulting increase in property taxes may be less than 50 percent, but it could also be greater, he said.
Stall also said if businesses see their profits decrease, have to reduce staff and then go out of business due to the bypassing of towns by the TTC, the elimination of these businesses and their employees from the tax base would also negatively affect school district budgets.
Procedural Improprieties
The law approving the TTC was passed in June 2003 and was adopted the following September, with the Texas Department of Transportation holding a public meeting in each of Texas’ 254 counties in February 2004.
Stall said that as many as 32 meetings were held in a single day during the 28-day month.
He said the first meeting - at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday - was held in Fayette County’s county seat of La Grange.
According to Stall, Fayette County is predominately Catholic and Lutheran, and the evening was Ash Wednesday.
However, due to the efforts of his wife Linda, Stall reported that about 80 people attended the meeting, including County Judge Edward F. Janecka.
Janecka said the facility for the meeting was too small and that the crowd overflowed into the hallway. He said he informed TxDOT officials that it could not be considered a public meeting due to the facility inadequacy.
Stall said he also was told by the officials that his group would be allowed only three minutes of speaking time. After asserting that all present were there on their own accord, he said all were given time.
The second meeting for the county, held at the local Knights of Columbus Hall, was convened by TxDOT executive Director John Johnson and was attended by more than 800 people, Stall said.
Across the state, Stall said about 14,000 people attended the subsequent meetings, with about 97 percent of people going on the record in opposition to the TTC.
Additionally, Stall said TxDOT has rejected the input of regional mobility authorities, which normally play a role in approving new transportation projects.
Questions about Cintra
According to Stall’s report, the Comprehensive Development Agreement of March 11, 2005, between Cintra-Zachry and Texas was initially created and kept secret.
“For the first time,” Stall said, “a state agency has negotiated in secret and then announced after a deal was struck.”
After the Houston Chronicle filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act for the document, the terms of the agreement were released after a ruling by state Attorney General Greg Abbott. However, the Conceptual Development Plan and Conceptual Finance Plan portions of the agreement have remained secret, with Cintra filing against the attorney general’s office, saying the two plans contain proprietary information.
TxDOT has joined in the lawsuit, which remains pending in court.
Stall found a similar occurrence of Cintra’s desire to maintain secrecy in the company’s handling of Electronic Toll Road 407 in Canada.
ETR 407 runs outside of Toronto and is operated by Cintra. However, in the first two years of its existence, Cintra would not disclose the agreement that gave it control of the road and was repeatedly sued by the government to release the terms. When the terms were released, Stall said the government found a document that effectively stripped it of its toll-setting abilities.
Stall said another question about the selection of Cintra to build 8,000 miles of toll road (the first four roadways to be built - TTC 35, TTC 69, TTC 10 and TTC 45 - will total about 4,000 miles) in Texas is its record. While Cintra does operate tollways in many countries, Stall said the company has only constructed 22 miles of roadway.
Cintra has formed a limited partnership with Zachry Construction Corporation, but this is a partnership in which Cintra controls 85 percent of the equity, with only 15 percent with the construction firm, Stall said.
Stall also discussed the actions of Cintra in Indiana, saying that ITR Concession Co., a subsidiary of Macquarie-Cintra (Macquarie is an Australian company), purchased tolling rights to the Indiana Toll Road in January. The company then placed barrels blocking the emergency crossings on the roadway. These barrels, each weighing about 100 pounds, have impeded the efforts of police, fire and emergency medical personnel, all of whom have requested that the barrels be moved, Stall said. While Cintra’s subsidiary has pledged to put into place a new system that will allow emergency vehicles access while denying access to the general public, Stall said the barrels are still in place.
Excessive takings
According to TxDOT’s plans, the TTC will utilize a swath of land 1,200 feet wide. However, Corridor Watch asserts that engineers at the University of Texas in Austin examined the plan, which includes six lanes of car traffic, four lanes of truck traffic, six rail lines and utility easements, and discovered that of this 1,200 feet, 435 feet will not be used for the corridor itself. The extraneous land, which adds up to 146 acres per lane mile, “is being left over for property development,” Stall said, adding that once the 8,000-mile corridor is completed, the 435 extra feet will result in the taking of an extra 1.2 million acres or 1,875 square miles.
This is an area larger than the state of Rhode Island, which is 1,545 square miles, and the state of Delaware, which is 1,954 square miles, Stall said.
According to research done by the group, the path proposed by Plan No. 5, which would run between Waxahachie and Ennis, as many as 8,400 acres of land could be taken for the TTC.
“It’d be one thing to take 300 feet to build a corridor of roads,” Stall said. “It’d be one thing to take 400 feet. But they’re going to take 1,200 feet.”
Design and Intentions
“It’s not about transportation,” Stall said, saying, “It’s about generating revenue,” and adding, “It’s about generating revenue for transportation, I’ll give them that, but it is about money.”
Stall points out that the six-car lanes (three going each direction) are in the center of the proposed corridor, and that the only way to allow these cars to enter or exit would be via “flyover bridges.” However, Stall asserts that “in the entire plan, there is not a single dollar for a single on-ramp or off-ramp.”
Since the toll road would charge travelers a rate per mile for their axle-class, fewer exits mean that people may end up traveling farther on the tollway, thus increasing their tolls.
Stall also claims that in TxDOT literature, the reasoning behind beginning construction in the Dallas/Fort Worth area is due to the area’s “toll-generating potential.”
Noting that the agreement transfers the rights to the tollways after 50 years, Stall notes that the average lifespan of a highway is 45 years.
Stall said the law passed by the state Legislature does not prohibit the implementing of tolls on overpasses crossing the corridor. While the law does not say that a toll will be put into place, it does not say it will not be, he said.
According to Stall’s report, the cost of a paved county road bridge in 2002 was $2,661,750; for a two-lane highway overpass, the cost was $4,709,250. It is important to note, Stall said, that each of these bridges would “probably have to have 24 feet of clearance” since the double-stacking of trucks up to 22 feet would be acceptable on the corridor. Additionally, each overpass would have to span the quarter-mile width of the corridor.
History of Corridor Watch
Corridor Watch was begun in 2002 when Linda Stall first heard about the corridor project and requested materials from the Texas Department of Transportation and then began to investigate further.
Stall got her husband, David, then city manager of Columbus and now a city administrator in Shore Acres, involved in her investigation. He built the first of two Web sites he would design, www.corridorwatch.net. In 2004, the Web site became www.corridorwatch.org.
The mission of Corridor Watch, the Stalls said, is to educate the public about what they believe to be a negative development for the state of Texas.
Corridor Watch is a non-partisan organization and, according to David Stall, does not endorse political candidates. While Linda Stall works for the independent gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn campaign, she said her actions in supporting Strayhorn represent a personal endorsement, not an endorsement by Corridor Watch. It was acknowledged that Linda still plays a role in Corridor Watch’s activities.
Corridor Watch began with members in two Texas counties; it now has members in 186, David Stall said, noting that the Blackland Coalition has pledged its support for the group.
Of the five Texas gubernatorial candidates, Strayhorn, independent Kinky Friedman, Libertarian James Werner and Democrat Chris Bell have stated their opposition to the construction of the Trans-Texas Corridor. Incumbent Rick Perry, a Republican, initiated the project and has maintained his support for it.
On the Internet
Corridor Watch: www.corridorwatch.org
Chris Bell campaign site: http://www.chrisbell.com/
Kinky Friedman campaign site: www.kinkyfriedman.com
Rick Perry campaign site: http://www.rickperry.org
Carole Keeton Strayhorn campaign site: http://www.carolestrayhorn.com/
James Werner campaign site: http://www.werner4texas.com/
Trans-Texas Corridor: http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/
Anyhow, moving right along, we have this from the Waco Tribune-Herald:
Sunday, September 17, 2006
This is a fascinating concept.
The people of Texas have entered into an agreement with a foreign company to build a super highway financed by tolls. And get this: The people are told they can’t know what’s in that agreement.
The case for closed records is being made by the Texas Department of Transportation and Gov. Rick Perry in a suit that could be called Texas vs. Texas. So, taxpayers, what side are you on?
We trust that you are on the side of open government, and that our governor and his agencies are, too. But they aren’t acting that way.
The transportation agency has been named in a suit by Attorney General Greg Abbott for its refusal to disclose contractual matters on the Trans-Texas Corridor.
The function of building and managing the TTC has been awarded to a Spanish company, Cintra-Zachary.
The firm says that contract information is proprietary since it’s a private business. Unless Perry or the agency concedes that Abbott is right and they’re wrong, this will go to trial Oct. 10. That will be Texas dollars and attorneys defending secrecy and Texas dollars and attorneys pleading the case for openness.
The Houston Chronicle has filed an open records request under state public information laws. Cintra-Zachry asked a court to block release of its plans. Abbott has ruled they are public records.
This case shows a key pitfall of contracting government services out to private business. Because various concerns could be construed as proprietary, contractors often refuse to release information about what they are doing with tax dollars.
It’s outrageous that the people of Texas can be excluded from knowing exactly what they are purchasing with their tax dollars. This “just trust us” mode is what spawns scandals and the misallocation of funds.
It would seem beyond dispute that the terms of an agreement to build the biggest highway project in Texas history would be a public matter.
Gov. Perry may think he invented a new widget with his agreement with Cintra-Zachary to build the TTC, but it’s got to have the same old raw materials, and those include public disclosure.
Please, Governor, don’t waste another penny of our tax dollars defending secrecy that, if not outright illegal, runs directly counter to the essential principle of open government.
PING!
Of course, the agreement is freely available on the web.
http://www.keeptexasmoving.com/pdfs/projects/ttc35/TTC-35cda_signed_version.pdf
But keeping the lie alive is important to the kook fringe.
"Of course, the agreement is freely available on the web."
So you're telling the truth (i.e., the entire agreement is out there for the public to read), and the Editorial staff at the Waco Tribune-Herald is lying through their teeth.
...and so is Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott lying for bring the lawsuit.
Let's put a bit of honesty into our postings, shall we.
We all are adults here.
If you're too lazy to click on the link, I can't make you.
I don't think we ARE all adults here.
I'm waiting for your response to what the two newspapers have written the lawsuit that Mr. Abbott has filed.
As much as you may want me to be your enemy, it's those people that you need to address to have a shred of credibility on this thread.
In other words, anybody can post any garbage they want.
Why can't our suave governor speak in plain language to the public? Does he not have access to tv and newspapers?
Personally, I'm not ready for a union between Canada, the US, and Mexico, ala the European Union.
Sorry--I plan to remain a "kook".
I'm sick and tired of the people who are thinking only of themselves, wanting to make it from say San Antonio to Dallas an hour faster.
I haven't seen the lawsuits they filed. I'm not sure how I could, but I'll be damned if I automatically assume the side of the Houston Chronicle on ANYTHING.
Good grief, basil. I-35, I-10, I-20, and every other interstate highway divides this state. We have workarounds called "overpasses".
"but I'll be damned if I automatically assume the side of the Houston Chronicle on ANYTHING."
No one can argue that. But, in this case, it's pretty clear that we are not getting the whole story on what was signed. Abbott could be spending a lot of time in jail if his lawsuit has absolutely no merit.
Once again, Thorazine is spelled T-H-O-R-A-Z-I-N-E. Please make a note of it.
basil is a she.
Sorry Basil - the only one that I knew was a guy.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Cintra doesn't even have a contract to build or operate the TTC. They have the contract to create the design study.
So there's no non-compete clause because the contract has yet to be signed.
As far as start dates go, I got the impression that the building would start in 2009 or 2010. Jerome Corsi is going with 2007, which I think is too soon to be accurate.
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