We learned last week that TxDOT is spending about $20,000 on a public relations effort to defend building new toll roads and the Trans- Texas Corridor (TTC). They are sending several people to public relations training, so they will be better able to defend Perry's unpopular effort to turn Texas roads over to his corporate buddies.
Several TxDOT division directors, engineers from Beaumont and Amarillo, Executive Director Steve Simmons and Perry aide Kris Heckmann will be receiving the public relations training. They will then go forth to try and convince the people of Texas that the TTC and other tolls roads should be built and turned over to private companies.
My question is why are the people of Texas having to pay for this training. Why don't the private corporations, who are the only ones who will benefit from this silly idea, pay for the training?
Evidently, this same question has occurred to some state legislators. Several of them complained last week about TxDOT spending state funds on public relations efforts -- about $7 to $9 million dollars in state funds.
Now Rep. Mike Krusee (pictured above), House Transportation Committee chairman and Perry apologist, has joined the fray to defend TxDOT. He said, "I think TxDOT's doing exactly what the legislature asked them to do, and legislators who now cry foul are being hypocritical. They were the ones that beat TxDOT over the head in public hearings for not explaining this."
Can Krusee really be this stupid? Yes, several legislators (but not enough) did berate TxDOT for not being able to defend Perry's ridiculous program to rob the people of Texas and fatten corporate coffers. They berated them because it's simply a very bad idea. Not a one of them said they thought TxDOT should spend millions on public relations, and then train TxDOT employees to be better liars to the media.
Perry and his TxDOT underlings say new toll roads are needed because TxDOT doesn't have the money needed to build new Texas roads. But if TxDOT is already short of funds, why are they wasting millions on public relations? If their program made sense, they wouldn't need a PR campaign to sell it to Texans.
Texans are opposed to the TTC and other new toll roads because it is a bad idea. Spending millions on public relations will not make it a better idea. It's silly to spend millions to put lipstick on this pig!
On Monday, Senator Kirk Watson wants you to stay home and sit on your Couch - while he steals $700 Million Tax dollars for Toll Roads.
ReplyDeleteSHOW UP ON T-DAY AND DEMAND THE REAL SOLUTIONS!
Or Pay and Pay and Pay.
Smarter options, other than shifting our Austin freeways to tollways, do exist - although the Austin American Snakesman (which is on the board of the pro-toll Chamber of Commerce - also known as Take on Traffic) just wrote an editorial called “No Exit from Toll Roads” saying we don’t have any other choice.
In the short term, the $700 million tax dollars shouldn’t be spent on toll roads, but on cost efficient non-toll solutions such as:
· Variable speed limits
· Ramp metering
· HOV lanes without tolls
· Reversible/barriered lanes for peak periods
· Non tolled Parkways (like fix290.org with a nontolled $100 parkway, compared to TxDOT’s $400 million freeway converting tollway!)
· Pass through financing
· More arterial lane miles
· Better incident management and
· Advance computerized control of traffic signals.
In the long term we must index the gas tax. The Texas Transportation Institute report states that more tolls are simply NOT needed - that indexing the gas tax and using the revenue to pay off bonds allows freeways to be built right now.
Once placed, the freeway tolls will NEVER be removed from our public highways. In contrast, the Ledge has the opportunity to index the gas tax every two years!
ATTEND T-DAY on Monday at 6pm at the Capitol and say “NO Freeway Tolls!”…or pay and pay and pay.