07.13.10
Site news
Eye On Williamson is currently on hiatus.
06.08.10
Vigil to be held in front of Austin BP offices Tuesday at 7:30pm
Local activists are planning to conduct an “Emergency Oil Spill Vigil” in front of BP’s Austin office, 1005 N. Congress Ave., Tuesday at 7:30pm. Word of the vigil comes to Eye On Williamson via an email from a WCDP precinct chair. It identifies the group calling for the vigil as “friends, neighbors, people who care enough to come,” and states that “Participants will stand with the Gulf Coast and all of its affected people, wildlife and ecology and call for increased effective efforts to end the spill.”
Eye on Willamson will provide additional details as they become available.
06.01.10
No one could have predicted
In today’s AAS with Ben Wear’s misleading headline, Truck relief on I-35? Maybe a little. The big story is not that truck’s aren’t leaving I-35 to drive SH 130, the big news is, which is almost always the case, the consultants T&R (Traffic and Revenue) numbers are not “paying off”.
The study indicates that the 25 percent lower toll would pull an additional 350 trucks a day to Texas 130. But I-35 at U.S. 183 in North Austin had 24,000 trucks a day in 2007. So the lower toll might remove less than 2 percent of I-35 truck traffic.
What isn’t changing on Texas 130, at least not yet: car tolls, for perhaps five years. And the overall financial picture, painted mostly in shades of red.
The 2002 financial prospectus for investors who put $2.2 billion into Texas 130, Loop 1 and Texas 45 North showed initial toll rates unchanged until 2015, when a 50 percent increase was scheduled. Transportation commissioners have the power to raise rates before then, but they aren’t talking publicly about doing so.
But they might be considering it privately. According to figures from TxDOT Chief Financial Officer James Bass, the three-road system has required $68 million in tax money to balance the books over the first three years.
We’re paying tolls and our tax money is going for these roads too. Who doesn’t feel burned yet by the toll road scheme? Tip to ACREblog, SH 130 in the red–taxpayers making up the difference, with this commentary.
So why is it a good idea to continue to build toll roads where taxpayers will be paying the investors? By the way, ground has been broken on the tolled interchange at 290 East and 183—a tolled interchange being paid for by taxpayer stimulus money.
Anyone who still believes toll roads are the answer to our state’s transportation problem can no longer be taken seriously. Seriously.
05.24.10
Texas Blog Round Up (May 24, 2010)
The Texas Progressive Alliance is enjoying the last week of school before summer vacation as it brings you this week’s blog roundup.
WhosPlayin notes that the Dallas Fort Worth area has once again failed to meet its 8 hour ozone attainment, forcing TCEQ to implement contingency measures. Have you had your two teaspoons of ozone today?
Rand Paul explains why Texas Republicans don’t mind pollution notes CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme.
Off the Kuff kicks off the official countdown to KBH’s 2012 re-election announcement.
Gas and Greed Divide Neighbors in Argyle, TX. A tale of greed, lies and corruption and civil disobedience in the Barnett Shale brought to you by TXsharon at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
Bay Area Houston will be attending the Sunset Commission review of the Texas Department of Insurance on Tuesday.
There’s a common thread of arrogant ignorance that runs between Rand Paul and the Texas SBOE, and PDiddie at Brains and Eggs pulls the string.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows that the “big 3″ get skittish on certain budget cuts, that won’t be the case after the election, Perry, Dewhurst, Straus playing politics with budget cuts.
Libby Shaw says Thank You Rand Paul. The bash talking ideologue has broken the rightwing’s first rule – don’t tell’me what you really think. See more at TexasKaos.
Neil at Texas Liberal reflected on how glad he is that we have a well-armed Federal Government from freedom-snatching folks like Rand Paul of Kentucky.
05.13.10
PEC Board of Directors Election: 13 Candidates Vie for 2 Coveted Seats
Ballots for electing two new directors to the Pedernales Electric Cooperative are now arriving in mailboxes. Once again, there is a crowded field of hopefuls wanting to sit on the Board of the nation’s largest electric utility cooperative. The position comes with approximately $40,000 a year in retainer and meeting fees, access to potentially lucrative and sensitive industry information, the ability to control what members pay for electricity, and how excess revenue is allocated.
Despite member protests for single member district voting, at large voting is still used in the PEC Board election, meaning all members can vote for candidates regardless of their district. There are eight candidates for District 4 and five candidates for District 5. The entire list of candidates can be viewed at: 2010 Board Election
Candidate’s qualifications run the gamut from concerned members to utility professionals to experienced politicians. Candidate campaign speeches, recorded at a PEC election forum, can be viewed online HERE.
Special Interest Group Makes Dubious Choice in Endorsements
05.08.10
May 8th Election Results, Williamson County
[UPDATED] results, click here.
Carl Wake wins in Leander Place 3 City Council race over John Perez, 219 -200. More from the AAS here, Two incumbents, one challenger lead in Leander; Cedar Park race could be headed for runoff.
05.04.10
Starred in the RSS reader this week – fiscal stability straight talk edition
A few years ago, then-RNC Chair Ken Mehlman went before the NAACP and apologized for the GOP’s “Southern Strategy,” or the deliberate exploitation of white racial anxieties for political advantage. Rush Limbaugh responded by utilizing his favorite metaphor when discussing racial matters, and preemptively described Mehlman’s apology by saying he was going to “to go bend over and grab the ankles.”
Now fast-forward. Last week, embattled RNC Chair Michael Steele recently made waves by saying:
For the last 40-plus years we had a “Southern Strategy” that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, “Bubba” went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.
Steele also said that black people didn’t “have a reason” to vote Republican, because the GOP hadn’t given them one. Dave Weigel quotes Bruce Bartlett arguing that this is Steele’s “biggest gaffe so far,” and I think Bartlett’s right — but not because the GOP never had a Southern Strategy. Tell it to Jackie Robinson. (Jamelle Bouie provides a good rebuttal to Bartlett here.)
The Middle Class’s Stake in Health Reform
Middle-class families with health insurance might not think they have much at stake in the new health reform law. But as a recent Center report showed, private health coverage for the middle class is surprisingly unstable.
Some cool old pictures, My days at the TxDOT photo archive.
How to read New York magazine’s big Palin story
Today At The Virtual Summit: Whose Commission Is This?
The weakness of the Obama coalition, revealed
More Than One Way To Do Things
Reading this post and some of the comments leaves me a bit bewildered. One way to get Republicans on board is to enable them to be divas, flatter them, let them bask in the media spotlight as they play Hamlet for 6 months, and keep offering compromise after compromise while getting nothing in return, on the off chance that maybe, just maybe, Lindsey or President Snowe or whoever will get on board. Another way to do things is to propose popular pieces of legislation and then make the Republicans eat shit every day they fail to pass it, go send out your charismatic leader to give speeches and hold rallies in their states, mobilize your massive community of supporters to take various actions in support of the legislation, etc. I could be wrong that the latter is the better strategy, both politically and in terms of actually getting shit done, but it just isn’t the case that the options are kissing up to Lindsey Graham or nothing.
Much more below the fold Read the rest of this entry �
04.26.10
Williamson County Democrats at the Red Poppy Festival in Geogetown this weekend
The Williamson County Democratic Party was in the parade at the Red Poppy Festiveal in Georgetown on Saturday.
There are many more to see at the Williamson County Democrats Facebook page.
04.19.10
Texas Blog Round Up (April 19, 2009)
Time for another roundup of the week’s blog highlights from the Texas Progressive Alliance.
Something bubbles up from the ground in Bartonville. Could this be why so many dogs nearby have cancer? Since drilling toxins were found in Barnett Shale residents’ blood and urine, maybe it’s time to test the animals too. TXsharon struggles to keep pace with the latest Barnett Shale news at Bluedaze: DRILLING REFORM FOR TEXAS.
The Texas Cloverleaf highlights the case of the Christmas goose in Flower Mound.
Off the Kuff writes about the pitch from the gambling industry.
CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wonders about the wisdom of building a silly, damaging border fence while allowing foreign companies to control our ports.
It was a wild week for the economy and, surprisingly, for economic history. McBlogger takes a look at one historical revisionist who like misrepresentation almost as much as Ayn Rand. Then he goes on to explain just what Goldman Sachs did.
Neil at Texas Liberal wrote a comprehensive preview post of the upcoming election in the United Kingdom. Election Day is May 6. The post is being updated daily with new developments and it took some time to write. So please give it a look if you find the topic to be interest.
Bay Area Houston finds another one of Bob Perry’s bitches.
WCNews at Eye On Williamson shows that the 2006 Texas tax swap created a $5 billion annual budget hole, the bill is coming due next year, Texas Republicans created a budget shortfall to cut programs that help working Texans.
Over at TexasKaos, Libby Shaw catches up with Johnny Cronyn . He and Mitch McConnell “continue[s] to serve Wall St. breakfast in bed.” More to the point, Libby explains the battle lines being drawn between Obama and the Dems and those lap dogs of the priveleged, the Republican Pary. Check it out John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, the GOP Stand by Their Wall St. Man .
The TeaBaggers and the regular GOP nuts fought each other to a stand-off on Election Runoff Day. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs has the sordid details.
In Flower Mound, gas drillers have crossed the line into express advocacy in local elections, sending out a letter to mineral owners telling them who to vote for in a town council election.
02.10.10
Political sign FAIL
Link via Crooks and Liars.
Spotted at Sarah Palin’s rally for Rick Perry in Houston on Sunday by Bryan Fotographer at the Houston Press, who also provided the caption: “The ‘Get a brain, morans’ sign guy must have been busy on Sunday.”