last night, more civic minded Austin home owners decended on the CAMPO board meeting. Some had to stand or sit on the floor, but finally, after more than a year of persistance, we got some releif.
The news made the front page, as it should have, but the issues behind the fight are hardly resolved. The $5-6 million dollar toll facilities that were planned to go on on MOPAC in March have been scrapped. What should concnern you, however, is that they are still going to show up all over Austin and on every road going to or from the airport.
If you want to see something really frightning, just drive up to the Wells Branch area along FM 1325 (the northiern extension of MOPAC) and look UP! Right there, some 60 feet overhead, is the first of many Tolling facilities that will become a more common sight around Austin.
It's out of place, intrusive, expensive, and a sign of bad times ahead. But, we still have time to slow down the madness. However, now it's going to be a lot harder, because the process has already been approved by the CAMPO board (they managed the major road planning projects around our three county area, which is required to get any Federal money for road projects).
CAMPO is composed of mostly elected officials from the three counties and key cities. Everyone from Williamson county has been voting for converting exisiting highways in Austin to Toll Roads, while they will never have to suffer the same fate.
It's not that anyone opposes NEW Toll roads - it's the whole idea of putting a Toll booth on a state road that was already paid for with 20-60 years of tax payers money.
Don't just sit there reading this, do something to help out.
We do have a legal fund that need your support. Lawsuits will challenge key parts of HB 3588 soon. Others will go after the Texas Trans-corridor provisions, mostly the fast trak process for taking land (90 days notice and the they only have to pay you what the county tax assessment lists for it's value. Following up in court is a much harder process, etc.)
These are assaults on our basic rights to land ownership and public roads.
It just happens to affect your daily commute to any part of Austin, unlike the Toll road plans proposed in Dallas, Houston, and south Texas. Austin's planning people just went overboard, in part, because TxDOT mislead us!
Do something to help us fight the monster. Start the dialog. Talk to your neighbors - you have met your next door neighbor, haven't you ? Bring up the subject at work - Tolls will immediately raise the cost of doing business in Austin. We may be looking like Orlando in 5 years, with a Toll road in every direction.
AustinTollParty.com is a good place to start.
www.CorridorWatch.org is another web site to keep an eye on.
Contact all of the Texas Legislature, not just your new reps. Call them and write some real letters.
Emails do help, but they are easier to overlook.
And set asside some tax deductable funds to pay the lawyers and lobbiest that we need to turn this Toll Road Abuse around. It's a BAD plan.
The news made the front page, as it should have, but the issues behind the fight are hardly resolved. The $5-6 million dollar toll facilities that were planned to go on on MOPAC in March have been scrapped. What should concnern you, however, is that they are still going to show up all over Austin and on every road going to or from the airport.
If you want to see something really frightning, just drive up to the Wells Branch area along FM 1325 (the northiern extension of MOPAC) and look UP! Right there, some 60 feet overhead, is the first of many Tolling facilities that will become a more common sight around Austin.
It's out of place, intrusive, expensive, and a sign of bad times ahead. But, we still have time to slow down the madness. However, now it's going to be a lot harder, because the process has already been approved by the CAMPO board (they managed the major road planning projects around our three county area, which is required to get any Federal money for road projects).
CAMPO is composed of mostly elected officials from the three counties and key cities. Everyone from Williamson county has been voting for converting exisiting highways in Austin to Toll Roads, while they will never have to suffer the same fate.
It's not that anyone opposes NEW Toll roads - it's the whole idea of putting a Toll booth on a state road that was already paid for with 20-60 years of tax payers money.
Don't just sit there reading this, do something to help out.
We do have a legal fund that need your support. Lawsuits will challenge key parts of HB 3588 soon. Others will go after the Texas Trans-corridor provisions, mostly the fast trak process for taking land (90 days notice and the they only have to pay you what the county tax assessment lists for it's value. Following up in court is a much harder process, etc.)
These are assaults on our basic rights to land ownership and public roads.
It just happens to affect your daily commute to any part of Austin, unlike the Toll road plans proposed in Dallas, Houston, and south Texas. Austin's planning people just went overboard, in part, because TxDOT mislead us!
Do something to help us fight the monster. Start the dialog. Talk to your neighbors - you have met your next door neighbor, haven't you ? Bring up the subject at work - Tolls will immediately raise the cost of doing business in Austin. We may be looking like Orlando in 5 years, with a Toll road in every direction.
AustinTollParty.com is a good place to start.
www.CorridorWatch.org is another web site to keep an eye on.
Contact all of the Texas Legislature, not just your new reps. Call them and write some real letters.
Emails do help, but they are easier to overlook.
And set asside some tax deductable funds to pay the lawyers and lobbiest that we need to turn this Toll Road Abuse around. It's a BAD plan.
