Donations requested for lawsuit against tolling 290 E

Vince May has begun the process of filing a lawsuit against the tolling of 290 East. Below is the most recent status. Please mail donations to support his suit to Jim Lutz at the address below; make checks payable to Vince May.

Here's Vince's update:

"Many of you know that a legal process was begun in April to stop the TxDOT/CTRMA 290E toll project. FHWA was asked to do an administrative review of everything that has happened and decide if the 290E Environmental Assessment (EA) should be redone.Andrew Hawkins (SOS attorney) and several others initiated this Complaint. FHWA has not responded and the Complaint will soon expire. That would let CTRMA sell bonds and commence construction.

"People who live in the corridor are determined to stop the toll project.Our only avenue at this point is to file suit in federal court. We will ask a judge to set aside the 290E EA. We prefer a parkway with 3 lanes be built instead of the current 2 lanes. This can be done with the federal stimulus money. Our plan would make it easy to retrofit bridges at major intersections (like Springdale Rd) when they are needed in 5 or 10 years. This can be done with gas taxes. (Congress will soon vote to raise the federal gas tax by 50%.)

"We attempted to find a pro-bono lawyer to take the case. None could take on an expensive case. Therefore, we will file pro se. I do expect that a lawyer may intervene on our side after the case is filed but first we must file the complaint in federal court. It will then likely take ~60 days before any court proceedings begin.

"We need $400 to file and would like to have $200 to spend on contingency. We need help to raise this sum. I am asking as many people who can to contribute $10 by September 14th. We would much rather have 60 people donate $10 each rather than one person bear the whole cost. If you can send more than $10, that would be great.

"Donations can be sent to:
Jim Lutz
14812 FM 973N
Manor, Tx. 78653

"If Andrew's process stops the 290E project, Jim will return any unspent donations as best he can. If your phone number is on your check he will call you and confirm that the check is torn up. Otherwise any cash received will be donated to one of the 3 food banks that serve poor people in Manor.

"Vince"