07.25.06
More On The TTC Hearings
This time from the Daily Texan (Karl-Thomas (KT) Musselman also blogs at BOR, thanks for the links). Here’s their report of last nights hearing in Georgetown, Local residents oppose Trans-Texas Corridor at regional meeting, and KT’s editorial on the TTC, A Trans-Texas Horror.
From the first there are two aspects to take a look at. The corridor officials are turning a blind eye to the mood against the TTC by stating that only those who are against it come to the meetings:
Dieter Billek, one of the project managers for the Trans-Texas Corridor, didn’t seem bothered by the show of opposition.
“That’s the first time someone’s interrupted me,” he said, referring to a bearded man in the front row who yelled, “That’s a lie!” and “You’re stealing our land!” during his presentation.
“More people that oppose the plan tend to come to these meetings,” Billek said.
And therefore trying to infer that there’s many who are for this. I don’t think so! The more they try and push these people’s opinions aside the angrier they become. Which hopefully will lead to more of this:
Georgetown resident Marlene Williams, who brought her 14-year-old daughter Shelby to the meeting, said she would lose her home under any of the state’s 150 plans. She squinted her eyes and shook her head when asked if she planned to start looking for a new place to live.
“I think there’s still hope,” she said. “We can vote for the leaders who will oppose this.”
Williams, who calls herself a “conservative Republican,” said she would consider switching her support to a Democrat who opposed the plan.
“I’m very disappointed in Perry,” she said. “I voted for him.”
Whether they will actually vote Gov. Perry out by voting for Chris Bell is one thing, but down ballot they could really do some damage. In KT’s editorial there is this part that should really fuel the building anti-incumbency sentiment:
These massive property and investment requirements give rise to much of the objection from rural landowners. Cutting through countless farms and ranches and looping around suburbia will be a path wider than the distance between Austin’s Congress and First Street bridges. One could set the entire state Capitol inside of the right of way.
An unsettling vision, landowners will be faced with inaccessibility to land split on opposite sides of this monstrosity. The state would ideally pay fair market value for the 5.7 million acres wanted for construction, but as with any mu-nicipality, the “lowest” fair market value will likely be found.
Thanks to the U.S. Supreme Court, any acreage desired from particularly cantankerous landowners can also be taken via eminent domain. The Texas Legislature did pass a bill granting protections to Texans from excessive abuses of eminent domain in the wake of that ruling, but it made a convenient exception specifically for the TTC.
For localities, any land consumed by the TTC disappears from the tax rolls, hitting small rural communities the hardest. Proponents claim that new business growth around interchanges and the corridor will offset that.
Those with the least amount of representation will be hurt the most. In this day and age the amount of representation you get is equal to the amount of money you give to your representative. In Williamson County just click here (Krusee, Gattis) to see who is getting represented by your elected officials.
[UPDATE]: The Waco Tribune-Herald has this story from the TTC hearing in Waco yesterday, More than 1,000 voice Trans-Texas Corridor views at Waco meeting. It’s obvious from this comment that ‘ol What’s Her Name doesn’t drive “the decks” in Austin much:
“You could double-decker it,†(State Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn) said of I-35. “There’s many different things you could do.â€
There’s a saying in Austin that when the Aggies graduate they come back to Austin and design the roads, as payback. Well nothing exemplifies this more than the upper deck on IH-35. As long as she’s lived in Austin you think she’d know that by now.