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Fort Worth Weekly ^ | January 31, 2007 | Fort Worth Weekly

Posted on 02/01/2007 10:54:24 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Surely Fort Worth Weekly publisher Lee Newquist’s phone will be ringing any second now with a call from Australia and an offer of millions of dollars. After all, your favorite alt-weekly criticized the Trans-Texas Corridor in a recent cover story (“Detours on a Super-Highway,” Jan. 10, 2007), and it’s pretty obvious that foreign fat cats who lease U.S. highways and charge tolls to drivers don’t take kindly to criticism. Macquarie Media Group of Australia is set to pay upward of $100 million for American Consolidated Media, which owns small community newspapers across Texas — newspapers that have criticized the proposed Trans-Texas Corridor.

OK now, follow the bouncing kangaroo: Macquarie Media is a sister company to Macquarie Infrastructure Group, one of the world’s major toll road operators. In Indiana, Macquarie has partnered with Cintra, a Spanish company, on a major toll-road project. And Cintra has the contract to build — and reap profits from — a major portion of the TTC. That corridor project, however, is drawing loud howls of protest from Texans who blanch at using eminent domain to take land from thousands of farmers, business operators, and homeowners to build a humongous slab of pavement that people would then have to pay through the nose to drive on. What better way to quell critics than by buying up the newspapers that are questioning the project?

The Weekly cover story included criticisms that the project could wipe towns off the map, gobble up about a million acres of farm and ranch land, crumble the state’s current highway system, and gouge motorists with tolls as high as 44 cents a mile. Static will let you know if any money-waving Aussies show up in the newsroom. In the meantime, we’ll continue poking our noses into this and other stinky public pork plates.


TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: australia; cintra; downunder; fortworthweekly; macquarie; macquariemediagroup; mig; mmg; newspapers; spain; transtexascorridor; ttc

1 posted on 02/01/2007 10:54:28 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
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To: TxDOT; 1066AD; 185JHP; Abcdefg; Adrastus; Alamo-Girl; antivenom; AprilfromTexas; B4Ranch; B-Chan; ..

Trans-Texas Corridor PING!


2 posted on 02/01/2007 10:55:42 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (“Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.” —H. L. Mencken)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Fort Worth Weekly? Have you ever read their personal ads?

I wish someone would look up and list which newpapers were part of this deal.

3 posted on 02/01/2007 11:04:51 AM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

BTTT


4 posted on 02/01/2007 11:11:30 AM PST by E.G.C.
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To: E.G.C.

bump.


5 posted on 02/01/2007 11:16:43 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (“Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.” —H. L. Mencken)
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Any drive in the DFW highways makes the TTC look like something that should have been done five years ago. So forget all those liberals whining about eminent domain...
6 posted on 02/01/2007 11:43:42 AM PST by 100-Fold_Return (MONEY Cometh To Me NOW)
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To: Ben Ficklin

"Fort Worth Weekly? Have you ever read their personal ads?"
The Dallas Observer personals are better.


7 posted on 02/01/2007 11:46:29 AM PST by Buck W. (If you push something hard enough, it will fall over.)
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To: 100-Fold_Return

LIBERALS whining about eminent domain?


8 posted on 02/01/2007 12:11:09 PM PST by ikka
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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks

Thanks for the ping!


9 posted on 02/01/2007 12:16:15 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Ben Ficklin
I wish someone would look up and list which newpapers were part of this deal.
Not exactly a huge player would be my guess.


10 posted on 02/01/2007 3:15:32 PM PST by deport
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To: deport

Looking at that the 5 daily papers, only one is located in the area where it would be of infuence.


11 posted on 02/01/2007 7:25:18 PM PST by Ben Ficklin
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To: 100-Fold_Return

Do you actually mean you'd accept infringement, ignoring Constitutional principles for the sake of your local commute?

That's what you seemed to imply.

Also, it is not mainly Liberals that are concerned with eminent domain abuse in TX or elsewhere.


12 posted on 02/01/2007 9:01:14 PM PST by The Spirit Of Allegiance (Public Employees: Honor Your Oaths! Defend the Constitution from Enemies--Foreign and Domestic!)
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To: Alamo-Girl

You're welcome. :-)


13 posted on 02/02/2007 5:17:53 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks (“Don’t overestimate the decency of the human race.” —H. L. Mencken)
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To: The Spirit Of Allegiance

It's the MSM for crying out loud. Don't believe their bald-faced lies as the property owners are getting a pretty penny for their property, with those the MSM is claiming are being thrown off their land are holding out for outrageous profits by "playing the victim" for the press.


14 posted on 02/02/2007 5:55:36 AM PST by 100-Fold_Return (MONEY Cometh To Me NOW)
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