Truth Be Tolled

Texas Mayors petition FHA to halt Trans-Texas Corridor

In the midst of Governor Perry's photo-op turnaround in support of eminent domain reform, five Mayors of Texas towns in the path of the Trans-Texas Corridor took a stand against Rick's proposed land grab. 

The Mayors formed the Eastern Central Texas Sub-Regional Planning Commission (ECTSRPC) and filed a petition with the Federal Highway Administration demanding that it reject the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Trans-Texas Corridor I-35 project.  

Their petition addresses a deep concern about the Blacklands Prairie, a swath of rich, vital farmland which is the heart of the region's economy.  The Mayors say that TxDOT's DEIS did not  sufficiently study the impact  of the TTC, which would cut through a significant portion of the Prairie.  In light of this and recent claims by TxDOT that the Trans-Texas Corridor in its previous incarnation is "dead," the petition is calling for a new study.  

To read a copy of the petition and the press release about the Mayors' fight, visit the Stewards of The Range website.

Attorney General rejects toll projects

By Michael Lindenberger

From The Dallas Morning News

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott has refused to sign off on the first of two major private toll road projects approved for North Texas earlier this year.

Abbott said provisions in the contract with the Spanish firm Cintra, which is slated to build the North Tarrant Express in Fort Worth and the mid-cities, violate the Texas Constitution and must be amended.

State law gives Abbott the power to hold up the contracts indefinitely if they are not "legally sufficient."

Negotiations between his office and the department have already extended for weeks beyond an initial 60-day deadline.

Cintra has agreed to spend billions in North Texas to build the North Tarrant Express toll road and to rebuild the LBJ Freeway.

But in return, the state department of transportation has pledged more than $1 billion in tax dollars toward the projects. As a result, main lanes on both highways will be free, but Cintra will collect tolls for 52 years on adjacent lanes.

The LBJ Freeway contract has not yet been reviewed, but it is likely to be saddled with the same legal issues.

Abbott said the department's contract for the North Tarrant Express obligates the state to pay $740 million over several years to Cintra.

"The Texas Constitution says that one Legislature cannot financially bind a future Legislature," he said.

The contract must be amended to reflect that any promises for payment are subject to discretion of future sessions of the Legislature, Abbott said.

Any provision that leaves payments from the state subject to future action by the Legislature could give Cintra pause.

TxDOT continues to work to meet Abbott's objections and to settle on terms agreeable to Cintra, spokesman Chris Lippincott said.

Senate votes out TxDOT overhaul

By Jim Vertuno of Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Senate on Monday night approved its version of a major overhaul to the state's road-building agency, including allowing voters in counties in the state's largest metro areas to raise gas taxes to pay for road projects.

The Senate bill to renew the Texas Department of Transportation also would keep the agency's five-member commission, even though the governor-appointed panel would be subjected to closer scrutiny from lawmakers.

Those two provisions are major differences between the Senate and House with the June 1 end of the session looming.

The Senate would allow 30 counties in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, El Paso and Corpus Christi metro areas to hold local elections to raise gas taxes by up to 10 cents per gallon and raise vehicle registration fees.

Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, said it will provide much-needed to money to build roads for those cities' bursting populations.

"Those areas have the greatest population and the greatest mobility needs," Carona said.

And while the Senate wants to keep the agency commission intact, the House wants to replace it with a single statewide elected commissioner and divert much of the embattled agency's power to local commissions.

The House plan would strip much of Gov. Rick Perry's power to influence one of the state's most important agencies, one that that has come under withering criticism in recent years as it plowed ahead with Perry's vision for the Trans-Texas Corridor, a superhighway system of roads, railway and utility lines crisscrossing Texas.

The Senate would keep the commission but reduce the length of terms from six years to two. That could greatly expand the Senate's influence over the agency because the Senate confirms the governor's appointments.

With the end of the session a week away, some lawmakers worried the rush on such a massive bill would create more problems.

"I hope we don't add to the chaos and confusion that is already over there," said Sen. Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock.

The 14,000-employee agency has been a target for lawmakers this session. A recent review under the state "sunset" process called for revamping the department's governing bard and its dealings with lawmakers and the public.

"There was a lot of distrust," said Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, sponsor of the transportation rewrite.

Both the House and Senate versions would repeal the Trans-Texas Corridor. That won't prevent governments from pursuing toll roads, but the version planned for by Perry and some lawmakers in recent years is "dead," Hegar said.

The Trans-Texas Corridor came under fire almost since its inception. Rural landowners in particular were opposed to giving up their property for the project. Perry and other state officials had already said they were scrapping the original concept.

"In this bill it's dead. In the House bill it's dead," Hegar said. "It's dead."

Like the House bill, the Senate also voted to create new legislative oversight to review agency policy. The Senate also wants to prohibit the agency from lobbying state lawmakers.

The Senate came close to joining the House in banning the controversial use of red-light cameras. The House bill would phase them out and the Senate at first voted to add the same provision, but then changed its mind and removed the ban.

Florida puts "Alligator Alley" leasing plan on hold

TALLAHASSEE (Reuters) - Plans to lease Florida's "Alligator Alley" to private operators are now on hold after no bidders stepped up to take over the 78-mile stretch of toll road through the Everglades, transport officials said Tuesday.

The Florida decision is the latest in a string of proposed high-profile privatizations of U.S. public facilities to unwind.

Chicago gave up on a $2.25 billion Midway Airport lease deal because of financing difficulties, and opponents stopped a $12.8 billion turnpike privatization in Pennsylvania.

In Florida, following months of haggling and controversy, the state Department of Transportation called off a public hearing set for May 29 after a Monday deadline elapsed without a single proposal to privatize the road linking Naples on the state's Gulf coast to Fort Lauderdale on the Atlantic.

Tight credit and mounting opposition to the deal may have proved too much as deadlines came and went.

A state DOT spokesman said on Tuesday the agency was surprised by the lack of participation and wasn't told bidders got cold feet.

"We didn't get that type of feedback," said DOT spokesman Dick Kane.

State Sen. Dave Aronberg, a vocal critic of the planned privatization, hailed the DOT's setback. The proposal was misguided, posed homeland security issues and compromised the state's revenue generating capacity, he said.

"This was a bad deal from the beginning," Aronberg said. "It should never have gotten this far."

In April 2008 the Florida DOT put the roadway up for lease as a way to generate revenue for the cash-strapped state.

Eight firms responded to the initial request for bids, including companies from Spain, Italy and Portugal. The list dropped to six after additional requirements were imposed.

The bidding deadline, originally set for December 15, was repeatedly moved back as bidders reeled from a global credit meltdown that left them unable to obtain financing.

One consumer group lauded the deadline's passing, saying the state should not turn state-run toll roads into profit-generating operations for private business.

"By privatizing roadways, officials hand over significant control over regional transportation policy to individuals who are accountable to their shareholders rather than the public," said Brad Ashwell, advocate for the Florida Public Interest Research Group. "The public should retain control over decisions about transportation planning and management."

(Reporting by Michael Peltier, additional reporting by Michael Connor in Miami; Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Senator Hutchinson fights double taxation in Washington

By Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson for the San Antonio Express-News

Maintaining and improving transportation infrastructure in Texas has become nearly as daunting a proposition as driving down Loop 410 at rush hour.

San Antonio and Texas as a whole have fast-growing populations, but face the challenge of crumbling and overstressed highways and consistent funding shortfalls. Clearly, something's got to give, and it can't be the quality of our roads — or fairness to Texas taxpayers. As we work to meet our transportation needs, we must think broadly and avoid band-aid solutions that will ultimately exacerbate the problem.

Recently, there have been renewed calls for tolls on highways that have already been built and paid for with federal tax dollars. I believe taxing Americans twice for the same asset is fundamentally unfair, and I oppose any effort to place tolls on existing interstate highways.

Double taxation is not the only concern. Overemphasis on tolling has serious implications for community safety and local infrastructure. Studies show that motorists will change their driving patterns to bypass the tolls. This will redirect traffic from our highways to remaining free roads, and, in turn, congest our local streets, compromise neighborhood safety, and overburden small-capacity infrastructure.

Furthermore, tolls on existing interstates will divert truck traffic to other roads. A recent study predicted that a 25-cent-per-mile toll on an interstate highway would cause nearly half the trucks to divert to other routes. Many of our communities are not equipped to handle heavy commercial traffic, and the safety of local drivers could be put at risk by the increased presence of trucks on small roads.

Today, I plan to introduce legislation to prevent tolling of existing free federal highways, bridges, or tunnels built with federal funding, so that taxpayers are not taxed to use a road for which they've already paid. I'm for more highways and even tolls, when proposed the right way. The legislation does not prohibit tolls on new construction.

If local communities and states want to cooperatively construct a toll road, they should be able to do so. If the state or community wants to expand their highways and toll for building new lanes, they can choose that alternative. In these situations, the taxpayers know exactly what they are getting. Many times a vote is required to approve these projects, but in any case, the taxpayers can hold the relevant officials accountable.

There has also been discussion in Texas and elsewhere of states attempting to purchase highways from the federal government and place them under state ownership or lease them to foreign investors for the purpose of tolling them. This is also an ill-conceived proposal that fails to address our underlying transportation challenges.

The debate on tolling illuminates the broader need to reform the federal highway program. Its antiquated funding formula, which has made Texas a donor state, is no longer serving the best interests of each state and its motorists. Our national transportation mission should evolve to maintaining and improving infrastructure, so that states don't resort to band-aid solutions, such as tolling existing freeways.

In April, I introduced a bill that would permit states to opt out of the federal highway program and instead be rebated federal fuel taxes collected within their borders. Today, Texas receives 92 cents back for every dollar sent to Washington, up from 76 cents from when I came to the Senate. My bill would allow Texas to finally see 100 percent of its gas tax dollars, and ensure all of our funds could be used to improve transportation in Texas.

Washington shouldn't take Texas tax dollars and send them to other states. Likewise, Texans shouldn't be charged time and time again to drive on roads they already paid for with their hard-earned tax dollars.

Kay Bailey Hutchison is the senior U.S. senator from Texas.

Truth Be Tolled wins WorldFest award

Storm Pictures is proud to announce that Truth Be Tolled: The TURF Special Edition has just won a Silver Remi Award in the 2009 WorldFest Houston International Film Festival.  

The film was  chosen from among 4,300 entries in 10 major Remi Award competitions.  

As one of the longest-running and most significant film festivals in the world, WorldFest Houston has also bestowed Remi honors upon Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, the Coen Brothers and Brian De Palma.  

Storm Pictures is honored to share such distinguished company.

Truth Be Tolled: The TTC Special Edition won the Platinum Remi Award for a Feature Documentary at WorldFest 2007.

At the Senate hearing

"What's all that recession ruckus in Texas?"

By Hilary Hylton 

From Time Magazine

It was the shout-out heard around the world: Texas' Republican governor Rick Perry's praise for his state's tea-party protesters, accompanied by not-so-veiled references to a potential Lone Star State secession. The remarks prompted glaring red-website headlines and instant fodder for cable-TV pundits. But for Texas political insiders, Perry's waving of the flag of secession was just the latest volley in a Texas-size Republican civil war — a face-off between Perry and his potential rival for the 2010 Republican gubernatorial nomination, U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Most observers in Texas believe Hutchison will indeed challenge Perry. She has moved from being coy about her plans to being less coy about running for governor. Still, there has been no official announcement. And so Perry has embarked on a Pavlovian political exercise: you say, "Hutchison," and he says, "Washington." Some Perry backers have even dubbed the 16-year Senate veteran "Kay Bailout Hutchison."

This week's tea parties afforded the governor an opportunity to tap into the Texas spirit of independence, a surefire crowd-pleaser in the reddest of red states, one with a profound sense of its own identity, independent history and anti-Washington sentiment. "Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression," Perry told roaring tea-party crowds in Austin and Fort Worth, quoting Sam Houston, Texas' founding father.

Dressed in jeans, boots and a baseball cap with a camouflage peak and a hunting outfitter's logo, the Texas governor was one of the few major politicians to appear at the tea parties across the country. While crowds yelled "Secede! Secede!," Perry — 60 but telegenic and youthful — thought out loud that secession might be the outcome if Washington does not mend its "oppressive" high-spending, dictatorial ways. (Most experts say the notion that Texas can legally secede is mistaken, but the state does have the right to split into five states, offering the prospect of 10 U.S. Senators, math that would send cold shivers down any Democratic back.)

After the rallies, Perry downplayed his secession comments, amending them in an interview with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram to say, "I'm trying to make the Obama Administration pay attention to the 10th Amendment." The so-called 10th Amendment movement, asserting the rights of the states to claim all powers not granted specifically to the Federal Government, has been grist for conservatives for more than a decade. The movement got a boost following the Democratic return to dominance in Congress and more traction when federal dictates about how to spend stimulus money raised hackles in places like Texas and South Carolina. Some two dozen state legislatures are considering or have passed resolutions supporting the 10th Amendment.

Is the governor's strategy working? While Perry was whipping up the tea-party crowds, Senator Hutchison was in Houston touting her work in Washington and her support for the federal deductability of state sales taxes. "The Senator is on the front lines in working against the Obama Administration and their unnecessary spending," her spokesman said. It was weak tea compared to Perry's red rhetoric. Straddling the Washington-Texas divide has been difficult for Hutchison. While Perry has been outspoken in rejecting federal unemployment funds, saying they would result in increased premiums for Texas employers, Senator Hutchison has been criticized for a less-than-clear stand on the issue. She voted against the stimulus bill, then said Perry should find a way to take the benefits without burdening employers in the future.

Nevertheless, one longtime Republican analyst and numbers cruncher, Royal Masset, believes Hutchison will defeat Perry and be the next governor of Texas. Polls suggest she has an early lead, and Masset points to her overwhelming victories in the past as evidence of her wide support not only among Republicans but also among independents, who can vote in Texas primaries. He has urged Perry to forgo another gubernatorial bid. Masset believes that Perry should be content with one major accomplishment: helping to create more jobs in Texas than the rest of the U.S. during his tenure. "Your place in history is secure," Masset wrote in a recent analysis piece for the Quorum Report, an insider political newsletter that circulates out of Austin, the state capital. "You would be freed up to do great things on the national scene where real power is now held by media stars such as you."

It is not likely to be advice Perry will heed. He is already the longest serving governor in Texas history — as lieutenant governor, he took over for President-elect George W. Bush in December 2000. That has given him unparalleled influence over state government, where much of the governor's power resides in appointments to boards and commissions. Masset believes that more of that kind of centralization of power "will lead to Washington-style corruption. We need new people with new ideas. We need new appointees and new blood."

All this talk of front lines, "oppressive Washington" and states' rights and cries of "Texas not taxes!" ironically comes as Texans get ready to commemorate on April 21 the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle of Texas' fight for independence from Mexico. It is also the day legislative hearings will be held in Austin on Texas' 10th Amendment resolution — so far, about half the members of the house of representatives have signed on as co-sponsors of the measure, which affirms Texas sovereignty under the 10th Amendment and serves notice to the Federal Government "to cease and desist certain mandates." Meanwhile, Texas house Democratic leader Jim Dunnam introduced a counterresolution Thursday, disagreeing with "any fringe element advocating the 'secession' of Texas" and adding that Perry's remarks were anti-American. Perry downplayed the brouhaha, telling reporters, "This is America, baby. The First Amendment, we like that too."

Legislators challenge Governor's veto power

I don't think the significance of this story should be overlooked.

By Ben Philpott for KUT Radio

Because Texas lawmakers pass the majority of their bill during the final days of the legislative session, the session is over before the governor vetoes legislation. Houston Republican Gary Elkins says that means lawmakers have no chance for an override.



Elkins: "I just want to bring the power back to the people we represent. The Constitution gives us the right to override governor vetoes. But as a practical matter, we're never here and never get the opportunity."

Elkins' Constitutional amendment would allow lawmakers to request a veto override, and with a majority of their colleagues in agreement, lawmakers would get called back to Austin. Will Lutz edits the Lone Star Report, a conservative political newsletter. He says the bill is a response to what some lawmakers view as an excessive amount of vetoes by Governor Perry.



Lutz: "The governor has vetoed local bills over larger policy disputes - over things like the Trans-Texas Corridor. He's vetoed things that even Republican legislators got a lot of grief from their constituents over like a property rights bill that protected people from eminent domain. And I think the legislators in the House have decided enough is enough."


This is the second time around for this amendment. It passed the House last year and fell flat in the Senate. A companion bill there this time around is still waiting for a committee hearing.

281 Overpasses Now

Stimulating sprawl

"The Recovery Act creates jobs by investing in immediate projects such as highways, bridges and tunnels — and within limitations to prevent waste, fraud, and ‘highways to nowhere’ — grants the states and their citizens broad discretion to choose which highway projects get funding."

--Nick Shapiro, White House Spokesman, in an article by Mike Cooper in the New York Times about a Texas plan to use $181 million of federal stimulus money to build a 15-mile, four-lane toll road through the Katy Prairie outside of Houston

Cooper  writes:  "The road exemplifies an unintended effect of the stimulus law: an administration that opposes suburban sprawl is giving money to states for projects that are almost certain to exacerbate it."

Hand slapped

"I am … compelled to strongly denounce your comments to Mr. Hank Gilbert at the … meeting as completely out of line and wholly unacceptable.

Regardless of the criticism you may have received over the last few years in your duties as a commissioner and regardless of your thoughts about Mr. Gilbert or the group he represents, he is a Texas taxpayer, and it is extremely inconsiderate for you to dismiss him and the organization he represents as “idiots.” Anyone who holds the prestigious position of Texas transportation commissioner must take both the good and the bad that comes with that position and treat our fellow citrizens with respect; the same respect that he paid you in politely expressing his thoughts and opinions.

[I]ncidents like this one only underscore the problems of the past and retard future progress. They certainly do nothing to change the perception of many of my legislative colleagues that TxDOT remains arrogant and unresponsive to the people it serves…."

--Senator Glenn Hegar, District 18, in a letter to TxDOT Commissioner Ted Houghton, as reported by Paul Burka of Texas Monthly

Stimulus paying for toll roads?

Tar Sands Time Out

Tar Sands Time Out is the Sierra Club's page on the plan to build a pipeline through Texas to carry tar sands-extracted oil from Canada's Alberta Boreal forest. This pipeline was part of the Trans-Texas Corridor (which is now "dead," ), which was part of the NAFTA Superhighway (which "doesn't exist,") which will apparently get built in one incarnation or another.

Tar Sands oil extraction is a dirty, destructive, energy-inefficient process, which will produce a short-lived supply of oil at great expense to one of the last truly wild forests in the world.

Read a fact sheet about the environmental impacts of tar sands development here.

Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases:  if it moves, tax it.  If it keeps moving, regulate it.  And if it stops moving, subsidize it.

--Ronald Reagan

Democracies die behind closed doors.

--Written by the Honorable Judge Damon Keith, in a 2002 federal court ruling 

"Pouring good money after bad is generally frowned on. But that’s exactly what the Treasury’s doing; literally, committing hundreds of billions - or trillions – of public dollars to prop up companies that are financially dead. And we’re not even demanding accountability in return. Can you tell me where the bail out money’s gone? As for responsibility, Citibank said thanks very much for the bail out back in October. In November, guess what they did--they spent $10 billion to buy a toll road operator --- in Spain.

So much for personal responsibility."

--Laura Flanders, host of GRITtv

Cost of the 'Dead' TTC so far

By Ben Wear

From the Austin-American Statesman

The other day, when TxDOT officials were declaring the Trans-Texas Corridor dead (sort of), questions arose about how much money had been dropped on Gov. Rick Perry’s vision of 4,000 miles of tollways, railways and utility lines. TxDOT said it didn’t have those figures available immediately.

Well, actually, the agency did have them, or at least some of them, on its Web site. Thanks to reader Sharon Barta for chasing this down on the site. She said that with the recent redesign of the TxDOT Web site the report was hard to find, but was still there. Here’s the link.

Anyway, the tab through Aug. 31, 2008 was an impressive $131 million, including $30.7 million in the fiscal year that ended Aug. 31. The total includes $59.4 million for the I-35 corridor, $67.9 million for the I-69 corridor, $2.8 million for the proposed Loop 9 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and $1.2 million for expenditures applying to both the I-35 and I-69 corridor projects.

TxDOT, on its Web site, said these are the total for “engineering studies” (most of that for the federally required environmental studies going on on two of the corridors) and do not include “indirect costs.” So it’s not clear if this includes, for instance, any money spent on marketing and other public relations costs. We’ll check.

TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott said Tuesday, and reiterated today, that the overwhelming amount of this money should not be considered wasted because the I-35 and I-69 corridor projects are still alive and probably will be built in some form someday.

On the other side of the ledger, there has been no revenue from the corridor plan so far, at least technically, and won’t be for many years. And the TxDOT spending is far from over because the environmental studies are still in progress.

TxDOT did get a $25 million payment from a consortium, led by Spanish tollroad company Cintra, that will build the southern 40 miles of Texas 130, and will get between 4.65 percent and 18 percent of the revenue in the first years of that 50-year contract. That road is not officially part of the I-35 corridor project, but in reality would be if the 300-mile tollway from San Antonio to the Oklahoma border is ever built out.

Trans-Texas Corridor gets a makeover

'Dead,' but not forgotten?

By Patrick Driscoll

From the San Antonio Express-News

AUSTIN — The biggest problem with the Trans-Texas Corridor has been its name, and the outdated image it invoked.

So the Texas Department of Transportation decided to retire the title, Director Amadeo Saenz told more than 1,000 people this morning at the Texas Transportation Forum.

“We’ve decided to put the name to rest,” he said, according to a text of his speech. “The Trans-Texas Corridor as it was known will no longer exist.”

The corridor actually hasn’t existed “as it was known” for years now, Saenz explained later. It’s been evolving ever since Gov. Rick Perry unveiled the 50-year blueprint in 2002.

Back then, the vision showed 1,200-foot wide swaths of toll lanes, rail lines and utility lines criss-crossing the state.

TxDOT officials later said the roads and rails might not be in the same corridors, and so the rights of way wouldn’t have to be so wide. They also said segments would be built only as needed, and existing roads would be widened instead where possible.

But many people couldn’t shake the wide berth shown in the original drawings. They added up acreage, projected the paths of the 4,000 mile network and got scared.

“A lot of fear developed,” recalled State Sen. Robert Nichols, who at the time served on the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees TxDOT. “With that fear came opposition.”

Anger from thousands of landowners and activists flooded public hearings, first in 2006 for the corridor’s twin along Interstate 35 and again last year for a route through East Texas.

TxDOT refined plans, announcing that adding lanes to I-35 south of San Antonio was the priority over a virgin route.

Last year, the Transportation Commission broadened that intention, promising to always first consider using existing rights of way for any corridor project.

Today, Saenz said the agency will also try to keep widths within 600 feet. Going wider, especially if roads and rails are put together, would be the exception rather than the norm.

“The right of way will be whatever you need to build the asset,” he said. “But the chance of it being all put together in one corridor is slim.”

Other than backpedaling from the Trans-Texas Corridor brand, and the goals and priorities set over the years, the Trans-Texas Corridor remains intact.

TxDOT still plans to partner with private corporations to build and lease projects. Toll roads, truck-only lanes and rail lanes are also still on the table.

Environmental studies for the I-35 and East Texas corridor segments still chug through the pipeline. And a development contract with Cintra of Spain and Zachry Construction Co. of San Antonio, for projects paralleling I-35, is still valid.

But booting the corridor’s name could freshen up the concept and maybe clear the air some before this year’s transportation-heavy legislative session starts next week.

“We can now focus on the real issue, which is additional road capacity and the means to finance the same,” said Senate Transportation Committee Chairman John Carona, R-Dallas. State lawmakers plan to put TxDOT, toll roads, privatization, gas taxes and other issues in the frying pan. Carona said all financing options will be needed.

“It’s going to be a big chapter, it’s going to be a great chapter,” he said of the upcoming session.

Perry, speaking from Iraq on a conference call with reporters, concurred that the state needs private investments in roads.

“Our options are relatively limited due to Washington’s ineffectiveness from the standpoint of being able to deliver dollars or the Legislature to raise the gas tax,” he said.

“So we have to look at some other options.” Still, the name-change has roused excitement.

“We’re real pleased that a project once described as unstoppable has now screeched to a halt,” said David Stall of the citizens’ group Corridor Watch.

He said his group will continue to watch developments.

Cash-strapped states look to sell off assets

From Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota is deep in the hole financially, but the state still owns a premier golf resort, a sprawling amateur sports complex, a big airport, a major zoo and land holdings the size of the Central American country of Belize.

Valuables like these are in for a closer look as 44 states cope with deficits.

Like families pawning the silver to get through a tight spot, states such as Minnesota, New York, Massachusetts and Illinois are thinking of selling or leasing toll roads, parks, lotteries and other assets to raise desperately needed cash.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has hinted that his January budget proposal will include suggestions to privatize some of what the state owns or does. The Republican is looking for cash to help close a $5.27 billion deficit without raising taxes.

GOP lawmakers are pushing to privatize the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and the state lottery. Both steps require a higher authority — federal legislation in the case of the airport, a voter-approved constitutional amendment for the lottery. But one lawmaker estimated an airport deal could bring in at least $2.5 billion, and the lottery $500 million.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering putting the Massachusetts Turnpike in private hands. That could bring in upfront money to help with a $1.4 billion deficit, while also saving on highway operating costs.

Investing in infrastructure
In New York, Democratic Gov. David Paterson appointed a commission to look into leasing state assets, including the Tappan Zee Bridge north of New York City, the lottery, golf courses, toll roads, parks and beaches. Recommendations are expected next month.

Such projects could be attractive to private investors and public pension funds looking for safe places to put their money in this scary economy, said Leonard Gilroy, a privatization expert with the market-oriented Reason Foundation in Los Angeles.

"Infrastructure is more attractive today than ever," Gilroy said. "It's tangible. It's a road. It's water. It's an airport. It's something that is — you know, you hear the term recession-proof."

Unions don't like privatization deals out of fear that worker wages and benefits will be squeezed as private operators try to boost their profit by streamlining services.

Taxpayers, too, can lose out if the arrangements don't work — and sometimes even if they do, said Mark Price, a labor economist with the Keystone Research Center in Harrisburg, Pa. Higher tolls on privatized roads can push drivers onto state-operated roads, wearing them down faster and raising public costs over time.

"You're privatizing some profits in this process and socializing some losses," Price said.

Selling or leasing public assets can produce an immediate infusion of cash for the state, while foisting the tough decisions, such as raising tolls, onto private operators instead of the politicians.

"The downsides are often after they leave office," said Phineas Baxandall, a researcher with the consumer-oriented U.S. Public Interest Research Group in Boston.

Privatization deals 
Some states struck major privatization deals well before the economic crisis hit.

Indiana, for example, brought in $3.8 billion in 2006 by leasing the Indiana Toll Road for 75 years. Chicago stands to collect $2.5 billion by leasing Midway Airport, if the federal government approves, and has raised an additional $3.5 billion since 2005 through deals for the Chicago Skyway toll road, parking ramps and parking meters.

But in September, investors walked away from a $12.8 billion bid to lease the Pennsylvania Turnpike for 75 years after legislators failed to act on the deal. And Texas lawmakers uneasy over a proposed private toll road system approved a two-year moratorium on such contracts last year.

David Fisher, who managed Minnesota's state-owned properties a few years ago under former Gov. Jesse Ventura, warned that the state has a hard time finding buyers for properties such as old mental institutions.

Fisher said some public properties belong in private hands, such as Giants Ridge Golf & Ski Resort, a top-rated getaway in Biwabik, and Ironworld, a museum and library in Chisholm. Both are owned and subsidized by Iron Range Resources, a state agency.

"Certainly those things could be privatized, I think without harm to the state, but I don't know that you could find the right buyer," Fisher said.

Happy New Year

As a holiday surprise and an educational public service, Storm Pictures has provided links to  "Truth Be Tolled:  TTC Special Edition" in its entirety.  Of course, YouTube does not accurately represent the true image and sound quality of the film.

Please consider donating to the nonprofit organizations mentioned in the movie, and/or purchasing a DVD.  

The YouTube version is divided into twelve parts;  part one follows below.  All twelve can be found here.

AFP interviews 'Truth Be Tolled' at premiere

"American Free Press attended the film’s debut screening Oct. 30 at the Palladium Theater, where this writer interviewed producer-director Bill Molina, as well as Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (TURF) leader Terri Hall, both of whom spoke on camera for AFP news videos.

Molina cast Ms. Hall as the main spokesperson in the film to shine a light on TxDOT’s apparent corruption and clarify the troubling issues involved. She is perhaps the most visible TTC-toll road opponent in Texas; he is an award-winning filmmaker whose earlier editions of Truth Be Tolled laid out the truth about the much-despised TTC, which is Texas’s portion of the NAFTA Superhighway."

--Mark Anderson

Pat Choate on "Truth Be Tolled"

"Because TTC-35, the portion of the super corridor that runs north to south from San Antonio through Austin and Dallas to Oklahoma, uses some federal funds, TxDOT had to hold environmental hearings in the summer of 2006. More than 14,000 people attended. 

William H. Molina, a filmmaker, made a documentary, “Truth be Tolled,” which shows Texans at those hearings who are stunned, angry, and desperate to keep their farms and ranches from being taken by the state. The film also shows the obvious indifference of the TxDOT officials as they stall the meetings, provide dismissive answers, and simply ignore many speakers. The film won the first prize at the 2007 WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival."

--From economist and author Pat Choate's new book, "Dangerous Business: The Risks of Globalization for America," as excerpted in The Texas Observer

Sal moves on

Sal Costello, anti-toll road pioneer and a star of  Truth Be Tolled, has moved with his family to Illinois. 

We will miss him.  

Whatever side of the toll road fence you sit on, Texans owe Sal a debt of gratitude.  He and others like him have worked hard to bring the truth to light. Sometimes in that process, people get knocked around and the chips fall into broken pieces, but without truth, there is no democracy; without the guardians who are willing to question authority, we'd have a dictatorship.

Godspeed, Sal--and thank you.

Here's hoping

Thanks again to everyone who came to the premiere.  

Since then, the election has given many of us good reason to believe that things will be different, maybe even better, this time next year.  

With the global economy tanking, it's hard to imagine that risky ventures like privatized toll roads (that no one will be able to afford) and a NAFTA superhighway bringing in more cheap crap (that no one will be able to afford) would be on anyone's agenda.  But rest assured, some will still be making a case for them. 

 

If the past eight years have proven anything, it's that while the cats are away, the mice will play.  The money changers have had their way with our liberties, and while our backs have been turned, they've gotten away with murder.

That game is far from over.  So stay awake, stay involved, stay informed.  

And while you're at it, spread a little goodwill around.  This world could use some.

First review

"Local filmmaker William Molina has been at it again, pointing his camera at the gravity, the bravado, the incredulity, the smugness, the squirming and so many other performances that fill a toll-road debate that is bigger than Texas itself. Then he slices and dices. It's not good for the tollers. Molina doesn't like toll plans and how they're being pushed. So if you're a toll fan, you won't like this film. You might not be able to finish your popcorn. If you're dubious or angry about a wave of talk rolling across the nation to toll and privatize roads, you'll need the extra-large bag of popcorn."

--Pat Driscoll of the San Antonio Express-News

Premiere Screening

We will host the premiere screening of

Truth Be Tolled:  The TURF Special Edition 

on Thursday, October 30  

Meet the cast and crew at 6 pm

Film at 7 pm

at the Palladium Theater

Please join us.

Truth Be Tolled: TURF Special Edition

Now available at TruthBeTolled.com

Feds yank environmental clearance for toll road

By Patrick Driscoll

From the San Antonio Express-News

For the second time in 21/2 years, the U.S. 281 tollway project has been brought to its knees, and officials say it could take up to two years to get back up.

Federal officials pulled the project's environmental clearance after the Texas Department of Transportation, reviewing records as part of a lawsuit filed in February, found problems with contracts to study endangered species.

Alamo Regional Mobility Authority officials, who had taken over the project from TxDOT, heard the news Wednesday.

“The 281 North toll project is stalled,” board member Henry Muñoz announced. “We don't know what the future of that project might be. There will be no projects moving forward on 281 North in the foreseeable future.”

As a somber Muñoz talked at the TransGuide center, agency Chairman Bill Thornton and Director Terry Brechtel were rushing to Austin to meet with Texas Transportation Commission Chairwoman Deirdre Delisi “to discuss the future of the 281 North Tollway and the future of the RMA.”

After the meeting, Brechtel said all is not lost, but it could take a year to fix the environmental study and up to another year to get another federal clearance and fight off another possible lawsuit.

“It will eventually come back to the community,” she said of the toll plan.

Toll-road critics and environmentalists, who filed the lawsuit to demand a more detailed environmental study, claimed yet another victory, a refrain to a similar lawsuit that stopped the project in early 2006.

“It's a huge victory for the taxpayers and the citizens who have worked tirelessly to get TxDOT and the RMA to come clean,” said Terri Hall, founder of Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom.

Plaintiff attorneys said the tainted contracts are just some of several problems uncovered by the lawsuit.

“They're waving the white flag,” said Bill Bunch of Save Our Springs Alliance. “That's what it seems like.”

Thornton said in a statement that everybody lost.

“Today is a sad day,” he said. “Anyone celebrating the end of this project, at this time, is also celebrating a stay in the status quo, a stay of congested roadways, of increasing frustrations and increased wastes of fuel.”

A $328 million construction contract for the toll road includes up to $60,000 a day for inflation, Brechtel said.

Officials had hoped to resolve the lawsuit and start work early next year, but the delay means the contract will have to be renegotiated or bid again.

Total project costs, including design, engineering and land acquisition, is expected to top $470 million.

The agency so far has spent about $6 million on plans for toll lanes along both U.S. 281 and Loop 1604. And TxDOT spent $2 million and a year updating the environmental study after the first lawsuit.

Hall and others say toll officials are to blame for refusing to scrap the 8-mile tollway and instead build a 3-mile freeway plus some overpasses as first planned.

They say the environmental studies never seriously considered impacts to motorists or the Edward's Aquifer.

"I respect generosity in people, and I respect it in companies too, I don’t look at it as philanthropy; I see it as an investment in the community."

--Paul Newman, 1925 - 2008