Last I checked it’s our right, no, our duty as citizens to be involved and have a say in our self-determination. Our movement is about redressing our government for grievances and taxation without representation. Here’s what our District Engineer for TxDOT, David Casteel, had to say about concerned citizens’ input on their money grabbing secret contracts, and their monopolistic land heist fraught with eminent domain abuse….sorry if he tires of our input…we pay his salary. Guess what, Mr. Casteel, our facts aren’t factoids…they’re the TRUTH! Perhaps if TxDOT was more truthful and not caught in lies and contradictions found in their own documents, in news reports, and in public meetings, your job would get easier.
Link to Driscoll’s blog here to make a comment.
Fightin’ words … and more
By Pat Driscoll
Express-News
May 03, 2006
David Casteel of the Texas Department of Transportation let it be known Tuesday that he’s tired of insults from toll-road critics — and he delivered some tough words of his own.
“We come to face many cynics in our dealings,” Casteel told a friendly crowd of about 400 road industry and government officials at his state of transportation speech at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, sponsored by the San Antonio Mobility Coalition.
“There are those who misquote, misapply and string together meaningless factoids and conjure up rumors about things like traffic signals and overpass plans and try to damage the reputations of people at the city and the department,” he said, referring to a U.S. 281 toll-plan controversy.
“We have met people who have used mean words to describe us and those who came before us,” he said, adding references to past controversies, such as the failed 14-year effort to stop U.S. 281 from going through parklands. “They have called those who laid out this city incompetent and worse.”
And then this …
“To those who fight us, let there be no mistake, we will fight back with facts to meaningless factoids, with a comprehensive regional plan to the one-road concern,” he said. “We will fight — we are not fighting for any personal, political or selfish reason — we are fighting for the right reasons, for Texans, for the future.”
Casteel, TxDOT’s lead engineer in San Antonio, also talked about how the state’s population grew 57 percent over the past 25 years but the amount of driving went up 95 percent while highway lane miles increased just 8 percent. He said driving in Bexar County is projected to go from 35 million miles in 2000 to 56 million by 2030.
Those are reasons why local officials should use all tools authorized by the Texas Legislature and voters in recent years, including bonding and tolls, he argued.
But enough of that warmed-over fare … check out David the bulldog wearing a few other hats:
David strokes his chin …
“Oscar Wilde — who even though he was a strange guy did have a lucid thought or two — he once defined a cynic as a person who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.
David rolls up his sleeves …
“What we do is build — we build every day, all day and all night, 24 hours a day, seven days a week — we are building — you cannot drive through this region and this state and not see us build. You send money our way and we will build, send more money and we will build more — we build — while others complain, we build — while others blame, we build — while others call names, we build.”
David waxes poetic …
“We are the giant martini glass into which the various legislation and empowerment tools have been poured — and not stirred gently but shaken vigorously, sloshed around and spilled and put back in the glass. It has been a rough and vibrant mixing — but my friends, in our region the taste is sublime.”