How we roll in Texas...

Courtesy of TURF -

More I-35 shenanigans...

One of our supporters who manned a table outside the I-35 workshop the week before Thanksgiving, was present the entire time and saw all of 4 ordinary citizens enter the meeting. When he asked one of the consultants how many people had attended, they said close to 30. When he inquired how that could be when he only saw 4 people enter, they said some folks had come around 4 PM to leave comments and go. He asked how that happened since the posted start time given to the general public wasn't until 5:30 PM, he was given double talk.

When it became clear that members of the San Antonio Mobility Coalition or SAMCo (made up of over 70 private contractors that do business with TxDOT) had been welcomed prior to the posted hours given to the general public, we submitted an Open Records request asking for the sign-in sheets and any correspondence sent to SAMCo about the I-35 meeting.

Records show a litany of government officials and road contractors attended and only a handful of ordinary citizens. Records also show that SAMCo members got a personal invitation in writing from TxDOT and the RMA on November 3, more than two weeks prior to the meetings, when the general public only received notice two days prior to the workshops. It explains why the road lobby showed up and the general public did not.

This is how TxDOT and toll entities rig the process by keeping the public in the dark and getting the road lobby to do their bidding -- show-up while they're still on the clock when they don't have to rub shoulders with those stingy taxpayers to leave pro-toll comments and get home at their regular time. The general public, by contrast, funds this whole operation with our hard-earned tax money, and we have to leave work early or come after hours on our OWN TIME and DIME taking time AWAY from our families to give input to corrupt public agencies that deliberately stack the deck against us.      

State law now requires those who do business with TxDOT or who work for firms that could profit from the road project are supposed to disclose this on their comment forms. From what we have pieced together from the public records of the meeting, they did NOT comply with the law.  

Texas Freeway Problems

WHY do the Texas Highway problems sound about the same as the Texas Water problems?

No money to fix the freeways but money to build toll roads.

No money to fix flooding, but millions to build bridges over air.

We're quickly running out of water, but the gas industry doesn't seem to mind.

We can't fund our schools, but we can build toll roads from here to Kingdom Come...

TXDOT gave two whole days notice for the public meeting concerning the San Antonio toll roads.  That is after they reneged of funding in Denton County.  Keep up, or try to, with the many headed snake that used to be called the Trans Texas Corridor on TURF.

Remember, it's YOUR TURF and YOUR money.  Do something.  Anything.

WHO owns the road?

Incoming news from our friends at TexasTURF.org.  If YOU don't know WHO they are, YOU need to.  YOU can't afford not to.  Hurry, before there's no Texas Turf left.

Sell-out: Committees pass bills to allow foreign-owned toll roads & the sale of other infrastructure to private corporations-- including WATER supply facilities, ports, public buildings, & hospitals, using public private partnerships (PPPs)

House passes eminent domain bill, SB 18, with few changes
-- Doesn't prevent eminent domain for private gain in the name of a "public use," like foreign-owned toll roads.

HB 2255 & HB 2432 UNLEASH public private partnerships (PPPs) across Texas

PPPs are kept SECRET from the public, eliminate competitive bidding, put the taxpayers on the hook for losses, grant monopolies over public infrastructure & charge user fees for public access. In the case of roads, they contain non-competes that prohibit or penalize the expansion of free roads & the published toll rates are 75-80 cents per mile, like adding $15 to EVERY gallon of gas you buy!

HB 2255 (Phillips) - Passed out of Committee Wednesday, despite substantial public opposition and objections by Rep. Yvonne Davis about the lack of competitive bidding, read about the drama here. This bill would sell-off portions of SEVEN Texas highways (Grand Pkwy around Houston, I-35E in DFW, two segments of 183 in DFW, I-35W & I-820 in DFW, and SH 249 in Harris and Montgomery counties) to foreign corporations in SWEETHEART DEALS.

HB 2432 (J. Davis) - Passed out of Committee, also in spite of public opposition by 7 different groups. This bill is being pushed by Balfour Beatty, a British infrastructure firm, and it applies to virtually EVERY other kind of infrastructure aside from roads like: WATER supply facilities, hospitals, mass transit, ports, public bldgs for up to 100 YEARS! Who does this bill benefit? Lobbyists from foreign countries seeking to takeover our infrastructure, not Texans!

Go here to learn more and to help!

Austin Anyone?

From our friends at TURF...

Trans Texas Corridor Resurrected in HB 3789!

On Wednesday, the House Transportation Committee will hear a slew of bills (HB 2186, HB 2388, HB 2801, HB 2985, HB 3561, HB 3563-HB 3565, HB 3734) to privatize and toll tax TX roads, the worst being HB 3789 that re-creates the Trans Texas Corridor and that grants a blanket authorization for these contracts called Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to be done in SECRET, without financial disclosures, and with NO sunset provision, so the authority is indefinite! Read our detailed bill analysis here.

It's the Trans Texas Corridor resurrected (in 284.003 C. (7) of HB 3789 it authorizes these contracts in the TTC chapter of the code) and MUST BE STOPPED! The House Transportation Committee will meet Wednesday, March 30 at 8 AM in Rm. E2.028.

These are sweetheart deals that have profit guarantees, massive public subsidies (ALL Texans' gas taxes), low interest taxpayer-backed loans (TIFIA loans or Private Activity Bonds), non-compete agreements that prohibit or penalize the expansion of surrounding free roads, and we're seeing published toll rates for these types of contracts starting at 80 PER MILE to drive in peak hours! These CDAs socialize the losses and privatize the profits for a HALF CENTURY!

Another bill, HB 2432 (by John Davis), that would give a blanket authorization to enter into these types of agreements (for any road & other infrastructure projects in Texas) is also being heard on Wednesday, March 30 at 8 AM in Rm. E2.014.

What to know if you go:
How to Testify or Register Opposition

You need to sign-up to testify by filling out and turning in a Witness Affirmation Form to the clerk for EACH bill you oppose. If you cannot stay to testify orally when the bill is called, you can still fill out a Witness Affirmation Form opposing the bill (and check the box to oppose but not wishing to testify) and turn it into the clerk at the front of the room and leave.

Capitol Parking

There is metered parking for up to three hours surrounding the Capitol if you plan to just come, fill out a card and leave. But if you plan to stay to testify orally, there is public parking in the Capitol Parking Garage at 12th and San Jacinto or if that's full, park at the Texas History Museum at 18th/Congress. Both are $8/day but the Capitol Parking Garage is hourly up until a certain number of hours and max is $8/day.

If you can't attend:

EMAIL THESE COMMITTEES!

For those who cannot be at the Capitol, you can email all House Transportation Committee members using this easy email we've set-up: HTC@texasturf.org or the Senate Transportation Committee at STC@texasturf.org.

TELL THEM: No CDAs/PPPs, No to HB 1724, and No to the re-creation of the Trans Texas Corridor, HB 3789!

Phone calls to Rep. Larry Phillips (author of, HB 3789, the bill to recreate the TTC) and Sen. Kirk Watson (SB 1650, bill to privatize MoPac/183) and the other authors of CDA/PPP bills (Linda Harper-Brown, Charlie Geren, Allen Fletcher, Eddie Lucio III, John Davis) are still important to pressure these guys to do the right thing.

The Capitol Switchboard is (512) 463-4630.

What's the Catch, Part 2

We recently told you about Senate Bill 18 and the twist. Now the FW Weekly tells you about it. And they talked to some of our favorite people to do so.

If you own property (or ever will) in Texas, YOU can't afford to miss it.

In recent years, government agencies and private companies have used eminent domain powers to force North Texas property owners like Mitchell to sell their land for what amounts to private development — natural gas pipelines, gas rigs, privately owned toll roads, Trinity River Vision-type projects, or just the expansion of a shopping mall.

FORCE...there's that word again.

TxDOT admits to violating Texas Constitution

More news from TexasTurf.org

At the Senate Transportation Hearing on PPPs...

TxDOT actually admitted it violated the Texas Constitution when it became the guarantor for a North Texas Tollway Authority loan. The Constitution prohibits the highway fund from being used to guarantee loans, but it did so anyway. ALL Texas taxpayers are on the hook to the tune of $8 billion in gas taxes over the next 36 years!

Lawmakers didn't bat an eyelash and called it a "letter of credit" and "contingent liability" (terms lawmakers feel are more palatable when a state agency breaks the law) and ultimately expressed that the ends justified the means since it allowed toll projects (one to benefit the Dallas Cowboys) to move forward.