10/12/2007

Published Letters to the Statesman Editor Today - send your own (150 words or less) to letters@statesman.com

Letters to Editor Today - Make online comments on the Statesman site here.

Make developers pay

The Chamber of Commerce wants to tax (toll) you and me more for new roads so it can profit from further development.

Maybe the thing to do is propose a business tax instead of tolls to pay for new roads. Developers are insisting that we need “new money” for roads. How about they cough it up? Maybe a special “developer surcharge” to build new roads?

Surely taxing a few developers a lot would be more efficient than taxing hundreds of thousands of drivers 50 cents at a time. Aren’t our business leaders in favor of more efficient government?

DAVID ROGERS
Pflugerville


Not fooled by CAMPO

Re: Oct. letter “Leave CAMPO alone.”

CAMPO is a sham.

Sen. Kirk Watson, chairman of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization, sends e-mail newsletters promoting toll roads. As chairman, he shouldn’t be influencing people’s opinions on this issue.

Toller Gonzalo Barrientos left a pro-toll board - some members with livelihoods tied to tolling - that has preached tolls and facilitated bogus citizen’s groups instead of maintaining even an appearance of impartiality.

CAMPO’s public hearings were pure theater - designed to appear as if the public had input when it really had none.

FANCY FAIRCHILD

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

While the state of affairs concerning the traffic situation involving the Austin metroplex is indeed in dire straights, tolling roads that I, as a taxpaying citizen for many years, have continued to pay for would be a complete and utter violation of my rights as a citizen of this great community.

As a resident of Dripping Springs, the "Y" at Oak Hill represents the only viable option to get to and from the city, without having to travel miles out of the way. I ask that you review your current plans to toll preexisting roads, as you will lose the faith of me, my family, and many in the community itself to protect our rights as citizens. Do not let the greed of filling your pockets deter you from coming up with a more viable solution to the current traffic situation in Austin.

One of the greatest gifts we are given as Americans is the freedom to choose. If you take that freedom from us, then you take everything the country has been fighting for all of these years.