Proposal in Texas for a Public-Private Toll Road System Raises an Outcry

[OKthatsIT]

Source: New York Times

By RALPH BLUMENTHAL
Published: February 10, 2008
ROBSTOWN, Tex. — Leon Little’s farm here near Corpus Christi would not be seized for Texas’s proposed $184-billion-plus superhighway project for 5 or 10 years, if ever.

But Mr. Little was alarmed enough to show up Wednesday night with hundreds of his South Texas coastal neighbors to do what the Texas Department of Transportation has been urging: “Go ahead, don’t hold back.”

Don’t worry. Texans have gotten the message, swamping hearings and town meetings across the state to grill and often excoriate agency officials about a colossal traffic makeover known as the Trans-Texas Corridor, a public-private partnership unrivaled in the state’s — or probably any state’s — history, that would stretch well into the century and, if completed in full, end up costing around $200 billion.

“Is your road more important than the foodstuffs we put together for you?” asked Mr. Little, glaring at transportation officials at the town meeting.

The plan envisions a 4,000-mile network of new toll roads, with car and truck lanes, rail lines, and pipeline and utilities zones, to bypass congested cities and speed freight to and from Mexico.



Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/10/us/10texas.html?_r=1&ref=us&oref=slogin

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Here it comes. They're pushing it through fast, while we're looking over there. They're bringing down the border, taking trucker jobs and plans to ship in cheap labor through the NAFTA/NASCO rail system. They're taking people's land..all the way to Canada.

These criminals have been planning the selling of America all along..now they have the law on their side...to seize people's property. They've been planning the economic destruction of the country. They've known all along that the federal reserve have planned wiping out the dollar. Forcing US to pay for our own police state...surveillance, indeed.

Well, Texans are fighting back...it's time to help them and ourselves.

[Baby Snooks]

1. Governor Goodhair

He's deeply entrenched in the Bush family business. But isn't everyone these days? NAFTA was just the beginning. Most expect before he leaves office, Bush will manage to bypass Congress and create the North American Union. Canada probably will drop out. But that's okay. With Mexico and the United States under one government, who needs Canada?

No doubt by the time Jeb Bush arrives to take back the dynasty from the Clintons we will have discovered Canada has a secret nuclear program and invade and occupy it. The latter of course in order to liberate Canada from Queen Elizabeth. And the Republicans of course will wave their little flags and support it. Along with Congress.

And we are looking at four more years, possibly eight, of this with Hillary Clinton. Hillary Clinton Bush.

[neverforget]

2. F the people! Anything to make a buck!

[illuminaughty]

3. It's about time this got some press

I have been warning my family in Texas about this for awhile and was continually treated as the wacky conspiracy theorist aunt in Kansas. Then all hell broke loose last week in Texas. Perry has been working on this since 2002 with a Spanish company, Cintas. It originated in Austin but now there are several "corridors" which will take a ten mile wide stretch of land for every mile of this monster "highway". It is the equivalent of paving one million acres of Texas..

This has gone down under the radar and it will take 100 acres of their property alone along with cemeteries, miles of forest land...all to prepare us for the end of the United States as we once knew it. Goods will be shipped from China, travel the TTC and the first place they'll see customs is here in K.C. which will be the hub. Property owned by Mexico. That part is a done deal.
This is an economic and environmental nightmare. It will be a toll road at 15 cents a mile.
The word has to get out on this, because it doesn't end in Texas. This is something people could really get united in outrage over. Google Trans Texas Corridor and check out some of the facts. Rumor has it that a development is being prepared for I-10 beginning in Louisiana which would involve my brother's land.

[alarimer]

11. I think a lot of this has to do with breaking the unions at the ports in CA

and elsewhere. Bring in cargo through Mexican ports-no unions.

I think this is a lousy idea no matter how you slice it.

[proud2BlibKansan]

17. Does your family not read the newspaper?

I am in Texas a couple times a year and there have been articles about this in local newspapers every time I have been down there.

[justinaforjustice]

4. Venezuela Revokes Road Tolls

The Venezuelan government recently stopped the practice of charging motorists tolls for traveling on its highways. Workers in the affected toll booths were upset by the change, but the government has promised to find them other jobs.

Wouldn't it be great if tolls were ended on all tolls in the U.S.? If we stopped paying billions of dollars a week for our war on Iraq, we could easily do this and still have the money to keep our roads in good repair, not to mention our schools and our medical system. Venezuela puts human needs before corporate profits, wouldn't it be nice if our country did the same?

[donsu]

5. they better fight hard because, so far, the neo cons have done what they pleased

with no one stopping them.

[UpInArms]

6. they are calling it Smartport in Kansas City

http://www.kcsmartport.com/

U.S., Mexico negotiating to set up customs port in Kansas City

Associated Press
November 16, 2005

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Shipping American cars and electronics to Mexico may become much cheaper and faster early next year when the first Mexican customs facility in the United States is expected to open in the heart of the Midwest.

It may be nearly 1,000 miles to the border from Kansas City, but this industrial hub will soon start building an inland port that would whisk thousands of trucks through export inspections and shoot them back out onto the North American Free Trade Agreement corridor, where they can roll through the border without further delays.

The $3 million facility, which would be the first foreign customs office inside the United States, will likely be approved by the U.S. and Mexican governments by year's end and is scheduled to open next May, said Chris Gutierrez, president of Kansas City SmartPort Inc., a nonprofit organization promoting the project. Planners say manufacturing industries in the upper Midwest and Canada would be the first to benefit from the new customs operation, which they believe could expand to handle cargo from across the country.

Mexican government officials confirmed the two countries had agreed on the overall proposal, though both nations said finer points of the agreement were still being negotiated by customs officials - including security concerns and the legal standing of Mexican customs officials working in the United States.

After a visit to Kansas City in May, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Robert C. Bonner said the pilot proposal was "bold and imaginative" and could transform Kansas City into a "major new trade link" that would fit well with new border security initiatives to pre-approve cargo.

...more...

[Toots]

7. This got it's beginning in that supreme Court ruling that said Government

could take private land and give it to another Private land owner if the Government felt it would meet the needs of more people (and of course if the Congressman got some kickback). Take Private property away from you to give it to some wealthy Individual or corporation for money and the Extreme Court ruled that was just fine and dandy....Bush* Amerika....

[OKthatsIT]

9. They can take Federal lands, too

If you watch closely, you'll wee a pattern of taking land for 'ecological preservation'...then, later...the land is being developed by private corporate business.

We all want to save the planet, ..our futures, but these criminals are stealing everything they can disguised as 'environmental trust' decisions.

[AngryAmish]

8. EVERYBODY PANIC!

[Spacemom]

10. The jokes on them

Who are they going to be shipping all this stuff to? None of us will be able to afford it.

[OKthatsIT]

12. THAT IS A VERY GOOD POINT...

And should be added to this discussion.

[End Of The Road]

13. Yep, and furthermore

I think the TTC will be obsolete by the time it's finished. Gas availability? Prices?

[eppur_se_muova]

14. For this project, delay will mean defeat. That's good news for us. nt

[Horse with no Name]

15. You know

The people of Texas had an opportunity to elect a candidate for Attorney General in 2006 who said that this superhighway was illegal and would never happen on his watch.
Instead, they elected one that was so corrupt he would make Bush blush.
The Democratic candidate went to every county in Texas telling people what he was willing to do.
Sometimes, people vote against their interests. In this case, they spited themselves.

[WinkyDink]

16. "the selling of America" = EXACTLY WHAT IS GOING ON.