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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 12:13 pm |
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1st Post |
librarylady
Member
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Perry said proof that the department has been well run by the five commissioners he appointed to govern the agency is as plain as the pavement Dallas-area drivers use to get to work. If re-elected, Perry said, he'll pushing to build roads, and keep pushing to expand Texas' ability to ink long-term contracts with private toll firms.
"We were always looking for ways to make that department more efficient, and pushing down more of the decision-making to local officials," Perry said. "We have built more roads in the past 10 years than any other state. We've changed executive directors, we went from three commissioners to five, and we have completely changed, constitutionally and statutorily, how we build roads in Texas."....................
In 2007, changes that Perry had pushed through the Legislature early in his tenure produced fruit: For the first time, Texas signed a contract with a private firm that would have paid it billions in cash in return for the right to design, build and finance State Highway 121 in Denton, Collin and Dallas counties.
The deal touched off a firestorm of opposition in the Legislature, which eventually placed restrictions on private toll deals and helped take the contract away from Cintra and give it to North Texas Tollway Authority.
Two years later, Perry would suffer another defeat when lawmakers allowed almost all authority for private toll roads to lapse.
Perry says he'll fight again in 2011 to have the authority restored, and he'll have support in doing so from North Texas leaders on the Regional Transportation Council. For his part, White hasn't ruled out private toll roads, but he said he won't champion them as Perry has.
But even if lawmakers don't act on his request next year, Perry's private toll road legacy will live on in North Texas for decades. NTTA borrowed $5 billion to compete with Cintra's private-sector toll model on Highway 121, and since then toll rates on all roads have been scheduled to increase, again adopting a hallmark of the private sector long championed by Perry.
If he becomes governor, White says, he won't oppose toll roads. He says he'll leave that up to local leaders....................
Full story
____________________
Native Texan
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
– Lao-Tzu
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 12:24 pm |
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2nd Post |
RaisinCain
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Toll roads are not mandatory; if you don't want to use them take another route.
Money to build these roads has got to come from somewhere; Texas is growing faster than the rate at which it recovers fuel taxes from the federal government. If you don't want toll roads, where do you suggest we get the money to build free roads? Do you suggest that White will somehow make this problem of too-few roads go away? What is Whites plan?
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 01:18 pm |
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3rd Post |
Ranger
1st Place Texas Rangers
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Yea.. Lets keep voting for this idiot and see where it brings us.. 
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 01:50 pm |
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4th Post |
Mr. Bubble
oOoOoOoOoOoOo
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what a surprise....DMN, who supports White, spins the story his way.....
there are two sides to every story....
imo the media should not endorse candidates....the tv media really tries not to...why should paper media be any different?
____________________
Always remember you're unique, just like everyone else.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 02:29 pm |
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5th Post |
Darth Penguin
High Penguin of the Sith
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librarylady wrote: Perry said proof that the department has been well run by the five commissioners he appointed to govern the agency is as plain as the pavement Dallas-area drivers use to get to work. If re-elected, Perry said, he'll pushing to build roads, and keep pushing to expand Texas' ability to ink long-term contracts with private toll firms.
"We were always looking for ways to make that department more efficient, and pushing down more of the decision-making to local officials," Perry said. "We have built more roads in the past 10 years than any other state. We've changed executive directors, we went from three commissioners to five, and we have completely changed, constitutionally and statutorily, how we build roads in Texas."....................
In 2007, changes that Perry had pushed through the Legislature early in his tenure produced fruit: For the first time, Texas signed a contract with a private firm that would have paid it billions in cash in return for the right to design, build and finance State Highway 121 in Denton, Collin and Dallas counties.
The deal touched off a firestorm of opposition in the Legislature, which eventually placed restrictions on private toll deals and helped take the contract away from Cintra and give it to North Texas Tollway Authority.
Two years later, Perry would suffer another defeat when lawmakers allowed almost all authority for private toll roads to lapse.
Perry says he'll fight again in 2011 to have the authority restored, and he'll have support in doing so from North Texas leaders on the Regional Transportation Council. For his part, White hasn't ruled out private toll roads, but he said he won't champion them as Perry has.
But even if lawmakers don't act on his request next year, Perry's private toll road legacy will live on in North Texas for decades. NTTA borrowed $5 billion to compete with Cintra's private-sector toll model on Highway 121, and since then toll rates on all roads have been scheduled to increase, again adopting a hallmark of the private sector long championed by Perry.
If he becomes governor, White says, he won't oppose toll roads. He says he'll leave that up to local leaders....................
Full story
The first one - the road wasn't there. It wasn't being built. The NTAA managed to get it done - far ahead of schedule - and the road makes driving from McKinney down into the mid-cities a breeze.
As for the second... and your problem is? There is the side-road down along the toll way that you can take if you don't want to pay the tolls.
Tolls are the perfect thing for highly congested areas. It allows those who want to pay a premium to move faster. Everyone else can run down the sides.
____________________
“The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking”
Marcus Aurelius
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 04:21 pm |
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6th Post |
Tom in East Dallas
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I don't have a problem with a toll road. What I have a problem with is converting an existing road to a toll road, SH 121, or adding toll lanes to existing roads, I-635/LBJ. If we need more money for roads I am ok with an increase in the state gas tax, as long as it all goes to roads and not to other pet projects, mass transit ect.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 04:22 pm |
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7th Post |
RaisinCain
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Ranger wrote: Yea.. Lets keep voting for this idiot and see where it brings us..
Ranger, I am open to alternatives. Where does White stand on this issue?
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 04:37 pm |
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8th Post |
Darth Penguin
High Penguin of the Sith
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Tom in East Dallas wrote: I don't have a problem with a toll road. What I have a problem with is converting an existing road to a toll road, SH 121, or adding toll lanes to existing roads, I-635/LBJ. If we need more money for roads I am ok with an increase in the state gas tax, as long as it all goes to roads and not to other pet projects, mass transit ect.
The vast majority of the 121 toll was not pre-existing. They made the part from Lewisville to Grapevine toll in exchange for the NTAA to build the rest of the road... which didn't exist.
____________________
“The object in life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”
“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking”
Marcus Aurelius
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 04:40 pm |
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9th Post |
Zephyr
Forming a Polka Line.....
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How much did the Toll Road lobby put into Perry's re-election campaign this year? Or is he giving the contracts to his brother-in-law?
____________________
"I smile because I have no idea what's going on." - Jami(e)
"I smile because I have no idea what's going on and, after 17 swirlies, I don't give a ####." - Orphi(e)
"I want a pink cadillac! It matches my gloves!" - CarGuy
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 06:12 pm |
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10th Post |
RaisinCain
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Still yet to have heard Bill Whites' answer to this situation. You don't have to like Perrys' answers (I don't always like all of them), but least Perry is being upfront about the situation; what would Bill do?
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 06:23 pm |
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11th Post |
librarylady
Member
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Read the article if you want to know White's position.
____________________
Native Texan
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
– Lao-Tzu
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 06:45 pm |
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12th Post |
BigTex
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I agree that toll roads are a choice. I have a toll tag, but I choose not to use them unless it's absolutely necessary. In which case I don't mind paying the toll.
Th only thing that bothers me is all those years I was using the Dallas North Tollway to get from LBJ to downtown, I was under the impression (perhaps erroneously)that when the cost of that road had been covered in toll revenue that it would become a free road. Like what happened on the old DFW turnpike.
Well, as soon as they declared the DNT paid off, they also declared that they would need to keep collecting tolls to pay for expansion to Oklahoma or Wisconsin or wherever. That ticked me off a little.
____________________
I know a few things about love. Horrible, terrible, awful, awful things.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 06:54 pm |
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13th Post |
Tom in East Dallas
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Darth Penguin wrote: Tom in East Dallas wrote: I don't have a problem with a toll road. What I have a problem with is converting an existing road to a toll road, SH 121, or adding toll lanes to existing roads, I-635/LBJ. If we need more money for roads I am ok with an increase in the state gas tax, as long as it all goes to roads and not to other pet projects, mass transit ect.
The vast majority of the 121 toll was not pre-existing. They made the part from Lewisville to Grapevine toll in exchange for the NTAA to build the rest of the road... which didn't exist.
I'm talkng about 121 from Lewsville to McKinney which is now, or at least north Plano, Preston Rd, to McKinney, a toll road. SH 121 existed, maybe as a two lane road at least since the 1970s. While it has free lanes it also has plenty of red lights
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 06:57 pm |
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14th Post |
jellowrestling
Messenger
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Tom in East Dallas wrote: Darth Penguin wrote: Tom in East Dallas wrote: I don't have a problem with a toll road. What I have a problem with is converting an existing road to a toll road, SH 121, or adding toll lanes to existing roads, I-635/LBJ. If we need more money for roads I am ok with an increase in the state gas tax, as long as it all goes to roads and not to other pet projects, mass transit ect.
The vast majority of the 121 toll was not pre-existing. They made the part from Lewisville to Grapevine toll in exchange for the NTAA to build the rest of the road... which didn't exist.
I'm talkng about 121 from Lewsville to McKinney which is now, or at least north Plano, Preston Rd, to McKinney, a toll road. SH 121 existed, maybe as a two lane road at least since the 1970s. While it has free lanes it also has plenty of red lights
IIRC, it was a two-lane road when I first started going out to my brother's house in Frisco in the early 90s. When there was nothing in Frisco. It took me over an hour to get there then. Now, it takes me about 45 minutes from Bedford.
____________________
Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between govt and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by govt, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all - Bastiat
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 07:06 pm |
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15th Post |
chronos
Member
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jellowrestling wrote:
Tom in East Dallas wrote: Darth Penguin wrote: Tom in East Dallas wrote: I don't have a problem with a toll road. What I have a problem with is converting an existing road to a toll road, SH 121, or adding toll lanes to existing roads, I-635/LBJ. If we need more money for roads I am ok with an increase in the state gas tax, as long as it all goes to roads and not to other pet projects, mass transit ect.
The vast majority of the 121 toll was not pre-existing. They made the part from Lewisville to Grapevine toll in exchange for the NTAA to build the rest of the road... which didn't exist.
I'm talkng about 121 from Lewsville to McKinney which is now, or at least north Plano, Preston Rd, to McKinney, a toll road. SH 121 existed, maybe as a two lane road at least since the 1970s. While it has free lanes it also has plenty of red lights
IIRC, it was a two-lane road when I first started going out to my brother's house in Frisco in the early 90s. When there was nothing in Frisco. It took me over an hour to get there then. Now, it takes me about 45 minutes from Bedford.
ive grown up using the old 121 and at one time it was little more than a FM road with tons of red lights and tons of car accidents...it was a nightmare getting anywhere in the later years because there was just too much traffic.
IM happy to pay tolls on that road because I know how it was before and I highly suspect that had it not been made a toll road it would never have been built or that I would still be waiting on it to be built.
(how many years have we heard that they were going to expand 635?...decades and we're still waiting on it)
____________________
Don't Tax Me Bro!
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 07:06 pm |
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16th Post |
RaisinCain
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librarylady wrote: Read the article if you want to know White's position.
Well unfortunately there is not much in the article about Whites' position; here it is:
His Democratic opponent, former Houston Mayor Bill White, says if he is governor Texans will have greater say over whether they see tolls on their highways, will borrow less to build highways and will see more project decisions made at local levels.
So he wants to give the ability to make decisions to more local levels; fine, Perry also favors this approach and has put it into practice. Now, as far as "borrowing less to build highways" how exactly will he do that other than raising transportation taxes? If you have to build the highways, you have to get the money from somewhere; just saying "let's not borrow as much money" doesn't cut it; where will he get this money?
Raising gasoline and licensing taxes to pay for new roads is unfair to the people who don't use these roads and indeed may not live within hundreds of miles of the roads built at their expense.
White says he will favor local entities voting to enact higher taxes to pay for more roads; HAHAHA! What a laugh! Who on this board would vote for higher taxes? This is just Whites way of skirting the issue; he knows no one in conservative Texas will vote for higher taxes, then he would be "forced against his will" to build toll roads.
Bill White speak with forked tongue, kimmosabe.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 07:41 pm |
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17th Post |
tractorman
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Great. Getting more like New Jersey every day.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 08:10 pm |
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18th Post |
Mark In NRH
Just get to the point, ok pal?
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I drove to St. Joseph MO and back this weekend. It cost me $45 dollars in tolls just to cross Kansas 2x.....on I35 no less. That kinda burned my biscuits. You cruise I35 in Texas and OK but when you hit Kansas, it becomes a toll road. How do you justify levying a toll for driving on a taxpayer funded interstate?
____________________
My music can be heard here:
http://www.soundclick.com/teysha
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 08:20 pm |
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19th Post |
librarylady
Member
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Raisin:
from the article, since you didn't keep reading:
In the end, what might make for the biggest difference between White and Perry is an issue they both say they favor: giving local officials and planning authorities more control over how – and where – the state spends its transportation dollars.
The governor argued that he has pushed authority to the local and regional level throughout his tenure. Decisions about which projects are funded, he said, "are made from the local level up. What we have today is the very essence of an agency that solves local issues based on local input."
For most highway spending in Texas, he's right.
But that's not true with every dollar, as the commissioners still steer so-called discretionary money to the projects they favor.
White said he would push local control further than Perry has. He wants more of the money collected in taxes, or bond proceeds, to be divided up by formula, and then sent to regional planning groups like the RTC – cutting out the commissioners he would appoint should he become governor.
He declined to detail what discretion would be left to the commission, saying he wants to work out a compromise with lawmakers before committing himself.
But Perry said White needn't look far for a workable solution.
"I think the balance is right there, basically what we have," he said.
____________________
Native Texan
"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."
– Lao-Tzu
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25th, 2010 08:51 pm |
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20th Post |
Kevin McCarthy
Benevolent Dictator
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Ranger wrote: Yea.. Lets keep voting for this idiot and see where it brings us..
ummm...the same place the other idiot will bring us???
If he becomes governor, White says, he won't oppose toll roads.
____________________
Dance like there's nobody watching, Love like you've never been hurt, Work like you don't need the money and Live like it's Heaven on Earth!
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