Trans-texas Corridor News

[pineda]

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CorridorWatch.org MEMBER BULLETIN (06.09.05)

SURPRISE, SURPRISE, SURPRISE - - NOT !

If you missed the news, the Texas Attorney General's office has ruled that TxDOT must release hundreds of pages of the Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) kept secret in their deal with Cintra Zachry to develop Trans Texas Corridor TTC-35. Those portions not yet publicly released include the conceptual development and financial plans.

Today's issue of the Austin American-Statesman reports TxDOT spokeswoman Gaby Garcia as telling them, "Cintra Zachry has indicated that it will file suit to contest the release of the approximately 200 pages of information."

This is of little surprise to CorridorWatch.org given the unprecedented confidentiality provisions introduced with HB3588 in 2003 and the atmosphere of secrecy it created. Within months TxDOT officials discussing TTC conceptual development and financial plans with potential proposers were telling them how well TxDOT could keep a secret. Provisions of HB3588 remove traditional and expected government transparency and encourage closed room negotiations and activities. We have previously noted that access to the CDA for ETR407, a public document contracting another Cintra involved toll road in Canada, was denied disclosure for more than two years after signing.

Stay Tuned!

CorridorWatch.org

[kjb434]

What's sad is that I've seen some of these documents, but I can't releas any imformation within then because of existing agreements.

[GovernorAggie]

Governor Perry has signed a new law relating to Toll Roads and the TTC:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/m...politan/3225432

This law should take a lot of the sady feelings from the TTC and the Governor's plans, IMO.

I also was surprised to see that landowners along the TTC had the option of collecting royalties from their land that was affected by the TTC. I was under the assumption that they got nothing but a market payment and scrap land. Well I think that this law should at least alleviate the fairness concerns.

[pineda]

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CorridorWatch.org MEMBER BULLETIN - June 15, 2005

GOVERNOR PERRY SIGNS TRANSPORTATION BILL (HB2702)

Governor Perry signed this legislative session's large transportation bill (House Bill 2702) into law Tuesday.

While the Governor touts the bill as adding protections, CorridorWatch.org is more guarded in heaping such praise on the new legislation. David Stall, co-founder of CorridorWatch.org says a complete analysis detailing the good, the bad, and the ugly impact of HB2702 will soon be released by his organization.

Speaking of an Associated Press article appearing across Texas today Stall says, "The AP has got it wrong when they report that the new legislation will maintain state oversight of toll rates. By law the state never had toll oversight on the Trans Texas Corridor and this new law only provides that the state will review the formula used to set tolls over which they will still have no control."

The CorridorWatch.org analysis of HB2702 is expected to be released before the end of June.

=======

CorridorWatch.org

[kjb434]

Yeah,

TxDOT cannot toll any road by state law. They can only oversee a private or government entity in tolling a road.

I do like the provision that existing freeways will not be tolled. Now, this doesn't mean that mannaged lanes can't be added, but he existing lanes will be free.

[dp2]

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Speaking of an Associated Press article appearing across Texas today Stall says, "The AP has got it wrong when they report that the new legislation will maintain state oversight of toll rates. By law the state never had toll oversight on the Trans Texas Corridor and this new law only provides that the state will review the formula used to set tolls over which they will still have no control."

CorridorWatch.org

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Misleading. The state does have control in that there is a provision in the Cintra agreement (the portion released a month or two ago) that the state can invoke a buyout clause and cancel the 50 year agreement at any time. If they did, the state would have to reimburse Cintra a certain amount based on time and the amount of money previously invested by Cintra, basically an amount to keep the state from screwing Cintra and its investors out of returns needed to pay off their investment (with similar protections in the other direction.) So if Cintra jacked the tolls up too high and the state balked, Texas can take the project over and either operate it or bid it out to another contractor that would agree to the state's limitations on max rates.

[pineda]

I-69 Upcoming Meeting Dates Announced

[pineda]

request for information about the TTC

[pineda]

keeptexasmoving.com

I just spoke with someone at the I-69 corridor study.

She said that for Harris county, the only meeting scheduled is in Pasadena.

The only meeting for Montgomery County is in Magnolia.

All of the alternatives (including the almost but not quite dead concept of using the Grand Parkway) will be presented and questions will be answered.

She said in the Houston area, if the I-69 Trans-Texas Corridor were to built within the county lines, that it would most likely utilize already existing roadways, not proposed ones or planned ones, but existing ones.

She said in the last few years that the idea of using the Grand Parkway has really fizzled and died because of the difficulty of even getting the 800' right of way for the Grand Parkway done, and that the TTC would be up to a quarter-mile wide.

She said the meetings should be very informative, looking forward to it!

Max, kjb, H-Town, you guys going?

[LTAWACS]

This should learn them a lesson

[pineda]

cintra fights for privacy

[pineda]

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CorridorWatch.org Member UPDATE - June 28, 2005

CorridorWatch.org, Representing Members in 164 Counties!

IN THIS ISSUE -

> KEEPING SECRETS: GOOD THING WE DIDN'T HOLD OUR BREATH

> GOVERNOR, YOUR PANTS ARE ON FIRE

> THE NEWEST OXYMORON: PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

> CALL TO ACTION * * * * URGENT * * * * ACT TODAY

=+=+=+=+=

KEEPING SECRETS: GOOD THING WE DIDN'T HOLD OUR BREATH

On the last day of May, the Texas Attorney General's office ruled that TxDOT must release hundreds of pages of the Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) kept secret in their deal with Cintra Zachry to develop Trans Texas Corridor TTC-35.

Immediately CorridorWatch.org predicted that TxDOT and Cintra Zachry would not be responsive to the Attorney General's ruling and provide that public information in response to an open records request made by the Houston Chronicle.

We said we expected stonewalling and a protracted legal battle despite TxDOT's initial statement that they would not contest the Attorney General's ruling.

Yesterday the Houston Chronicle reported that on June 24, 2005, Cintra Zachry and TxDOT filed a lawsuit in Austin against the Attorney General in a legal effort to block the release of approximately 200 pages of development and financing plans contained in their CDA and still being withheld from public disclosure.

Unfortunately this behavior is very predictable. The entire Trans Texas Corridor project has developed and grown well out of public view, and certainly without public participation.

TxDOT often touts the hundreds of public meetings they've hosted to discuss the TTC. CorridorWatch.org points out that every single one of those TxDOT meetings have been required by state or federal law. And, none of those meetings were held before the TTC Plan was officially adopted by the Transportation Commission.

In fact, the vast majority of those meetings were held after TxDOT issued the RFPQ for TTC-35 in July of 2003.

There's a stark difference between seeking public input on a project under consideration and working to sell the public on a project already in place.

But even that pales when they go a giant step further and spend taxpayer money to keep the public from knowing the most important details of a 50-year contract that will affect most of us for the rest of our lives.

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GOVERNOR, YOUR PANTS ARE ON FIRE: PRIVATE INVESTMENT, NO TAXPAYER MONEY

Once again the Governor's Office and TxDOT have demonstrated their willingness to play word games with the citizens of Texas. It's yet another abuse of the public trust.

Certainly tax dollars are already being spent on the TTC. How about the $2.4 million to be pay proposers for their efforts. What about that $3 million plus made available to Cintra to write their own contract? Who is paying for the countless environmental impact study meetings and all those TxDOT engineers and contract engineers who are trying to convince attendees that the TTC is a good idea?

Cintra? Of course not, you and I are picking up that tab with our tax dollars.

Now we learn that Cintra wants a low-interest federal loan. Hey, that's our tax money too. If we loan it to Cintra we certainly can't use it on something else can we? Tax dollars are tax dollars. We all pay them, it's not free money.

One of the oft-asked questions about the TTC is what happens in the case of financial default. The Governor's Office, Transportation Commissioners and TxDOT officials are all quick to say only private money is at risk.

They tell us that the private investors shoulder all the risk. I guess they forgot about that federal loan even though TxDOT says it was part of the plan all along. Well which is, all private money or not? NOT!

How about the tremendous investment we've already made. How about the $800,000 we paid even the losing proposes. Never mind the $3 million we are paying Cintra to write the next Comprehensive Development Agreement.

The state will own the corridor and be responsible for whatever is left on the ground if the Cintra or any of the other future concessionaires default.

And, if this is really infrastructure the state needs to have, then the state will need to spend whatever it takes to make it whole. And that will be your tax dollars too.

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THE NEWEST OXYMORON: PRIVATE PROPERTY RIGHTS

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court greased the wheels of the Trans Texas Corridor.

The Court has abandoned a long-held, basic limitation on government power and ruled that government can seize your property for economic development.

Scott Bullock, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice says, "With today's ruling, the poor and middle class will be most vulnerable to eminent domain abuse by government and its corporate allies."

In the dissenting opinion Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote, "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms."

"Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party . . ."

Nowhere in America is the threat greater today than in Texas. The massive 584,000 acre Trans Texas Corridor is the poster child of government and corporate greed.

The Court's ruling keeps the green light on for TxDOT to seize hundreds of thousands of acres of private land to generate revenues through concession agreements with private toll road, rail road, and utility operators who will reap billions in profits from Texas and hard working Texans for the next 50 to 70 years.

Yesterday Representative Frank Corte of San Antonio filed a Joint Resolution (HJR 19) described as, "a State Constitutional Amendment limiting a local governmental entity's power of eminent domain, preventing them from using this power for primarily economic development projects."

If passed this would put the issue of amending the State Constitution on the ballot in November.

Here is the actual language proposed: "Sec. 17A. A political subdivision of this state may not take private property through the use of the power of eminent domain if a primary purpose of the taking is for economic development."

HOG WASH! Representative Corte's Resolution only restricts political subdivisions of the state (cities, counties, special districts, etc.), not the state itself. Clearly it has been drafted to exempt and exclude state agencies such as TxDOT from such limitations of eminent domain abuse. Why? Why is it okay for the state? Is it the famous Except Me Rule?

Last week Representative Corte issued a release saying, "The right to own and use property is inherent to a free society. When a government decides they know how to use private property better than the individual, private property rights cease to exist." CorridorWatch.org agrees.

And so why exempt TxDOT? If it's wrong for a city, if it's wrong for a county, it is equally wrong for the state AND THAT'S WHAT THE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT SHOULD SAY.

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CALL TO ACTION * * * * URGENT * * * * ACT TODAY

Please contact (write, call, fax, e-mail) your Representative and Senator today.

Ask them to support private property rights and help Texans protect them with a Constitutional amendment.

Ask that the protection apply to any eminent domain taking, not just that of local government.

Ask that they support a State Constitutional amendment to add: "Sec. 17A. Private property shall not be taken through the use of the power of eminent domain if a primary purpose of the taking is for economic development."

A failure to include protection from state taking for economic development is tantamount to granting permission.

[LTAWACS]

there has to be more we can do besides writing letters.

[pineda]

CorridorWatch.org  BULLETIN - July 1, 2005

TxDOT CAN'T SPELL "LOCAL CONTROL"

"Surprised and concerned leaders from San Antonio could only stand on the sidelines Thursday as state officials agreed to pursue a private bid to build and operate toll roads in Bexar County," that's the opening line a story by Patrick Driscoll that appears in today's San Antonio Express-News.

Even Bill Thornton, the Governor appointed Chairman of the Alamo Regional Mobility Authority (RMA) was shut out of the process. Shockingly the Transportation Commission didn't have the common courtesy to notify Thornton that the deal for privately built and operated toll roads in Bexar County would be on the Commission's agenda yesterday.

Toll roads in Houston generate $50 million dollars a year in revenue that is reinvested in Harris County transportation projects. But toll roads in San Antonio may instead generate billions in revenue for TxDOT's private monopoly road operator over the next half-century, denying Bexar County the same degree of benefit that Harris County enjoys.

Not surprisingly, the private bid to build and operate Bexar County toll roads comes from Cintra Zachry, the same group selected by the Commission last December to plan and build TTC-35. Of course the deal is secret, again. Most things involving money, monopolies, and unexplained transportation projects by TxDOT today are secret. Gone is government transparency, accountability and open government. No longer is the public permitted to participate in, or even observe, the planning, negotiation, or details of government contracts involving billions of dollars of public infrastructure and the expenditure of millions upon millions of our tax dollars.

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/sto...s.2492f76b.html

[pineda]

Myths vs. Reality concerning the Tran-Texas Corridor, according to the good folks bringing you the Trans-Texas Corridor...

[kjb434]

Good site.

It seems much of the rules that apply to the current construction of freeways is going to apply to these corridors.

If they are putting this information down for the public to see, then we can hold them to it.

[pineda]

plenty of people want to know more about the TTC

[pineda]

news about the TTC meeting held in Humble

[kjb434]

I think the writer is confused between the TTC and the I-69 corridor.

The TTC is a section of the I-69 corridor within Texas. Outside of Texas, the TTC will not exist unless other states propose similar concepts.

[pineda]

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CorridorWatch.org NEWS FLASH August 9, 2005

Thanks to the Trans Texas Corridor, Texans can look forward to seeing the Spanish Flag flying high over Texas once again.

There's big money in toll roads and our new state highway corridor monopoly. And TxDOT's Spanish partner appears to want it all.

Remember state officials attempting to rebuff concerns about the world's largest engineering-construction job going to a foreign company? Have you heard them exaggerate role of Zachry Construction making the twenty-percent equity partner somehow sound equal to Cintra and it's eighty-percent stake? Remember how they told you that it would generate thousands of construction jobs right here in Texas? Do you remember being told that it would be a windfall for Texas highway construction companies?

The Associated Press in Madrid, Spain, reports today that Spain's largest construction company, Grupo Ferrovial SA, parent company of Cintra, has negotiated a deal to buy the Houston-based Webber Group.

The $220 million dollar deal will have Ferrovial fully acquire the Webber Group construction company includes W.W.Webber Inc., Southern Crushed Concrete and Webber Management Group. A statement issued by Ferrovial anticipates the sale to be finalized next month.

With the purchase of Webber, Ferrovial (Cintra) has bought themselves a Texas highway construction company on TxDOT's Prequalified Contractor list and one that has plenty of Texas toll road construction experience.

How many ways will our Spanish "partner" profit from the Trans Texas Corridor? And where, or from whom, will all that profit come from? And, perhaps more important, where will all that profit go?

You can bet that this is just the tip of the toll road empire iceberg.

It's time to buy a Spanish flag and prepare to wave it proudly as our state surrenders Texas highways, railroads, utilities and hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas to Spanish profiteers who will effectively own and operate our own Texas infrastructure for the next half-century.

CorridorWatch.org

[Kirzania]

It's time to buy a Spanish flag and prepare to wave it proudly as our state surrenders Texas highways, railroads, utilities and hundreds of thousands of acres of Texas to Spanish profiteers who will effectively own and operate our own Texas infrastructure for the next half-century.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I had already purchased the flag of Mexico ... Er, you know... "Just in case." Do you think that counts?

[kjb434]

Sounds like isolationistic (is that a word) worrying to me.

Regardless of what company will build it, the jobs will be here in Texas. There are many large construction outfits in the US, but none have stepped up early in this process to try to join in.

Cintra will primarily be a managerial role. The Webber outfit will provide a local entity that TxDOT approves to continue managing the project.

This is not unusual for highway construction. Cintra by TxDOT's rules cannot build or even design this roadway. They have to sub it out to qualified parties. Cintra acquiring Webber just gets there foot in the door. Webber will be used as a managing entity since Cintra is not allowed to do it.

The engineering company I work for did the same concept back in the 90s. The company is based out of Houston but wanted to get in to the Dallas land development market. Land Developers in Dallas are apprehensive of outside firms (the same in Austin, Ft Worth, and San Antonio). To break into the Dallas market, we bought a respected small firm that the developers trusted. Now we are in the Dallas Market. For Fort Worth, Austin and San Antonio we couldn't find a firm we wanted to buy, so we entered the old fashion way of starting small and trying to get clients.

The engineering and construction world is built around qualifications and past work. I firm that never did transportation for TxDOT can't work for them. If they want to break into and start doing work, they have be subbed by another company. Also, the licensed engineers for the subbed company also have to be approved and certified by TxDOT. Smaller companies will hire a certified engineer to bolter there resume.

Corridor trying to make a common occurence in Texas and any state highway project seem like a shady and back door deal is bit of a stretch, but I guess to people who don't know the industry well enough would catch that.

[RedScare]

Yeah, I am not too upset about Cintra. They are probably the most above board group in this entire scam. It's the locals that piss me off. Perry and his cronies will screw us worse than Cintra. Plus, quarter mile wide ROWs and $70 tolls should concern us far more than who builds it. The point is that it shouldn't be built at all.

[houstonfella]

Texas talking big about the corridors. However, the freeways we have are in terrible shape. Most of our bridges are in need of complete redo. There isn't a direct freeway from the state's largest city to its capitol city. And we are talking about future transit? How about fixing what we have NOW.

[Kirzania]

There isn't a direct freeway from the state's largest city to its capitol city.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You sure you didn't look at a map first?

What "bridges" are you specifically thinking of? Overpasses?

[kjb434]

While there isn't technically a freeway from Houston to Austin, there aren't a lack of four lane roads that move people and good fairly quickly.

You can take I-10 to Columbus and head on SH 71 to Austin (almost all freeway).

You can take US 290 all the way to Austin (also almost all freeway).

[houstonfella]

There isn't a direct freeway from Houston to Austin. Period.

1/4th of Texas bridges are in bad shape.

Basically, let's get these things done first. I am 100% behind the corridors idea, but at the same time, I am 100% for getting our current system into good driving condition. For instance, Sam Houston Parkway (East Side) is still not complete. Now that is the toll road authority and God only knows. But, if you drive around the 610 Loop (ouch... a little bumpy ride?). Anyhow, the link below explains the problem and what is occurring. It's not that we're not trying, it's just we are a little behind (I think). Oh, well, I'd love to drive from Houston to Shreveport on I-69 with no lights. Will I be dead by then? But the sky is not falling.

http://www.americancityandcounty.com/mag/g...ridges_falling/