THE COG! It Has a New Idea for the Trinity Toll Road. Be Very Very Afraid!

as always....."follow the money". To this day, I am still astounded at the consummate 'bait and switch' that was performed on the voters, when the Trinity River bond issue was first unveiled. There has got to be SOME way that

we can finally shut this bs down.

The "Council of Governments" appeared around '70,  as "Regional Planning Commissions."  Too many people had an idea what an RPC was,  COG hid the idea.

This is very interesting:

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/terrihall/2014/08/reason-foundation-comes-unhinged-at-populist-revolt-against-tolls/

I wonder how Wendy Davis feels about toll roads?

This is an interesting article that just furthers my curiosity of why Dallas is insisting on a toll road that no one wants...and a toll road built by Cinta, a subsidiary of Ferrovial.

http://practicalstockinvesting.com/category/industry-analysis/transport/

"Aha! That's where the feds come in. Morris figures we go get a some huge fat federal subsidy, let's say $1.7 billion, and then we give the road away to a Spanish toll road company. They don't have to pay to build it, but they get to charge tolls and run it. And that way he gets to build it even if the next Dallas City Council votes against it and the NTTA washes its hands. For us, it's what you call a lose-lose situation."

So what you are saying is that Cintra won't have any skin (money) in the game and they couldn't care less about any overruns?  That Cintra's debt being downgraded to junk bond status by Moody's won't matter? Nor will Cintra's failed full debt service payment (placing its SH 130 Concession Company in ‘technical default’) matter? Because Cintra is just building it...  Very clever and underhanded way to give Cintra monies.  Who exactly is Cintra btw?

So Cintra would be the troll that collects the toll?

What am I missing here?

Interesting. Who owns the Trinity River? I seem to remember that President Clinton signed a law claiming ownership of all rivers and streams in the United States for the Bureau of Land Management. Maybe the same agency that recently claimed Federal ownership of portions of the Red River flood plain on the Oklahoma/Texas border.

If the Feds own the Trinity River and the flood plain between the levees then it's game over.

NCTCOG can do what ever they want if they control the right of way.  

Jim, you are alarmist, paranoid and whatever.

All of you whiners need to shut up.  The truth is that Michael Morris and pals own all of north Texas.  You  are generously allowed to temporarily use the parts that are not needed at the moment.  So be thankful and pay you taxes, fees and tolls.

This is clearly due to Obama AND Obamacare.

FIRST!!!!!

From Formby's story: 

"But the RTC isn’t seeking to designate Trinity Parkway as a toll road. That decision was made more than 15 years ago when Dallas voters approved it as such."

Untrue!

Jim, you are correct. With THE COG! it is always about what the big boys want. You mention the Blacklands Tollroad that nobody along the route wants. That isn't quite correct. Greenville wants it because an owner of several thousand acres just outside of Greenville wants it. That toll road is a land development scheme outside of Greenville, nothing more. The TTC and Public Werks want to build it, and if they do then they will get paid, but the road will eventually go broke because the ridership projections just aren't enough to support a toll road between Garland and Greenville.

Hucksters never give up, they just find another get rich scheme that, in these two cases leaves the public holding the bag. Michael Morris is doing that with the Trinity Parkway and he is doing it with the Blacklands Tollroad. In one instance public support is evaporating and in the other the villigers are out for blood with torches and pitchforks.

I've said it here before, even Michael's plans have plans. Love him or hate him, he is the best politician in the region. He has cross pledged regional transportation revenues a thousand ways from Sunday in his attempts to bury the region under miles of concrete. So far no one has been able to slow him down.

There are 3 components to this. NTCOG, RTC and the Legislature. The Lege shut down the Trans-Texas Corridor. We need to stay on the backs of the RTC and the Lege if we want to shut this thing down. Sandy grayson is opposed, as is I believe, Clay Jenkins. We need to keep pressure on Anchia. I think Royce West might be a lost cause, though.

I suspect he's getting a big assist in this effort from Vonciel Jones Hill and Sheffie Kadane (both of whom are term-limited out) and Mayor Rawlings.

@noblefurrtexas The habitats were destroyed years ago when we channeled the river.

@bvckvs 

"...from the fringiest, libertarian-types... and nobody takes them seriously."

 Funny, but they seem to occupy your every waking thought...

@holmantx The problem is their planning sucks at best (incompetence) or is malicious (corruption in league /w land developers) at worst. 

Blacklands Corridor (as an example) or whatever it's called these days - their numbers are WAY off from what the state projects for population growth. Nobody wants it except for a few people on the outskirts of Greenville.

Surely people who are actually impacted by new rights-of-way should get some sort of say - perhaps more so than the bulk of people who are 10,20,50,100 miles out that actually get to "vote".

@holmantx And they'll be throwing a lot of the good stuff they do down the drain if they let Morris lead them down this dead end by forcing a road that nobody wants. Why is he trying so hard? That's the question you have to ask - the same question opponents of the Trinity East drilling permits asked when they saw the city disfiguring the planning process beyond all recognition. Before the secret memo became public. Perhaps there's another secret something motivating Morris.

@holmantx

Your first three sentences are exactly the reasoning behind The COG's formation. Ensure equitable inter- and intra-jurisdictional funding, minimize equity of the JWP variety, and it could be a good thing.

However, your post's second half describes the situation we have now, without the fair competition. The COG is like a Steam Era bulldozer, irresistible and wedded to out-of-date transportation goals.

@sammerten  Voters approved a river plan that included a parkway. It's true there was no mention of a tollroad.

@Anon. Love it or hate it, ya gotta respect the ability to build and wield that kind of power.  It's tough to be the King.

West may be a very rare creature: A Texas legislator who once bought stays bought.

@ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul  Go back a little further and look at the rerouting of the Trinity through Dallas.

@TheCredibleHulk Well he's definitely some sort of tool, that's for sure.

@Montemalone Because every Republican thinks exactly the same way and has exactly the same values, right?

As you are nodding your head, please explain the Log Cabin Republicans...

@Montemalone

I was pleasantly surprised, flabbergasted even, that the Repub-dominated Lege stopped the Trans-Tx Land Grab and Cintra Contributions Laundering Scheme, LLC. That project would have been the very richest in Texas history, a lotta lotta potential bucks flying around.

@holmantx Removing an urban overpass is a serious idea. Fort Worth did it. My wife and I attended a wedding at the T&P just yesterday and strolled around on the boulevard where the overpass had once stood.

@Montemalone  I think the word I am looking for here is hypocritical.  Seems to describe you, man.  (The second sentence, not the first)