"The American people understand that transportation earmarks often have more to do with a politician's re-election campaign than the true priorities of each state's department of transportation," Senator Tom Coburn (R-Oklahoma) said.
9/12/2007
NEW Companion Bill Could Block Highway Tolls
WASHINGTON — House lawmakers from Texas and Pennsylvania filed a bill to block proposals in their respective states to toll federal highways to provide revenue for repair and construction, officials said Tuesday. The House bill is a companion to legislation filed in the Senate by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who has vowed to stop efforts in Austin to "buy back" federal highways and levying tolls on state taxpayers.
Read the rest of the story HERE.
9/11/2007
From McBlogger: Tolls - Release the McCracken!
Yes, I went to the CAMPO meeting last night. Then had to leave because I was LAUGHING too hard at the folks from the Chamber who did mob the meeting, yet still weren't in the majority. One key for you Chamber folks... if you're going to stack a meeting, cut back on the paid people and the buttons.
Specifically, I DIED laughing when some moron got up to speak and talked about the 242k people in Central Texas that have purchased TXTags basically supporting tolls....
Read the rest of the article HERE.
9/10/2007
A Toll Night at the Texas Capitol
Folks, This is a great article by a great Texan and pal Peter Stern...Check out his Statesman blog HERE. Many people were turned away when they asked to sign up to speak, one person told me that hundreds of people were in the hallway, when she was told it was too late to sign up to speak about 6:30pm. That's dead wrong. That blame lands at Sen. Kirk Watson's feet.
A TOLL NIGHT AT THE CAPITOL
By Peter Stern
September 10, 2007
Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) followed Texas law by holding an open meeting on toll roads to the general public for its comments. However, as too frequently occurs the auditorium at the Capitol was not large enough to permit the public entrance to the meeting. As may be seen from some of the following photos, more than 100 individuals were forced to wait outside the auditorium in the Capitol hallways. Many of those not allowed inside decided to leave.
Is this any way to run a meeting? Perhaps not, but it certainly ensures the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and CAMPO of a more controlled environment and stifles more urgently needed open public dialogue. Maybe the lack of seating was accidental, but you have to wonder when it seems this happened quite frequently at other "open" toll meetings at other locales.
Those in the hallway were told they were not permitted entrance because of standing room only, which is not permitted, a.k.a., fire marshal regulations.
A legitimate question could follow: Why are CAMPO and TxDOT planning the building and maintenance of our roads and toll roadways when they cannot even plan appropriately for a public toll meeting?
There were more than 120 individuals who requested speaking before the CAMPO Board and by approximately 8 PM only the first 20 had spoken. Most vocalized against toll roads.
Whether CAMPO and TxDOT actually listen to the public regarding toll road plans may be observed within the next several weeks. So far, neither one has a good track record when it comes to listening to the majority of taxpayers.
-----
Let's "Tar and Feather those Crooks!" at the Capitol Tonight! Don't miss it!
History will be made Tonight!
6pm - Midnight at the State Capitol
Show up at the Capitol tonight to help stop Senator Kirk Watson from pushing the double tax toll scheme that shifts our Central Texas freeways to tollways!
Watson will steal $700 million in tax dollars (money intended for freeways) for double tax toll roads - if we don't flood the Capitol extension auditorium with concerned taxpayers TONIGHT. MORE CORRUPTION TO BE REVEALED AT THIS MEETING - DON'T MISS THIS EVENT - !
Watson will steal $700 million in tax dollars (money intended for freeways) for double tax toll roads - if we don't flood the Capitol extension auditorium with concerned taxpayers TONIGHT. MORE CORRUPTION TO BE REVEALED AT THIS MEETING - DON'T MISS THIS EVENT - !
WHERE IS IT? State Capital Extension Auditorium, Room E1.004. Enter the main doors of the Capital, head back to the elevators, go down a level and through the tunnel towards the extension. The auditorium is the first set of doors on your right on the extension side of the tunnel. Bring others! FREE PARKING at 12th and Trinity.
Developers profit by buying cheap land and getting the public to pay for roads to that land. Records from the City of Austin show Sen. Watson is being paid to lobby for numerous developers in Central Texas - all while Watson is chair of CAMPO, an organization that directs billions of taxpayer transportation dollars in Central Texas. A blatant Conflict of Interest.
FREE PARKING
Developers profit by buying cheap land and getting the public to pay for roads to that land. Records from the City of Austin show Sen. Watson is being paid to lobby for numerous developers in Central Texas - all while Watson is chair of CAMPO, an organization that directs billions of taxpayer transportation dollars in Central Texas. A blatant Conflict of Interest.
ATTEND T-DAY
Tonight at the Capitol
Bring others!
Tonight at the Capitol
Bring others!
CAN'T COME? Tell all 19 CAMPO board members to "Do NOT spend $700 Million of our tax dollars for monopolistic tolls on our freeways or I will work to remove you in your next election." This ONE email address goes out to all 19 Board members - a couple of them will block you - but your comments will be counted! (please include a subject heading, your name, address so they know you're a real person):
9/08/2007
McBlogger says this to CAMPO: "Tolls include profits for private contractors. The gas tax does not."
CAMPO is meeting next Monday, September 10th, at the Capitol in the extension auditorium, E1.004. As for parking, you're best bet is the garage at 1201 San Jacinto. It's an easy walk.
9/07/2007
What Sen.Kirk Watson Does Not Want You To Know: The REAL SOLUTIONS!
DEMAND THE REAL SOLUTIONS!
Or Pay and Pay and Pay.
Smarter options, other than shifting our Austin freeways to tollways, do exist - although the Austin American Snakesman (which is on the board of the pro-toll Chamber of Commerce - also known as Take on Traffic) just wrote an editorial called "No Exit from Toll Roads" saying we don't have any other choice.
In the short term, the $700 million (updated, now $910 million!) tax dollars shouldn't be spent on toll roads, but on cost efficient non-toll solutions such as:
· Variable speed limits
· Ramp metering
· HOV lanes without tolls
· Reversible/barriered lanes for peak periods
· Non tolled Parkways (like fix290.org with a nontolled $100 parkway, compared to TxDOT's $400 million freeway converting tollway!)
· Pass through financing
· More arterial lane miles
· Better incident management and
· Advance computerized control of traffic signals.
In the long term we must index the gas tax. The Texas Transportation Institute report states that more tolls are simply NOT needed - that indexing the gas tax and using the revenue to pay off bonds allows freeways to be built right now.
Once placed, the freeway tolls will NEVER be removed from our public highways. In contrast, the Ledge has the opportunity to index the gas tax every two years!
9/06/2007
Ric Williamson Goes to Washington
A very reliable source tells me that Ric Williamson, the chemically imbalanced head of the rogue agency TxDOT, has been summoned to the principals office. He's meeting in Washington DC today with United States Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.
Looter Sen. Watson to Divert $700 Million in Taxes to Toll our Freeways
The Chair of CAMPO, Senator Kirk Watson, is pushing a double tax toll scheme that shifts our freeways to tollways. The Watson TxDOT toll plan also diverts $700 million tax dollars - intended for free roads - into toll roads. It is important to note that freeways have NEVER been shifted to tollways in the history of our country.
Conventional toll roads across the country have always been built on new land with investor dollars (after the public expressways had been built) so drivers have a choice between the public highway or the toll road. They are taking what is ours to charge us forever, as the tolls will never be removed even after the road has been paid for 100 times over. Don't let it happen, attend T-Day Monday.
MORE FREEWAY TOLLER TRICKS AND LIES
Safe from the voters wrath, tollers selected the retiring Austin council member Betty Dunkerley to run interference, and confuse some of our greener folks who sent emails (via campo@austintollparty.com), with a tricky reply that said:
"We are considering tolls on new capacity not old..."
THE FACT IS, the Austin toll plan creates a monopoly by tolling public highways like 183, 71, 290, 45S and MoPAC.
Tollers seek to use our tax dollars (the $700 million) and the right of way we've paid for (Billions of dollars worth intended for our freeways/public highways) - to shift our freeway system into an unaccountable tax system. Period. This is a Double Tax.
These are roads that were always intended to be freeways. Tollers use our money, they use our right of way to charge us again - so special interest pals can profit off our families. There should be no free land and free roads given to toll road interests under the guise of providing maintenance for a bureaucratic double tax.
Help Stop the Double Tax on T-Day!
This Monday, Sept. 10th, 6pm at the State Capitol!
Be there or pay and pay and pay.
T-Day stands for Tolls, Taxes & let's "Tar and Feather those Crooks"!
TxDOT pisses off another member of Congress
August 31, 2007 The Honorable James Oberstar Dear Mr. Chairman: The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) recently launched a $9 million advertising campaign to promote their Texas toll road plan. In addition to being a completely irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars, I believe it is unfair to the taxpayers of Texas for TxDOT to use funds to pay for an advertising campaign to promote converting existing roads, which have already been paid for by Texas taxpayers, into toll roads that will again tax Texas drivers who use those roads on a daily basis. Given that nearly half of the TxDOT budget consists of federal funding, I believe this is an issue that merits review by the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Therefore, I request the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee conduct a hearing into TxDOT’s use of taxpayer funds for this advertising campaign and to investigate if the toll road plan being proposed by TxDOT is in the public’s best interest. As a Member representing an expansive area in Texas and one of the largest congressional districts in the country, I believe my constituents and all Texans are owed the best efforts of the government to maximize the use of the available transportation dollars toward maintenance and relief of traffic congestion -- and not toward a public relations campaign to promote increased taxation. Sincerely, Ciro D. Rodriguez
Chairman
House Transportation and Infrastructure
2165 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
I appreciate your attention to this request.
Member of Congress
9/05/2007
Which is the smarter road?
The $100 MILLION FREEWAY/PARKWAY
or the $411 MILLION TOLLWAY?
or the $411 MILLION TOLLWAY?
For example, fix290.org created a non-tolled parkway that would move just as many cars as TxDOT's double decker toll road at the Oak Hill convergence of U.S. 290 and Texas 71 (SW Austin).
The smarter non-tolled parkway costs less than $100 million. TxDOT's money grubbing freeway toll costs $411 million (since it needs toll equipment and a bigger foot print to separate the tolled freeway lanes from the frontage roads with stop lights). The tollway allows politicos to tax drivers again without calling it a tax. And, if you've tried to drive free near the new tollways in North Austin, you know exactly how they force drivers onto the tollways.
BREAKING NEWS: TxDOT ignores a CAMPO order to study
the non-tolled parkway! A MUST READ - CLICK HERE.
Click HERE to find out who is trying to toll
freeways in Central Texas today.
the non-tolled parkway! A MUST READ - CLICK HERE.
Click HERE to find out who is trying to toll
freeways in Central Texas today.
9/04/2007
Senator Kirk "Freeway Toller" Watson and Our $700 Million Tax Dollars.
Senator Kirk Watson and others are now seeking to steal
$700 million of our tax dollars for a scheme that shifts freeways
to tollways in Austin. The final CAMPO public hearing for this
double tax is Monday, Sept 10th at 6pm at the Capitol.
Be there or pay and pay and pay.
TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION
AND SAY "NO TOLLS ON OUR FREEWAYS"!
$700 million of our tax dollars for a scheme that shifts freeways
to tollways in Austin. The final CAMPO public hearing for this
double tax is Monday, Sept 10th at 6pm at the Capitol.
Be there or pay and pay and pay.
TOP 10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE ACTION
AND SAY "NO TOLLS ON OUR FREEWAYS"!
10) The State Comptroller's in depth report calls this scheme "Double Taxation without Accountability". The comptroller also found toll road board members giving out NO BID contracts to themselves and their pals!
9) This crucial vote will cost your family $1,000's of dollars a year - and don't forget, convicted criminal Pete Peters is at the heart of the whole scam!
8) This bloated tax and debt scheme is the most expensive solution for our families - it could cost us 30 times more - and it doesn't even address the biggest congestion problem! - which is found on I-35. It's a revenue generation scheme, not a congestion
reduction plan.
7) 93% of the public feedback in 2004 said NO TOLLS, but these sneaky politicos are trying to slip one by us yet again, to help their fat cat contributors profit off our families.
6) These tax funded public highways have already been promised as freeways but politicians seek an unaccountable taxation scheme that doesn't use the "tax" word.
5) You and your family shouldn't be forced to pay a toll, if you want to drive on the express portion of a freeway to get to work, school or shop! Slow service roads with gtrowing congestion and stop lights (that force us to pay a toll) is not an alternative. With freeway tolls, tollers will have a finacial incentive to NEVER fix the free frontage road congestion.
4) We've already stopped the double tax at MoPAC and Wm Cannon - Drivers drive that overpass for free and save Millions of dollars in bureaucratic freeway tolls every year! We've also stopped tolls on loop 360, and parts of 290 and 71! Take action today!
3) NO OTHER CITY IN THE COUNTRY HAS SHIFTED IT'S FREEWAYS TO TOLLWAYS! Over a Billion dollars worth of our tax dollars and right of way we've already paid for will be used to create a monopolistic unaccountable double tax on our freeways.
2) NO ECONOMIC IMPACT STUDY HAS BEEN DONE (see #2). All goods and services will cost more, as the additional cost of driving on freeway tolls, will be passed down to the consumer.1) CAMPO board members like Sen. Kirk Watson don't want you to speak up or come to the Sept 10th "T-Day" hearing. They want you to stay home and watch TV, so they can use $700 million dollars worth of our tax dollars (intended for free roads) for toll roads! Sen. Watson and others ignore the public so they can harvest our families for special interests pals like Take on Traffic (Chamber of Commerce).
T-Day:
The final CAMPO public hearing for freeway tolls:
Sept 10th at the Capitol (6pm)
9/03/2007
Some Wealthy & Powerful Drive On Tollway For Free
CBS 11 News DALLAS-- Some very rich and powerful people are getting free TollTags – for life -- with virtually no limits on how many times they can ride for free.
A CBS 11 investigation found Dallas resident Jere Thompson with a free TollTag. He lives in a $1.4 million house, is CEO of a local electric company, and years ago served on the board of the North Texas Tollway Authority [N.T.T.A.]. According to records obtained by CBS 11, Thompson had more than 1200 transactions on the Dallas North Tollway in a recent 12 month period. All of them were free.
Read the rest of the article HERE.
9/02/2007
Little Man Senator Can't Hear
You're gonna want to read ALL of this one - so grab a cup o joe!
OK, seriously, I’ve been fighting these politicians/toll crooks for over 3 years now, and I still can’t believe how the people we hired to represent us - actually ignore us.
You might be surprised to find, that the basis for my 3 years of frustration and anger has little to do with double tax tolls. It’s the fact that those who purport to represent the people - ignore the people. That makes my blood boil.
We elect them to represent us, they ask for our feedback about tolling our public highways, overwhelming numbers say no for the past 3 years, they side with the special interests, take contributions and tell us to piss off.
Then I was wondering about that vertically challenged Senator of ours, the one who is the chair of our local transportation authority (CAMPO) pushing to shift our freeways to tollways - you know Sen. Kirk Watson.
I know he’s short - because the day we all packed the last CAMPO hearing earlier this year, Watson came up to the urinal next to me and started small talk about the weather or something. I looked down on him, literally, with a “Hey, dumb ass, I’m your nemesis, please don’t try to dialog with me about the weather while I’ve got my johnson in my hand - it ain’t cool.” I’m 5’ 9” - average height, and I’d guess he was about 5’ 4” and maybe even had elevator shoes on as he stood next to me. And the filthy fool didn't even wash his little mits.
Ok, so what does him being short have to do with anything? I agree, he can't control his height, but he could listen to the public - right?
He could stop the toll plan he’s pushing that diverts $700 Million of our freeway dollars - for Austin toll roads.
Seriously, I’ve heard from inside sources that lil’ dirty Kirk (and his minion former Statesman writer Steve Scheibal) check this blog regularly and Kirk throws a big ol’ fashion napoleon style fit.
So, on with the show. : )
LET'S PLAY "KNOW YOUR REPRESENTATIVE"
WHERE DOES SEN. DOUBLE TAX WATSON LIVE?
WHERE DOES SEN. DOUBLE TAX WATSON LIVE?
Public information says that multimillionaire Kirk lives 'high on the hog' in a $2 million dollar home at 2301 Woodlawn Blvd near downtown Austin, just a minute away from the Windsor exit off Mopac. Kirk's neighbors homes look like $2 million mansions, but I think he’s spending too much time with his toller pals as his, comparitavely, looks like a high rent flop house shack. The landscape is overgrown and everything else just looks shabby. Really, drive by and look for yourself.
From the side street you can see the pool in the back and dirty bird Kirk has a bunch of junk that is easily seen in the corner of the lot. Kirk’s neighbors probably can’t believe that a State Senator lives in that unkempt house that needs to be flipped.
The honorable double taxing Senator’s web site gives some personal information about his family:
"Senator Watson has been married to his wife, Liz, for more than 27 years. They have two sons, Preston and Cooper. Preston attends Austin High School and Cooper is at Kealing Middle School, one of AISD’s magnet schools."Wouldn’t it be great if he cared just a little about OUR families? Like for him to just represent us - and not steal $700 million of our tax dollars for a plan that shifts our freeways to tollways.
Is your blood also boiling about this crooked double taxing politico? I want to hear from you in the comments portion of this article.
9/01/2007
Everything You Need To Know About Austin Freeway Tolls
Special Interests, who profit off tolls are hard at work selling roads that shift Austin freeways to tollways. Sen. Kirk Watson and other tollers voted to spend $910 million tax dollars to shift our freeways to toll roads in Oct of 2007. Tolling freeways create traffic congestion. And, they are a wasteful way to collect taxes.
CONVENTIONAL TOLL ROADS vs. AUSTIN FREEWAY TOLL ROADS
Conventional toll roads in the U.S. have always been perceived as being fair, since they supplement our public highway system, and they offer a public expressway as an alternative. It's also important to note that conventional tolls have always been whole new routes and primarily funded with investor dollars.
Freeway tolls don’t offer crucial free expressways as an alternative. Instead, frontage roads with stop lights and growing traffic congestion are touted as an alternative.
With freeway tolls, TxDOT has a financial incentive NOT to address traffic congestion on frontage roads since increased traffic congestion provides higher toll tax revenues. This is a severe departure for TxDOT, since its focus has always been solving transportation issues -- not generating revenue through traffic congestion. Freeway tolls simply shift public
highways intended to be freeways into tollways.
Those who support tolling public expressways never mention the true cost of public subsidies involved. The total cost to the taxpayer, especially the taxpayer-funded right-of-way (ROW), is never shared with the public. Freeway tolls create expressway monopolies and are the most expensive solution to our need for roads.
For the most part, the finances of conventional toll roads have been segregated from public funds. While freeway tolls are primarily funded with tax dollars intended for free roads.
Pro-toll advocate and TollRoadsNews.com writer Peter Samuel made this statement about TxDOT and its freeway tolls:
"It has no coherent explanation for its project selection, or for the way tax and toll monies are mixed. It has been cavalier in proposing tolls on highways already funded -- breaching a long-established piece of political wisdom about tolling."TOLLS: AN INEFFICIENT FORM OF TAX COLLECTION
At a TxDOT commission hearing in October 2004, TxDOT had admitted it costs 25 cents to collect a cash toll, and 11 cents to collect an electronic toll. So, if the toll tax for a short span of road is 50 cents, 50% of the money paid for that toll goes to collect the toll.
NEW TEXAS TOLLS: 10 TIMES THE PROMISED RATE PER MILE
TxDOT and the local Regional Mobility Authority are on record promising a 12 to 15 cents/mile rate. Conventional toll roads in the US have an average toll rate of 9 cents/mile.
The Austin American-Statesman recently reported that the newly-opened Central Texas Phase I tolls cost as much as $1.50 per mile.
That's 10 times the cost promised, and 16 times the cost of the average toll rate in the U.S.
TOLL ROADS COST MORE THAN FREE ROADS TO BUILD
Toll roads cost much more for construction, right-of-way, utility relocation, maintenance, and service than do non-tolled roads. For example, Central Texas Phase II freeway tolls would cost $123 million more to build as toll roads than they would cost to build as free roads.
The footprint of a freeway toll project is larger than what's needed for the free road since toll lanes and free lanes must be separated. Therefore, extra land for right-of-way must be acquired and utilities must be relocated. Our existing roads have right-of-way corridors for expansion, but were never planned for the larger footprint required by freeway tolls.
To illustrate, a typical roadway project devotes about 90% or more of the cost to build the road. Compare that to TxDOT's toll analysis for SH 71 in Central Texas where only 35% of the cost of the project is for roadway construction. Over half the cost of the $168 million project goes to buying new right-of-way and having to relocate utilities for the freeway toll road.
COMPTROLLER REPORT: FREEWAY TOLLS CREATE UNACCOUNTABLE DOUBLE TAXATION
In 2005, the State Comptroller came out with an investigative report showing how Regional Mobility Authorities that toll public highways are creating double taxation, by diverting tax dollars intended for free roads, into toll roads. The report also showed RMA board members giving NO BID CONTRACTS (using tax dollars) to themselves and their friends. Board members of RMA's have property in the vicinity of toll roads that have increased by as much as 989%.
TOLL TAX: 15+ TIMES THE COST OF INDEXED GAS TAX
Assuming your car gets 20 miles per gallon, and an increase in indexed gas tax was less than 20 cents a gallon, you would spend less than 1 cent a mile for an indexed gas tax. Compare that to tolls of 15 cents a mile, which would be 15 times the cost of an indexed gas tax. A 20 cent toll per mile would be 20 times the cost of an indexed gas tax, and so on.
The Texas Transportation Institute report says tolls are NOT needed, that indexing the gas tax and placing the incremental revenue in the mobility fund to pay off bonds allows us to build the roads we need now.
The Circle of Toll Payolla Movie! Starring Sen. Kirk Watson!
Click on the arrow to watch this popular YouTube movie about how politicians (like Sen. Kirk Watson) profit from shifting our Austin freeways to tollways. And the current plan diverst $700 million of our freeway dollars for the double tax toll plan!
The last CAMPO public hearing for freeway tolls is Sept 10th at the Capitol (6pm). Be there or pay and pay and pay.
Many of the Central Texas Tollers STAR in this must see movie! You'll want to share it with others!
8/31/2007
TheNewspaper.com: Texas Pushes to Add Tolls to Interstate Freeways
"This is an unacceptable double tax," Costello said. "The $700 million in tax dollars should be spent on new capacity freeways, not tollways."
The interstate highway tolling plan fits right in, Costello said. "Why toll only tax-funded freeways when you can toll tax-funded interstates as well?"
Read the whole article HERE.
"TxDOT Gone Wild"!
TxDOT plan would convertsome interstates to toll roads
Plan includes buying interstates and charging drivers a toll
,
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads.
The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads.
Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau
AUSTIN — The Texas Department of Transportation is pushing Congress to pass a federal law allowing the state to "buy back" parts of existing interstate highways and turn them into toll roads.
The 24-page plan, outlined in a "Forward Momentum" report that escaped widespread attention when published in February, drew prompt objections Thursday from state lawmakers and activists fighting the spread of privately run toll roads.
"I think it's a dreadful recommendation on the part of the transportation commissioners here in Texas," said Senate Transportation and Homeland Security Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas.
"I feel confident that legislators in Austin would overwhelmingly be opposed to such an idea," he said. "The simple fact is that taxpayers have already paid for those roadways. To ask taxpayers to pay for them twice is untenable."
Read the rest of the article HERE.8/30/2007
TxDOT Ignores CAMPO Order To Get Into Your Pockets
TxDOT plays many games as it strives to become a taxing authority.Last year, the CAMPO board unanimously voted to have TxDOT study a nontolled fix290.org parkway alternative for US 290(W)/SH 71(W) in South West Austin. (If you'd like to see the resolution - shoot me an email - I'll send it with no questions asked)
The parkway alternative is superior in a number of ways to TxDOT’s toll plan as it does not create tolls, it's faster to build and it costs less. But the smarter solution means TxDOT can’t harvest money from our families by creating a toll road monopoly for drivers who demand an expressway (stop light free).
In a game of “chicken”, TxDOT has decided to ignore CAMPO’s order, and NOT do the study.
The resolution asking TxDOT to do the study was signed by Austin Mayor Will Wynn, and Council Members Betty Dunkerley and Jennifer Kim in September of 2006. The CAMPO unanimous vote took place in October, 2006
We were told months ago that both City of Austin and CAMPO staff started on the feasibility study, but TxDOT told them to wait until after new designs were done.
TxDOT unveiled six designs during the so-called neighborhood "mediation". Nine months later--one of which was a drawing mislabeled "parkway." (The CAMPO definition of a parkway is a freeway without frontage roads--less than 5 percent of TxDOT Option 5 labeled "parkway" was an actual parkway section).
So, no design, no study. TxDOT is now saying, "Time's up!!! Now you have to vote, CAMPO. No way to choose a parkway with out a study to show it's feasible."
So far, CAMPO board members are letting TxDOT get away with it, as the final CAMPO vote for tolling our freeways is fast approaching.
WHY EVERY AUSTINITE SHOULD BE UP IN ARMS!
The big picture TxDOT plan for all of Austin - spends $700+ million of our tax dollars intended for free roads, on the toll road plan that shifts our public highways: 290, 71, 183 and more to toll roads. This is an unacceptable double tax. The $700 million tax dollars should be spent on new capacity freeways, NOT TOLLWAYS!
The elected officials who purport to work for us, are having one last public hearing on freeway tolls. Since 2004 we’ve stopped the freeway toll scheme by flooding the public hearings. We need everyone to attend the last CAMPO hearing on freeway tolls on Sept 10th at the Capitol at 6 pm. If you and others don't show up, be prepared to pay and pay and pay.
Plan to go to this most important meeting and tell the politicos that you don’t want $700+ million of our tax dollars (intended for free roads) to be used for monopolistic freeway tolls. The elected officials work for you, not the special interests who profit off the toll schemes.
“Everything You Need To Know About
Texas Freeway Tolls”.
Texas Freeway Tolls”.
WOAI news: Secret TxDOT Plan to Toll Existing Interstates
With the latest TxDOT con, your state tax money would 'buy back' interstate highways, like I-35 - that your federal tax money already paid for, so the state could charge you tolls to drive on that interstate highway. This is TxDOT's continued plan to become an unaccountable taxing authority.
Why toll only tax funded freeways when you can toll tax funded interstates as well? Please write a letter to your editor. - The Muckraker
By Jim Forsyth
KQXT FM (San Antonio)
At the same time local officials assure us that tolls will 'never' be charged for traveling on existing highway lanes, 1200 WOAI news has obtained a Texas Transportation Commission report in which TxDOT officials discuss ways to impose tolls on existing interstate highways.
The report, entitled 'Forward Momentum, a Report to the 110th Congress,' makes several recommendations to Congress on how best to upgrade the state's highway system.
One section, entitled "Tolling Authority EXPANSION" (the capital letters are included in the report), discusses strategies Congress could use to allow Texas to charge tolls on existing Interstate highways, including Interstates 10, 35, and 27.
Read the whole article HERE!
8/29/2007
Letter from Gayle to the Crooks
CAMPO board,
I live on what used to be RM 620 which has been turned into the 45 toll road. I found out just today that the toll company left one narrow lane in each direction that they could call RM 620. Funny, but when I moved here 30 years ago, RM 620 was a narrow two lane road and now it's come full circle! Somehow, I don't think that qualifies as progress!! The real RM 620 has been turned into a toll road.
There are a lot of registered voters that are on to what you are doing, scamming the public. I for one will be sure to campaign and vote for your opponents in the next election if more toll roads are brought to Austin!
I especially dislike your attempts to make all the roads going to the airport toll roads. Do you really think the citizens of central Texas are that stupid? Some of them probably are too stupid to notice, but there are plenty of us who aren't, and we are the ones who vote!!
I especially dislike your attempts to make all the roads going to the airport toll roads. Do you really think the citizens of central Texas are that stupid? Some of them probably are too stupid to notice, but there are plenty of us who aren't, and we are the ones who vote!!
Sincerely,
Gayle
The Muckraker asks YOU: Are you ready to fight for what is yours? I'll see you on T-Day, Sept 10th, at the Capitol at 6pm. Don't miss it.
Opposition to earlier tollways says it willactively oppose this one as Oct. 8 vote nears
August 28, 2007
By Ben Wear, Austin American-Statesman
A scaled-back plan to expand and put tolls on four Austin highways and build a fifth tollway from scratch drew cautious support Monday from the board charged with making Central Texas transportation decisions.
The Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization board will hold a public hearing Sept. 10 and then will make a final decision Oct. 8 on the five roads, which have been a source of controversy since 2004.
"We need to be continuously very forthright and upfront," said Travis County Commissioner Gerald Daugherty, a CAMPO board member who opposed the 2004 toll plan, which ultimately died. "We don't have the dollars to do this without tolls."
When the subject is tolls, recent history indicates that Texas politicians have reason to be cautious. The leader of Austin's anti-tollway faction, which sprang up in reaction to the 2004 tollway plan, said he and his compatriots plan a push in coming weeks to dash this plan as well....
Read the rest of the article, with quotes from myself HERE.
8/28/2007
HELP WANTED: Sound Transportation Policy
OPINION:
HELP WANTED:
Sound Transportation Policy
Sound Transportation Policy
August 24, 2007
by William Lutz, Lone Star Report
The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) says it needs to spend $9 million in taxpayer money to sell its vision of transportation policy to the public.
Maybe if TxDOT pursued rational transportation policies, the public support would follow, and it could spend that $9 million building and maintaining roads.
Listening to the state’s transportation officials, including Gov. Rick Perry and Commissioner of Transportation Ric Williamson, talk is like reading a cheap imitation of a George Orwell novel.
Borrowing money and deficit spending are called “innovative financing techniques.” The term “public-private partnerships” is used to describe mortgaging public property. Tax hikes are called “market-based” or “value-based” tolling or “market-valuations.”
Government-sanctioned monopolies are referred to as “introducing competition to transportation financing.”
Here's why Texans ought to be concerned.
- Borrowing carries a price tag. The Texas Constitution has traditionally eschewed deficit spending and required existing revenue to pay for existing spending. Now, the state wants to build most of its roads by borrowing, either publicly or by getting a private firm to agree to borrow money, build a road, and collect tolls. There’s no such thing as free money, and often bond lawyers request concessions in exchange for the money fronted to the state. Many of these private financing arrangements prohibit the state from building free roads near a toll road, or require it to pay a stiff penalty if it builds a competing free road or wants out of the deal.
8/27/2007
8/24/2007
Diana Maldonado Challenges Toller Mike Krusee
Diana Maldonado (D-Round Rock) will challenge State Rep. Mike Krusee (R-Taylor) in House District 52. Maldonado has a bare bones temporary campaign website up today.
Maldonado has spent the past 13 years as head of the Tax Applications Section in the Texas Comptroller’s Office. I’ll bet she’s seen the Comptroller's in depth report that calls Krusee's scheme, "Double Taxation Without Accountability".
Maldonado has been elected president of the Round Rock ISD school board for 2006-2007. Maldonado was the first Hispanic woman to lead the board.
Krussee barely won his last general election to another Democrat with only 5 points to spare. It’s important to note that the Dem had only a couple thousand dollars compared to Krusee’s over $300k.
Diana could be a viable funded opponent - I’m checking into that. I’m also checking to see if she shares our hatred of Krusee's legislation and his schemes to shifting public highways to tollways.
I’ll have more for you soon!
WHAT IS IN TXDOT'S NEW DOCUMENT CALLED "FORWARD MOMENTUM"?
Bob Dacy, with his report Highway Robbery, exposes abrand new TxDOT document called “Forward Momentum”,
a formal TxDOT wish list for Congress to allow existing tax
funded interstates, such as I35, to be shifted to tollways.
Within the “Forward Momentum” publication (cover shown above), TxDOT asks Congress to allow “states to buy back or reimburse the federal government for its share of federal investment in interstate segments” so states can place a toll on tax funded roads originally built with a prohibition against tolling them.
TxDOT also asks Congress to exempt private investors in toll-road schemes from federal income taxation.
See the TxDOT Forward Momentum PDF document for yourself here:
www.dot.state.tx.us/publications/government_and_public_affairs/110th_federal_agenda.pdf
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www.dot.state.tx.us/publications/government_and_public_affairs/110th_federal_agenda.pdf
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8/23/2007
SA EXPRESS: TxDOT's 'outreach' plan reaches deep into taxpayers' pockets (click this headline)
"TxDOT spends millions of dollars of public money to make you feel better about the public information it fought to keep you away from 2 years ago."
8/22/2007
Commissioner Places Profits Over Our Families Safety
I think I heard Austin Powers say,"That ain't someone's gran-ma.
It's a double taxing MAN, baby!"
Today's article in the Statesman reports Travis County Commissioner and CAMPO board member Gerald Daugherty (above) voted to approve the development of 1,500 homes in the hill country. The kicker is - it's on a stretch of highway (71W) that everyone agrees is an already overburdened and a very dangerous road. This vote proves that Commish Gerald Daugherty cares more about his contributors profits, than the safety of our families.
But don't take my word for it, Commissioner Ron Davis had the common sense to vote 'no' and according to the statesman article today, said that:
"the county should turn down the subdivision because it presents a general threat to the safety and welfare of people living in southwestern Travis County."Daugherty showed up late to the public hearing at Covington School last night to rub elbows with his special interest toll road profiteers - which always include greedy developers/real estate fat cats.
Daugherty has not only pushed for and voted for tolling Austin roads we've already paid for in 2005, but, after a citizens group was formed, called Fix290 (that presented a smart, very popular non-tolled parkway concept for the "Y" in Oak Hill - that costs less and does more than TxDOT's double decker magical money machine), Daugherty helped usher in a pro-toll group that masquerades as a grassroots group called Consensus290 to push for tolls. Take on Traffic is yet another toll lobby group - most probably the same cast of greedy characters.
Gerald Daugherty must be REMOVED in 2008. And, that's what I do best. If there's a viable opponent that signs up to run by the deadline in January - we'll be there with bells on.
Examples of oversized postcards, as part of our campaign programswe’ve used, to remove stubborn incumbents. Yup, we get tollers fired!
We've got a proven recipe that removes these double tax tollers. We let voters know who voted to toll our public highways, and the incumbent is removed like a bad stain. We've already removed CAMPO tollers - such as CAMPO vice chair (Dwight Thompson) and Commish Karen Sonleitner and others.
Who else must be removed in 2008? That and real jaw dropping, bunkerbusting news will be revealed right here - on this blog very soon.
Share this article with others by
clicking the envelope icon below.
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8/21/2007
State spends millions to push TTC/TOLLS - "It's a waste of money," said Rep. Warren Chisum, chairman of the budget-writing House Appropriations
Click the headline to read this great article!
8/20/2007
They're BAACKK! And they want ALL your money!
(from left to right) Sen. Kirk Watson, Council Member Brewster McCracken, Rep. Mike Krusee, Commissioner Gerald "Oak Hill Toller" Daugherty and Mayor Will Wynn are just some of the CAMPO board members seeking to implement the stealth toll tax on our Central Texas families. The hearings start Tuesday, Aug 21st!
CENTRAL TEXANS:
TAKE ACTION AND
SAVE $1,000’s A YEAR!
Stubborn, vampire like, tax hungry politicians are bringing Austin double tax tolls back up for a vote! Again!
Since 2004, with your help, we’ve been able to stop the special interest boondoggle of tolling roads we’ve already paid for. SADLY, WE NEED TO SPEAK UP AGAIN - or we’ll all pay $1,000’s of dollars a year more in double tax tolls, just to use Austin freeways. Beware, in some cases these slippery politicos have even started to use the word “managed lanes” instead of the dreaded “toll” word.
Greedy special interests, and their families, are now giving “YES, PLEASE TOLL ME” feedback - so they can make enormous profits. Shouldn’t your families feedback be counted as well?
WHY SHOULD YOU SPEAK UP AND
SAY “NO FREEWAY TOLLS”?
SAY “NO FREEWAY TOLLS”?
1) This crucial vote will cost your family $1,000’s of dollars a year.
2) This bloated tax and debt scheme is the most expensive solution for our families - it could cost us 30 times more - and it doesn’t even address the biggest congestion problem! - which is found on I-35.
3) 93% of the public feedback in 2004 said NO TOLLS, but these sneaky politicos are trying to slip one by us yet again, to help their fat cat contributors profit off our families.
4) These roads were already promised as freeways, and politicians like Mayor Will Wynn and Commissioner Gerald Daugherty seek an unaccountable taxation scheme that doesn’t use the “tax” word.
5) You and your family shouldn’t be forced to pay a toll, if you want to drive on the express portion of a freeway to get to work, school or shop! Slow service roads with stop lights is not an alternative - that line of crap is for suckers.
6) These freeway tolls are nothing more than unaccountable taxation.
JUST SAY "NO TOLLS and NO MANAGED LANES!" (just another word for tolls) CAMPO Public Hearings on the Toll Tax starts tomorrow - TUESDAY, August 21! THE SPECIAL INTERESTS WILL BE THERE - WILL YOU?
Open House 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Presentation 6:00 to 6:30
Questions & Answers 6:30 to 7:30
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
Open House 4:00pm to 5:30pm
Presentation 6:00 to 6:30
Questions & Answers 6:30 to 7:30
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
TOMORROW!Show up at these meetings and give your NO TOLLS feedback. WE NEED YOU AT THE MEETING ABOVE - But, if you can't attend - tell all the CAMPO board members (with this one email address) to vote NO TOLLS or you will help remove them in their next election:
Tuesday, August 21st
Travis County Covington Middle School
3700 Convict Hill Road, Austin 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
Thursday, August 23rd
Hays County Kyle City Council Chambers
100 West Center, Kyle 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
Wednesday, August 29th
Travis County East Communities YMCA, 5315 US 183(S)
(Ed Bluestein), Austin 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
Thursday, August 30th
Williamson County Allen R. Baca Center
301 West Bagdad, Round Rock 4:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Public Comments 7:00 to 9:00
THE BIG ONE!
KEY CAMPO PUBLIC HEARING WITH BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT:
Monday, Sept. 10th
Public Hearing Capitol Extension Auditorium, Room E1.004 6:00 p.m
campo@austintollparty.com
Or/and call the CAMPO board members:
Chairman Kirk WatsonThe roads they have on their hit list are the same one’s every time, so far:
State Senator, District 14 (512) 463-0114
Will Wynn
City of Austin Mayor (512) 974-2250
Brewster McCracken (expected to run for Mayor in 2008)
City of Austin Council Member Place 5 (512) 974-2256
Gerald Daugherty (expected to run again in 2008)
Travis County Commissioner Precinct 3 (512) 854-9333
Betty Dunkerley
City of Austin Mayor Pro Tem (512) 974-2258
Sam Biscoe
Travis County Judge (512) 854-9555
Vice-Chair Cynthia Long
Williamson County Commissioner Precinct 2 (512) 260-4280
Jennifer Kim
City of Austin Council Member Place 3 (512) 974-2255
Mike Krusee (expected to run again in 2008)
State Representative, Williamson County (512) 463-0670
Eddie Rodriguez
State Representative, District 51 (512) 463-0674
Sarah Eckhardt
Travis County Commissioner Precinct 2 (512) 854-9222
Liz Sumter
Hays County Judge (512) 393-2205
Bob Lemon
City of Cedar Park Mayor (512) 401-5000
Nyle Maxwell
City of Round Rock Mayor (512) 218-5401
Gary L. Nelon
City of Georgetown Mayor (512) 930-3651
Jeff Mills
City of Sunset Valley, Councilmember (512) 892-1383
Miguel Gonzales
City of Kyle, Mayor (512) 262-2922
John Trevino
Capital Metro (512) 471-4266
Bob Daigh
TxDOT - District Engineer (512) 832-7022
* US 290 W-west of RM 1826 to east of Williamson Creek;
* SH 71 W US 290 to 1.1 mile north of US 290;
* US 183 S at IH 35/US 183 S Interchange;
* US 183 S Springdale Rd.to N.Boggy Crk.& N. Boggy Creek to Patton Ave.;
* US 290 E east of US 183 to east SH 130; from SH 130 to FM 973 & eastward
* SH 71 E west of Riverside to Presidential Blvd;
* US183 S at IH 35; US 183 S at US 290 E; and
* FM 1431 East of US 183 to 183A
* SH 45 SW Loop 1 to FM 1626; Reference Data: http://www.campotexas.org/pdfs/item4AugA.pdfSend this article to others by
clicking on the envelope icon below.
The Muckrakers EZ Healthy Breakfast
I love to cook. I recently invented this no-cook great breakfast. Enjoy.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of low fat granola
1/2 cup of unsweetened applesauce
Instructions:
Add Granola and Applesauce and stir.
Your done. You have a tasty breakfast that is super healthy for you. I created this recipe one day when I got tired of using milk (Few adults can metabolize the principle protein in cow's milk- casein - properly. Eventually, the liver has to remove all the partially digested cow protein which in turn places a heavy burden on the entire excretory system, especially the liver.)
8/18/2007
8/17/2007
8/16/2007
Politicians the real threat to nation's bridges
Those against the push to privatize and toll our freeways as a quick fix for America's aging infrastructure see the Minnesota bridge tragedy as a transportation wake-up call. It's criminal for politicians in Congress to have passed a highway bill in 2005 that funded a $223 million "bridge to nowhere" in Alaska instead of retrofitting that Minneapolis-St. Paul bridge, located on heavily traveled Interstate 35. We have seriously misplaced priorities in this country, pointing to politicians who are derelict in their duties. The 2005 federal highway bill had 6,000 earmarks for frivolous congressional pet projects pilfered from dedicated gas tax revenues at a time when the Bush administration was pushing the privatization and tolling of our highways, saying new toll taxes were necessary to address congestion and the aging infrastructure because of a shortfall in revenues. By design, they want to double-tax us by tolling the traveling public to plug their own leaky boat. Read the rest of it - HERE.
Let's face it: We live in a quick-fix world.
Rather than thinking long term and genuinely planning for the nation's present and future, politicians have become an extension of the 24/7 sound-bite media and short-term gain addicts on Wall Street.
8/15/2007
Mike Krusee plans to speak Tolls at DELL next week.
Well, folks are figuring it out.
With toll roads, comes the plan to force people on them.
I've got word that Mike Krusee will be going to Dell to speak next week. Aug 23, 1pm, Round Rock Dell Campus, Bldg 1. This is what one Dell employee said in an email to me today:"People are pretty frustrated here, they gave us entrance and exit ramps to the Toll, but closed our Entrance Ramps to I-35 (how nice).
We have Dell (Largest employer in Round Rock, a Super Walmart, a Target, an HEB, and 3 large shopping centers at this I-35 intersection, and they took our entrance ramp ti I-35 away!!!! Now at 5pm we have at least 5,000 Dell employees all fighting through two access road intersections to get to an I-35 entrance ramp."
Toll roads will not solve Texas roadway woes, state Sen. Kevin Eltife
Toll roads will not solve Texas roadway woes, state Sen. Kevin Eltife tells Tyler paper today.
Click on youtube video to see Sen Eltife say "I think we've created a monster" in TxDOT - video from some months ago.
8/13/2007
$5 T-Shirt Blowout!
$5 T-Shirt Blowout!
66% OFF!
ONLY A LIMITED QUANTITY LEFT!
66% OFF!
ONLY A LIMITED QUANTITY LEFT!
WE SOLD OUT!
FOR THOSE OF YOU THAT GOT THE SHIRTS - THANKS!
They are going in the mail today.
And a special thank those who sent extra - all of which will go to pay for AustinTollParty.com and TexasTollParty.com web hosting and more.
Thank You folks!~
: )
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