Posted on 03/08/2008 8:50:35 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
State Representative Jim McReynolds previewed the 2009 legislative session at Friday's First Friday Chamber luncheon, with the hot topics going into the biennial madhouse listed as the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor, the growing issue of water supply, and the battle over the top 10 percent rule that allows Texas high school students to be admitted to any state college if they graduate in the top 10 percent of their class.
According to McReynolds, the legislators are "not too happy" with the Texas Department of Transportation, which has been under fire for its proposed I-69/TTC plans.
"This (the I-69/TTC) is something we never dreamed of, thought about, or wanted," McReynolds said. "I have attended all the meetings in my district, and I have not heard a single person that spoke in favor of it."
McReynolds also noted that TxDOT has hired five lobbyists, an act that agencies are restricted from doing. Phillip Russell, assistant executive director of innovative project development for TxDOT, did comment late last month that the project "can be stopped," and that he believes the state transportation agency will build additional lanes on U.S. 59 instead of the huge superhighway. TxDOT will have a showdown with the state legislature next January, according to McReynolds.
"They will get their time in January of 2009," McReynolds said. "Be looking out, because there may be some explosions."
While McReynolds clearly respected the negative opinion of the project, he urged people not to take out their frustrations on local TxDOT employees.
"People are really upset about this; there were basically tractors with 'come and take it' signs on them," McReynolds said. "But don't get after the local employees because they work very hard for us, and this was not their idea."
(Excerpt) Read more at lufkindailynews.com ...
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
ping
No need for moral courage, we have the Nuremburg Defense.
Hitler's ovens were stoked by similar local lemming-employees who were 'just following orders' instead of doing what was right.
TRUE!
>> No need for moral courage, we have the Nuremburg Defense. Hitler’s ovens were stoked by similar local lemming-employees who were ‘just following orders’ instead of doing what was right. <<
That’s a little over the top. I know the TTC is part of a larger plan of economic integration with Mexico and Canada, but we’re talking about constructing a road, not throwing millions of people into gas chambers. Besides, most local TxDOT employees are working on projects having nothing to do with TTC. No-one’s helping any cause by harrassing some 50-year-old with a kid in college, two more coming and a wife, because he pays for his bills by filling potholes.
BTTT
The millions are not being thrown into gas chambers, they are being thrown under the NAU steamroller.
And thousands are dying every year while the scofflaws self-aggrandize.
There is a moral equivalence.
Someone has to draw a line somewhere.
They did.
And ratified it with duly elected representatives.
It’s called the Constitution.
Now another generation, some duly elected and some not, are misrepresenting.
I calls them as I sees them.
That's because there is little or no remedy for mis-representation. Nowhere is that more clear than with those who are pushing the NAU. All that is required is for the promoters to hold meetings to TELL the public what they are planning to do. THEY ARE NOT ASKING PERMISSION!!!!
You have to harrass the little guys so that the little guys get frustrated and put pressure on the big guys who are hiding behind them...if the big guys want to hide and devise their machinations in CFR smoke filled back rooms then they need to know that the little guys they depend on to activate their policies are no longer willing and or even available to put their policies into motion!
So you have to harrass the pot hole filler and the road paver and the secretary who runs inteference for one of the “big guys” who refuses to be accountable to any one!
You called it well.
You know something, I’m not so sure thats over the top in the way the issue needs to be addressed to these numbnuts...
Nobody wants this damn thing, and if it takes demonizing them, that means we have got the drop on them before they really ramp up and get the rest of the state (that is NOT going to be effected, or better yet benefit in some way) to side along with this damn thing and make us who are actually going to be effected by this damn thing marginalized into oblivion...
My Aunt is a mid-level TxDOT manager, and I saw her recently and asked her about how the TTC is being promoted within the department...
Its all over the offices around the entire state, posters, advertisements, promotional literature...And its designed to get every employee behind this deal or else...period...
I told her the whole thing is BS, and secretly she agrees...But she cannot speak out against it...And you know why...So it might be easy to draw some conclusions about how committed the TxDOT and the powers at be, and their handlers want this to go through...
They’ll wear us down with these dog and pony shows...Let the 2 year moratorium run itself out, and see how many of us are left standing who want to fight it some more...
Thats how I would play this if I wanted it to come to fruition...
All’s fair in love and war...And toll roads...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.