Vince May has filed his lawsuit regarding tolling 290 East against CTRMA, CAMPO, TxDOT, and the Federal Highway Administration. The major points are below. Keep an eye out for media coverage as news of this suit spreads.
"Plaintiff will enter into a binding agreement with defendants, with surety, if defendants agree to build and operate the 290E project under the terms of the 290E Environmental Assessment, as presented to the public in August 2008, and further provided that defendants begin construction before February 1 2010 and complete the continuous 3-lane frontage roads from US 183 to east of Parmer Lane before commencing work on the main lanes, or main lane bridges, other than movement of earth, or removal of existing pavements and structures.
"If this agreement can not be amicably concluded, plaintiff prays that the Judge will order that the 290E Finding Of No Significant Impact is null and void, and that defendants may only proceed after completing an Environmental Impact Statement if they seek federal money or loans.
"Further, plaintiff prays that the Judge will enjoin defendants from denying access to public information requested by the public pursuant to any future Environmental Assessments or Environmental Impact Statements. This request pertains especially to 'Traffic & Revenue Studies,' no matter what stage of completion, whether Preliminary or Investment Grade."
Showing posts with label CTRMA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CTRMA. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 13, 2009
More misleading info from CTRMA about tolling 290 E
Fancy Fairchild, area resident and long-time opponent of tolling 290 E, has written the following letter in rebuttal to the CTRMA's Heiligenstein:
"Mike Heiligenstein, Exec. Director of CTRMA, and other people who work for that agency have given 'misleading public information' (a nice way of saying it) to the public on several occasions.
At the Environmental, Social, and Economic Impact Hearing on August 8, 2008, CTRMA spokesmen said that with their toll plan there would be 3 free lanes on 290 E with no charge for flyover bridges. They said it would cost an estimated 15 cents per mile in 2010 to drive on the toll road, with the rate to be raised 2.75% annually.
"A couple of months after this hearing, CTRMA asked CAMPO to approve a new plan essentially changing the number of free lanes from 3 to 2 and charges for using flyover bridges (with new bridges added to the plan). Their new plan also changes the way the rates are decided so that a higher percentage of rate can be charged. With the new plan, the costs of driving the toll road would greatly increase.
"The 'free lanes' Mr. Heiligenstein continually promises would not be like the freeway we currently use. Last year during a meeting at the Blackland Prairie citizen’s organization, CTRMA’s Assistant Exec. Director Amadeo Saenz admitted that the speed limit on the 'free' lanes would average 35 mph and that several lights would be added in order to (and I quote) 'force people to drive on the toll road.'
"It’s too bad TXDOT, CTRMA, and other transportation agencies did not do what they should have done all along: create a viable, affordable plan to deal with 290 East traffic with the money they already have. A lawsuit is apparently the only way to get them to do that. The 290 East toll project is so frail it has to be propped up with federal stimulus money meant to provide aid to citizens. Federal stimulus funds should not finance an expensive and unnecessary toll road whose profits will go to perpetuate even more toll roads."
"Mike Heiligenstein, Exec. Director of CTRMA, and other people who work for that agency have given 'misleading public information' (a nice way of saying it) to the public on several occasions.
At the Environmental, Social, and Economic Impact Hearing on August 8, 2008, CTRMA spokesmen said that with their toll plan there would be 3 free lanes on 290 E with no charge for flyover bridges. They said it would cost an estimated 15 cents per mile in 2010 to drive on the toll road, with the rate to be raised 2.75% annually.
"A couple of months after this hearing, CTRMA asked CAMPO to approve a new plan essentially changing the number of free lanes from 3 to 2 and charges for using flyover bridges (with new bridges added to the plan). Their new plan also changes the way the rates are decided so that a higher percentage of rate can be charged. With the new plan, the costs of driving the toll road would greatly increase.
"The 'free lanes' Mr. Heiligenstein continually promises would not be like the freeway we currently use. Last year during a meeting at the Blackland Prairie citizen’s organization, CTRMA’s Assistant Exec. Director Amadeo Saenz admitted that the speed limit on the 'free' lanes would average 35 mph and that several lights would be added in order to (and I quote) 'force people to drive on the toll road.'
"It’s too bad TXDOT, CTRMA, and other transportation agencies did not do what they should have done all along: create a viable, affordable plan to deal with 290 East traffic with the money they already have. A lawsuit is apparently the only way to get them to do that. The 290 East toll project is so frail it has to be propped up with federal stimulus money meant to provide aid to citizens. Federal stimulus funds should not finance an expensive and unnecessary toll road whose profits will go to perpetuate even more toll roads."
Friday, April 24, 2009
Speed bump in the path of the 290 East Injustice
News 8 Austin reports that a formal complaint about tolling 290 East has been filed with the Federal Highway Administration by Texas RioGrande Legal Aid, joined by Save Our Springs and the Center on Race, Poverty and the Environment. The complaint explains that a tolled 290 East violates the Civil Rights Act by having "a disproportionate impact on minority and low-income people living in neighboring communities."
The complaint is against TxDOT, CTRMA, and CAMPO. Yay!
See the complaint at
http://jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=0922731d-9e18-4b7f-9977-aa1d3d4ab5ef
See the ACRE post from March 22 that explains that using stimulus funds to begin construction of the 290 East tollroad is hurting, rather than helping the disadvantaged.
http://acretexas.blogspot.com/2009/03/injustice-on-290-e-ctrma-to-use.html
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out now that a formal complaint has been made--it is now more than just ordinary citizens trying to point out this injustice.
A tip of the hat to Mary Anderson, Texans Against Tolls, for this news.
The complaint is against TxDOT, CTRMA, and CAMPO. Yay!
See the complaint at
http://jdsupra.com/post/documentViewer.aspx?fid=0922731d-9e18-4b7f-9977-aa1d3d4ab5ef
See the ACRE post from March 22 that explains that using stimulus funds to begin construction of the 290 East tollroad is hurting, rather than helping the disadvantaged.
http://acretexas.blogspot.com/2009/03/injustice-on-290-e-ctrma-to-use.html
It will be very interesting to see how this plays out now that a formal complaint has been made--it is now more than just ordinary citizens trying to point out this injustice.
A tip of the hat to Mary Anderson, Texans Against Tolls, for this news.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Injustice on 290 E--CTRMA to use stimulus funds to HURT, not HELP the disadvantaged
On March 19, a Select Committee of the Texas House of Representatives heard testimony on whether certain transportation projects are suitable to receive Federal stimulus funds.
Thanks to Mary Anderson and Bruce Burton of Texans Against Tolls; Roger Baker, transportation analyst; Vince May, Elgin resident who has been active on this issue; and Mel Borel of TURF for testifying AGAINST using the stimulus funds to begin turning 290 East into a toll road.
Whatever your thoughts on whether there should be the stimulus fund program or not, I think that most of us can agree that if funds are going to be spent anyway, they should not be spent to force us to pay more money to drive to work on 290 E. Especially galling is that one of the priorities of the stimulus funds is to help economically disadvantaged areas. Using the funds to begin tolling the residents east of Austin will hurt an economically disadvantaged area.
You can email comments to the Select Committee Clerk at valerie.pizana@house.state.tx.us
Representative Jim Dunnam is the Chairman of the Select Committee, and you can email comments to his Chief of Staff at jenny.casey@house.state.tx.us
The Federal government has a website where you can leave comments if you think the stimulus funds are being misused—recovery.gov.
The comment form is here:
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/contact
The site says: “The job of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board is to make sure that Recovery.gov fulfills its mandate—to help citizens track the spending of funds allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Board consists of Inspectors General from about ten major cabinet agencies—including the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Commerce—and one of its duties will be to review the comments and questions submitted to the site. Though the Board has not yet met, please feel free to submit your comments and questions below, and they will be gathered to present to the Board upon its first meeting.”
Here is the letter that I have emailed to the above offices:
"I watched the March 19 committee hearing online and would like to submit some comments to the Committee. I’m especially concerned about using stimulus funds that are supposed to help the economically disadvantaged to begin a toll project that will punish the surrounding economically disadvantaged residents.
"I am referring to the 290 E/183 flyovers. As reported, the CTRMA will get $90 million of stimulus money for this project. These flyovers are the west end of what they are calling the “Manor Expressway,” which will be tolled. Eventually, the tollway will run from these flyovers on the west to past the SH 130 toll road on the east—five or six miles. Then, in future years, tolling possibly will continue toward the east through Manor and on out 290 E toward or to Elgin.
"The Eastern Travis County/Manor area is a lower income area with many residents who have no disposable income to PAY EXTRA just to commute to work. I think that using stimulus funds to begin this toll project is just the OPPOSITE of what is intended. The federal government has asked to use the funds to HELP the economically disadvantaged. Using stimulus funds to begin the 290 E tollway will HURT the economically disadvantaged.
"Turning the FREE lanes on 290 E into TOLL lanes is NOT NEEDED either for increasing traffic demand or for safety. You heard from Roger Baker, who has done much research over the years into transportation projects. I hope he provided you with written information, but to quote him briefly, 'Recent improvements to US 183 and also SH 130 have both REDUCED TRAVEL DEMAND on SH 290 E. The official TxDOT traffic counts thus indicate a DECRASING need to build this $623 million toll road in order to solve identifiable congestion problems.'
"Regarding traffic safety, Roger reported about the data he received from TxDOT for the sections where they would build the 290 E toll road, 'This knocks the props out from under the CTRMA/CAMPO theory that justifies rebuilding 290 E as a $623 million toll road in order to resolve worsening safety problems. You have to go back to 2003 to find a year as safe as 2008. As the traffic counts have gone down and travel has diverted to SH 130 and 183, the need for a 290 E toll road has DECREASED—in terms of both volumes and safety.'
2003—57 total crashes
2004—87
2005—103
2006—117
2007—95
2008—78
"I hope that your Committee will do whatever is in its power to try to stop this injustice that is about to be perpetrated on the people who happen to live on the east side of Austin through a program that is supposed to be helping them. Indeed, I believe that using these Federal funds for an economically unjust purpose would violate Title VI that is supposed to prohibit such
things."
Thanks to Mary Anderson and Bruce Burton of Texans Against Tolls; Roger Baker, transportation analyst; Vince May, Elgin resident who has been active on this issue; and Mel Borel of TURF for testifying AGAINST using the stimulus funds to begin turning 290 East into a toll road.
Whatever your thoughts on whether there should be the stimulus fund program or not, I think that most of us can agree that if funds are going to be spent anyway, they should not be spent to force us to pay more money to drive to work on 290 E. Especially galling is that one of the priorities of the stimulus funds is to help economically disadvantaged areas. Using the funds to begin tolling the residents east of Austin will hurt an economically disadvantaged area.
You can email comments to the Select Committee Clerk at valerie.pizana@house.state.tx.us
Representative Jim Dunnam is the Chairman of the Select Committee, and you can email comments to his Chief of Staff at jenny.casey@house.state.tx.us
The Federal government has a website where you can leave comments if you think the stimulus funds are being misused—recovery.gov.
The comment form is here:
http://www.recovery.gov/?q=content/contact
The site says: “The job of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board is to make sure that Recovery.gov fulfills its mandate—to help citizens track the spending of funds allocated by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The Board consists of Inspectors General from about ten major cabinet agencies—including the Departments of Justice, Treasury, and Commerce—and one of its duties will be to review the comments and questions submitted to the site. Though the Board has not yet met, please feel free to submit your comments and questions below, and they will be gathered to present to the Board upon its first meeting.”
Here is the letter that I have emailed to the above offices:
"I watched the March 19 committee hearing online and would like to submit some comments to the Committee. I’m especially concerned about using stimulus funds that are supposed to help the economically disadvantaged to begin a toll project that will punish the surrounding economically disadvantaged residents.
"I am referring to the 290 E/183 flyovers. As reported, the CTRMA will get $90 million of stimulus money for this project. These flyovers are the west end of what they are calling the “Manor Expressway,” which will be tolled. Eventually, the tollway will run from these flyovers on the west to past the SH 130 toll road on the east—five or six miles. Then, in future years, tolling possibly will continue toward the east through Manor and on out 290 E toward or to Elgin.
"The Eastern Travis County/Manor area is a lower income area with many residents who have no disposable income to PAY EXTRA just to commute to work. I think that using stimulus funds to begin this toll project is just the OPPOSITE of what is intended. The federal government has asked to use the funds to HELP the economically disadvantaged. Using stimulus funds to begin the 290 E tollway will HURT the economically disadvantaged.
"Turning the FREE lanes on 290 E into TOLL lanes is NOT NEEDED either for increasing traffic demand or for safety. You heard from Roger Baker, who has done much research over the years into transportation projects. I hope he provided you with written information, but to quote him briefly, 'Recent improvements to US 183 and also SH 130 have both REDUCED TRAVEL DEMAND on SH 290 E. The official TxDOT traffic counts thus indicate a DECRASING need to build this $623 million toll road in order to solve identifiable congestion problems.'
"Regarding traffic safety, Roger reported about the data he received from TxDOT for the sections where they would build the 290 E toll road, 'This knocks the props out from under the CTRMA/CAMPO theory that justifies rebuilding 290 E as a $623 million toll road in order to resolve worsening safety problems. You have to go back to 2003 to find a year as safe as 2008. As the traffic counts have gone down and travel has diverted to SH 130 and 183, the need for a 290 E toll road has DECREASED—in terms of both volumes and safety.'
2003—57 total crashes
2004—87
2005—103
2006—117
2007—95
2008—78
"I hope that your Committee will do whatever is in its power to try to stop this injustice that is about to be perpetrated on the people who happen to live on the east side of Austin through a program that is supposed to be helping them. Indeed, I believe that using these Federal funds for an economically unjust purpose would violate Title VI that is supposed to prohibit such
things."
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