Damn Toll Roads.

[bamacrat]

Mrs. bamacrat and I just got back from Dallas, we were there apartment hunting and I never drive on toll roads being from Alabama. We just dont have any, except for one or two around the beach but I rarely go there. I was driving along in my rental car and saw this big ass orange T, I was in the left lane on the North Dallas Tollway and there were about 500 cars in the five lanes between me and the booth where you pay...I couldnt get over. That happened twice, then we got to a toll booth and the lady said you usually get a couple of freebees, well we made sure we stopped at the next one and we put in the exact change and the light never changed. Put more in, nothing, put more in...nothing. So we just went. Later I called the NTTA and they said not to worry that out of state tags get a couple free passes. But I was in a rental car with Texas tags, he pretty much said youre screwed. I told him that that sucked, his response.."welcome to Dallas."

[sonias]

1. We've been damning toll roads for years too

Welcome to Texas. Sorry about your experience but unfortunately this won't be an exception, more like the norm.
:hi:

Toll roads are also going to be a problem for this special session that just got called for the Lege which starts on Wed. the 1st. Governor Goodhair is pro-toll roads. :grr:

AAS 6/30/09
Toll road item may threaten session
Contract protections sought if private leases to remain legal.

The spoiler of Gov. Rick Perry's midsummer's dream of a three-day special session could be the "Nichols language."

The consensus seems to be that few problems exist with the first two items on Perry's session "call" — essentially the allowable agenda for the session — that would extend the life of five state agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation, and allow TxDOT to issue $2 billion in debt.

But there could be trouble with the third and last item, legislation granting a reprieve to a statutory death sentence for private toll road leases.

During the regular session, state Sen. John Carona, R-Dallas, carried a bill that would have extended by six years the legal authority for TxDOT and regional mobility authorities to sign what have usually been 50-year contracts with private companies to build and operate (and profit from) tollways on public land. Authority for such leases expires Sept. 1.

The general understanding was that the legislation's final passage was dependent on approval of a separate bill by state Sen. Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, that would put limits on such contracts. Both bills passed the House and Senate, either with their original bill numbers or as part of the main TxDOT bill that died late in the session.

Sonia

[Why Syzygy]

2. If you put the money in

and the light doesn't change, just write an email. That's only happened to me once. I let them know and never heard a word.

ps. You can usually find enough change on the ground under the basket to make the toll!

[texastoast]

3. 75 cents PER MILE tax is coming... (Latest from TURF)

Help us STOP foreign-owned toll roads = $13 a DAY in NEW taxes!

Public pension funds at risk, too!

Spread the word to everyone you know (click on "Forward this email" at the bottom of this message)...

URGENT ACTION ITEM
Texans need to DEFEAT CDAs & protect public pension funds this week!

Call your STATE legislators in Austin today and tell them to vote NO on CDAs and NO to the Revolving Fund that raids gas taxes and public pension funds for risky toll roads!

Capitol switchboard [phone].

Switchboard open 8 AM-5 PM, M-F. Email if you can't call...

Come to Austin TUESDAY to tell lawmakers to KILL CDAs
We need as many Texans as possible to join us at the State Capitol Tuesday to tell legislators to KILL CDAs and the Revolving Fund that raids gas taxes and public pension funds to invest in toll roads. We'll have fliers for you to give to lawmakers and talking points on the bills.


URGENT Citizen Lobby Day
Texas State Capitol
Tuesday, June 30 @ 10 AM
Meet at the cafeteria called the Capitol Grill (1st floor of Capitol extension bldg, E1)
Austin, TX


Lobby Day Contacts: Hank Gilbert [phone] or Robert Morrow at [phone]


TURF

[sonias]

4. I love Hank Gilbert

He has been 100% consistent on these toll roads and he's put a lot of time in fighting them. He's a great guy. Sure wish he would have won his race for Ag Commissioner.

Let me provide a couple of links for you too.

Here is the Turf site
www.texasturf.org

And here is how you look up who represents you at the Texas Legislature. Once you put in your address you will get the phone numbers for both your Senator and House Representative.
www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

:kick:

Sonia

[texastoast]

5. I do too

We did a fundraiser for him and DVO when they were doing the whistlestop tour. He has been a huge help in keeping the TTC at bay. We just have to get Perry out of there. How a fifth-generation Texan can sell the soul of Texas to the corporatists is just beyond me. Perry will go to Texas Hell.

Hank is a real nice fellow. For an Aggie.:evilgrin:

[sonias]

6. CDAs DOA in Senate?

AAS 7/01/09
CDAs DOA in Senate?

Legislation that would allow state transportation officials to continue contracting for privately built toll roads derailed this afternoon in the Senate, amid an angry backlash over plans to toll a Dallas-area expressway that is being built with taxpayer money.

At the end of a sometimes-heated hearing, Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, acknowledged that Senate Bill 3 — which would extend the authority of the Texas Department of Transportation to continue entering into comprehensive development agreements (CDAs) — cannot pass.

"This issue is controversial and right now, we don’t have the votes," Ogden said.

"I think we pass the bills that are essential — SB 1 and 2. SB 3 is optional … and right now, I don’t see it getting out of this committee."

The controversy over SB 3 had started earlier in the day as nearly a dozen senators told Senate leaders they intended to "tag" the bill — meaning it would not get a public hearing as planned.

:popcorn: This is getting good!

:kick:


Sonia

[sonias]

7. Fast disagreement on private toll roads

Earlier story that includes the House side:

AAS 7/1/09
Fast disagreement on private toll roads

By Mike Ward | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 11:16 AM

Within an hour after the Legislature convened this morning, cracks began appearing in the plans of legislative leaders to pass three bills quickly and then go home.

(snip)

Does that pose a possible hang-up in the expedited schedule, to approve the necessary bills and go home by Friday?

"The plan is to have Senate Bill 2 (reauthorizing the agencies) out of committee and on the floor for a vote this afternoon," Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst told reporters a few minutes ago, as the Senate hurried off to a committee meeting to discuss the first bill.

(snip)

And how about Senate bills 3 and 4, the alternative bills on the private toll roads?

"I’m going over now to talk to the Speaker (of the House) on that," he said.

(snip)

The sentiment among many senators is to pass the first two and let the toll road bills die, if they can’t get a consensus for passage by tomorrow.

Sonia

[bamacrat]

8. They have to hurt tourism.

Im moving to Dallas so I dont have much of a choice but if I werent I would never come to Dallas because everything seems to cost a little more there. Apartment prices arent much higher in Plano than they are in Tuscaloosa, but there is pet rent in Dallas. WTF, I pay a $500 deposit of which half is refundable but I have to pay $10 extra a month per pet. I mean its confusing and hard as hell to get around Dallas without getting tricked on to toll roads that arent clearly marked and poorly manned.

[sonias]

9. Nobody but the toll road owners like them

Oh and the politicians who get contributions from the toll road developers like Governor Goodhair, of course.

The good news is that the extension of toll road authority seems to be dead in this special session.

AAS 7/2/09
SESSION
Road bond, sunset bills nearing quick passage
But private toll road bill appears to lack support.


Legislators, many of them tanned and exhibiting a relaxed, schools-out air Wednesday, ripped quickly through two of the three issues that Gov. Rick Perry put on their special session plate.

Leaders were predicting final passage by this afternoon of a bill that would keep alive for two more years several state agencies, including the Texas Department of Transportation, and of a second piece of legislation allowing the state to issue $2 billion in transportation bonds.

However, prospects appear dim for a third bill that would extend authority for private companies to finance, build and profit from tollways on government land. The bill, which would put legislators in the uncomfortable position of making a clear, stand-alone vote in favor of private toll roads, was left pending in committees in the House and the Senate.

Although some legislative leaders strove to paint the bill as still breathing late in the day, the chairmen of both committees said flatly that a majority of lawmakers are not on board.

:woohoo:

Sonia

[Why Syzygy]

10. well woo hoo

Perry will have to pay for his hair stylists with his own money.

[sonias]

11. Snap!

Wouldn't we all like to know how much Goodhair actually spends on hair stylists? I bet it's a good sum of money. He probably pays it from his campaign coffers and labels it overhead. :evilgrin:


Sonia

[Why Syzygy]

12. LOL ..

:rofl:

[texastoast]

13. Hank looked relieved

We ran into him today. "No CDAs."

Woo freaking hoo.

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:

[sonias]

14. Good on him!

He's framed the issue the right way and those legislative sell outs who don't mind taking contributions from these toll road developers don't want to pay the price at the ballot box.

:bounce: :fistbump:


Sonia