Trans Texas Corridor Boondogle
Kuff thinks that Democrats might have political leverage running against the Trans Texas Corridor in 2006.
The rural aspect of this shouldn't be overlooked, however. The Corridor Watch page is loaded with quotes from rural citizens and officials that run the gamut from concern over the impact of the TTC on rural communities to outright panic. Convincing these folks that the TTC is a clear indication of Governor Perry's lack of concern for their way of life would be a pretty good way to possibly peel some votes out of a Republican stronghold. We're not going to win in 2006 on cities and South Texas alone. We need some people to switch sides, and I think this is an issue that could be persuasive.
The TTC encapsulates just about everything that's wrong with the Perry administration: Whacked-out fiscal priorities, so-called solutions that don't actually solve real problems, Tammany Hall tendencies, and power as an end unto itself. The more noise we make about it now, the better.
I think he might have a point. the Trans Texas Corridor is a huge project to solve an problem that isn't that huge. Driving from San Antonio to Dallas isn't that difficult, most of the roads aren't that heavily traveled. Why not use a Texan or at least an American company. Its fine for private bussiness to outsource, but does our own Government really need to send billions to a European country that is hostile to us? Its our tax dollars lets spend them to help our taxpayers.
"We will look back on today as one of the most historic days in infrastructure certainly in the state of Texas," Governor Rick Perry said.
In winning the contract, Cintra promises to pay Texas $1.2 billion, fund $6 billion in projects and build more than 300 miles of road between Dallas and San Antonio.
"These guys are willing to build it for the taxpayers of the state so that we don't have to raise their taxes. Pay us additional cash so we can consider some thing we might no have considered. And for that they need to have an expectation they can generate a profit," Chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission Ric Williamson said.
That profit would come through tolls, but Cintra won't say what it expects to charge.
"The general assumptions have been made absolutely in line with the actual tolls existing in the state of Texas," Director of Cintra José Lopez said.
We are talking about Billions here! Such a fat juicy deal that is loaded with suspicion to a Spanish company is sure to create anger that will cross party lines.
2 Comments:
Call it "privatization" or "piratization." Whatever it is, few Texas voters knew about the Trans-Texas Corridor until recently. Few even believed such an audacious land grab was possible. Unfortunately, it is--thanks to some stealthy legislation enacted several years ago, which allowed the officials of the Texas Transportation Commission to push the project through in record time--before any one could figure out what hit them.
Feel free to check my blog at: www.transtexascorrdor.blogspot.com
Unfortunatly Porkus Maximus Tex, had a typo in the URL he had listed. http://www.transtexascorridor.blogspot.com/ is where you want to go. So far its a one post blog, but this one post has some good information about the TTC project. Hopefully we will see more.
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