Election Thoughts

[Mr. B]

Sorry I was voting tonight and it dawned on me the one man I want to cast my vote against is not on our ballots out here and it ticks me off.

If I would have 10 votes I would cast them all against that %$@# Ed Emmitt. For a guy who has so much say so and authority for things that directly effect me and my pocket book (Toll Roads, etc) I don't get a crack at him.

If I can't vote on him he shouldn't have any say so in things that affect us in Katy.

Ok I am done

[TheNiche]

If I can't vote on him he shouldn't have any say so in things that affect us in Katy.

He doesn't. At least not in the part of Katy where you apparently live. That city is in three different counties, after all.

[Mr. B]

Yea I know I am on the Fort Bend portion so I don't get a shot at him, but for someone who has say so in the toll roads both Katy Freeway and Westpark, etc which directly affect my money I want to be able to vote him out of office.

[musicman]

Yea I know I am on the Fort Bend portion so I don't get a shot at him, but for someone who has say so in the toll roads both Katy Freeway and Westpark, etc which directly affect my money I want to be able to vote him out of office.

how does it affect your money unless you choose to use it?

[TheNiche]

how does it affect your money unless you choose to use it?

And would you rather have free and congested roads, or perhaps no roads at all?

The money's got to come from somewhere to get them built, after all.

[Original Timmy Chan's]

And would you rather have free and congested roads, or perhaps no roads at all?

The money's got to come from somewhere to get them built, after all.

Not to mention, the Westpark and Katy Toll Roads were in motion well before Emmett took office. Those things were in motion 10 years ago, they're not something Ed Emmett just put together in the last year.

I like the job Ed Emmett's doing. He was one of the handful of Republicans I voted for yesterday.

[RedScare]

I voted for Emmett, too. One of the few transportation experts in office. And, as a tax-paying Harris County resident, I have no problem with Katy residents paying tolls to drive from Katy to downtown. After all, that toll road is not there for me, it is there for Katy residents, precisely the people who should be paying for it.

I might add that Harris County comprises 1,778 square miles of land. If you purchase just a quarter acre or so of it, in 4 years you can exercise your right to vote Ed out of office. That's the great thing about this country. We let you do that.

[CandW]

I like that RedScare..."we let you do that"...very nice, lmao!

As for Hunker Down Ed...good guy and not affraid to speak his mind when appropriate...as for the toll road, as stated, that was in the works for far longer than he's been in office...

[Mr. B]

Hmm let me see major increase in tolls some period back were his doing and the only reason they got put on the back burner (until he can figure out how to get them back) because of public backlash and Mayor White not wanting to have City Hall burned down.

Tolls dropped for weeks after the storm for no reason and now an increase in tolls is necessary to make up for lost profits. Do you think those tolls will come off after they recoup their profits ?????

As for me using the toll roads I don't have much choice in order to get to work on time so I have to pay and that is fine but the constant increases are not necessary nor increasing tolls to get cars off the Westpark because you so badly screwed up and underbuilt the roadway is not the answer either.

You wanna kiss the mans butt you can but after my discussion on tolls for the westpark during the initial controversy with him and his response leaves me to have no use for the man. He has no sympathy for the drivers and don't go thinking he does. Its all about the dollar and getting his projects planned to him.

[musicman]

Tolls dropped for weeks after the storm for no reason and now an increase in tolls is necessary to make up for lost profits. Do you think those tolls will come off after they recoup their profits ?????

with the increased traffic from workers, it was essential to keep traffic moving for restoration efforts. washburn tunnel was closed, etc.

As for me using the toll roads I don't have much choice in order to get to work on time

you should use the tolls to purchase an alarm clock. get up a little earlier and you can make it to work on time.

[cla]

Hmm let me see major increase in tolls some period back were his doing and the only reason they got put on the back burner (until he can figure out how to get them back) because of public backlash and Mayor White not wanting to have City Hall burned down.

Tolls dropped for weeks after the storm for no reason and now an increase in tolls is necessary to make up for lost profits. Do you think those tolls will come off after they recoup their profits ?????

As for me using the toll roads I don't have much choice in order to get to work on time so I have to pay and that is fine but the constant increases are not necessary nor increasing tolls to get cars off the Westpark because you so badly screwed up and underbuilt the roadway is not the answer either.

You wanna kiss the mans butt you can but after my discussion on tolls for the westpark during the initial controversy with him and his response leaves me to have no use for the man. He has no sympathy for the drivers and don't go thinking he does. Its all about the dollar and getting his projects planned to him.

Back home in N.O. The toll for the Crescent City Connection was only supposed to be collected for so many years. Of course, when that time was up the tolls were continued (once you give government a new tax/toll/any other revenue, don't ever count on it being "temporary"). Those tolls were originally put in place to help subsidize the cost of the new bridge.

From what I have seen here, tolls are used to build and maintain not only the toll roads, but other road construction as well. What I want to know, is how does every other city do all of this without toll money? Take the proposed 99 tollway. They say they need .45 to .50 per mile in order to fund the project, and the current allowed rate is .15/ mile . Are you kidding me? 50 cents a mile. Who the heck is going to pay $50 to drive 100 miles? And then down the line the rates will be increased. Lunacy.

According to the toll commission, tolls increases have always been part of the plan, to account for a 20% increase in annual maintenance costs. All I know is, when I'm on the Beltway, it looks like a whole lot of money is being made (and it actually is - Ft Bend claimed to have lost over $600,000 in fees during Ike - and they only have the $1.25 collection on the Ft Bend Tollway and the 2 - .50 tolls on the Westpark).

Anyway, I realize I am rambling now, so I will exit.

[TheNiche]

As for me using the toll roads I don't have much choice in order to get to work on time so I have to pay and that is fine but the constant increases are not necessary nor increasing tolls to get cars off the Westpark because you so badly screwed up and underbuilt the roadway is not the answer either.

You do have the choice not to use them. Presumably you managed to get to work on time back before the toll road was operational. Or if you bought out there because of the toll road, then obviously it is doing its job and you are benefiting from it.

METRO didn't want to relinquish its claim to the old railroad ROW. HCTRA didn't have that available to them for a larger project. Even if they did, the Westpark Toll Road is constrained in terms of connectivity with other freeways. More capacity on the Westpark may have had the unintentional effect of creating massive backups. And the irony would've been that in order to alleviate additional congestion and also pay for the higher project cost, tolls probably would've had to have been higher than they are now.

Seems to me that you're whining as it is, you'd be whining as you propose it, and you'd be whining if it had never been built. Stop whining.

[RedScare]

Hmm let me see major increase in tolls some period back were his doing and the only reason they got put on the back burner (until he can figure out how to get them back) because of public backlash and Mayor White not wanting to have City Hall burned down.

Why would angry toll road users burn down Houston City Hall, if they are mad at the HARRIS COUNTY Toll Road Authority? And what does Bill White, Houston's mayor, care about county toll roads?

[Mr. B]

HAHA Niche you sound just like Conversation with Emmett (Don't use the road if you don't like the tolls and find another way to work and being honest that is almost exactly what he told me). Unfortunatly I don't feel like sitting on the I-10 Parking lot or should I say the 8 year rebuilt larger and grander I-10 Parking lot.

As for getting an alarm clock I already get up at 5 AM for a 50 mile commute one way smartguy so I don't need to spend any more time on the road than I do.

I have probably been out here in Katy way longer than you and the westpark was not even on anyone's mind back then so you shouldn't go assuming when and why people moved here. In fact back then there were no red lights or anything like that on Fry Road, etc and you could zip to I-10 in no time and I-10 actually moved quite a bit faster than it does now.

The Westpark was poorly planned and severly underestimated as to how many people would use it. As for the Rail Line they want to put in along the side well we will all probably be in our graves by the time that thing gets approval and built. They had the option to take the land for the Westpark but chose not to for the Light Rail line since at the time of building the westpark was felt that it would be many years before the traffic would catch up to the size (Poor Planning) and many people would not want to pay the tolls but rather take I-10 (again another miscalculation). Unlike you all believe many people do not have a reasonable other option for getting to work.

"Cla" many states and cities get the roads built without tolls, also Houston gets federal money to build roads they just have a cash cow and has no intention of letting go of it. Also to note just recently an article came out tha many texas politicians in Austin are becoming increasingly unhappy with Houston toll Road issues and what is happening. Not that they will do much about it though.

[RedScare]

I fail to see why it is Ed Emmett's fault that you choose to live 50 miles from your job. However, it is a free country, and you are entitled to have the opinion that this is Ed Emmett's fault.

On the other hand, being a free country, I am entitled to the opinion that it is your fault for living 50 miles from your job. Therefore, as a Harris County resident, I voted for Ed.

[TheNiche]

HAHA Niche you sound just like Conversation with Emmett (Don't use the road if you don't like the tolls and find another way to work and being honest that is almost exactly what he told me).

Awesome. Thank you! That guy's a class act.

Unfortunatly I don't feel like sitting on the I-10 Parking lot or should I say the 8 year rebuilt larger and grander I-10 Parking lot.

Ok, then use a Park & Ride. Or carpool. Or take the surface streets, which are somewhat less congested now because so many people have switched to I-10 and Westpark Toll Road. ...or just pay the damn toll.

You've got plenty of options, more than ever before. And you haven't exactly asked for anything that would actually help your situation. So stop whining.

As for getting an alarm clock I already get up at 5 AM for a 50 mile commute one way smartguy so I don't need to spend any more time on the road than I do.

Then move. Move to Harris County. Vote against Judge Ed Emmett to your heart's content.

And since Katy is only about 30 miles from downtown, it sounds like your job must be considerably further east. Perhaps you should look for a better job. Lots of new jobs are coming to west Houston. ...oh, but I'll bet that pisses you off, too.

I have probably been out here in Katy way longer than you and the westpark was not even on anyone's mind back then so you shouldn't go assuming when and why people moved here. In fact back then there were no red lights or anything like that on Fry Road, etc and you could zip to I-10 in no time and I-10 actually moved quite a bit faster than it does now.

I don't live in Katy. Don't want to, either.

Sounds like you moved into Cinco Ranch, or somewhere close by that is immediately south of it. That is a master-planned community that has been in the works for a very long time. If you didn't think that there were going to be stop lights and traffic congestion at some point, then you should've anticipated numerous firey car crashes instead. I'm sure that you'd have only blamed the sitting Harris County judge for that, too.

I don't care how long you've lived there. If it isn't working for you, you need to move or find another job.

[Jeebus]

I have probably been out here in Katy way longer than you and the westpark was not even on anyone's mind back then so you shouldn't go assuming when and why people moved here. In fact back then there were no red lights or anything like that on Fry Road, etc and you could zip to I-10 in no time and I-10 actually moved quite a bit faster than it does now.

You realize how this makes you sound? Like some elitist who is mad that other people moved out to the same place you did. If you wanted Fry to be desolate, you should have bought all the land on Fry to prevent any further development.

The Westpark was poorly planned and severly underestimated as to how many people would use it. As for the Rail Line they want to put in along the side well we will all probably be in our graves by the time that thing gets approval and built. They had the option to take the land for the Westpark but chose not to for the Light Rail line since at the time of building the westpark was felt that it would be many years before the traffic would catch up to the size (Poor Planning) and many people would not want to pay the tolls but rather take I-10 (again another miscalculation). Unlike you all believe many people do not have a reasonable other option for getting to work.

The Westpark was as well planned as could be. HCTRA could only work with what METRO would sell them. I can tell you this though: Monday, I took the Westpark Toll from FM1464 to US59 around 7:30 am and had no traffic jams. Yesterday, I took I-10 from Mason around 8:00am and had no back ups or even slow downs until I got downtown at the I-45 spur.

So I'm not too sure what your complaints are about?

[tcr98taws6]

I too live in Katy. Used to work just up the Westpark in the Sharpstown area, this is until a year ago when my company decided to relocate into the Greenspoint area.

That means my commute went from 20 minutes/17 miles to 55 minutes/48 miles each way. Kinda sucks for me and I too own an alarm clock....goes off every morning M-F at 4:45am so I can fly on I-10/I-610/I-45 begining at 5:30am. Westpark is not a real alternative, unless I want to increase my commute/tolls due to the parking lot it becomes just after 6am.

Now as TheNiche suggested, I could get a better job, but I seriously doubt that is going to happen as I have an outstanding job now that could be hard to match elsewhere. Plus in my position, flex hours are just fine, so this allows me to work around the traffic problems.

The fact remains that the Houston metro area is big on toll roads. Many other large communities in the USA build their infrastructure without imposing tolls on so many of the convienent paths across town. And these tolls come on top of very expensive property taxes for many of us, especially in the newer communities. Between taxes and tolls, it ain't cheap living in Houston and many recognise this fact. The offset is we have many well-paying jobs.

And now for the best part.....the northwestern region of Houston is projected to continue to grow into the future, meaning heavier congestion looms on the newly completed 1-10. So I will not complain, instead I'll invest into more batteries long-term for my alarm clock and reset the alarm for 4:30....4:15.....4:00.....3:45 until my retirement in 10 years. Then I plan the SOB away.

[Jeebus]

Westpark is not a real alternative, unless I want to increase my commute/tolls due to the parking lot it becomes just after 6am.

Again, I'm going to have to argue this point. I used the Westpark toll from FM1464 all the way to US59 this morning at 6:30 and there was no slow down.

Now, I did have to go back west-bound at 7:30, and I did notice a small slow down just west of the Belt (east-bound), but it didn't back up very far, and the proof that it cleared was when I got back on the toll road east-bound just after 8:00 and there was little evidence of the slow down I saw west of the Belt just 30 minutes before.

It has cleared up considerably since I-10 opened up and was publicly announced on all the local news.

(And yes, I forgot something at home this morning and had to run back to get it. )

[tcr98taws6]

JeeBus, you just like to argue

[Jeebus]

JeeBus, you just like to argue

I have my days! And for expanded purposes, I understand everyone's gripe with the Westpark Tollway. However, I've been using it since day one, and have always felt these were just growing pains that came with the road.

I think in the end, its still more of an asset than a liability as before, there was nothing there but a set of railroad tracks - which got no one into the city faster.

[Mr. B]

Wow Neche !!!

"Get a better Job"/"Move", etc man my 3 year old saw that one coming. I gotta be dealing with a nobel laureate think tank member here. Would your name be Stephen Hawking (yes you can go look it up) by any chance ?.

I have a very good job with an excellent company as for moving well I own my home free and clear can you say the same. Taking on a house note is not in the cards.

Carpool not an option, no park and ride available. Where I live is no concern nor do I have or ever had a problem with the community growing as it has. Its clowns like Niche that assume I moved someplace and then complain about it. In fact Niche since you don't live in Katy and are on these boards makes me think you are one of them bitter pills that live inside the loop and just love hatin on anyone who moved into the burbs because they didn't want to pay $400,000 for a 50 year old squatters hut and with that you are dismissed as I am finished with you. Stephen Hawkings, ha, more like Beavis and Butthead.

Jeebus as for your assumption I am an elitest if far off the path. I just don't care to have a bunch of keyboard tough guys such as Niche assuming my motives. I knew full well what would be coming to this area in time. I moved here because the place reminded me of my hometown back then and it was a comfortable feeling for a new person moving to this city. Plus I worked very close to here but things changed.

Also I don't recall anywhere in my original post that I don't like the WestPark. I use it every day as I have no choice and am not going into that or the reasons why. I-10 I can't say as I don't use the road much its out of the way. My beef with Emmet because of what he tried to do with the Tolls and will eventually get done. He wanted to raise the tolls heavily to drive people off the Tollway. Seems some people have a short memory cause there was a large outcry about this and undercover stories on all the news stations till things got so hot he recended the tolls for the time being. It is a parking lot many mornings I am on it and it bogs down right around the Kroger/Westpark section all the way to Sam Houston exit where I get off. Regardless of parking lot I will still use it I just don't like the fact that I would have to pay such a premium because of blunders by the builders I never said Emmett was the cause of the Tollway but he is the one who pulls the trigger on the tolls and I have spoken to him. You all think he cares well he doesn't its about the money and his image. If his power can effect my pocket book by his authority on the tolls then people in the affected area should have a vote on him. If he is Harris county then he should not be calling things for people in Fort Bend County.

As for the tollway being underbuilt and underestimated this information comes directly from TXDOT Manager who was involved in the building of the road the entire time and then went on to work on the I-10 Expansion. It is his first hand knowledge that the roadway was underbuilt and the city, planners, etc understimated how fast the area would expand and how many people would take the roadway. It was built with Eztag only option thinking this would keep the number of people on the road down, which is has but not nearly what they expected. Also according to him the tollway was really to be a sort of expressway from west to east but the many entrances in between has had an effect they didn't forsee. With no place for the cars to move over it has clogged the road with all the unforseen drivers using it. They did not expect so many people to be taking the tollway for short hops but rather expected them to use the feeders. As for the notion about the land on the side you are correct in a way. It is for proposed Light Rail but if needed they could have forced the land use for further widening of the Westpark. They didn't because planners thought it was sufficent for years to come and this is where I am coming from with the road was underbuilt, etc. Is he right on all of this I don't know but it sure seems so from behind my wheel everyday.

Oh also for those that will come on after this and post about a name, well you wouldn't know him but because a name will only make it authnetic to make you happy its Peter Poopendecker.

Those of us who have to use the tollway are the one's that will have to pay for this blunder and I do but I don't like getting shafted by a politician because his only way to ease people complaining to him about the congestion of a pay road is to hike the rates so much as to drive off many people.

Some folks in this want to bait the thread all good by me as I like a good bait and flame. But with this I am done cause I don't want to waste the good people who host this board with anymore useless dribble from The Neches type who can't seem to stay on topic.