“I’ve been trying to gauge Perry by what other Texans think of him. It doesn’t seem that most Texans on this board are all that excited about a Perry presidential run. Why?”
Just odd stuff, and that he’s almost an open-borders clone of Bush-43.
The odd stuff was this insane tollway/train/truckway/pipeline/power-line plan where he was grabbing 1000 foot wide corridors for something like 5000 miles throughout the state. The first phase was (and still is, to some extent) to sign contracts with private companies to build and then operate the tollways for 75 years. That in itself might be ok, but those companies won’t do it (or at least won’t hand over billions to the state to do it) unless they get monopoly protection, so these deals had non-compete clauses that prohibit the state from upgrading any nearby roads or highways that might affect their captive traffic (as far as I could see, an upgrade could be as little as re-paving). I don’t like that, and I suspect that the people having to pay 30 cents or more per mile (with no practical alternatives) to use these monsters won’t be all that thrilled either. Yes, we need capacity, our population doubles in 40 years - but adding lanes to existing highways and few well-placed new ones will pretty much take care of the problem.
Or does our population have to double in 40 years? It does if you’re an open-borders type. We have a State House and State Senate that is 2/3 Republican. They are part time, only meeting in January through May in odd-numbered years. It’s tough to get stuff during that time, even with a such a big majority. So they didn’t (other than voter ID). But things are different during special sessions that sometimes occur after the regular session. In our case, we had one just in June. Things are much easier - you identify a few topics, smooth out the rules (i.e., no supermajorities to pass) and if you have a conservative cause it should get through. We had our session, and sure enough, the Republicans, this time, managed to block Sanctuary City legislation from passing. Now the governor could call them back a second time, as he did when he wanted to impose a new business tax on us, and, in that case, a third time...eventually the legislature bends as they don’t want to spend their lives in Austin getting paid next to nothing. But he didn’t do that with Sanctuary Cities...he let it go after the first session, said he was ‘disappointed’ and now wants to to be president. We also have our own version of the Dream Act that he never touched, and lots of other open-borders stuff. Again, we’re 2/3s Republican, we would be putting Arizona and Alabama to shame if we had a real conservative running the state.
As to his overall performance...it’s pretty hard to mess up here. Oil prices have been high, we avoided the housing bubble thanks to our state constitution preventing cash-out refi’s, we have no income tax, our effective sales tax on new cars is around 4.5%, and we’re a right to work state. Bush-43 did fine as governor, Ann Richards did fine as governor, and just about anyone else without an agenda to wreck the state would have done just as well. The fact that he stumbled into the right job at the right time does not automatically qualify him for president.
His political instincts are a bit weird too. He started as a Democrat, which was fine here in the South. Phil Gramm and Ronald Reagan also started as Democrats. But Reagan had them figured out before 1970 and became a Republican. Gramm took a bit longer, but switched in 1983, after spending two years in the House watching the way the Dems treated Reagan. Perry took a lot longer. He stayed a Dem and even ran Al Gore’s Texas campaign for President in 1988. Now Gore was reasonably moderate at that time, but the Dems in the House were on the warpath to impeach Reagan at the same time, because of Iran Contra. Apparently, the ‘conservative’ Perry didn’t see a problem with that, as he stayed a Democrat until Reagan was finally out of office in 1989. That’s the hardest one for me to understand...if Perry is what he claims to be.
By the way, did you see his college transcript from Texas A&M last week, came out to a 2.16 GPA. We don’t need a genius running the country, but it would be nice to get someone that’s a bit above the 10th percentile.
The MOVEMENT behind blocking TTC :
[CorridorWatch.org Files Comment and Complaint at NEPA Tier One TTC-35 DEIS Public Hearing During the July 27, 2006, Public Hearing in Dallas, Texas, David Stall presented oral comments and submitted written comments on behalf the members of ”CorridorWatch.org
Texas ENVIRONMENTAL Grantmakers Group “David Stall of Corridor Watch, a 501[c][4] monitoring the Trans Texas Corridor project, began our discussion about transportation and environmental impacts. He explained that his background was in government, both as general manager of the cities of Nassau Bay, Columbus, and Shoreacres, and as a 4th generation public servant. With that experience, he considers the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) project to have little to do with transportation, nor with the Texas Department of Transportation, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M, nor regional urban traffic planners. To Mr. Stall, the TTC seems to be a rather desperate effort by the Governor’s office to generate revenue……………”
CorridorBotch.org, or David Stall-ed “It appears that as a political issue, the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) does not cut nearly the swath its opponents allege the asphalt itself will.
For we find CorridorWatch.org (CW.org) founder David Stall falling pronouncedly flat in his bid to become District 18's state Senator. In a jurisdiction he has spent the last two years dousing with disinformation regarding just what the TTC will be, his attempts at grassroots movement failed to translate into grassroots support…………
According to their website, Stall's wife Linda founded CorridorWatch.org in February of 2004. Of course her beau had a hand therein, but because he was the City Manager of Columbus, Texas, at the time, the website leans heavily on her influence at the organization's inception.
David Stall's involvement in so political an institution as this quickly led to his dismissal from his city post. Columbus officials were also less than thrilled that Stall had registered CorridorWatch.org using the city's account. Oops.
The Stalls immediately began driving hours in any direction from their Fayetteville home to attend Texas Department of Transportation (TxDoT) meetings to disingenuously participate in the open forum process. As their disinformation spread, they began culling fellow travelers on the no-Road to Anywhere; we here know from first-hand accounts that either the Stalls or members of their growing circle of lubricious surrogates have fanned out across the state to pitch false information on the potential throughway.
If everything with which these CW.org miseducators, and their brethren in groups such as Texas Toll Party, have been frightening or angering these poor residents into intellectual submission were true, the TTC would be a slab of concrete spanning from Beaumont east to El Paso west, and pave the state in totality between San Antonio and Dallas.
Every town to which these people pay a visit is told that they are in dire danger of being diametrically bifurcated by the coming highway, no matter how far east or west they might be. To cite but one fraudulent example, residents of every single city, town and village along the Taylor-Manor corridor have been regaled with egregiously fabricated tales of municipalitive destruction and vociferous eminent domain pillaging.
The problem is, Corridor Watch et. al. are by no means allowing the facts to get in the way of a good beating. Every proposed path (and there are still at the very least three) currently under consideration places the TTC on the northern and southern ends of planned SH-130, which is a good fifteen miles west of the villes in question and in crisis over their alleged impending devastation.
That these Corridor clowns are asserting anything with certitude belies their veracity on all things, because right now NO ONE outside of the TxDoT TTC circle knows anything about any aspect of the plans…………………..”
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Have you driven on that TTC road? NO because it doesn't exist.
So because we’re near Mexico we’re not allowed to build road infrastructure! Really!
25, 000,000 people live in Texas. Have you witnessed the dead stop back-up on major Texas freeways as people were fleeing the coast and approaching hurricanes?
Dallas to Austin – 4 hour drive (takes longer than pre interstate days due to congestion)
As Gov. Perry stated, Texas needs a bigger interstate highway footprint; we need more lane highways between major cities.
Houston’s Port ranks with New York and Los Angeles ports. We need to be able to move products and people.
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"The Port of Houston": The Port of Houston is a 25-mile-long complex of diversified public and private facilities located just a few hours’ sailing time from the Gulf of Mexico. The port is ranked first in the United States in foreign waterborne tonnage (14 consecutive years); first in U.S. imports (19 consecutive years); second in U.S. export tonnage and second in the U.S. in total tonnage (19 consecutive years).
The Port of Houston is made up of the Port of Houston Authority and the 150-plus private industrial companies along the Houston Ship Channel. All together, the port authority and its neighbors along the ship channel are a large and vibrant component of the regional economy.
More than 220 million tons of cargo moved through the Port of Houston in 2009. More than 7,700 vessel calls were recorded at the Port of Houston during the year 2009. The Houston Pilots navigate each vessel through the Houston Ship Channel.
The Port of Houston has an impressive listing of firsts, from unloading the world’s first container ship to becoming the country’s first port to receive ISO 14001 compliance. The Houston Ship Channel
The Houston Ship Channel has been a catalyst for growth in Harris County since the first journey of a steamship up Buffalo Bayou in 1837. The ship channel plays a critical role in today’s community as well. It generates jobs and opportunities that allow businesses to flourish.
A 2007 study by Martin Associates says ship channel-related businesses contribute to more than 785,000 jobs throughout Texas while generating nearly $118 billion of statewide economic impact. Additionally, more than $3.7 billion in state and local tax revenues are generated by business activities related to the port. It is projected that the Port of Houston will continue to be an important factor as north-south trade expands.
2008 Port of Houston Ranking:
• 1st in the U.S. in foreign tonnage for 13 consecutive years;
• 1st in imports for 18 consecutive years and
• 2nd in U.S. in total tonnage for 18 consecutive years;
• 7th largest U.S. Container port Source
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”Big Bad” Cintra: ".......The SH 130 Concession Company is an independent company formed by Cintra, a multinational corporation based in Spain, and Zachry American Infrastructure headquartered in San Antonio. Cintra, described as one of the world’s largest private-sector developers of transportation infrastructure, currently manages 21 toll highways worldwide. Cintra’s portfolio includes the Chicago Skyway, the Indiana Toll Road and the 407 ETR toll highway in and around Toronto, Canada.
Zachry American Infrastructure was created in 2005 to develop U.S. infrastructure investments in the transportation, energy and water sectors. The Zachry family’s older entity, Zachry Construction Corp., has built more than 1,000 heavy construction projects including more than 110 projects along the U.S. Interstate highway system. Cintra-Zachry in June 2006 reached a $1.3 billion agreement with the state of Texas to build segments 5 and 6 of SH 130. In exchange for its investment, Cintra-Zachry gets the right to collect tolls for 50 years in a revenue-sharing agreement with the state......"
********************** Small roads are squeezed because the bigger roads can't handle the traffic. Travel times are prohibitive for both people trying to get somewhere (work?) (fun?) and for the transport of goods and services for the growing Texas economy.
At long last, U.S. 290 work will begin-- Local officials symbolically break ground on massive project ““We recognized the importance of a good transportation system to our community both from mobility and safety standpoint. The traffic volume on U.S. 290 is more than 26,000 vehicles per day.”
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I-35 is a nightmare. People ask online how to avoid it.
People couldn't get out of the way of last 2 major hurricanes (told to evacuate) and were stranded on freeways (dead stopped) w/o gas or food.
We are (as are people in all meto areas) fighting off light rail projects being pushed by ENVIRONMENTALISTS who endlessly tie road projects up in court (driving up costs) to stop infrastructure construction, as they tout toy trains that NO ONE wants but Leftists and unions. Texas is BIG it's hundreds of miles between towns (with a lot of small and medium towns and farming communities in between) and we don't want to go where LIBERALS tell us to go and when and how often.
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Sierra Club and State Transportation Plan: “The Houston chapter of the Sierra Club has issued a report that itemizes TxDOT’s State Transportation Improvement Plan (STIP) projected costs of building the 186-mile State Highway 99 around the Houston region during the next 4 years. The total is $4,824,492,381.
"By comparison, the total cost allocated for building Houston’s 5 new light rail lines is $3.3 billion and the cost of building a complete, 5-line base regional commuter rail system has been estimated at less than $3 billion. [In the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, those SH 99 costs totaled over $6 billion.
The first segment to be built is scheduled to be across the open Katy Prairie at a cost of over $350 million. That is slightly more than the cost of building the 290 commuter rail line. Additionally, the STIP contains $468 million for improving US 290, but notes that it is $170 million short of funds for the first project. For comment on that see “How would you spend $350 million?” To participate in a survey about this priority, go to spend350million.org.]"
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The lawyers, unions and environmentalists will work this gig as long as they can. They did it in Maryland with the ICC for over 40 years! It took electing a Republican governor (In Maryland!) and replacing local reps to get it approved, started and built. Now people can get to a job and get home to their families and the economic engine of road infrastructure works. A rail-like Metro that is subsidized in the D.C./Maryland metroplex (and others in "use" and in planning stages) is NOT the answer for Texas or any state that wants to stay independent and productive.