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Victory at the SAMPO, pulled most controversial bylaw changes PDF Print E-mail
Written by Terri Hall   
Tuesday, 17 June 2008

Hip, hip hooray for the grassroots! Before we had even arrived at today's San Antonio MPO Board meeting where it was to vote on proposed changes to its bylaws, it had already responded to the overwhelming number of emails/public comment opposing many of the changes to the bylaws by striking the most controversial provisions. The MPO pulled the proposal to allow the Mayor and County Judge to unilaterally appoint an alternate member to the Board in the place of an elected official. Considering the MPO is the subject of a TURF lawsuit to force the recomposition of the Board to force out the majority of the appointees who are diluting the elected officials' votes, the proposed bylaw changes added fuel to the fire and demonstrated the propensity of this body to stack the deck with as many appointees as possible.

The MPO also removed some of the changes to how projects are scored and prioritized (that would have made tolling easier) and even added a provision that the category at issue could NOT be used on toll projects! SCORE AGAIN!


However, the Board still voted to loosen what constitutes a quorum (allowing vacancies not to count toward a quorum almost guaranteeing appointees rather than elected officials will be making multi-billion tax decisions without the people's elected representation), and to give the Chair unilateral discretion to direct the Executive and Finance Committees instead of that power being vested in the entire Board as a whole. It also approved language that paves the way to expand its boundaries to engulf the Hill Country in its jurisdiction, sure to cause a near riot once the citizens north of Bexar County catch wind of such a plan. You can't get more anti-toll than Texas House District 73.

Commissioner Tommy Adkisson gave rousing and well-reasoned arguments for a distrust of the feds pushing a boundary expansion saying "you can't trust anything coming down from the feds. Everything they touch is a mess! I say local control." He and Representative David Leibowitz also objected to the changes to a quorum since it will only encourage elected officials to tarry in filling vacant seats when controversial votes (ie - toll roads vs no tolls) will likely be cast leaving these decisions to appointees whose jobs depend on towing the pro-toll line.

For those living in the 281/1604 area (Precinct 3) in the first round of toll tax assaults, your County Commissioner Lyle Larson, was a no show for today's important bylaw battle.
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 17 June 2008 )
 
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Newsflash

Poll: Texans don’t want tolls, gas tax hikes

Link to poll story here or read it below.

The headline declares Texans want their roads fixed but don't want to pay for them. But it's not a matter of not wanting to fund them, it's a matter of economics. Texans don't have any more money to give to transportation with gas at $4 a gallon! The cost of living is rising much faster than our ability to pay for it. Then, when you consider TxDOT spending $100,000 a month on lobbyists and $9 million on an ad campaign pushing toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, frivolous spending like $18 million rest stops with free Wi-Fi, and the endless raiding from our gas taxes that we ALREADY PAY for roads, it's no wonder Texans are in no mood for tax hikes.

Add to all that the fact that the State of Texas has had surplus after surplus (which is a result of overtaxation) with another $15 billion surplus projected by the start of next year's legislative session, Texans don't believe the State is out of money or that we're taxed too little, not for one minute!

I found it interesting that the poll didn't use numbers at all like amount of gas tax hike or any cost comparisons on toll project costs versus freeways. Like on US 281, to keep it a freeway would cost $170 million, but to make it a toll road, it will cost $1.3 billion. This would likely draw much stronger opposition to tolling existing roads given that information. They also shied away from informing people about the specific number of lane-miles slated to be tolled and how much they'd pay per mile in tolls versus gas tax, which would help people make a more informed comparison of the choices and show that it will be difficult to avoid taking the more expensive toll roads with so many in the queue.

Nonetheless the message is clear, Texans don't want tolls or higher transportation costs, period.

New poll shows Texans want better roads, don't want to pay for them
By CHRISTY HOPPE / The Dallas Morning News
Wednesday, June 25, 2008

AUSTIN – Texans think congestion is a serious problem and want road improvements, but a solid majority is adamantly against paying at the toll booth or gas pump for bigger and better highways, a poll released today shows.
Read more...