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Community
Questions about formation & motivations
submitted to local
papers & run in several of them as Letters to the Editor
AT ISSUE:
Should Waller County Build
Toll Roads?
Dear Editor:
In the last several years citizens in Waller County have
had the worst kind of civics lessons delivered without
fanfare. Elected state officials and state agencies have
taught us that some new principles appear to have
replace some old ones we assumed were timeless. Private
property rights, free enterprise, and sovereignty seem
now to be defined and dictated by corporations,
developers, and global thinkers. Most citizens do not
know when the seismic shift took place; others seem
unaware that it has taken place. All will feel the
effects eventually. Most already have had some previews.
As real information about the Trans Texas Corridor
masterplan has been secured by "citizens turned
researchers" an unresponsive and unrepentant attitude
has solidified in the statehouse. We are told that this
is the stuff of legacies and visions; nevermind the
silly requests for conventional assessments of needs
matched to locations and design. Nevermind the state
auditor's two reports that offer real cautions. It is
not about transportation., it is about a revenue stream.
So says the chairman and the governor's point man of the
Texas Transportation Commission. Everyone agrees... that
means money, a lot of money.
As we anticipate "in warp speed fashion" the prospects
of trading the transportation commission in Austin for
one here in Waller County, are we to have any voice or
any information for consideration in the public sector
about it? Are we to expect to have input,
accountability, and transparency if a Toll Road
Authority takes shape here? Is recent history to repeat
itself with most of the citizens caught unaware? Will
our rights again be preempted in favor of a few serving
their legacies and visions?
Will the county be a better place to live, go to school,
to work, and to church if we take some time to engage
its citizens in its future? Will it be about
transportation, or a revenue stream? What do you think?
It seems to me that it should be up to us. A vision of a
citizen-centered responsive government could be our
legacy. Let's change the outcome of that civics lesson
together. It's our county. What do you think?
Sincerely,
Martha Estes
Hempstead
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Dear Editor:
Should Waller County Build Toll Roads?
The national and statewide debate about who builds and pays
for toll roads has now arrived in Waller County.
According to documents sent by Allen, Boone, Humphries,
Robinson, LLP to Judge Owen Ralston on April 26, 2007, and
obtained by this writer under the Freedom of Information
Act, the Waller County Commissioners' Court will soon be
taking up the issue of creating a Waller County toll road
corporation.
Waller County citizens should understand that the toll road
corporation being proposed would not be a government agency
like the Harris County Toll Road Authority. Instead it would
be a public corporation, a quasi-governmental entity that
would have the extraordinary powers of the government
(including the ability to issue bonds and the ability to use
condemnation and eminent domain). And Waller County
Commissioners' Court would be able to turn over local road
building projects to this corporation.
This is a major fundamental shift in how transportation
projects are built and puts our open government rights and
processes in jeopardy. The decision to have or not to have
toll roads should be made by the voters of Waller County.
Harris County allowed their voters to decide whether they
wanted toll roads. Waller citizens deserve the same respect
and opportunity.
If toll roads are what the voters of Waller County want,
then the commissioners' court should institute these
protections for the public.
1. Make all board meetings of the toll road corporation open
meetings with public notification and all records open for
public inspection.
2. Directors on a toll road corporation board should be
elected by the citizens of Waller County and should have
two-year term limits. Board members and candidates for the
board should be prohibited from accepting campaign donations
from any business or employee of any business that could
engage in business deals with the corporation.
3. Because the Texas Transportation Code exempts local
corporations (like a toll road corporation) from competitive
bidding requirements, Waller County should write into the
articles of incorporation that the toll road corporation
must use competitive bidding in all its business deals.
4. All potential Waller County road projects should be based
on traffic needs that are supported by traffic studies and
not on wishful economic development promises.
5. Any road or road-related projects built by a Waller toll
road corporation should use the same standards for
environmental approval (NEPA) as are used for federal
highway projects.
6. All road projects should allow for public input through a
public meeting and public hearing process.
7. And last, and most importantly, Waller County should
explicitly prohibit the toll road corporation from entering
into any Comprehensive Development Agreement (CDA) or Public
Private Partnerships (PPPs). Because a Waller County toll
road corporation could have the authority to enter into a
contract to build that segment of the Trans Texas Corridor
(TTC-69) that goes through Waller County, and because local
and state governments are coming under increased pressure
and temptation from powerful private entities to sell out
the public infrastructure, Waller County can and should
protect Waller County citizens from such exploitation by
instituting a ban on PPPs.
If toll roads are the best direction for Waller County to
take, then let the Waller County Commissioners' Court make
an open and honest case to the public. This discussion to
have or not to have toll roads should be made in an open and
public forum, and the decision should ultimately be made by
the voters.
Many thanks,
Alice Sorsby McGuffie
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