Thread: Trans Texas Corridor Catastrophe.

http://www.texastollparty.com/index.php?direct=1


New Tax on Texans
"Governor Perry and his friends spent a great deal of time researching ideas to create more revenue."
— Ric Williamson, appointed by Rick Perry to govern TxDOT

1. DOUBLE TAX TOLLS, shifting already paid for freeways to tollways, creates an open-ended new tax that will amount to the largest tax increase in Texas history. Rick Perry's "innovative finance" plan/mandate takes ALL existing Texas highway projects that are fully funded, some on the verge of completion, and turns them into toll roads at the last minute. An unelected, unaccountable new bureaucracy will set the toll rates - for us to drive on freeways we've already paid for - a Double Tax!


"in your lifetime most existing roads will have tolls.”
– Transportation Commission's chair Ric Williamson,
appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to govern TxDOT
2. RICK PERRY'S TRANS TEXAS CORRIDOR will seize hundreds of thousands of acres from Texans, so corporations can reap billions in profits. This land has sustained generations of Texas families while contributing to our tax structure. 4,000 miles of 10 lanes of toll roads will criss cross the state, in quarter mile Corridors far from any metropolitan area. It will kill small towns and cities across Texas because there are few exits. Travelers will use the gas stations, restaurants, and motels built within the toll corridor. The TTC will cost more than $183 Billion dollars. Gov. Perry is having secret negations with a foreign company to hold a 50 year concession.


“Perry’s Trans Texas Catastrophe is the cornerstone of his
administration and the biggest land grab in history."
– Carole Keeton Strayhorn, Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

How did this happen?

We have allowed our government and their special interests friends to run amok. Both Republicans and Democrats are working with us and against us. This is not a partisan issue, but a corrupt politicians' issue. All Texans must work together and vote the person - not the party. Tens of thousands of Texans have already joined us.


TAKE ACTION NOW
Send one email to all local and Texas wide looters -
tell them you OPPOSE our public freeways being tolled

http://www.texastollparty.com/ttp_trans_texas.php


Trans Texas Corridor Catastrophe.
It's not about transportation. It's about revenue.
Boondoggle costs Texans most while politicians corporate friends profit.


"...concentrating on the four primary routes first,
is the beginning of generating the cash flow..."
- Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson,
appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to govern TxDOT

"Because there are issues of confiscation of private land, State and National sovereignty and other similar concerns, the Party urges the repeal of HB 3588 authorizing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Further, we urge the removal of all authorization and powers granted the Texas Transportation Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation for the construction and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor."
- Republican Party of Texas Platform says "NO" to Corridor.

"Governor Perry and his friends spent a great deal
of time researching ideas to create more revenue"
- Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson,
appointed by Gov. Rick Perryto govern TxDOT


Trans Texas Corridor Catastrophe.
It's not about transportation. It's about revenue.
Boondoggle costs Texans most while politicians corporate friends profit.


"...concentrating on the four primary routes first,
is the beginning of generating the cash flow..."
- Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson,
appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to govern TxDOT

"Because there are issues of confiscation of private land, State and National sovereignty and other similar concerns, the Party urges the repeal of HB 3588 authorizing the Trans-Texas Corridor. Further, we urge the removal of all authorization and powers granted the Texas Transportation Commission and the Texas Department of Transportation for the construction and operation of the Trans-Texas Corridor."
- Republican Party of Texas Platform says "NO" to Corridor.

"Governor Perry and his friends spent a great deal
of time researching ideas to create more revenue"
- Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson,
appointed by Gov. Rick Perryto govern TxDOT




The singular focus of the Corridor plan is to generate revenue. It intentionally bypasses urban centers. Those metropolitan areas are left to deal with their own traffic and mobility problems, including access to the Corridor. Perry's plan allows private land to be taken away from its current owner to lease it for commercial, industrial or agricultural purpose.

With only 5,000 miles of toll roads in the United States today, The Trans Texas Corridor is a 4,000 mile plan of supertollways more. The Corridor will include tollways for 12 passenger vehicles lanes, 4 truck lanes, 2 passenger train tracks, 2 commuters train tracks, 2 freight train tracks, underground lines for water, natural gas, petroleum, telecommunication, fiberoptics and overhead high-voltage electric transmission lines and electrical transmission towers.

Plans also include gas stations, garages, restaurants, hotels, stores, billboards, warehouses, freight interchange, intermodal transfer areas, passenger train stations, bus stations, parking facilities, dispatch control centers, maintenance facilities, pipeline pumping stations, and of course, toll booths. The Trans Texas Corridor is the largest engineering project ever proposed for Texas. This statewide network of corridors will measure a quarter mile wide and cost over $180 Billion dollars.

Secret deal with a private foreign company.
Gov. Rick Perry has had secret negations with a company from Spain, Cintra, to hold a 70 year concession for a portion of the Corridor. Perry and Cintra/Zachery withheld the agreement from the public, claiming it included proprietary information, even though taxpayer dollars to the tune of $3.5 million is going to Cintra's partner, Zachry, for planning.

Attorney General Greg Abbott rendered an opinion in June, 2005 that states the documents are public record, after the Houston Chronicle and other newspapers around Texas were refused when they asked to see the deal.

Cintra/Zachry and TxDOT filed a lawsuit against the AG in July, 2005 to keep the secret a secret.

The state will take 1/2 million acres, including the richest farm land in Texas called "The Blacklands".

In addition to TxDOT, private-sector analysis will identify other corridors for immediate development and future investment as revenue is needed. The typical corridor section will require 146 acres of right of way per mile. The total anticipated right of way for the 4,000 miles of corridor is 584,000 acres.


"Local citizens would suffer the negative impact of
such a corridor without receiving any benefit"
- Diane Lacy, Jeff Davis County Commissioner

"It's going to kill agriculture.
Depending on where it goes, that is part of my family's land."
- Richard Cortese, Bell County Commissioner

"This would waste AG lands, and the access
and egress issues are of real concern,"
- Judge Jerry Bearden, Mason County

"If there is no access to the small towns,
it will change the face of the state."
- Will Lowrance, Hillsboro Mayor

"I am concerned about what this could do to the county."
- Richard Cortese, Bell County Commissioner

"If it is done the way it's proposed, it will hurt us..."
- Carlos Vigil, Cooke County Community Development Director

"With a right-of-way approximately 1,200-feet-wide, the proposed
corridor could change the face of agriculture in Texas forever as it
swallows up thousands of production acres of farmland."
- Juliet Briskin, Country World News

"It's a terrifying nightmare. I'm scared to death of this."
- Bill Durst, Fayette County Inspector

"The government is out of control. They're trying to take our property rights away from us,"
- Rep. Harvey Hilderbran

"Texas should not be sold out to foreign interests.
Texas farms and ranches should be for Texas farmers and ranchers.
We should not let a Europeans consortium take our Texas birthright.
Our elected leaders should not be asking us to give them our land and
then insist we should have to pay to drive across it (as toll roads.)"
- Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn.


The public is speaking out!


The TxDOT plan states that they need to move quickly in developing the corridor segments that will generate the highest toll revenues that will enable the expansion of the corridor into every section of the state, except in urban areas, where the traffic congestion occurs.


"Once the Governor decided that this is where we needed to head, he wanted to remove it from the political flow of the state, he wanted it to become policy as opposed to politics, and that was one of the reasons he asked us to move so fast, and we've done an admirable job...." - Texas Transportation Commissioner Ric Williamson, appointed by Gov. Rick Perry to govern TxDOT


Bad idea for Texas. Here's why:

An easy target for terrorists. A 200-foot Utility Zone for large underground water lines, natural gas and petroleum pipelines, telecommunication cables, fiberoptics and overhead high-voltage electric transmission lines all in a quarter mile wide package will be an incredibly easy target for terrorists.

Turns private land into State land. The Trans Texas Corridor project authorizes the Commission to take private land away from its current owner in record time - to lease it for any commercial, industrial or agricultural purpose. More than one-half million acres will become government property used for the State to collect revenue and go in direct competition with private business. HB 2702 does not protect Texans, since Perry's Corridor will be exempt.

Designed to generate revenue first and provide transportation second. The Corridor plan is designed to provide transportation funds, more than transportation. Accordingly it's not important where the Corridor is built, or how many family farms get taken, as long as it generates revenue.

Negative economic impact for Texas cities and towns. Taking business away from hundreds of Texas communities by limiting traveler access and providing, in its place, State contract concessions that will include gas, food, hotels, stores and more. The approximately 580,000 acres consumed by the Corridor will become State land taken off county and school district tax rolls. Local taxpayers will absorb the difference. Every mile of Corridor will take approximately 146 acres of land off the tax rolls.

Potential for tremendous liabilities created by Comprehensive Development Agreements. The Corridor plan is based on design-build-operate-maintain contracts called Comprehensive Development Agreements (CDA). While new to Texas, these CDAs have been used in Mexico, Chile, Colombia, China, Malaysia, and Hungry. These contracts often include equity guarantees, debt guarantees, exchange rate guarantees, subordinated loans, shadow toll payments, and minimum revenue guarantees. Most troubling is a class of support called "revenue enhancements" that may limit competition and allow the development of ancillary facilities.

Doesn't solve the real problem. The singular focus of the Corridor plan is to build corridors that connect regions of the state intentionally bypassing urban centers. Those metropolitan areas are left to deal with their own traffic and mobility problems, including access to the Corridor. Since our large cities are the traffic generators the Corridor will offer little if any relief.

Private Interests v. Public Interests. Private investment and partnership sounds like a good idea until you realize that 'their' goal is strictly profit driven (not transportation). Private investment will involve bonds and bondholders who naturally want to protect their money and will insist on terms and conditions that can be contrary to the public good.

Dividing the State. Nearly one-quarter mile wide corridors will cut Texas up into pieces like the Great Wall of China, making it more difficult to get from one place to another. Many landowners will find that they have the choice of keeping land they can no longer access or sell it to the state.

Passenger rail. It hasn't worked anywhere in the world except in dense urban districts - That ain't Texas!

Air pollution. A don't fix it, just move it approach. This plan doesn't reduce pollution, it simply pushes vehicle pollution away from the large urban district into rural Texas. What's more, it generates more air pollution and wastes gas/money since vehicles moving between large cities will travel further with their engines running longer than taking a direct route.

Click here to sign the "Stop Looters" petition.

Alex Jones from www.prisonplanet.com has been talking about this for a couple of years. He says they want to make all the major roads in Texas a Toll Road.