the TTC with 9 lives

The AP is reporting that TXDOT has once again "killed" the TTC. Back in January they renamed it "Innovative Connectivity in Texas|Vision 2009".

Transportation Commissioner Bill Meadows said, "The reason that's being given for the no-build option is that people don't want it. They said 'Hell no.' "

The Ap reports this:

Planning for the corridor has nevertheless quietly continued. A consortium led by Cintra of Madrid, Spain, and Zachry Construction of San Antonio had prepared a master plan, and a detailed environmental study of the TTC-35 corridor was under way.

Meadows said that was all ending.

"Formally, absolutely, TTC-35 is dead. We are canceling the contract with Zachry," he said.

Information from: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6654879.html

Reporter banned from secret meeting on selling US assets

WND banned from secret meeting on selling U.S. assets
'We don't feel news site is appropriate for a business conference'

---

Posted: September 19, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com

EuroMoney PLC, the UK-based company that arranges dozens of financial conferences around the world each year, has refused to allow WND staff reporter Jerome Corsi to attend next week's "North American PPP (Public-Private Partnership) & Infrastructure Finance Conference" in New York, even though WND offered to pay the $1,999 conference fee required to attend.

"When government officials want to go behind closed doors with investment bankers and lawyers to discuss selling our public infrastructure to foreign investment leaders, investigative reporters need to be there to tell the public what is really going on," Corsi said.

"Why is it that all these PPP and SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership)
meetings are behind closed doors," Corsi asked, "and government officials and their supporters think that's normal? But when investigative reporters want to attend and report on what is being said, we are the ones who get accused of being the conspiracy theorists?

"By refusing to allow WND to attend as a paying customer," Corsi argues, "EuroMoney is telling the American public that they intend to conduct a secret meeting designed to teach government officials how to sell out U.S. public infrastructure to foriegn investment concerns.

(Story continues here)

HB1892 sitting on Gov. Perry's desk

"Many House lawmakers applauded when the
bill was passed. The only dissenting vote
was cast by Rep. Mike Krusee."
– Houston Chronicle.

How sad that Krusee is my representative. I petitioned him to vote for this bill.

So here's a time line for the bill:
05/02/07 - TX, House sent the bill to Gov. Perry 139-1 (Senate 27-4)
05/12-13/07 - Gov. Perry must veto the bill or allow it to become law (sign it or not)
05/14-28/07 - Legislature can override a veto with a two-thirds vote of both chambers
05/28/07 - Session Ends

Judging by the support by both House and Senate, it appears this bill will become law even if Perry does decide to veto in protest.

My bet is he just lets it sit. A veto would make another national story of Perry vs. the State of Texas! But Ic ould be wrong. Perry has already proven he's comfortable with controversy. You know what they say... "any press is good press". Maybe this is his way of getting his name out there for a presidential run in 2012.

Regardless, HB1892 is well on it's way to slowing down the Trans-Texas Corridor.

Corridor proposal looks like huge scandal waiting to happen

This commentary is so well written I wanted to post it here in case it got removed in the near future. Very well spoken Kent Conwell!

Corridor proposal looks like huge scandal waiting to happen
Kent Conwell

Now, I know most of us make fun of our politicians. Even politicians make fun of themselves. Henry Kissinger once made the perceptive comment that "ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad name."

Lincoln once commented, "you can't fool all of the people all of the time; you just have to fool the majority." Remember Enron, Whitewater, Watergate, and Sharpstown?

And the scandals continue. In fact, one news journal called 2006 the 'year of corruption.'We had to stomach Rep. Mark Foley and his obsession with congressional pages. Before that there was ex-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, Louisiana Rep William Jefferson, Bob Ney, Duke Cunningham, and Texas own Tom DeLay.

I seldom make predictions because I'm usually wrong, but this time, I'm not. I predict that within five to 10 years, a scandal will rock Texas like no other. Enron and Sharpstown will be penny ante stuff compared to it.

And it will be because of our current governor, TxDot, and the Trans Texas Corridor.

Trans Texas Corridor. Have you heard of it? Not many have. And the legislature passed the bill in 2003.

The governor and TxDot have tried to keep it quiet. Almost 200 individuals have been forced to file charges to get the information that is supposed to be public.

The TTC is a proposed corridor four-football fields wide running from Laredo up I-35 and eventually all the way to Canada. It is to have six lanes for traffic, four for trucks, two for automobiles. The corridor will also carry pipelines for natural gas, oil, water, electricity, and electronic data. The land will be taken by eminent domain. And you all know what eminent domain is. It is the loophole that lets politicians steal your land legally. This greedy serpent will ultimately be 4,000 miles long, each mile using 146 acres taken by eminent domain.

How does it sound so far? What about the cost to taxpayers? The state doesn't know.The governor implores us just to trust him.We'll all benefit, just trust him.

A super-super highway speeding goods and citizens across the country. On the surface, it sounds great, the sort of initiative someone courting the vice-presidency (U.S.) would come up with. But, what are the drawbacks?

There's a couple. Minor ones the governor suggests.

First, the initial contract was signed by the Spanish firm Cintra and its partner, Zachry Construction Corporation, with TxDOT for a 316-mile section of road to be built from San Antonio to Dallas. The contract includes what is known as a nocomplete clause. That means TxDOT has agreed not to improve any roadways that run parallel to the corridor for the duration of the 50 to 75 years of the Cintra lease, unless those improvements had already been approved prior to the signing of the contract.

That means when farm to market roads fall apart, citizens' only option is the TTC and pay the toll. Texans will be forced to use the TTC and pay tolls. Crossovers are from 24 miles apart. Farmers and ranchers whose property is cut in two must travel several miles to cross over.

Oh yes, I mentioned a toll to use the road, 44+ cents for cars and $1+ for trucks per mile in addition to the cost of gasoline; and the inconvenience of 40 miles between exits; and the fact the Cintra Zachary people will control all the gas stations, eating stops and whatever all along the route.

And then there is the little matter of about 700,000 acres ripped from farmers and ranchers by eminent domain.

Folks, this scheme makes the railroad robber barons of the old west look like street corner hustlers. Over my 70 years, I've seen many obscene efforts to make the rich richer, but this is the most outrageous I have ever witnessed.

This goes through, and then it is a matter of time before it reaches us.

Kent Conwell is retired from Port-Neches Groves ISD.

TTC - The next "Lexus Lanes"

A interesting article in the Waxahachie Daily Light compares the TTC to California's over-priced "Lexus Lanes".

The State Auditor Office released a report that concludes few will use the Trans-Texas Corridor due to high pricing. This and other studies say that by 2030, only about 24% of the traffic would be diverted from I-35 to the TTC on the congested areas between Dallas and San Antonio.

Corridor Watch spokesman David Stall is concerned about the TTC-35 projected tolls - and the impact on how that expense would affect people’s decisions to use the roadway.

“They’re going to make the tolls as much as people are willing to pay,” Stall said of any private entity that would take on any of the TransTexas Corridor’s planned 4,000 miles of toll roads.

“That’s exactly the opposite with what we have now (with state-run toll roads) that keep the toll as low as necessary,” he said, noting state-run toll roads’ motive is to keep traffic moving - not to make a profit.

“Private operators can raise the tolls as high as the market will bear,” Stall said, noting privately-run toll roads are familiar to people in California, where high tolls have led to the toll roads being nicknamed “Lexus lanes.”