TTC

I am pleased to report that last week we received notice that the Texas Department of Transportation will recommend the I-69 Project be developed using existing highway facilities instead of the proposed massive new Trans Texas Corridor/NAFTA Superhighway. According to the Texas Transportation Commissioner, consideration is no longer being given to new corridors and other proposals for a new highway footprint for this project. A major looming threat to property rights and national sovereignty is removed with this encouraging announcement.

Public outcry was cited as the main reason for this decision. I was very impressed to learn that the TxDOT received nearly 28,000 public comments on this matter, and that some 12,000 Texans attended the 47 public hearings held earlier this year. They could not ignore this tsunami of strong public opinion against the proposed plans. I was especially proud of how informed my constituents became on the subject, and how eloquently and respectfully they spoke and conducted themselves, considering how upsetting the plans were for our communities in Texas .

You knew that Cato had a covert agenda aimed at selling us into serfdom. But you may have missed what happened on the way to privatizing America. The Troll of the Roads, Bob Poole is coining money on the program that includes the Real ID, the NAU, and globalization. You need to know.

One major concern I discussed a few weeks ago regarding the Trans Texas Corridor is where the land will come from. Another concern is where the money will come from. Official government websites for the TTC assure that public-private partnerships will shield the taxpayer from bearing too much of the cost burden, but a careful reading shows the door is definitely open to public funding sources, while at the same time there is no doubt of the intention to charge tolls on the road.

Taxpayers already pay for their transportation system through hefty gasoline taxes, vehicle registration fees, and other fees. They have every right to expect the roads they have already paid for to be properly maintained and toll-free.

We have a unique opportunity to push the Trans-Texas Corridor fiasco  
in to the Presidential race by contacting CNN/Univision now before  
this Thursday's debate in Austin between Senators Obama and Clinton.

        Will you join us in contacting CNN & Univision to urge that they ask  
a question concerning the Corridor, an issue that concerns all  
Texans, and particularly the 1.3 million Texans who voted independent  
in the 2006.  All the pundits say that independents will be pivotal  
in the Texas primary on March 4th -- but they don't necessarily know  
what issue is most important to us.

The Constitution guarantees Americans the right to be secure against all unreasonable seizures. My home state of Texas is unfortunately planning on some very unreasonable seizures of land with the monstrous Trans Texas Corridor highway project. The TTC plans call for a highway to cut through about 4,000 Texas miles, and with separate rail lines for passenger and freight, a multi-lane highway with separate truck lanes, utility and cable easements, this highway could be as wide as 1200 feet across. In the end this project would consume something like half a million acres of land in Texas . However, since the exact path of the road has not been determined, it is putting much more acreage in jeopardy, and in limbo.

Taking land is destructive enough. But the perpetual threat of taking an undetermined amount of land is hanging over the heads of millions of Texans and putting their lives at a standstill. Land is a store of wealth and a source of stability. This highway project is tragically threatening that for so many Texans.

Many of you may or may not have heard about the plans for the new Trans-Texas Corridor (TTC), a proposed multi-use, statewide network of transportation routes in Texas that will incorporate existing and new highways, railways and utility right-of-ways. What you may not have heard is how the TTC will displace over a million Texans from their homes, or that the TTC will not actually provide much traffic relief for Texans, despite what the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDot) would like you to believe. In reality, the Trans-Texas Corridor will not alleviate traffic for most of us, but will benefit big business and freight transportation from Mexico to Canada, in many cases dividing small towns completely in half.

We want to continue mounting opposition to the Trans-Texas Corridor and "double-tax" urban freeway toll schemes of Gov. Rick Perry. Sat., Sept. 30th -- HANDS ACROSS THE CORRIDOR! This is a protest at your County Courthouse. Citizens will bring a "cup of land" from their property to tell the Governor that's all he's getting before we reroute him.

Folks from Farmersville, The Colony, Grapevine and Ft. Worth (rural,  
suburban, and urban!) protesting yesterday at Perry's expensive  
"celebration" in Coppell, TX, of his "double-tax" urban tolling of  
Hwy. 121.  Notice our sign about the still secret CINTRA contract to  
develop the Trans-Texas Corridor.  We'll be in Lewisville tomorrow  
with Carole at 2:00 pm for a press conference to Stop 121 Tolls.  
Reply or call for details.

        Read the press Carole Keeton Strayhorn's proposed transportation  
plan filed with TxDOT today, including scrapping Rick Perry's Trans-
Texas Corridor and "double-tax" urban toll schemes.  Scroll all the  
way down at the end of this message & enjoy!

        The Corridor is now recognized by press and pundits as one of the  
top three issues in the hotly contested Governor's race.  What's  
more, they acknowledge that Carole is leading the fight against it.  
But let us be clear.  This is happening because of the combined  
efforts of 14,000 ordinary people coming to the hearings, with a  
fury, to stop the Corridor, your work as the organizers for the  
Triple R, and the Grandma, who has not just talked the talk, but  
walked the walk, and who now has at least $8 million in her war chest  
to reroute Rick Perry and his Corridor in November!

I want to throw out some thoughts here on what is happening on the borders of our country. A little history lesson first…..

In 1988 when President Bush 41 was in office the plan for a NAFTA Super Highway was in the planning stages that would open up the northern and southern borders of America to open fair trade and also open migration at both points. This was step one in the North American Fair Trade Agreement action that would finally be completed under President Clinton's leadership.

To toll or not to toll?  Is that even the right question?  It's certainly the question of the day, but what got us to the point of even asking it?  What I've heard most as to why the CAMPO board voted "yes" to tolls is, "We would losing federal funding."

So, dear elected representatives: Where was the representation that let it get to that point?  Why?  Why did you let it get to the point you had to vote yes to something 90+% of your constituents clearly don't want?