Perry: "This is where a government entity can take a piece of property and hand it over to a private developer for development, to enhance tax revenues. When we're building highways in the state of Texas, that still stays the sovreign land of the state of Texas. So when the next road that's built in the state of Texas and there's eminent domain [unclear word] that goes into place..."
[Camera operator]: That's quite the spin.
From the YouTube channel "Perry's Reality" -
The account that puts up this -- and other -- anti-Perry YouTube videos is most likely run by a Hutchison operative (though I have no way of knowing that -- it could be someone from one of the Democratic campaigns as well).
Regardless, the fact that Perry was asked -- rather point blank -- about whether or not the constitutional amendment prohibits future Trans-Texas Corridors, and ducked the question, is newsworthy.
Attorney General Greg Abbott called to say the North Tarrant Express private toll road deal could be in jeopardy, and the issues are identical to ones that are all but certain to entangle the LBJ Freeway reconstruction project in Dallas.
The issue: He says the Texas Constitution prevents any agency like TxDOT from committing funds from a future legislative session. The NTE toll road, which will be built by Spanish firm Cintra, will cost billions of dollars. TxDOT's portion is some $570 million to be paid over time, as stipulated in its contract with Cintra. That violates the constitution, Abbott said.
As I have said before, public-private-partnerships like the North Tarrant Express plan are nothing more than smaller pieces of Governor Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor being completed with federal stimulus money. That's right, taxed at the pump to pay for transportation, then your taxed to use the road, and on top of that all the revenue goes to Spain and does not stay in Texas. Much of this controversy comes from the failure of House Bill 300, which would have rubber-stamped any and all private toll roads and gutted oversight capability on deals just like the North Tarrant Express Plan.
Apparently the Texas Department of Transportation has balked at making changes to their little toll agreement, even going so far as to miss deadlines that could result in penalties and fines. The easy thing to do is simply adjust some language in the contract with Cintra to ensure that Texas drivers in North Central and Northeast Tarrant County are double-taxed, with revenue going to Spain, but TxDOT seems incapable of taking such simple action most likely because Cintra will balk at no guarantees of their money.
Oh darn.
The Texas Department of Transportation is in desperate need of reform but the only way we will get it is if Rick Perry is no longer governor of Texas.
(The past two days at the Capitol can be summed up by two Perry boondoggles- TTC and TYC. Yesterday's TTC protest was huge, and our very own Garnet Coleman did a great job stirring up the crowd. - promoted by Matt Glazer)
You can find links to bills I reference in the video at my website by clicking here.
We drove 4500 miles with a car loaded with clothes, computers, skis, ice skates and unidentified objects to set up our son Billy in his dormitory and enjoy first-hand the ambience of Harvard.
This journey took us on some of the most sophisticated and well-established toll roads, tunnels, and turnpikes in the country. Our Texas Re-thugs want to toll 4000 miles of roads in Texas (including the Trans Texas Corridor) so studying carefully the well-established toll roads throughout the East Coast would be instructive.
I didn't realize at the time how appropriate this week's Daily Texan column would be as it matched up with both Phillip's 40/40 this week and a front-page story in the Texan about the Trans-Texas Corridor. As such, my column below. (Major props to the Editor JJ Hermes for pitching the idea of the giant TTC cutting across the column in the print edition!)
There is an issue in Texas quietly building steam in what could be a major campaign theme in this fall's elections for governor and the state agricultural commissioner.
It's an issue that has folks in rural Texas feeling the pain of Native Americans centuries prior. It's an issue that has farmers and ranchers readying their pitchforks. And it's an issue that has some of the most conservative counties in the state upset with Republicans they used to consider defenders of free men on the range.
The issue is the Trans-Texas Corridor, a 4,000-mile, $183-billion plan proposed by Republicans and promoted by Gov. Rick Perry as the 50-year solution to Texas' traffic needs. The routes span the state, snaking across central and eastern Texas, connecting Laredo to Oklahoma and Arkansas. Future routes could bring in an East-West line from El Paso or others up through the Panhandle.
Each corridor could contain up to four trucker lanes, six vehicle lanes, six rail lines and a 200-foot utility path. At its maximum size, each TTC could be 1,200 feet wide, consuming up to 9,000 square miles of land, more than exists in all of New Jersey.
These massive property and investment requirements give rise to much of the objection from rural landowners. Cutting through countless farms and ranches and looping around suburbia will be a path wider than the distance between Austin's Congress and First Street bridges. One could set the entire state Capitol inside of the right of way.
Many of them are coming up this next week. It would be good to get as many folks out to these hearings (and as many STATE WIDE CANDIDATES as possible to testify). I have sorted them by date so that it will be easier to mobilize folks to attend the hearings and YELL ABOUT THE BIGGEST LAND GRAB in Texas History.
Over 83,000 acres of prime agriculture land is scheduled to be consumed by this project. Ownership of the TTC is to be given to a Spanish company who will charge us tolls for 50 years to travel across Texas on this road. It will include corridors for our utilities and communication infra structure (which will be controlled by a foreign country!) The project will aversely impact the eco-system of our piney woods region. The reasons this project is BAD for Texas are numerous. Please check this out and stand up before it is too late. The bill was sponsored by Todd Staples (who is the Republican candidate for Agriculture Commissioner). His shortsighted disregard for the number 2 economic sector in Texas is monumental. Agriculture needs Hank Gilbert to look out for the farmers and ranchers (and people who must put groceries on the table every week). Todd Staples is dangerous. The Trans-Texas Corridor is Dangerous.
HERE THEY ARE THE HEARING DATES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
Senator Do Nothing claims he is "Approaching all issues with one question: How will it affect our families?"
After five years of "representing" District 3, Staples is remembered for two things: (1) Sponsoring HB3, the 2003 redistricting bill and (2) Sponsoring HJR6, the hateful gay marriage amendment that was passed last November.
When considering legislation, Todd Staples asks the question "How will it affect our families?" If the answer is "badly", he throws his support behind it.
What a record he has. In an attempt to suck up to the Republican powerbrokers so they'd let him run statewide, Todd Staples' two biggest legislative "accomplishments" also happen to be the two biggest wastes of time in recent memory.
