Direct link to article here.

Councilman Art Reyna ran on a anti-toll platform and routed the pro-toll incumbent, Hubert Lange, to win his seat. Now he’s proposed the Council pass a firm resolution blocking ANY tolls on Bandera Rd. We agree that the overwhelming consensus in Leon Valley, as it is elsewhere, is against tolls. The question is, what will the RMA and TxDOT do with such a resolution, legally binding or not, they will posit themselves against duly elected representatives of that community if they proceed with their destructive plan. The Leon Valley City Council Meeting is this evening at 7 PM in the City Council Chambers at 6400 El Verde Road, Leon Valley Texas 78238.

Leon Valley May Reject Tolls
Resolution before suburb’s council would block toll construction
By Jim Forsyth
WOAI
Thursday, July 6, 2006

The city of Leon Valley is prepared to order the toll road builders to get out of town by sundown.

City Council in the northwest side suburb tonight will be asked to consider a resolution opposing any attempt to build toll lanes on Bandera Road. The Regional Mobility Authority has proposed an ambitious project to build an upper lane on Bandera Road from Loop 1604 to Loop 410, and charge people a toll to drive on it.

City Councilman Art Reyna, who is proposing the resolution, says ‘nobody in Leon Valley’ wants tolls.

“It would virtually kill our city if something like that were added,” Reyna told 1200 WOAI news.

Reyna says he has nothing personally against toll roads and drives on toll roads when visiting Houston and Dallas, but he says toll roads have no place in Leon Valley.

“The vast majority of the residents of Leon Valley wants tolls blocked,” he said. “Our city is very different from other cities where elevated toll roads have been considered.”

The RMA’s Jim Reed has indicated that construction on the elevated lanes of Bandera Road could begin as soon as next year.

Reyna says the resolution would not be legally binding on the RMA, but he points out that the Texas Department of Transportation has indicated that it will not build toll roads in areas where local governments have voted against them, and he hopes the RMA follows that lead.

“I think its important that the RMA do the work that it is tasked to do, but I think it is equally important that the citizens’ voice be heard in the process,” Reyna said.

He says there are ‘quite a few’ improvements that could be made to move traffic faster on Bandera Road, and elevated toll lanes are only one option. Reyna says the RMA was asked to consider improvements to Bandera road, but says residents were ‘shocked’ when officials decided to recommend elevated toll lanes.

Leon Valley runs along Bandera Road, and there are few alternative routes.

“Improvements are important, but they shouldn’t kill a city in the process,” Reyna said.

Link to San Antonio Business Journal articlehere.

Some of the things the RMA says in this article are misleading. Right off the bat, it states the purpose of this survey is to demonstrate the need to finish Wurzbach. Well, yeah, everyone already knows it needs to be done. The funding has been there for over a decade. The plan has been in place for many decades, some say 30 years. The reality is, they want to add an interchange at Wurzbach and 281 and since that’s “new,” transportation officials can’t wait to toll it! The most important point for you to remember in this article is this one: “(tolling) gives San Antonio (a) revenue stream for the life of the project and beyond to maintain it.” That’s right, that’s why we’re going to stop this. It’s a whole new PERMANENT tax increase. These tolls aren’t going to go away…the Governor’s office even admits it. They want tolls to become a way of life, a whole new expense absorbed into the family budget (at a 500% increase in some cases). A recent study showed how housing and transportation are the two top expenses for taxpayers, combined taking up 52% of your income. Transportation alone took 19% of one’s income and that’s before gas jumped to nearly $3 a gallon! More on this to come…

Perhaps what’s more insulting to our intelligence is that they honestly think they’re going to “educate” the public into accepting tolls. They honestly think we just need more information and we’ll LOVE ‘EM! We already know everything we need to know, and WE DON’T WANT YOUR TOLLS, NO MATTER HOW YOU PACKAGE THEM! Never believe these people when they say the decisions to do this aren’t final. In their minds it absolutely is going to happen. Just attend a few tolling authority meetings and you’ll see what I mean. That’s where the voters come in…clean house in Austin in November, and we’ll get a Governor who can STOP this once and for all! Candidate for governor Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn believes in giving Texans a statewide initiative/referendum process (read more here)…she’s committed to allowing Texans to vote on these toll projects, unlike Perry and his special interest machine.

Transportation authority takes survey at proposed tollway site
by Tamarind Phinisee
San Antonio Business Journal
June 23, 2006

The locally based Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, the agency tasked with accelerating area transportation projects, is conducting a survey at one of its proposed tollway sites.

The purpose of this survey is to demonstrate the need for an east-west connector for Wurzbach Parkway.

The survey, called The Origin and Destination study say AlamoRMA officials, is part of a Level 2 traffic and revenue study. Level 2 traffic and revenue studies help transportation agencies determine things such as how often residents use certain roads, why they use them and at what part of town they begin and end their trip.

Following the completion of the entire Level 2 study, the agency will move on to the highest and final level of the study, Level 3, which will show what types of revenue could be generated on a particular roadway based on traffic volume and the roadway itself.

The agency received development authority from the Texas Transportation Commission in November 2005 to study three tollway projects. These three projects are: on the Wurzbach Parkway at the U.S. Highway 281 interchange; State Highway 16 between Loop 410 and Loop 1604; and Interstate Highway 35, from the Bexar/Guadalupe county line to the central business district.

The survey by AlamoRMA involves personnel out in the field questioning travelers at redlights regarding their travel routes, as well as cables across streets near Wurzbach to count the number of cars on the roadways.

The streets currently being surveyed are: Wetmore Road at Thousand Oaks Drive; Starcrest Drive at Jones Maltsberger Road; Bitters Road at West Avenue; Blanco Road at West; and Northwest Military Drive and Lockhill Selma Road.

The survey is important, officials say, because of their plans to build a 1.7-mile portion of the Wurzbach Parkway extension over U.S. Highway 281 — from West to Jones Maltsberger.

However, Terry Brechtel, the agency’s executive director, stresses that no final decision has been made on the proposed tollways, and that the survey simply gives the agency more concrete information.

“You want to have a toll revenue (plan) saying this is how much we estimate the rate to be, these are how many users this is going to have,” Brechtel says.

Leroy Alloway, spokesman for the agency, adds that design of any proposed tollway projects will not be completed until after mandated public meetings and hearings.

Following that procedure, says Pat Irwin, director of engineering and operations, AlamoRMA should have a 30 percent design schematic by next summer, with an additional year or year and a half needed to complete the necessary design work.

The Wurzbach/281 interchange, meanwhile, would connect with two segments that are to be built by the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT).

These other two segments are: Blanco to West Avenue and Jones Maltsberger/Wetmore to Starcrest.

“When completed, those three segments will finalize the Wurzbach Parkway project,” Alloway says.

Laura Lopez, a spokeswoman for the TxDOT San Antonio District, says that a timeline on the construction is not yet available.

Starter system
Looking at the big picture, the AlamoRMA — working TxDOT — is engaged in evaluating an approximately 70-mile network of added capacity tolled lanes. Construction could begin on the first segments of these lanes as early as 2007, transportation officials say.

In addition, ongoing public hearings are now being held about the possibility of adding toll lanes to Loop 1604, U.S. Highway 281, IH-35 and Wurzbach Parkway at the U.S. Highway 281 exchange.

Funding and education
Lack of funding has been the roadblock to construction of needed roadways in San Antonio, Brechtel says, and has led to the need for an alternative means of paying for roadway construction — specifically tollways.

The AlamoRMA was formed after transportation studies showed that traditional funding could not keep up with the construction of roadways needed in the San Antonio area. Indeed, the San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization in 2004 identified an $8 billion shortfall in highway funding for Bexar County’s growing traffic needs and determined that a tollway system was the only funding mechanism that could clear the area’s congested traffic corridors. That led to the formation of the AlamoRMA.

Brechtel says one of her primary missions is to show the public that an alternative means of funding roadways is a necessity. In addition, she says she is tasked with educating an unfamiliar public how tollways operate, and to alleviate misconceptions.

“Where we sit today is educating the public on why the toll revenue concept is important …,” Brechtel says. “What tolling brings is not only the revenue to build the project, but it also gives San Antonio revenue stream for the life of the project and beyond to maintain it.”

If some of the AlamoRMA’s planned projects were funded the traditional way, Irwin says, it could take 25 to 30 years before there were enough dollars for some of the projects.

Brechtel says the city’s growth rate and increase in jobs throughout the city make the case for tollways even stronger — citing Toyota, Washington Mutual and planned job increases at Fort Sam Houston.

In addition, she says, Northside Independent School District is forecasting phenomenal growth — predicting an increase in enrollment to about 100,000 students within the decade.

More information can be found at the AlamoRMA Web site at: www.alamorma.org.

Link to article here.

Note: The article states that TxDOT only plans to generate enough revenue from the toll roads to equal a 2 cent gas tax hike! So why are they building these behemoth corridors with more lanes than we need, and charging us nearly twice as much to build, maintain and operate toll roads than it costs to do them as free roads only to make as much money as a modest gas tax increase? And this is AFTER TxDOT has repeatedly claimed they’d need anywhere from 10 cents to $1.00 a gallon gas tax increase if we don’t do the tolls. Their own math doesn’t add up!

Leon Valley battles on tolls
By Patrick Driscoll
Express-News Staff Writer
05/22/2006

Now that toll road fever has shifted to proposed elevated toll lanes over Bandera Road, Leon Valley residents are getting their dose of the numbing data and shocking rhetoric that puff the debate.

A debate last week at the Leon Valley Community Center has left city officials scratching their heads as they try to untangle the mountain of information, collected over months and even years, that spewed for more than an hour and a half.

“Cognitive overload is what I call it,” Mayor Chris Riley said. “One person would say this, and then (another) would say no, so I’m like — get me those (studies) and let me read it for myself.”

Riley, along with state Rep. Joaquín Castro and San Antonio City Councilwoman Elena Guajardo, held the debate to inform and perhaps assuage concerned residents. More than 250 people showed up and clapped liberally for both sides, though a little louder for toll critics.

So far, the community is decidedly against both tolls and the elevated lanes.

Just over a week ago, Leon Valley City Council candidate Arthur Reyna Jr. trounced an incumbent by more than a 2-to-1 ratio after targeting a city resolution from September that asks the Texas Department of Transportation to study flyover lanes.

Most Leon Valley Area Chamber of Commerce members, polled twice in recent months, said businesses would do poorly in the shadow of flyover toll lanes. The organization would rather see Bandera widened to eight lanes, beautified and made easier for walking.

“Personally, I think it would be a horrible thing for the city,” Reyna said. “From the other side, I’ll do whatever the citizens want me to do, and right now what I hear them saying is, they do not want this toll road. So it’s my job to try and do whatever I can to stop it.”

That’s the crowd that David Casteel, TxDOT’s head engineer in San Antonio, and Terry Brechtel, Alamo Regional Mobility Authority director, faced Wednesday when they debated San Antonio Toll Party members.

TxDOT has laid out plans for 75 miles of toll roads on the North Side — along U.S. 281, Loop 1604, Interstate 35, Bandera Road and a Wurzbach Parkway interchange at U.S. 281 — and is studying additional toll lanes on I-10 outside Loop 1604.

The mobility authority recently took over the 28 miles of toll projects for I-35, Wurzbach and Bandera and is helping TxDOT pick a private consortium to operate 47 miles of planned toll lanes on U.S. 281 and Loop 1604.

Pitch for tolls

Casteel and Brechtel argue that there’s not enough tax money to solve traffic congestion — it’s not even close.
Over the past 25 years in Texas, the population grew 57 percent and the amount of driving almost doubled while miles of highway lanes increased just 8 percent. Much of the same is expected over the next quarter-century, except that driving is projected to triple.

Planners say $188 billion worth of traffic projects are needed by 2030, but the state is short by $86 billion, a tenth of it in San Antonio. Gas taxes — which are the same 38.4 cents a gallon that they were more than a decade ago — would have to be raised by $1.20 a gallon to cover the bill.

Inflation has whittled purchasing power of the state’s 20-cent gas tax — per road-mile driven — to early 1980s levels.

But the Legislature has refused to raise the tax in recent years, opting instead to go with tolls. As of late last year, planned toll roads in Texas cities were expected to rake in $5 billion in construction money over 25 years, which is equivalent to a 2-cent gas tax.

Together with gas taxes, tolls can fund projects decades sooner, officials say. And as toll roads are paid off, excess revenues could be used to help pay for other projects. Motorists would choose whether to drive on congested non-tolled lanes, such as existing Bandera Road, where traffic is projected to double in 25 years, or pay fees to save time.

Otherwise, San Antonio’s traffic will soon look like Houston’s today, torturing drivers even more, increasing costs to do business and scaring companies thinking about locating here.

“It doesn’t take too much in-depth analysis, it doesn’t take a Texas A&M engineering degree, to say that if you don’t like congestion today, you’re really not going to like it in the future,” Casteel said.

Ditch the tolls

Terri Hall, founder and director of San Antonio Toll Party, and locally based transportation consultant Bill Barker say something smells funny.

For one thing, tolls do not solve traffic congestion. And congestion is needed on competing roads to make tolls viable because motorists won’t pay a fee if they can get somewhere just as quickly on free roads.

Toll lanes will benefit only those who can afford them, while everybody else will still help pay, they said. Gas taxes are eyed for many toll projects because tolls can’t always do it all; rights of way bought with public money would also be used, and businesses using toll lanes would pass on the costs to customers.

Also, they said, the state’s $86 billion worth of road needs are probably more of a wish list when one considers that gas taxes would have to more than triple to get the money. A better idea is to tighten spending and prioritize better.

It’s even arguable that more highway lanes will just spread sprawling development faster and induce more driving, as in the past.

San Antonio already has more miles of freeway lanes per person than 45 of the 50 largest U.S. cities, and when mileage per capita here increased between 1990 to 2000, commute times still went up.

The strategy should focus on decreasing how much people drive, such as more carpooling and telecommuting, better public transit, and building neighborhoods where it’s easy to walk to bus stops and other places, they said.

Other solutions include developing a network of city streets that connect better, requiring developers to provide for those streets, using the latest technologies to coordinate traffic signals and using reversible lanes.

Smoke hasn’t cleared

Work on the first three miles of toll lanes in San Antonio was scheduled for U.S. 281 in January, but federal officials pulled the environmental clearances after a lawsuit was filed that says impacts hadn’t been studied enough. TxDOT is redoing the evaluations.
Meanwhile, the mobility authority is starting an environmental assessment for the seven miles of toll lanes that might be built over Bandera Road. The assessment could be completed within two years and the tollway opened in five.

Many residents in Leon Valley will be watching closely.

“If 50 percent of what San Antonio Toll Party presented is indeed true, TxDOT has some problems,” said Phillip Manea, president of the Leon Valley chamber.

Chris Riley, Mayor of Leon Valley, sent a letter to Executive Director of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority, Terry Brechtel, asking a series of very valid questions of the RMA about the planned elevated tollway on Bandera Road. Brechtel seems to deliberately mislead the Mayor in her response. Note the date of the letter from Brechtel to Riley, March 17, 2006. The toll feasibility study for Bandera Rd (PDF file) was completed February 28, 2006. Brechtel tries to claim ignorance or that information was not yet known when she knew full well the answers to many of the Mayor’s questions almost a month prior to the letter she drafted:

View letters here… (PDF file)

1) “It is important to note there is not a definitive plan at this time, and until we have received public input and finalized the environmental assessment….we are unable to provide further detail…” (p. 2 of Brechtel reply to Mayor Riley)

The Alamo RMA voted to allocate $6.5 million for preliminary engineering for an elevated tollway on Bandera and I-35 as well as the Wurzbach Pkwy. toll interchange (read about it here and on the RMA’s meeting minutes where the motion was approved here). So if there’s no definitive plan, why are they allocating millions to begin engineering it? Also, the toll feasibility study examined two specific routes, the predominant one being an elevated tollway from 410 to Loop 1604 and another alignment from 151 over Leon Creek joining Bandera Rd. and up to Loop 1604. The study also states, “In accordance with TxDOT’s policy, the new capacity improvements are to be evaluated for (toll) feasibility.” There is a definitive plan to toll the elevated roadway over Bandera Rd. per TxDOT’s OWN POLICY! It was IN WRITING before Brechtel replied to the Mayor.

2) “The impact to the local community from traffic flow on adjacent streets within the community has not been determined at this time.” (p. 2 of Brechtel letter)

Here’s what the feasbility study claims: “Preliminary evaluation revealed that the construction of the proposed alternatives would have no adverse impact on social groups, neighborhoods, communities, or public facilities.” (p. 4 of Bandera Rd. Toll Feasibility Study). Brechtel obviously couldn’t repeat such callous, disingenous claim, so she said “it hasn’t been determined yet.” Again, if it hasn’t been determined, why have they allocated money to start engineering it if they don’t even know the impact to the community? Doesn’t this seem to be a vital factor that needs to be settled long before commiting funds to begin engineering the tollway?

3) “…alternatives for Bandera Rd. will be considered, including a no build option. Any other option besides no build, will require identification of funds to construct any recommended improvements.” (p. 2 of Brechtel letter)

The only alternatives being considered are both tollways, one 7 miles, one 10 miles. So in their view the options are: it’s toll it or no build, period. Follow the money…if the no build is truly an option, why did the RMA allocate money to engineer the tollway (see evidence above)?

4) “The Alamo RMA will also work closely with all our partner communities to ensure public safety vehicles and first responders will have access to the added capacity tolled lane system without impeding repsonse time.” (p. 2 of Brechtel letter)

How is that possible when there is only one entrance and exit on either end? It’s a 7 or 10 mile tollway, so if the scene of an accident is at the 3.5 mile mark, how is it possible for EMS to get from the surface street up onto the tollway and to the scene without impeding response time compared to current Bandera Rd. which has many access points? See this article on how tollways are more dangerous than freeways (http://satollparty.com/post/?p=216).

5) “Please note that only those who elect to use the tolled lane system will pay for the use of the system.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

This one is the biggest misstatement of all. Brechtel knows that NONE of these proposed tollways are 100% toll viable. That means NONE of them completely pay for themselves 100% with tolls. The toll feasibility study for Bandera was already published at this time, and it clearly states that the best case scenario shows only 47% viability. That means they will have to sell bonds for the remaining 53%…backed by and paid by taxpayer money…in order to erect this monstrosity. So everyone will help pay for it, but only the few can afford to drive on it. Also, the MPO has allocated $500 million in your GAS TAXES to build toll roads in San Antonio. Therefore, this oft repeated claim by the tollers that only those who use the tollway pay for the tollway are LYING! (See quote from Commissioner Lyle Larson affirming TxDOT is not being honest about how the toll projects are being financed here)

6) “At this time, there is not a projected cost per mile for this corridor.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

Another blatant falsehood. The toll feasibility study for Bandera Rd published before this letter to Mayor Riley specifically states on page 15 that they assume a toll rate of 13 cents a mile for autos and 31.8 cents a mile for trucks. And the road doesn’t start to make any positive cashflow until year 21 of the bond period. So those rates will only increase rapidly once they hand it over to a private company who will likely drive up the rates to speed up the time it takes to make a profit. (See this report, page 6, from a bond rating company that states one of the advantages to governments in privatizing public highways is to shield them from the wrath of voters upon steady toll rate increases here. ) Also, 13 cents a mile is well above the national average for a turnpike to begin with. The Comptroller’s investigation of the RMAs (see report here) found the national average is 9 cents a mile. Gas tax averages 1-3 cents a mile. No matter how you slice it, the gas tax system is the most affordable system.

7) “The proposed project does not have a timeline for construction.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

Total misstatement of fact. On page 2 of the Bandera Rd toll feasibility states: “The alternatives studied are feasible for achieving TxDOT’s goal of completing construction in the year 2013.” Figure L-1 of the toll feasibility study for Bandera states the construction would begin in 2009 and be completed in 2013. That’s a 4 year construction timeline. Brechtel knew this, but failed to disclose this to the Mayor.

8) “We are unable to provide a specific answer to this (cost) question.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

The toll feasibility study gives specifics of cost on page 19 and elsewhere. The primary route cited by TxDOT in public would be $319 or $330 million depending on design type. Page 19 also states they pad the costs by 40%, 20% for “contingency” and 20% for “soft costs” like engineering & inspection!

9) “The Alamo RMA is charged with setting the toll rates.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

Impossible given they plan to use a CDA (see definition here) which allows the toll rates to be set by a private company with NO CAP on how high the toll rates will go. That’s the problem with the CDAs, they allow our government, an unelected tolling authority no less, to delegate taxing authority (and hence accountability to the taxpayers) to a private company. Also, see Bill Thornton’s (Chair of the Alamo RMA) comments during a debate (which we have on tape) where he says “I have no idea who will set the toll rates” (here)!

10) “You ask details regarding the Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA). At this time, the State of Texas has not received an unsolicited proposal for any portion of State Highway 16, and as such the corridor is being evaluated exclusively by the Alamo RMA.” (p. 3 of Brechtel letter)

Again, not true. On page 20 and in Figure L-1 of the toll feasibility study published before Brechtel’s letter to Mayor Riley, it states: “Based upon prior experience, and in conjunction with discussions with TxDOT district staff, it was assumed that the project would most likely be built through a CDA with the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority.” TxDOT and the RMA fully intends to use a CDA for this project, signing over our public infrastructure to private, likely foreign, management against the will of 83% of Americans (http://satollparty.com/post/?p=142). Most all companies with the billions it requires for these CDAs are foreign, few if any American companies have emerged.

Then, Brechtel closes with this:
“I look forward to continuing our open dialogue.” (p.4 of Brechtel letter)

Open dialogue? Seems there wasn’t much truth and openness in this letter. What a joke!

The Toll Road Forum hosted by State Representative Joaquin Castro, Councilwoman Elena Guajardo, and the City of Leon Valley last night, gave residents a chance to hear both sides of the story on TxDOT’s planned toll roads. The forum drew over 250 concerned citizens who let us know through applause, their questions, and the volume of signed petitions that they are clearly against an elevated tollway through their community. Myself and Bill Barker, Transportation Consultant who volunteers selflessly to our cause, debated David Casteel, District Engineer for TxDOT, and Terry Brechtel, Executive Director of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority.

The crowd actually gasped and began to hurl shouts of distaste when I read this statement from the Bandera Rd. toll feasibility study that claims this about the construction of an elevated tollway:

“There is no apparent adverse impact on social groups, neighborhoods, communities, or public facilities.” (SH 16 Feasibility Study Final Report, p. 4)

WHAT???? How can erecting a gigantic elevated tollway WITH NO EXITS over existing neighborhoods, schools, and businesses have no adverse impact!? The World Bank explicitly states there are negative social impacts to an elevated urban tollway: “toll roads can have significant social impacts… These can be both positive (providing improved access for some regions of a country) and negative (degrading the environment around the road, for example underneath an elevated urban expressway).” See source here.

The study also assumes:

“No additional competing or feeder routes” would be built. (p. 15)

See history of non-competes in these deals with private companies here.

“As the alternative free routes reach capacity, the tollway becomes more attractive resulting in higher estimated traffic volumes.” (p. 17)

This means they intend to CLOG our free routes to force more traffic to use the tollway. It’s a stated strategy in several places (see post here and here), for them to deny it is to LIE! More users of the toll road, means MORE REVENUE for these private companies and the State!

The toll feasibility study for Bandera Rd. also assumes:

“The project would most likely be built through a CDA with the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority.” (p. 20)

CDAs are these contracts that privatize our public freeways in 50 year sweetheart deals (see Toll Glossary here). They’re being negotiated in secret and even elected officials cannot see the details without signing a non-disclosure agreement (see story here, note some of the councilmembers have since done an aboutface and are pro-toll, apparently having no problem with this attack on open government). So ELECTED officials cannot share the details of a PUBLIC contract with their own constituents! Terry Brechtel of the Alamo RMA told the Mayor of Leon Valley, Chris Riley, that using a CDA has not been decided, but it’s clearly stated that they fully intend to use a CDA in their own documents! So Brechtel lied to an elected official!

The feasibility study for Bandera Rd. affirms what we’ve been saying for nearly a year…

TxDOT not only plans to make it a tollway, they plan to have some sort of non-compete agreement or understanding where the free routes will not be improved, and, in fact, they plan for the new growth in that area to clog the free alternatives beyond their capacity so that MORE people will be forced onto the tollway and increase their revenues!

This arrogant revenue building scheme of our out of control government needs to be stopped! It’s not just TxDOT, but our politicians starting with Governor Perry who are responsible for this. Governor Perry appoints the Transportation Commission that oversees TxDOT and he’s heard from tens of thousands of Texans against tolls, but on they march without accountability. In fact, Secretary of Transportation Norm Mineta came out with a statement affirming the federal government’s role in this shift to privatize our freeways. Read more here.

Read the SA Toll Party closing statement

Link to story here.

Bandera Road is being considered for elevated toll lanes because of the NAFTA/CAFTA truck traffic passing through that area into Bandera. Same reason 281 and I-35 are on the hit list. Why should Texans have to disproportiately bear the tax burden for infrastructure that benefits the entire Nation’s commerce? Art Reyna is right; neither TxDOT nor the RMA has considered the economic impact of a flyover toll corridor or the impacts on health and neighborhoods. That’s why our grassroots citizen group formed; TxDOT and many of our politicians want to IGNORE public input, deny us a vote, and deny us the right of self-determination. It’s taxation without representation and they ought to take note of history…such foolish and arrogant behavior begets a taxpayer revolt!

Leon Valley has only one disputed race
By Lety Laurel
Express-News Staff Writer
Web Posted: 04/26/2006 12:01 AM CDT

Whether Bandera Road should someday have tolled elevated lanes through Leon Valley is becoming a major issue in this year’s City Council elections, even though there is only one contested race.

Mayor Chris Riley, 54, a legal assistant, is running unopposed, as is Jack O’Day Dean, 68, retired, for Place 4.

For Place 2, incumbent Hubert W. Lange, 72, retired, will face attorney Arthur “Art” Reyna Jr., 49.

Lange has lived in the city for 37 years and said he wants to continue working with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority to extend elevated lanes over Bandera Road through the city to reduce traffic in residential areas.

“Currently Bandera Road is almost a parking lot and people are finding ways through residential areas to get where they’re going,” he said. “If we had the flyover through Leon Valley, that would return the surface streets to the citizens.”

Lange, who is seeking his second term, said he also wants the city to continue providing support for emergency services and public services such as parks, a library and citizens center. He’d also like to continue pursuing a Capital Improvement Program for streets and drainage and to develop a program to stimulate growth within the city to increase sales tax revenue.

“We need to lure more businesses into Leon Valley,” he said. “We have many vacant storefronts that have been vacant for quite some time, and we really need to make sure that emergency services are up to date and serve the citizens with EMS, fire and police.”

His opponent, Reyna, said a flyover isn’t what residents want. He said the current council hasn’t considered the potential impact it could have on the city.

“Residential property values will be lowered by virtue of having noise pollution,” he said. “The council has not considered how it virtually will destroy most businesses in Leon Valley and they have not considered what it means for the city’s sales tax base and what that will mean for those of us that will pay property tax and what we will have to do to compensate for the loss of sales tax.”

Reyna has lived in the city for 20 years and said he supports attracting new businesses as a way to increase revenue for the city, instead of increasing property taxes. He said he supports open and responsive government.

Though he’s never served on a city council, Reyna was a state representative for six years and has been trained as a mediator. This makes him familiar with how government works and how to work with people with differing opinions, he said.

“I bring the ability to build consensus,” he said. “I understand how government works because I’ve been in it.”

According to Comptroller Strayhorn today (see article here), the state surplus is now at $8.2 billlion yet the Governor and his “tax commission” led by John Sharp are promoting a broad and sweeping new business tax to “offset” property tax relief. In other words, the only way we’re going to get property tax relief is if they raise taxes somewhere else! When they put money in one pocket and take it out of the other, how is that tax relief?

With an $8.2 billion surplus, it’s inexcusable that ANY tax increase is being considered much less instituting a new tax on driving (toll tax) on nearly every highway in Texas! The surplus exceeds TxDOT’s annual income ($7.5 billion)…tolling authority Chair Bill Thornton and SAMCo CEO Joe Krier keep asking how we’d fund highway improvements without tolls, look no further than the overtaxation that’s given us an $8.4 billion surplus, gentlemen. Problem solved!

Here’s my comments to the RMA Board yesterday:

We’ve been told this new environmental study on 281 is “independent.” Concerned citizens however, are seeing the process is, once again, being hijacked by special interests. HNTB, a member of SAMCO and the Greater Chamber, both of which are pushing tolls, is conducting this “study” to the tune of $800,000. Then, this very organization paid HNTB $6.5 million of our hard earned taxpayer dollars to do preliminary engineering on the RMA’s first 3 toll projects.

Now how is this NOT a conflict of interest? It is, and this is precisely why the voters know the public meetings aren’t to get public input to help you reach a decision, it’s a step in the check off list to the foregone conclusion of tolling. You’ve repeatedly emphasized that the 281/1604 project is TxDOT’s not the RMA’s and yet nearly every board member attended the public meetings for 281 and even coached speakers in the business community on how to dress and what to say to push tolls on a public who clearly doesn’t want them. You’re using our tax dollars to lobby against the will of the people who fund this organization. That’s called taxpayer funded lobbying and it’s going to end very soon!

We’ve also noticed your new catch phrases trying to state the decision to toll or to use or not use CDAs are “yet to be decided,” but your actions tell a different story. There’s already talk of a CDA for Bandera Rd. when this organization promised elected officials in Leon Valley and elsewhere that the decision to toll has not been made and that true community input would be sought and considered first.

Well, we’re no fools and we’re not buying the talking points to try and placate the angry masses until you get your CDAs signed and then it’ll be back to your old mantra, “It’s a done deal, live with it.” (They may as well be saying, Let them eat cake!) We know what your marching orders are; you’re a tolling authority plain and simple, and we’re not going to let you ram the tolling of our existing highways and rights of way down our throats without a vote.

Contradictions Abound!
Isn’t it important to know the impact of the Trans Texas Corridor in relieving I-35 truck traffic before pressing ahead with a MASSIVE toll project on I-35 with the SAME goal…to alleviate truck traffic on I-35?

If the point of the Trans Texas Corridor is to relieve truck traffic from existing I-35, then why on earth is the Transportation Department proposing to takeover EXISTING portions of I-35 from San Antonio to Laredo as part of the Trans Texas Corridor toll road?

It’s grossly irresponsible to press ahead with 73 miles of toll roads without studying the impact of what’s become permanently high gas prices.

Both Terrell McCombs and the San Antonio Mobility Coalition (Joe Krier’s SAMCo) have been running around asking for money from the BIG spenders in town for a PR campaign to push tolls. Guess what? SAMCo is partially funded with your TAX money, so what they’re doing is taxpayer-funded lobbying and it needs to stop NOW!

Vic Boyer, SAMCo’s Executive Director sent out the email below to supporters recently and said this of the coming PR campaign to push tolls on a public who clearly doesn’t want them at yesterday’s RMA meeting: “The cavalry is coming!” (listen here) Hmmm…Whose cavalry? Not the cavalry known as a public vote to bury these toll plans once and for all….no, they won’t allow a little thing like accountability to the voters to take place. How ’bout a cavalry of elected officials to protect the public from this tax grab…no, the highway lobby will see to it that won’t happen either. The promised coming tidal wave of billboards, radio ads, and direct mail pieces will be a massive public misinformation campaign. This is nothing more than the highway lobby kicking it into high gear as the GOP did (Read article about it here.) to push the selling of a public toll road in Indiana to Cintra-Macquarie, the same two foreign companies bidding on our toll starter system on 281/1604!

Oh, and Mr. Boyer mentioned in SAMCO’s 2006-2007 Strategic Plan that a Bexar County employee, Leilah Powell, is heading up a “working group” to frame the message of this campaign. More taxpayer-funded lobbying. Had enough? Read the first article in a series in the Express-News about lobbyist influence peddling in Texas, including lobbying against the taxpayer and consumer here.

TIME LAUNCH OUR OWN CITIZEN TRUTH CAMPAIGN! DONATE NOW!
Time to donate to the cause, folks. If you know of those with the means to give generously, send ’em to our donate page!

Vic Boyer’s email…

SAMCo Members and Partners:

I want to personally thank everyone who took time to
provide testimony on the proposed US 281 toll lanes
the past two evenings and who participated in
Wednesday’s South Chamber toll debate. A few
observations:

1) Outstanding job by Bill Thornton and Joe Krier at
Wednesday’s debate. Definitely kept making the point
that the Toll Party has no alternative plan!

2) Great editorial by David Hendricks (attached) and
somewhat more balanced coverage by the news media than
has been the case in recent weeks.

3) Turnout at each public meeting was about two
hundred, perhaps three-quarters being against tolling
judging by the applause. Much less than the 400-500
that attended similar public meetings two years ago
(also at Reagan High School) on the toll starter
system. The Toll Party failed to generate the kind of
numbers we anticipated. Opposition still appears to
be primarily from individuals who drive in from the
north of San Antonio.

4) SAMCo’s testimony is attached.

5) Thank you Terrell McCombs for handling the media at
both events.

6) Thank you Greater Chamber, Hispanic Chamber, North
Chamber, and Real Estate Council for your
contributions and testimony.

7) Thank you Leroy Alloway for all the prep work for
the debate.

8) Individuals can still provide supportive comments!
I’ve attached a PDF of the comment card that can be
mailed or faxed back within 10 days following the
hearing. Please distribute to friends, employees,
business associates.

Again, thanks.

Vic

Here was my response to Mr. Boyer’s break with reality:

281 Meetings –
As usual, you underestimate our influence. If you think 550 people (See Express-News article stating 550 people attended meetings.) means these meetings weren’t well-attended, then nothing I say can sway you. Plus, the number of people attending these public meetings has little to do with the actual number of people opposed to this project and you know it. We add members daily from all over Bexar County (over 80% of our membership lives in Bexar County). Those who spoke out against the toll plans were residents in the corridor and some from other parts of Bexar County. Only some lived in Bulverde/Spring Branch. Also, many folks are not comfortable with public speaking and will always defer to other methods of communication. We’re 2,500 strong and we’re working stiffs whose time is scarce and can’t necessarily make these meetings. We also know it was no coincidence TxDOT announced the cancellation of the Zachry contract days before the public meetings to try and fool the public into thinking the toll plans were off the table. Most folks have already surmised TxDOT ignores the public comment so we’ll submit our comments through other avenues like email rather than waste our time at the meetings.

Hendricks article-
If you call a biased commentary like David Hendricks’ puff piece (Link to this “article” here.) for the road lobby balanced reporting, then perhaps you need to look-up the word “commentary” since it has nothing to do with objectivity or balance. It’s opinion, period.

Debate-
Seems you attended a different debate than we did since we repeatedly offered non-toll solutions, particularly the ORIGINAL FUNDED PLAN for 281! You can claim the opposite to your membership, but it doesn’t change the reality that the pro-toll camp has no arguments, no studies, nor research to support why we should pay a toll for a road and improvement plan that’s ALREADY PAID FOR nor anything to justify that paying twice as much to build a toll road is the solution to not having the funds to build a free road. In fact, the arguments your camp makes aren’t even true. It’s not a user based tax and our presentation proved it.

When every toll plan on the books uses gas taxes; it’s not a user tax. When TxDOT has admitted ON CAMERA and elsewhere that they plan to use toll revenues from 281 to build toll lanes on 1604; that’s not a user based tax. And we both know, TxDOT is far from being out of money. In fact, their budget grew from $6.1 to $7.5 billion from 2004 to 2005! Last year’s federal highway bill has become the poster-child for government waste and overspending with 6,000 earmarks including a bridge to nowhere in Alaska and a parking garage for a local PRIVATE university!

Mr. Alloway needs to do some better research if this was the best you could do. TxDOT’s own records show they are sitting on funds and withholding them to build double tax toll roads. It’s misplaced priorities and overcharging us for new construction (which only benefits your membership) that’s led to this mess. I have more and more folks in the private sector business community sharing with me on the record what our group of concerned citizens already knows: that TxDOT pays 2-3 times what the private sector pays their contractors.

We look forward to the truth continuing to reach the fine citizens of this region. The elites at the top always underestimate ordinary citizens and would prefer to believe we’re a bunch of out-of-towners stirring up trouble in Bexar County. We’re thankful you underestimate us as you prop up your plans with straw man arguments that will ultimately fail.

Good Day!
–Terri

Terry Brechtel and I were asked to make presentations to the Board of the San Antonio Manufacturers Association today. Each side was given 15 minutes to present (though she took close to 10 minutes of extra time).

Here’s a few of the blatant falsehoods Ms. Brechtel told this group of businessmen:

1) She said the RMA is a subdivision of Bexar County. Not true, they’re a subdivision of the STATE created by HB 3588 toll legislation (See first page of Comptroller’s report on RMAs where it states clearly they’re established by the STATE legislature in 2003.). This is an effort to give the illusion of local control.

2) She said toll lanes were NOT being studied for I-10 when they are (see news article here that clearly states they are Link here. ).

3) She says it would take a 36 cent local gas tax increase just to fund entire Loop 1604 and 281 improvements. Hogwash! Our entire federal and state highway systems were built with our current 38.4 cents in federal and state gas taxes, so I fail to see how one project, 47 miles of toll lanes, on EXISTING FREEways (right of way already purchased and nearly already completely graded) requires a 36 cent gas tax increase! The problem isn’t lack of funds, but being overcharged! The toll starter system began with a cost of $450 million, then went up to $650 to $850, to $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion in just 3-4 months’ time last summer! Perhaps the remedy is to scale the project back to just what’s needed, leave the existing lanes where they are (instead of bulldoze them to make way for extra toll lanes than originally planned), build it as free lanes, get rid of the $54 million of toll equipment, and reduce the 25-35% administration cost of collecting tolls!

4) She also distributed the doctored photos that make it appear as though the new toll lanes will be built in the existing median of 281 and Loop 1604 without disturbing the existing lanes. Not true! Our supporters went out an measured the existing median on 281. It’s 38 feet wide. Standard lanes in TxDOT’s own documents show one lane is 12 feet wide. Six lanes (72 feet) cannot fit into a 38 foot median!

The lies, deception, and half truths come from one side of the toll road fence, and it ain’t from ours!