Read more about the battle for the Chair of the MPO and why it was Adkisson’s before McNeil came along and stole it here. Councilwoman McNeil attempts to argue the vote for Chair wasn’t a toll road vote. UNtrue. Why would TxDOT and all the pro-tollers line-up in lock-step against Adkisson and vote FOR McNeil if this weren’t about toll roads? Why would TxDOT care to take sides against the County if this weren’t about them getting their agenda pushed through by UN-elected appointees like themselves? This outrage will ultimately be settled at the ballot box and in the courtroom!

Jack Leonhardt’s comments in the article below should be carved in stone as a memorial to the total corruption that grips San Antonio. “It is wrong for this board to be labeled as an anti-toll board,” he said. He displayed the total disconnect between politicians and the people they’re elected to represent. This region DOES NOT WANT TOLLS, to be labeled anti-toll would accurately represent what the PEOPLE want. So who would care that our MPO was labeled as such? The highway lobby. This is about the money and special interest deals, and heaven forbid if the campaign cash would dry up due to an “anti-toll” Chairman!

Leonhardt handed the City of San Antonio a quid pro quo yesterday in exchange for agreeing to de-annex the Windcrest Mall from San Antonio and back into the Windcrest tax base. Leonhardt spent the weekend prior to the vote cozying up to the highway lobby at the Texas Transportation Forum. Undoubtedly they whipped him into shape and told him in no uncertain terms that it was his job “to keep a toll critic from sullying the image of the MPO.” Leonhardt didn’t come up with that contention himself, he can scarcely run a meeting. Guess he has to be somebody’s puppet…it’s what politicians like Perry do best.

Link to Express-News articles here and here.

Toll critic Adkisson ousted as MPO chairman
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News
07/23/2007

City and county officials battled Monday over who should control the Metropolitan Planning Organization.The battle pitted city and county officials against each other, and they couldn’t even agree on whether controversial plans for 70 miles of toll roads had anything to do with it.

The city, which has more seats on the board, won 10-7, making Councilwoman Sheila McNeil the new chairwoman.

McNeil, who just got re-elected to City Council, was appointed to the MPO board last month along with three rookie council members. She said the city just wanted to keep the chairmanship another two years, and that she doesn’t have an opinion yet on toll plans.

“The city is just trying to maintain its leadership on the board,” McNeil said. “This was not a toll-road vote.”

The board has swung the chairmanship back and forth between the city and county, with no set times, but former Councilman Richard Perez had to step down after two years because of council term limits. Since 1988, the city had the chairmanship 12 years and the county 10.

County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, who has been on the board nine years and lost the chair to McNeil, said the vote had to do with pressure from highway officials to lock him out of the job because he often criticizes toll plans.

“The issue here is that the highway lobby is in full bloom, and they have managed to captivate some very green elected officials,” he said.

Windcrest Mayor Jack Leonhardt, who presided Monday, said the vote was to keep a toll critic from sullying the image of the MPO, which oversees how more than $200 million a year in gasoline tax revenue is spent.

“It is wrong for this board to be labeled as an anti-toll board,” he said.

City pushes toll critic aside
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
July 24, 2007

For the first time that anyone can recall, the Metropolitan Planning Organization board duked it out over who should be chairman.
They had to take three votes, and each was identical, showing a clean fault line between city and county officials on the MPO board.

The 10-7 votes were to:

• Go with a two-thirds vote instead of a majority to suspend rules.
• Reject rule change allowing only elected officials to vote for chair.
• Elect City Councilwoman Sheila McNeil as chairwoman.

Officials couldn’t even agree on whether divisive plans for more than 70-miles of toll roads had anything to do with the split votes.

Sheila McNeil

McNeil, recently re-elected to City Council and appointed last month to the MPO board along with three rookie council members, said she doesn’t even have a position yet on toll plans.

“The city is just trying to maintain its leadership on the board,” she said. “This was not a toll-road vote.”

The board has swung the chairmanship back and forth between the city and county, with no set times, but former Councilman Richard Perez had to give up the chair in May after two years because of council term limits. Since 1988, the city had it 12 years and the county 10.

County Commissioner Lyle Larson, who held the seat four years before Perez, said no one even wanted the job when he took it. And the board rarely shows so much interest in any vote.

“I would say never, under the four years I chaired this, that at 20 minutes to five we’d still have 18 members,” he said.

Tommy Adkisson

The difference now is that the toll-road issue has exploded, says county Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, who’s been on the board nine years and lost to McNeil in the bid for chair. Adkisson said the vote had to do with pressure from highway officials to lock him out of the job because he often criticizes toll plans.

“The issue here is that the highway lobby is in full bloom and they have managed to captivate some very green elected officials,” he said.

Councilwoman Diane Cibrian said that’s unfair. Council members on the MPO board have served publicly for years before being elected to council. McNeil chaired the council’s infrastructure committee and has been involved in at least half a dozen other efforts.

“There’s no reason for this issue to divide us,” Cibrian said.

Though the chairman is limited to helping set agendas and directing meetings of the 19-member board, they are also a major spokesman, and that has power of its own.

Windcrest Mayor Jack Leonhardt, who presided at Monday’s meeting, said having a toll critic as chairman could sully the image of the MPO, which oversees spending of more than $200 million a year in gas tax funds.

“It is wrong for this board to be labeled as an anti-toll board,” he said.

Voting for McNeil was:

• Herself
• Councilman Philip Cortez
• Councilman Justin Rodriguez
• Councilwoman Diane Cibrian
• City Planning Director Emil Moncivais
• City Public Works Director Tom Wendorf
• City VIA appointee Ruby Perez
• Windcrest Mayor Jack Leonhardt
• TxDOT District Engineer David Casteel
• TxDOT planning engineer Clay Smith

Voting for Adkisson was:

• Himself
• County Commissioner Lyle Larson
• County Commissioner Chico Rodriguez
• County Infrastructure Director Joe Acevas
• County VIA appointee Melissa Castro-Killen
• Selma Councilman William Weeper
• State Rep. David Leibowitz

Abstaining was:

• AACOG Director Gloria Arriaga

Absent was:

• State Rep. Carlos Uresti

NOTES OF INTEREST:

If Adkisson had got his way, and only elected officials voted, the result would have been a tie.

Though Uresti wasn’t there to vote, he supported Adkisson, according to a letter read by an aide at the meeting.

The two Texas Department of Transportation engineers on the board took different positions than the two state representatives.

The two VIA Metropolitan Transit members sided with the entities that appointed them to VIA board.

Seven citizens spoke, and all favored Adkisson. About 20 in the audience stood, when asked, to also show support.

COMMENTS
With David Casteel, Clay Smith, and Tom Wendorf voting on the same side…you know that Sheila McNeil is going to be pro-toll which I find odd considering her council constituents benefit the most from the current system of roadways.

Her base constituency would be greatly harmed by tolls.

Oh well…what did you expect? TxDot has been forcing this issue down everyone’s throat and if you try to stand in their way, they will find a way to crush you.

The Texas Good Roads lobby obviously is more powerful than the citizens because the citizens just take it.

Newbie walks in and wants to be Chair
Imagine a brand new State Rep walking into the Texas House of Representatives and demanding to be the Speaker his/her first day on the job. Well, that’s what Councilwoman Sheila McNeil did last month and she got her way this afternoon. A new appointee to the MPO walked in at her first meeting and demanded to be Chair…and challenged her own County Commissioner with 9 years experience for the position. What we witnessed was nothing short of STUNNING!

Cortez shows up
I knew we had lost the vote when I walked in and saw Councilman Phil Cortez (who ran as anti-toll) present when he was supposed to be absent (in order to not have to vote against Tommy and also not to get in trouble for voting against the City, but all bets were off). We knew a coup was about to take place and the other side had already lined-up their votes while ours flaked, abstained, or pontificated since our side requires a spine and to go up against the most powerful lobby in San Antonio. As always, the deck was stacked against us since the City has 6 appointees and the County only has 4 with other appointed members following the money, like Windcrest Mayor Jack Leonhardt. He apparently spent the weekend at the Texas Transportation Forum cozying up to the highway lobby not to mention how the City called him on his quid pro quo on the Windcrest Mall de-annexation.

Leonhardt’s betrayal
Mayor Leonhardt, who chaired the meeting, stepped right into where Richard Perez left off and played political chicanery with the agenda and voting procedures. Out the gate he said some members may have to leave early so he threatened to call a vote for the Chair even without Commissioner Larson there (as he promised he wouldn’t, but a politician’s promise isn’t worth the paper it’s written on). But Larson did arrive in time for the vote. However, the chicanery resumed when Adkisson asked for a vote on having ONLY elected members vote for Chair. When Perez wanted to change the bylaws to illegally appoint himself an alternate to the MPO, they refused to use Robert Rules of Order as Adkisson requested back in May, but when Adkisson asked for accountability and to have ELECTED officials WHO ANSWER to the PEOPLE be the only voters, Leonhardt then called a vote to use Robert’s Rules which required a higher vote threshold, a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority to pass. Leonhardt may as well have been Richard Perez at that point.

Then the City’s voting block lined-up and locked elbows to vote AGAINST ACCOUNTABILITY and to allow the UN-ELECTED members to vote! Five of the 10 who voted against the PEOPLE were appointees and NOT elected officials. The City couldn’t win without their appointees. Then came the vote for Chair. Leonhardt began his usual pontificating and gave a speech AGAINST Adkisson (showing an appalling bias from one who should have been an impartial parliamentarian overseeing the vote for a new Chair without taking sides), and then tried to call for an immediate vote just like Perez used to do (he wasn’t going to give anyone else a chance to chime in).

He had the audacity to actually state he feared our MPO would be labeled “anti-toll” if Adkisson were the Chair. What??? As if that’s a reason to vote against the most experienced candidate or YOUR OWN county commissioner who endorsed you. WE ARE ANTI-TOLL! At how many meetings and how many times and how many ways do the people need to say “NO!” When over 2,000 people have turned out against tolls on 281/1604 alone in the past two years and when another 900 people turned out to oppose the Trans Texas Corridor, and when another 450 people turned out to oppose tolls on Bandera Rd, and when Senator Jeff Wentworth admits he got calls 100 to 1 against the tolls during the session, there is NO doubt about where San Antonians stand on tolls!

If ever there was a great candidate for a Mayoral recall, it’s Jack Leonhardt. He was just re-elected and this is when they get to feeling rather untouchable. It’s time for him to go!

TxDOT, which is a STATE agency, voted against the MPO’s State Representative and State Senator, both of whom endorsed Commissioner Adkisson. They sure haven’t learned that it’s the Legislature who funds their budget and who will decide whether to gut that agency and whose heads will roll come 2009 when they’re up for Sunset Review (top to bottom review of their books).

THE CITY A FRONT FOR ZACHRY
So we lost all three votes 10-7 with Ariaga abstaining and Uresti ABSENT! Why? Because this City isn’t run by our elected officials but the highway lobby behind them. These politicians are puppets and those who dare to stand-up for the PEOPLE get a public flogging. Bartel Zachry stood next to Phil Hardberger when he announced he was running for Mayor. We busted Zachry’s multi-billion PRIVATE toll deal on 281/1604 and he ain’t happy. He wanted ready access to your wallet on roads you’ve already paid for in a 50 year monopoly with GUARANTEED returns. Wonder why even the PUBLIC toll deal that the tolling authority (the RMA) is now doing on 281/1604 went from $1.4 billion last year to $2.2 billion after the private toll moratorium passed? So that Zachry can make an extra BILLION on the construction contract for the toll roads.

FINAL VOTE COUNT

Those who voted AGAINST Tommy Adkisson –

Sheila McNeil – Councilwoman District 2
Phil Cortez – Councilman District 4
Justin Rodriguez – Councilman District 7
Diane Cibrian – Councilwoman District 8
Emil Moncivias – City Planning appointee
Tom Wendorf – City Public Works appointee
Jack Leonhardt – Mayor of Windcrest
Ruby Perez – City Via appointee
David Casteel – TxDOT
Clay Smith – TxDOT
Those who voted FOR Tommy Adkisson –

County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson
County Commissioner Lyle Larson
County Commissioner Chico Rodriguez
State Representative David Leibowitz
Bill Weeper – Selma Councilman
Joe Acevas – County Infrastructure appointee
Melissa Castro-Killen – County Via appointee

Toll Party Statement to MPO
Transportation Policy Board
Regarding election of new Chair
July 23, 2007

Let’s make an honest appraisal of the City’s reasons for challenging Commissioner Adkisson for Chair of the MPO.

1) They say Commissioner Larson held the Chair position for (2) two-year terms.
If the City had a problem with that, the time to challenge it was when he sought the second term, not now after the fact and when it’s time for the County to Chair the Board. In fact, it’s the County that’s owed two more years.
2) They say it’s about leadership and the City getting its fair share of the representation on the Board.
The City, in fact, has more representation on the MPO Board than the County. If anyone is due for more fair and equitable representation, it’s the County.
3) They say it’s not about toll roads.
Well, one of the City’s appointees has already stated they want the tolling authority to be a voting member of the Board thereby INCREASING the number of UN-ELECTED members of the Board rather than ELECTED members. When this Board can now, in effect, vote for virtually unlimited new toll taxes, the taxpayers deserve to have only those DIRECTLY accountable to them be vested with voting powers. So the City wishes to take this Board in the opposite direction advocating less accountability to the taxpaying public.

Now, let’s look at how the City handled the past two years as Chair. A vote for a top to bottom independent review of the toll plans was blocked from even being placed on the agenda. Meeting times and days were manipulated to accommodate the Greater Chamber and highway lobby versus ELECTED officials. Citizens to be Heard was placed dead last on each meeting’s agenda versus first as it was under Commissioner Larson. Debate on ANYTHING the public asked for was routinely cut short and votes rushed through. The City along with TxDOT blocked the citizens’ request to restore the gas tax funded plan for 281. And perhaps most shocking, changing the bylaws in the eleventh hour at his last meeting to attempt to serve on this Board as an un-elected alternate with full voting powers which is AGAINST THE LAW! The list goes on and on…

Now let’s look at Commissioner Adkisson’s qualifications. He’s served on this Board for 9 years, his opponent, not one. He’s been a stalwart advocate for the citizens who have repeatedly come before this Board with concerns about the region’s transportation plans, particularly the rush to toll roads. He understands the many issues at play, knows the history of what’s transpired and the legislation involved, and he’s known for working for fair and equitable solutions.

Given all of this, Commissioner Tommy Adkisson is by far the most qualified choice to serve as Chair. Any other excuses NOT to appoint him don’t hold water. The citizens want and demand accountability to not just have their voices heard and then repeatedly ignored, they want to be heard and HEEDED. And frankly, when all but one of the City’s appointees won’t even return our phone calls, we’re convinced they have no interest in listening to or heeding the will the of the people on the direction transportation is going. I’ve had more responsiveness form our U.S. senators and congressmen than the majority of the City Council.

It’s no secret that the toll plans are nearly universally opposed. Just on the 281 & 1604 hearings alone over the past two years, more than 2,000 people turned out opposing tolls 10 to 1. For the Trans Texas Corridor hearings, 900 showed up and 300 people had to be turned away! During the legislative session, Sen. Wentworth admitted he received calls 100 to 1 against the tolls.

We’re supposed to live in a Constitutional Republic that many have fought and died to secure and still fighting even today to secure. By law we’re entitled to representation and we’re clearly not being represented at ANY level of government, including this Board. We’re at a critical crossroads. We need leadership that has already proven to be responsive to the PEOPLE and who considers solutions aside from toll proliferation and charging the highest possible toll rates. We unequivocally want Commissioner Tommy Adkisson be elected Chair of the MPO.

Great news! Former Councilman Richard Perez’ illegal plot to install himself as an “alternate” member of the MPO Transportation Policy Board AFTER he was no longer in office was foiled by active citizens who SPOKE UP…not mention we threatened a lawsuit if the Mayor and Council voted to make it happen.

Though Perez was successful in amending the MPO bylaws to make his coup appear legal, it clearly didn’t comport with FEDERAL LAW that doesn’t allow an UN-elected member on the Board. After alerting the press, spreading the word across the airwaves, and citizens contacting their councilmembers to protest, THE AGENDA ITEM TO VOTE to assign an alternate to the MPO WAS TABLED at last week’s City Council meeting. Read more about his power grab here and here. The tollers’ lawlessness thwarted again!

Perez stages a coup at the MPO
Gets himself re-appointed AFTER he’s OUT OF OFFICE!

In a raw abuse of power, using a blatant power grab accompanied by his lame duck term limited out councilmembers voted to turn law and order upside down on their way out of office, when soon-to-be ex-Councilman Richard Perez, who is chief toller and foot soldier of BIG MONEY and toll interests, made “sleazy politician” an honorable term compared with his smarmy tactics today. The vote was 11-2 in favor of BREAKING THE LAW with Perez presiding over a vote for which he stands to benefit in yet another colossal conflict of interest. We quoted FEDERAL LAW in our public comments to demonstrate this power grab violates the law that created MPOs, but Perez scarcely blinked before plowing it through.

However, not before Councilman Art Hall, Mayor of Windcrest Jack Leonhardt, and Councilman Chip Haass pontificated on how it was necessary to BREAK THE LAW to appoint “alternate members” to replace the new councilmembers who will serve on the Board, and called their lawless deed “flexibility.” One hundred percent of the public testimony was AGAINST replacing ELECTED city councilmembers with APPOINTED “alternates” (ie – Richard Perez), the law prohibits such an action, and yet this renegade MPO Board already facing one lawsuit by the PEOPLE voted to continue to thwart the WILL OF THE PEOPLE.
Haass insulted the incoming councilmembers stating they can’t possibly be up to speed fast enough to be relevant on the MPO Board. He vowed the four councilmembers currently serving (all on their way out of office) would do far better than anyone coming into office. That so, Mr. Haass? No one can match the current councilmembers’ knowledge, eh? Not sure what knowledge they’d be matching since YOU NEVER SHOWED UP unless it was to vote AGAINST THE PEOPLE and FOR TOLL interests. Same with Art Hall, same with many former legislators who served on the MPO. The composition of the Board changes more often than the weather does, but they opined that they need to break the LAW so the current councilmembers get a chance to serve on this vital Board even after their terms in office are up.

The City Council has smooth transitions of power every two years and the MPO has survived, yet suddenly these lame duck politicians (under the guise of the Mayor’s concern he can’t fill the vacancies with the new councilmembers for 2 months) feel there’s an urgent need to re-write the rules. We know why, and it’s NOT about term limits or anything other than the tollers fearing the worst…Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, the PEOPLE’S commissioner, becoming Chairman. So crooked politicians dispense with the rule of law when the law no longer suits their agenda of making us pay homage to use (to the vast road lobby present today) freeways we’ve already built and paid for.

Commissioner Adkisson was the ONLY one present to put up a fight, even past allies, like Melissa Castro Killen of Via and Councilwoman Elena Guajardo (who we endorsed) voted against us. New members like the new Via Board member Ruby Perez (who replaced Syd Ordway that Transportation Commissioner Hope Andrade kicked off the Board in retribution for voting with us ) voted against the PEOPLE. (Read more here).

Getting the feeling that NOTHING SHORT OF LEGAL ACTION and a VOTER REVOLT will change the MPO? This self-appointed oligarchy will be cleansed and set straight one way or the other. Adkisson stood firm, called it what it was, took offense to this rush to adopt new bylaws without a month to study it (they tabled his motion to put off such a decision for one month even though no one could answer any questions about the procedure of how they ought to vote to adopt new bylaws, and Perez rejected the Robert Rules of Order that require a month’s notice before adopting new bylaws).

Adkisson reminded them of the MASSIVE public opposition to tolls in this region, the 900 people at the Trans Texas Corridor hearings, and 500-600 at any given hearing on other toll projects, and how more appointees aren’t needed on the Board, rather only elected officials face the voters and they alone are the ones who ought to be voting on decisions of such magnitude. YOU BETCHA! The San Antonio MPO is the ONLY one in Texas where appointees (who don’t answer to the people) outnumber elected officials and the elected officials who are on the Board don’t show up 70% of the time.
We can’t leave the PEOPLE’S Chairman without help as his own County Commissioners did today (Lyle Larson was tending to his ill mother, but Chico Rodriguez left for the vote). Senator Carlos Uresti, who sits on the Board, sent a letter requesting the ability to vote by proxy, and asked the MPO to consider passing a rule to allow it (I suppose Perez would want to insert himself as a proxy when he’s not moonlighting as an “alternate”) in Perez’ effort to pressure the Board into a rule-changing mode on behalf of absent members. A legislator in session in Austin is a far cry from a local councilperson missing a meeting (for what excuse???).

Stay tuned for lots more action on this front…the tollers will whip their puppets known as politicians into place (with an even easier “sell” for appointees) to try and STOP us from insisting on non-toll solutions on 281/1604 and elsewhere.

NOTE: Our San Antonio MPO Transportation Policy Board just awarded a contract to this corrupt company who has already plead guilty to ripping off Texas taxpayers, and now they’re using embezzlement money to cover their overbilling! We protested the MPO taking TxDOT’s recommendation to hire this company considering their history, and it appears our concerns were well-founded. Contact MPO Chair Richard Perez (210-207-7281) and demand the MPO rescind the contract to this company of criminals!

PBS&J Hid Millions in Overcharges
By Sal Costello
Texas Toll Party
Feb. 15, 2007

The Miami Herald reports today, that PBS&J, a major toll road contractor with TxDOT, is using the $36.6 million embezzlement found in 2006, to hide millions in overcharges. Excerpts from today’s news:

“PBS&J has attributed some of the millions in over billing to three former employees who tried to cover up a $36.6 million embezzlement. But in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the firm also admitted to its own over billing, although it won’t say by how much. One big client, the Florida Department of Transportation, estimated that more than half of the approximately $11 million it was overcharged had nothing to do with the embezzlement.”

“Attorneys for Garcia said in a court filing that PBS&J is using the embezzlement to hide its own over billing.”

See the rest of the story here.

Link to blog here.

Once again, TxDOT is attempting to wield undue power in order to unseat the two Via Board members who sit on the MPO Board in retaliation for voting WITH THE PEOPLE on the 281 toll project. It’s their way or the highway, or in Via’s case, the highway means NO FUNDING for key mass transit projects.

Let’s play ball
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
February 14, 2007

Two VIA board members who joined a rebel faction of the Metropolitan Planning Organization board, in a recent failed attempt to derail toll plans for U.S. 281, could soon be removed from the planning board.

The MPO board, which oversees more than $200 million a year in federal and state transportation dollars, is made up of local elected leaders and staff officials from various agencies. VIA Metropolitan Transit’s board fills two of the seats and rotates people in and out from time to time.

Three weeks ago, VIA board members Melissa Castro-Killen and Sidney Ordway joined a doomed 9-6 effort led by County Commissioner Lyle Larson to kill the proposed U.S. 281 tollway.

Days later, claims surfaced that state officials pushing toll projects such as U.S. 281 were pressuring VIA as a result.

On Tuesday, VIA Chairman Eddie Herrera said it might be time to move Castro-Killen and Ordway off the MPO board, where they’ve served about a year.

Herrera wouldn’t say whether it has anything to do with how the two voted on the U.S. 281 project, but he did say he disagreed with their votes.

“At a minimum, I would have expected them to abstain,” he said. “That’s the retrospect, 20-20 hindsight.”

Ordway said that after the controversial vote, Herrera had asked him and Castro-Killen to meet with Hope Andrade of the Texas Transportation Commission.

“I said no, she can come see me,” Ordway said. “And he said, well, would you remove yourself from the MPO board? And I said no, I’m not going to resign. If you want to take me off there, you take me off there.”

Herrera, who became chairman at the first of the year, said a board executive committee that he also chairs might make recommendations to the full board in March on who should be on the MPO board.

“Usually what I like to do is ask for volunteers, he said.

Making a statement

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, VIA board members clarified how they feel about road projects, passing a resolution that says streets are crucial to bus service, funding comes from many sources and the agency supports efforts of all other transportation entities as long as plans don’t conflict with public transit.

The resolution gives VIA representatives on the MPO board better guidance on future votes, Herrera said.

“The votes could be made with that in mind,” he said. “As long as it complies with VIA’s mission.”

But Ordway, who joined Castro-Killen and the rest of the board to unanimously approve the resolution, said it simply reaffirmed the agency’s goals and would not change his vote on U.S. 281. The widening of that highway, he explained, was originally planned as a non-toll freeway.

Besides, Ordway said, two Texas Department of Transportation engineers on the MPO board also could have abstained from voting.

“But TxDOT did not abstain,” he said. “They voted, so we voted.”

Castro-Killen could not be reached for comment.

Pressure goes both ways

Part of VIA’s plans include starting a rapid bus system on Fredericksburg Road by 2012, using light-rail treatments such as dedicated lanes, transit stations and traffic-signal priority. Officials hope to sign an agreement this month with TxDOT, which owns the road and wants to build toll lanes on U.S. 281.

Also, next month the MPO board will vote to provide $28 million for the $95 million rapid bus line, which will be the organization’s most significant allocation ever for transit.

But potential pressure goes both ways, Ordway said. VIA is giving TxDOT some $10 million a year in sales taxes.

“There’s a little leverage on both sides,” he said.