The “Take On Traffic” Con Men - More Lies for Toll Profits

Gary Farmer and John Langmore assist Sen. Kirk Watson in
the tolling freeways scam with Take on Traffic (TOT).

They call themselves a “coalition of concerned citizens”, but the profiteers from Take On Traffic (TOT) are far from your ordinary citizens, and they've spent gobs of money with a campaign intended with numerous glossy direct mail pieces to trick real citizens. They are special interest profiteers advocating for a toll plan that allow them to line their own pockets.

Who is the local toll lobby?

And, those who fund the exorbitant TOT campaign are unknown, as they hide behind loopholes in the law, so they don’t have to report where the money comes from. These charlatans are so desperate to profit off our families via the unaccountable tolls on roads we’ve already paid for - they can’t tell the truth about the numbers. Just like TxDOT, they have to fluff the numbers to sell tolls.

UPDATED: LYNDA RIFE CONTRACTS FOR TOT CAMPIAGN

TOT FUNNY NUMBERS

TOT throws out absolutely ridiculous numbers that are not anchored in any reality. TOT’s website, created by Mark Nathan (campaign manager for many freeway tollers such as Mayor Will Wynn), says “we need to find at least $12.7 Billion in funding” in the next 20 years. (that’s like $1.7 million a day!)

CAMPO once claimed $13.8 billion as the "funding gap" and then agreed $3.7 billion was a "math mistake". Then the auditor’s office chopped down the number further and said $4.9 billion isn't going to actually improve traffic.

TOT LIES IGNORE THE FACTS!

THE TOT LIE SAYS we’d have to raise our gas tax “between $1.20 and $1.77 a gallon” even after the Texas Transportation Institute report says just pennies of an indexed gas tax would be needed. The TTI report states tolls are NOT needed at all, 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.

Here’s just another example of the cooked up numbers from the profiteers. Actual State Comptroller’s fuel sales numbers:

730 million gallons gasoline annual in 2005
200 million gallons diesel annual in 2005

Compare the actual numbers above to TakeOnTraffic lies found at their website in a calculations link on a page called (get this) “How did we get our numbers” (I think they pulled these numbers out of their ass):

148 million gallons gasoline annual in 2006
345 million gallons gasoline annual in 2006

TakeOnTraffic significantly underestimates the revenue generation from the gas tax to scare citizens into thinking double tax tolls are needed. And they call the double tax a “user fee”, even though the tolls go directly into their pockets, and anything left over goes into slush funds. Who’s being used here?

How many hundreds of thousands of homes have they polluted with these direct mail toller lies?

WHO IS TAKE ON TRAFFIC (TOT)?

The profiteers happen to include the same old snake salesman that tried to force Phase II freeway tolls on Central Texas from the start of 2004 (Toll Lobby). TOT is the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce and it looks like Capital Area Transportation Coalition (CATC) and RECA are there to support as well. TOT is working in conjunction with Sen. Kirk Watson and former leader of the Chamber, to usher in his plan B tolls/managed lanes (coming soon).

TAKE ON TRAFFIC (TOT) is made up of Road Engineering firms, Toll Road builders, Banks, Attorneys, Developers and others who profit off the freeway tolling scam:

John Langmore (TOT Spokesman, TOT Chair and Rep. Mike Krusee associate)
Gary Farmer
Bury + Partners
Carter & Burgess
Heritage Title
HNTB
Martin & Salinas Public Affairs, Inc.
Home Builders Association
JPMorganChase
Locke Liddell & Sapp
Pape-Dawson Engineers, Inc.
PBS&J
RECA
URS
Frost Bank
Jackson Walker LLP
Endeavor Real Estate Group
Temple-Inland, Inc.
Wells Fargo Bank

According to this news report John Langmore is the Chair of TOT.

Langmore played a principal role in formulating and drafting Krusee’s freeway toll bill, HB 3588. Langmore impersonates a Transportation Planning Expert to continue to rake in fat contracts, even though he has NO education in transportation planning, not even an online college course.

John Langmore was the campaign treasurer, campaign manager and PR contact for SafeRail PAC, a political action committee that had success in altering our Texas Constitution in 2005 which allows unlimited tax dollars (blank checks) and debt to be syphon for new corporate rail in the Trans Texas Corridor (TTC). State records show Zachry Construction (of Cintra Zachry), Herzog Construction, HNTB , PBS&J, Carter Burgess, Pate Engineer and TateAustin contributed to SafeRail PAC.

Will the Austin American-Statesman expose the funny numbers? You tell me. The Statesman is on the Chambers executive committee.

When will a reporter ask them where all that campaign money comes from? And, how many hundreds of thousands of dollars they have spent?

The Revolving Door - Professional White Collar Looting

The revolving door, an important tool used for looting from taxpayers, continues to turn for the special interests.

Some folks know about the bigger stories, like how Texas Gov. Perry's transportation advisor, former lobbyist Dan Shelley, was rehired by contract winner Cintra last summer. But there are many hundreds more that take place each year, under the radar, within all areas of our government, especially in the lucrative area of roads and tolls (like PBS&J, Cintra, Macquarie and URS to name a few). TxDOT is a out of control bureaucratic organization that creates traffic congestion - with an unending appetite for revenue.

The problem becomes clear, when it pays too well for public officials to support wildly unpopular road and land grabs.

San Antonio Express reports key (so called) public transportation people in Dallas and Houston moving to the private sector for the pay-off. Including North Texas Tollway Authority Director Allan Rutter resigned Wednesday after a closed-door board meeting. Harris County Judge Robert Eckels announced he will step down.

Just months ago, San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization Director, Toller Joanne Walsh, moved to Parsons Brinckerhoff. And, Alamo Regional Mobility Authority director Tom Griebel is now a vice president with Pape-Dawson Engineers.

And, when the individual enters from the corporate side to "represent the public" it's an issue as well.

URS REVOLVING DOOR

Yesterday, Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports a former URS executive, Cinde Weatherby Gilliland, was hired as regional transportation coordinator for Forth Worth and in that capacity, Gilliland “will represent the city's interests in a slew of high-dollar projects”.

What do we know about URS?

URS, has one of the most disturbing records of inflating traffic forecasts, which allows doomed toll roads schemes to be built. The taxpayer always foots the bill, while the profiteers profit.

URS has produced inaccurate forecasts for nearly a half-dozen toll road projects in Florida. In some cases, the roads drew only half the cars URS predicted. One of those, the Suncoast Parkway, was projected to make $70 million; in tolls in its first year of operation, and it produced only $7 million.

Forbes, in 9/3/01, offered the following scathing statement:

"It has become painfully clear to bondholders and politicians that many of the public toll-supported projects built in the past decade, the majority blessed by URS and its ilk, have become financial albatrosses."

Standard and Poor's bond analysts, after reviewing forecasting case studies for years, have concluded:

"Optimism bias remains a consistent feature of toll road traffic forecasting."

City of Austin Councilperson Brewster McCracken's 'Independent Toll Study’, which was hijacked by tollers, hired URS. The study was completed months ago, and has proven to be a complete waste of $300,000. In Central Texas, Sen. Watson’s Toll Task force will have the same fate, if he continues to not allow the public a seat at the table.

BOONDOGGLE OF TEXAS PROPORTIONS

Many would agree that one of the worst boondoggles in Texas history was the Camino Colombia toll road, which was promised to be a 'generator of regional economic activity'. Gov. Perry's TxDOT, who are now pushing the Trans Texas Corridor land grab and freeway tolls, also praised support for the Camino Colombia.

URS forecasted the traffic revenue for Camino Colombia at $9 million for the first year - but it only produced $500k. That is about 6% of the URS forecast!

Camino Colombia was quickly sold auction style on the steps of the Webb County Courthouse in 2004, with TxDOT in attendance. John Hancock Financial Services Inc. bought back its investment for $12 million at that auction. TxDOT then paid John Hancock a premium of $20 million, $8 million more than was needed.

Taxpayers keep paying for corrupt failures, while our "leaders" pretend to be working for the public best interest. They continue to profit - and use the revolving door to work both sides of the table - to continue the fleecing of the taxpayer.