In response to various articles on toll projects in Austin:TX

 

 

The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) is an agency in which decisions by the few rule the many.

The State agency let's foreign companies purchase 50-year contracts to build and maintain toll roadways and Texans now have a lost, runaway agency.

Toll roads are a last resort, not a first option.  They encourage long-term debt.  And usually property values decline in the adjacent areas.

A case in point why toll roads are not the solution to every problem:  Hwy 130 was built without study or awareness of who would use it.  The 85 mph speed  was the carrot dangling above our heads, but it didn't work.  Very few cars and trucks are using the tollway and it is hurting the state.  Taxpayers are reeling from that poor decision and are losing millions of tax dollars.

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Currently, TxDOT is building 2 toll lanes on MoPac… another poor idea.  Instead of widening the entire roadway to facilitate more cars and thereby easing traffic congestion, TxDOT's 2-lane dysfunctional approach adds significant long-term costs and won’t relieve traffic.

TxDOT and toll road enthusiasts are stuck in a desert of decision-making.  They seem to see only quick dollars, but it’s merely a mirage.  We need intelligent decisions to fix traffic congestion, not toll roads!

The Myth of Affordable Health Care...

Obama and legislators lied to us.  

The insurance industry still manipulates the marketplace.  There is no affordable health care.  We were better off before Obamacare and it was tough enough then.

Once again I reviewed over 100 health care plans as I have for the past several months and none of them are worth anything.  They are not affordable.  They suck.  The monthly premiums are too high and the yearly deductibles are too high.  Middle class people are screwed the most because they really have no way to afford it. 

The wealthy can always afford health care for themselves and their family.

The poor will be given government subsidy for private health care or they will go on Medicaid.

Even the elderly will pay more for their Medicare.  Most can't afford it now because they are on fixed income only (Social Security or Disability).  Cost of Living Adjustments (COLA's) are not sufficient to keep up with inflation and higher costs of living because COLA's are based on old incorrect formulas.

However, the remnants of the dwindling middle class are being hurt the most. A lot more people will go into bankruptcy when they need health care services and can't pay for them.  More people will opt to be hunted down by the government to pay the penalty for not having health care.  People will simply say... “We can't pay for this... Come and get us.”

We are in the midst of an American tragedy.  What happened to this nation?  We are such a mess.  What a shame.  Where have all the good leaders gone???

Texans, please vote 'No' on Proposition 6 in 2013 November election

VERY IMPORTANT VOTING NEWS:

At first the words in Proposition 6 may sound very appealing, but the words do NOT give you the real facts.

"Texans for Public Justice provided a very helpful analysis today of the big money backing Prop 6.  It is another scam by businesses who are trying to buy this election to control the purse for water projects.  The two largest contributors are Associated General Contractors ($375K) and Dow Chemical ($250K).  Do you think they care about affordability or ensuring independent farming doesn’t completely tank in Texas after they move groundwater or flood agricultural land for wasteful reservoirs?"

The helpful organization Independent Texans also is AGAINST Prop. 6 and you can read about what the group and founder Linda Curtis says here.

I just completed early voting and definitely voted against Prop 6 because it's just another special interest ploy that will hurt most Texans.  I recall the last time Rick Perry galloped around Texas pushing for various propositions.  One of them was to ensure that preventing frivolous lawsuits would surely cut down on our medical costs.  Well, look around you folks... have your medical bills and health care premiums gone down???

No, they continue to escalate even without "the dreaded" Obamacare takes effect.

So, please vote a resounding "No!" on Proposition 6...  Thank you.

"Government Shutdown"

The "government shutdown" is a symptom of everything that is wrong with our Congress and government.

Both parties continue to fail Americans.  If you take sides in this absurdity you are part of the problem and not the resolution. Interesting to note that Congress still gets paid, while government employees may lose their jobs. I personally plan to vote in all new blood into the House and Senate, as a small statement that the old ways must go.  We need a new era of intelligent problem solving and not what currently serves Washington.  We need leaders to rise up and plan for the community good and not for their own special interests.  The democrats are wrong, the republicans are wrong and so is President Obama.

TxDOT's "pass-through" Road Projects and Lack of Oversight

The evolution of the Texas Department of Transportation stinks like month-old fish.  The state agency does whatever it wants, with little direct oversight.  It continues to milk millions of tax dollars for its elite management's special interests, which also happen to be Gov. Rick Perry's special interests.

TxDOT prefers what it calls "creative methods" of building roadways, a.k.a., toll roads and/or "managed care lanes" that also are toll roads.  Toll roads create long-term debt and are NOT cost-effective methods of building and maintaining our roads.

The "pass-through" projects are the new way TxDOT suckers various communities and districts into putting their hard-earned tax dollars down for new roads and road improvements with the agency's ridiculous promise to repay the communities sometime "down the toll road" --- only where will TxDOT get the money to repay the communities?  Who knows, since TxDOT continues to whine that it has no money.

It may be a good idea to shut down TxDOT completely and have private companies plan and build our roadways.

TxDOT already contracts out a large part of its work, but does not maintain a good oversight on the work done.  That's why some areas need work done twice using twice the tax dollars to do the job correctly once.

 No one is held accountable... ever!

It's time Texans know exactly where their tax dollars are going and the agency needs much better oversight than it currently gets.

Furthermore, the Texas Governor should NOT appoint the head of TxDOT.  It is a position that should be determined by Texas voters, even though the possibility of corruption is still present.  It is a top state position and one of great importance to the Texas community to leave it up to the Governor to appoint one of his top campaign contributors and/or special cronies.

One thing is certain.  We can no longer let TxDOT be managed without more careful scrutiny.  The Texas Legislature knows this already, but does nothing about it.