CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE INDEPENDENT REVIEW

Last night, the Bulverde City Council unanimously passed a resolution to oppose the toll plans for US 281 and called for an immediate independent review! SCORRRRREEEEE! A huge thank you to Councilwoman Cindy Cross and Mayor Sarah Stevick who attended our very first meeting in Bulverde and have been a tremendous source of support for our cause ever since. Sixty-five percent of the citizens of Bulverde commute into Bexar County every day for work. Please thank the entire Council for their courage to defend the citizens of Bulverde from unnecessary double taxation and for calling for the review.

Mayor Sarah Stevick – sstevick@bulverdecity.com
Councilwoman Cindy Cross – ccross@bulverdecity.com
Councilwoman Robin Urbanovsky – rurbanovsky@bulverdecity.com
Councilman Sorbera – msorbera@bulverdecity.com

Or to contact them by phone: (830) 438-3612

4 Lane Toll Road in Median of 8 Lane Freeway
Notice the congestion on the non-toll lanes. Does this look like congestion relief to you? TxDOT is planning to make our free lanes frontage roads with permanent stop lights and 30-45 MPH speed limits to boot! Tolling our roads isn’t about congestion relief, it’s about a new revenue stream for the state. It begs the question: Did the lottery end our public education woes? It’s pretty clear tolls won’t fix our congestion problems either.

Typical Afternoon Peak on the Public turned Private then back to Public SR 91 Toll Road in Orange County, CA
$9.50 to drive 10 miles!
Source: Edward C. Sullivan, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA

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To see sample toll rates in CA…
www.91expresslanes.com.

There was great attendance at tonight’s TxDOT public hearing at Specht Elementary. For those who withstood the lengthy and very bureaucratic-speak remarks by TxDOT’s Julie Brown, they got their 3 minutes of comments. Questions will have to wait, however, because the public hearing process doesn’t allow for an exchange of ideas, the elites can’t bring themselves to answer the questions of us low-brow peasants. Rather, they pack the answers into their “environmental report,” heavy on government-speak.

Well, something woke-up the TV media tonight because all 3 of the big networks were there. TxDOT had their handful of “plants” as I call them, employees or spouses of employees or people who work for firms who TxDOT hires that marched over to the cameras to gleefully pontificate how glad they’ll be to pay tolls (leaving out the part that they’re consultants hired by TxDOT). I still have yet to meet an “Average Joe,” especially a single wage earner, who is so gleeful to pay infinite toll taxes on roads we’ve already paid for.

We passed out hundreds of fliers and we were bombarded by people exiting saying: “Thank you for what you’re doing” and “How do I sign-up?” Once again, the PEOPLE could steer clear of the TxDOT double-speak and misrepresentations to see where this train wreck is headed. Folks immediately made the connection that this was brought to us by our Legislature and the Governor and they’re out for blood!

Interestingly, our city councilmen whose new favorite pasttime is to dream up good excuses for their votes to stab their own constituents in the back, were “beaus of the ball,” so to speak, at last night’s Transportation Forum dinner with keynote, Governor-appointed Transportation Commission Chair Ric Williamson. Art Hall was MC, and Richard Perez clearly earned his seat of honor at the table with Williamson. Perez is the corporate insiders new poster boy for public official sell-outs. I’m sure he can feel good about that when he’s alone and looks at himself in the mirror. Who’s staring back at you, Mr Perez?

We got a great shot in the arm tonight and our grassroots efforts are headed to the next level. We have to organize and work together to defeat these select corporate interests vying to take over control of our public roadways. Unfortunately, the “establishment” elected leaders have all been entrenched and tainted for so long that it’s time to gear-up for the elections, too. It’s past time to CLEAN HOUSE!

high·way·men – Men who hold up and rob travelers on a road

From all over the state, citizens opposed to TxDOT’s freeway tolls united under the banner of the Texas Toll Party for a rally outside what they dubbed “a good ol’ boy convention–a bona fide highwaymen kumbaya lovefest” at the annual Transportation Leadership Forum hosted by SAMCo (San Antonio Mobility Coalition).

It’s a perfect occasion for a grassroots protest. This convention symbolizes everything that’s wrong with our political system today. It’s been hijacked by corporate insiders who yield more influence over our government than the governed. Just look at the sponsor list: Zachry Construction who stands to profit from this toll plan, Loeffler Tuggey, LLP (Tim Tuggey sits on the Via Board and the two Via votes on the MPO were no-shows for the review vote), engineering firms, banks, you name it, all the highway interests are represented in this forum except the most important one: the public interest.

We had a small but fierce group of allies on hand to work the crowd: Bob Martin, President of the Homeowners Taxpayer Association, attorney and candidate for Attorney General David Van Os, Texas’ number one tax watchdog C.A. Stubbs, and Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson.

“I’m sick and tired of self-dealing, insider cliques stealing self-government from the people for their private enrichment. That’s the only thing this toll wreck plan represents,” says David Van Os, whose campaign is built on being the people’s advocate, not another arm of corporate cronyism.

Grassroots allies like Commissioner Tommy Adkisson renewed the call for an unbiased third party to scrutinize TxDOT’s toll plans, “Recognizing the need to act, an independent review of TXDOT’s Bexar County toll plans sensibly asks basic questions every thinking resident would want to have answered before it’s too late.”

C.A. Stubbs, agrees a thorough review is in order, “It is time to draw a line in the sand to stop the TxDOT Toll Road Campaign in its tracks, until a comprehensive Independent Review has been completed. Thereafter, open and compelling evidence must be presented in a revised plan that would be acceptable to all parties concerned.”

Comptroller and gubernatorial candidate Carole Keeton Strayhorn sent her support to the grassroots and she expressed her interest in investigating TxDOT’s financial dealings. But the Governor has stripped the performance review capabilities from the Comptroller and handed them over to the Legislative Budget Board (LBB). Texas Toll Party.com, with the Comptroller’s support, is calling for the LBB to get the ball rolling. We also call on State Auditor John Keel to investigate TxDOT’s misuse of funds, particularly on US 281 when TxDOT trashed their own viable and fully FUNDED improvement plan to turn around and charge a toll forever to drive on a road already paid for with taxpayer money! From top to bottom this toll scheme violates the principles of open government. Texans deserve genuine accountability and full disclosure.

There’s clearly a disconnect between the grassroots and the political elites of both parties. When the Governor sends out his Transportation Commission Chairman Ric Williamson saying things like, “In your lifetime most existing roads will have tolls,” it’s no wonder there’s wholesale, widespread opposition to Perry’s statewide toll mandate. When something as fundamental as our freedom of mobility is at stake, the taxpayers have a right to vote on their own self-determination. Not only are we being denied a vote, our limited public assets, like freeways, are being sold to private interests to control for profit. This is a dangerous trend that goes beyond tolls, it’s time to take our government back!

Welcome fellow San Antonians! No doubt you’re searching for more information on the Texas Department of Transportation’s (TxDOT) toll plans for San Antonio (SA). You’ve come to the right place and I’m glad you’re here. I’m a concerned citizen just like you who found out that TxDOT was planning to convert US 281, our main artery into SA, into an ALL tollway without so much as a vote from the people! The more I investigated TxDOT’s toll plans, the more disturbed I became. Here are TxDOT’s plans unhinged…

This slide from the Alamo RMA’s web site (SA’s tolling authority) only shows 50 miles, but more than 60 miles have already been identified by TxDOT to be tolled. Rest assured, tolls are coming to a freeway near you if we don’t STOP this! Most of the hub-bub has been centered around the 22 mile toll starter system involving US 281 (from Loop 1604 north to the Bexar County line) and Loop 1604 (between I-10 and I-35), but as you can see, that’s just the beginning! More truth about tolls…

Click for larger view.

Link to Stinson column.

Another example of why citizens don’t believe transportation bureaucrats…
TXDOT: We don’t have money so we need to toll every FREEway in Texas.
TRUTH: They have plenty of money to give $2 million to a PRIVATE university for a parking garage!
Read on…

Roddy Stinson: Why is U.S. government paying for a parking garage at UIW?
Web Posted: 08/11/2005 12:00 AM CDT
San Antonio Express-News

On the Sleuthing Trail …

CASE: “Roddy, the Express-News published a list of federally funded projects in the transportation bill. On the list was $2 million for a ‘parking facility’ at the University of the Incarnate Word.

“Why is the U.S. government paying for a parking garage at a private university?”

INVESTIGATION: The answer depends on who is doing the explaining.

According to the Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, the “Transportation Equity Act” is simply the latest example of congressional business-as-usual, loaded with “special interest tax breaks” and “pieces of pork.”

On the council’s Web site are “some of the more than 6,000 egregious projects in the bill.”

Number 32 on the list:

“$2,000,000 — Construction of a parking facility at the University of the Incarnate Word (San Antonio, Texas)”

Taking a different view of the project, Incarnate Word officials issued a statement defending the $2 million federal gift.
Salient points:

“The $2 million earmarked for Incarnate Word will help fund a multi-level parking garage for the Feik School of Pharmacy, as well as access roads and pedestrian walkways that have been designed to address the issues of parking, safety and public access.”

The pharmacy school will serve “students of all racial, ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds … relieve the shortage of pharmacists in rural areas … and provide access to Hispanics interested in pursuing pharmacy as a profession.”

“Incarnate Word was able to secure the $2 million because private and public universities are provided with equal access to federal funds.”

The “securing” process was aided by U.S. Rep. Henry Bonilla, who in a July 30 Express-News story about the transportation bill praised all of the South Texas projects as “important” to the improvement of this area’s “infrastructure.”

Schools are generally considered part of a community’s infrastructure, so the $2 million given to UIW for a parking facility makes some infrastructural sense.

The selection of the private school in question is also understandable given Bonilla’s (1) powerful position as a member of the House Appropriations Committee and (2) longtime association with Incarnate Word.

In May 2002, when the university awarded the congressman a Doctor of Humane Letters, a UIW newsletter noted:

“Mr. Bonilla has played a major role in the growth of Incarnate Word. His efforts on behalf of the university have yielded nearly $2 million in federal funds that are currently being utilized for the Science and Engineering Center.”

Money goes both ways.

A check of Express-News databases found several generous campaign contributions to Bonilla from UIW President Louis J. Agnese.

Somewhere in all of that information is a possible explanation of “why” U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for the UIW parking facility.

As for the propriety of the $2 million gift …

The never-ending American debate over separation of church and state raises an obvious question: Should the tax money of non-Catholics be used to pay for a Catholic university’s parking garage?

Not that any church/state discussion really matters.

The yes/no decision has already been made by Washington officialdom.

According to a hot-off-the-wire Associated Press report:

“President Bush on Wednesday signed a whopping $286.4 billion transportation bill that lawmakers lined with plenty of cash for some 6,000 pet projects back home.”

“Pet” projects.

Cheshire cats come easily to mind.

Link to article here.

It’s Up to State Lawmakers to Stop Toll Roads
By Mandi Bishop
WOAI
August 3, 2005

One county leader says state lawmakers need to stop the toll road plan, after a News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooters investigation revealed that a future San Antonio toll road was supposed to be built—and paid for—without tolls.

The road is Highway 281 North of 1604, where later this year, construction will begin on six new toll lanes. Documents from the Texas Department of Transportation and the Metropolitan Planning Organization show four years ago, the same stretch of highway was scheduled to be built as a freeway, without using tolls. $30 million of our tax dollars were budgeted for a project that was supposed to begin in 2004.

TxDOT delayed the project so it could be turned into a toll road.

News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Jeff Coyle interviewed TxDOT Deputy District Engineer Julie Brown last week:

Coyle: “The justification for tolls all along has been it allows us to build highways much sooner. Brown: “Correct.” Coyle: “But this part of 281 was already supposed to be built and was being funded.” Brown: “Under the old plan, that’s all we would be able to do, though.”

TxDOT says the old plan was to improvement highways section-by-section when money was available. The new plan is to build an interconnected system of toll roads using toll equity. With the tolls from 281, the state can borrow more money to build new lanes on Loop 1604. The original $30 million is still being put into the 281 improvements and would be reimbursed with tolls.

But County Commissioner Lyle Larson, an opponent of toll roads in general, believes TxDOT is being less than forthcoming with taxpayers.

“TxDOT is playing games with how these projects are going to be paid for. They’re saying it’s going to be paid by the tolls. That’s not an accurate assessment.”

“You’re saying even if they’re toll roads there are significant tax dollars involved?” asks Coyle.

“Yes, there’s going to be a lot,” replies Larson. “They can’t make it work otherwise.”

Larson admits there’s not much he or any other local official can do about it. But he says our state legislators do have the power to stop toll roads.

“So far (the San Antonio delegation) has been silent,” says Larson. “No one’s stated any opposition to it, at least in this area. I think that we need to have a legislator stand up and ask TxDOT why they’re tolling this.”

The Trouble Shooters spoke with State Senator Jeff Wentworth who says he favors raising the gas tax over charging tolls to pay for new roads. But when he proposed the idea four years ago, Governor Rick Perry promised to veto it, which Wentworth says is why we are in the position we are today.

© 2006 Clear Channel Broadcasting, Inc.

Link to original article here.

S.A.’s First Toll Road Was Supposed to Be Free
By Jeff Coyle
WOAI-TV Troubleshooters Reporter
July 29, 2005

Toll roads are coming to San Antonio. The Texas Department of Transportation says it cannot pay for new roads any other way. But News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Jeff Coyle has discovered that millions of your tax dollars were budgeted years ago to pay for a new highway that the state now plans to charge tolls on.

281 North of Loop 1604, from Sonterra to Stone Oak Pkwy, will be the first toll road in San Antonio. Construction begins in less than one year to add six new tolled lanes.

A 2001 TxDOT planning document shows the same segment of 281 as a “freeway project” that was already funded at the time. With $30.9 million budgeted, the project was supposed to be underway in 2004. We’ve learned TxDOT scrapped the plans in 2003, when the Texas Transportation Commission issued an order to consider building toll roads.

News 4 WOAI Trouble Shooter Jeff Coyle sat down with TxDOT Deputy District Engineer Julie Brown for an explanation.

Coyle: “The justification for tolls all along has been it allows us to build highways much sooner.”

Brown: “Correct.”

Coyle: “But this part of 281 was already supposed to be built and was being funded.”

Brown: “Under the old plan. That’s all we would be able to do, though.”

Without tolling 281, TxDOT says it wouldn’t be able to widen 1604. So tolls collected on what was originally supposed to a freeway are being used to issue bonds and make improvements elsewhere.

“It’s either wait and do one project at a time over many years or look at some innovative financial way to bring all of those projects to fruition a lot sooner,” says Brown.

But that answer doesn’t fly with toll road critics. A group called the Texas Toll Party is now calling for an outside investigation.

“There is gross misuse of funds, abuse of taxpayer money in this deal, and we are asking for an independent review of this toll plan,” says Terri Hall of the TTP. “We don’t need tolls there. Where did the (gas tax) money go?”

The original $30 million is still being used to build the 281project. It would be reimbursed to the state once a private company or tolling authority takes over the toll system. This is all legal, thanks to a HB 2702 (scroll to text of HB 2702) passed in 2005, which allows non-tolled highways to be converted to tolled highways, as long as construction has not yet started.