DOA?
March 1st, 2007 at 7:18 pm
In the last hour of the legislative hearing on the Trans-Texas Corridor, dozens of residents from throughout Texas lined up at the podium to deliver 30-second soundbites against the network of superhighways planned for the state. Bottom line? They hate the Trans-Texas Corridor.
One elderly man, explaining how he would rather see an extra 10 or 20 cents tacked onto the fuel tax than pay tolls, opened his arms wide and said, “Tax me, tax me.” A second speaker said she’d rather pay the price of two iPods than fork out money for tolls. A third dropped thirty bucks on the table, saying that’s how much it would have cost her to get to Austin if toll booths had been erected along the route. (The cash, which appeared to be a pile of singles, sat there untouched for the rest of the hearing. Afterward, someone asked state Sen. John Carona, who chaired the meeting, if they could have the money. “Take it, take it. I can’t take it,” he responded)
One man alleged the TTC could serve as a pipeline for moving drugs into the United States. Another said video tolling would violate his privacy rights. A third said TXDOT’s planned seizure of private property violated the Constitution.
A woman invoked George Washington, reminding legislators that it was the country’s founding father who said, “Beware of foreign entanglements.” The ‘foreign’ was a reference to Cintra, the Madrid company that’s teamed with San Antonio’s Zachry to do some of the road projects. Another woman told the crowd that she owned land that had once been part of a Spanish land grant. “I’d love not to have to give it back to Spain.”
A lot of people in the audience had been there for eight hours listening to TXDOT and other public officials prattle on. They clearly felt they were getting the short end of the stick.
“Ric..Williamson..talks..like.. this.. because..he.. doesn’t.. want..to..let.. anybody …else… have…a …shot …at…the ..podium,” said one public advocate, doing a fair imitation of the Transportation Commission chairman’s drawl.
In the closing moments, a woman went up to the podium and said she was speaking out on behalf of her children and “all the people who are going to be dead before this project is over.”
“Well,” said state Sen. John Carona, who had managed to keep the unruly crowd in check. “Let’s hope this project is dead before them.”
Ultimately, it will be Pretty Ricky who will determine whether the bills aimed at curbing the massive road-building plans are DOA.
