More pork with gas taxes, this time for “Office of livable communities”
Written by Terri Hall
Monday, 08 February 2010
Link to article here.
This publication is geared for truckers, but it reveals $500 million in
further diversions of our gas taxes that have nothing to do with
transportation.
Highway tax dollars for ‘livable communities’ Landline Magazine February 2, 2010
What
exactly are “livable communities,” and how much do they cost? If you’re
a highway user, you could begin paying soon for livable communities
even if it’s not clear where the money would go.
The Obama
administration is proposing to create a new Office of Livable
Communities and fund it with $500 million from the U.S. Department of
Transportation.
The administration included the concept as part
of a $3.8 trillion federal budget request issued Monday, Feb. 1. The
budget request includes $78.8 billion for the U.S. Department of
Transportation of which $500 million would be used to fund and staff
the new office.
Truckers who operate just 4 percent of the
registered vehicles on the roadways – but who pay a 36 percent share of
the bill for highways and transportation through taxes and fees –
deserve to know where the money for “livable communities” will go,
OOIDA leadership says.
“We certainly have some concern with it
because we believe there could be a serious diversion of highway user
dollars to these so-called livable communities and this Office of
Livable Communities,” OOIDA Director of Legislative Affairs Mike Joyce
told Land Line Now on Sirius XM.
“We’re not sure what the benefits truly will be for America’s highway users and America’s truckers.”
Without
a clear intention for the money, the government is leaving no choice
but for the highway user to be skeptical, Joyce says.
“I don’t think anybody at DOT or from the Congress has clearly defined what livable communities are,” Joyce said.
“The
fear is that there is no definition, that there are no true parameters
to what livable communities are and how money can be spent on livable
communities. … And so it ends up at the discretion of the secretary of
transportation and the folks that are running that office as to how
they want to spend that money. That’s a very serious concern.”
Breaking: TxDOT admits Trans Texas Corridor ALIVE, despite claim it’s DEAD
Written by Terri Hall
Monday, 08 February 2010
On February 1, 2010, in a Joint Senate and House Transportation Committee hearing, Senator John Carona directly asked TxDOT Executive Director Amadeo Saenz if TxDOT decided tomorrow that it wants to build the Trans Texas Corridor after all, does it still have the statutory authority to do so? Saenz answered: "Yes."
See for yourself below...
Perry & TxDOT continue to lie about tolling existing freeways
Written by Terri Hall
Wednesday, 03 February 2010
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Perry’s debate fib about state law prohibiting tolling existing freeways repeated in news report
(Wednesday, February 3, 2010)
Confusion persists about whether or not it is legal to convert free
highway lanes into toll lanes in the state of Texas, despite Governor Rick Perry’s claim that it is illegal during the January 29 Republican gubernatorial debate. In an article in the Dallas Morning News February 1, TxDOT spokesman Chris Lippincott stated:
"’The
department has made it clear that we have no interest in tolling
existing lanes,’ Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Chris
Lippincott said this afternoon, when told of the Obama budget
provision. ‘Whether we are prohibited from doing so in federal law is
irrelevant,’ he said.
The article goes on to say... “And
it wouldn't be easy, even if the state's Transportation Commission
didn't have a policy in place that effectively abides by the
moratorium. To turn a freeway (or even a single lane of existing
roadway) into a toll road, TEXDOT would need a waiver from the Federal
Highway Administration. These are granted only rarely. Then, state law
requires approval from the county commissioners and then from a
county's voters.”
Terri Hall, Founder of
Texas TURF counters, “Not only is TxDOT planning to toll existing
lanes, they're lying about it. The feds are not only aware of the
plans for US 281 in San Antonio in particular, it had already granted
clearance until we sued to stop them. So rare or not, the feds granted it.”
