Told'ja!
Posted on 11/06/2007 1:10:00 PM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Ever wish you weren't right?
In 1997, the notion of selling off publicly owned infrastructure to private sector operators was coming into its own.
After the city hired a consultant to determine the value of the publicly owned CPS Energy, it raised red flags.
CPS consistently charges some of Texas' lowest utility rates while providing a significant chunk of the city's revenue, I argued. Profit motives can produce wondrous results. But uncontrolled, they can also produce costly disasters.
Some things — especially those that efficiently deliver services that are essential — are best kept in the public sector to assure accountability and to prevent gouging.
"We would never consider selling Loops 410 and 1604, Interstates 10, 35 and 37 to private investors," I wrote at the time. "Does anyone doubt that they would not turn them into toll roads and render us subject to their price demands?"
But hey, what did I know.
Despite massive public opposition, by 2004, plans for a massive system of privately operated toll roads were already well developed at the Texas Department of Transportation. Agency officials answered critics of toll-road proposals by insisting that toll roads were absolutely necessary. They were, in fact, inevitable because the state's fuel taxes simply weren't generating the revenue for badly needed highways.
And besides, they said, free, un-tolled alternative lanes will always be provided for those who don't — or can't — pay.
They did, however, concede that private-sector operators would receive some sort of "noncompete clauses" to assure investors that their toll roads would actually be profitable.
When pressed for details, they said that public roads already planned for construction over the next 25 years could still be built or improved. But if roads that compete with toll roads were built or widened, the state would have to reimburse operators for the lost revenues.
As transportation writer Patrick Driscoll reported Monday, TxDOT very quietly inked a deal in March with a consortium composed of Spanish financial behemoth Cintra and San Antonio-based Zachry Construction to build a 40-mile section of Texas 130 and collect tolls on it for 50 years.
The four-lane road will be built roughly parallel to I-35 from Austin to Seguin. In time, it will be part of a statewide system of pay-as-you-go lanes that will supposedly fund construction of other highways.
Details of the contract's noncompete agreement, however, provide disturbing insights into what is likely to be part of future public-private deals.
In essence, a complex system that will richly reward TxDOT has been set up to encourage drivers to take toll lanes and fines the state for encouraging them to use free lanes.
An essential element of the noncompete agreement involves manipulating speed limits on both Texas 130 and I-35. Through either of the options, the state gets more money for setting higher speed limits for the toll lanes and keeping current speed limits, or even lowering them, on the free lanes.
If TxDOT sets the speed limit on the toll roads at 70 mph, for example, it will get a $25 million payment upfront. But if it allows traffic to zoom on tolled lanes at 80 mph, it will get $92 million, and $125 million for allowing 85 mph. This, however, is only part of this convoluted tale.
Under a second option, TxDOT will also receive a significantly larger percentage of the tolls collected if it allows higher speed limits on the toll road.
In year eight of the 50-year contract, for example, the agency will get only 4.65 percent of the first $82 million collected, and 9.3 percent of the next $47 million that comes in.
If, on the other hand, it allows traffic to move at 80 mph, those percentages will rise to 9.05 percent and 18.1 percent, and to 11.05 percent and 22.1 percent for allowing 85 mph.
Since TxDOT is also empowered to set speed limits on highways that are not tolled — such as I-35 — guess what is likely to happen on that highway?
Trans-Texas Corridor PING!
I live in a community with public owned electric power utility. While I pay for the utility maintenance and salaries with my taxes, my utility bill reflects the actual cost of power purchased by contract, from the same grid as my neighbors. Yet my utility bills are consistently 1/3 lower than those who are served by RG&E or National Grid and my taxes are equivalent per thousand to the guy who lives a mile or two down the road and is outside the service area.
Flying cars are going to put ‘em out of busines!
Take a short piece of rope and hang your Quislings before anyone else gets the idea!
I wouldn’t hold my breath.
TXDOT bastards are showing their true colors.(thieves and traitors) I use to think my state had it’s chit together.
I was wrong too!
BTTT
This is Business Socialism run amok
There should never be non-compete clauses issued by the government. Part of the risk involved in anything is that someone will come along and do something better than you, for cheaper.
DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY MAP----TERRORIST ENTRY POINTS
MAP OF TEXAS-CANADA-MEXICO TRADE CORRIDOR BROKERED BY Bracewell & Giuliani
CONSTRUCTON OF TRADE ROAD IN MEXICO
Bracewell & Giuliani Firm Advises Cintra in First Privatization of Toll Road in Texas
DALLAS (March 1, 2007) Bracewell & Giuliani LLP (Texas-based law firm with global connections) advised Cintra Concesiones de Infraestructuras de Transporte, S.A., a Spanish transportation company, in its successful bid to develop State Highway 121 into a toll road through Collin and Denton counties.
The award to Cintra, approved by the Texas Transportation Commission, is the first privatization of a Texas toll road. Bracewell is acting as project counsel to Cintra with respect to the 50-year concession from the Texas Department of Transportation. Cintra will pay a $2.1 billion upfront and annual lease payments totaling $700 million. "Cintra was awarded this project because of its proven expertise and competitive proposal," said Thomas O. Moore, partner with Bracewell & Giuliani. "This is the largest transportation deal of 2007. This is one of only five deals in the country." http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1803916/posts
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TX governor rapped for paving way for construction of Trans-Texas Corridor
One News Now ^ | August 24, 2007 | Chad Groening
FR Posted on 08/25/2007 4:51:06 PM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Texas Governor Rick Perry is being called to task by an author and investigative journalist for vetoing bills that would have blocked construction of the controversial Trans-Texas Corridor. Dr. Jerome Corsi has been one of the leading voices warning the American public about the consequences of the Trans-Texas Corridor, which will be part of a superhighway -- purported to be four football fields wide -- that will allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. and traverse the core of the country all the way to Canada.
The best-selling author asserts that Governor Perry cleared the way for construction to begin in his state when he vetoed several bills passed by the Legislature that would have stalled the project. "Governor Perry has been 100 percent gung-ho in building this road," says Corsi. "The Legislature voted a two-year moratorium, it voted a redefinition of eminent domain -- [and] Governor Perry vetoed them. [On] at least one of those measures, he waited until the Texas Legislature was out of session so it couldn't even override his veto."
Corsi says it is unfortunate that there has been political pressure to get the project started. "The Federal Highway Administration's lawyer wrote letters threatening the Texas Legislature to cut off federal highway funds if they got in the way of this Trans-Texas Corridor," he says.
Corsi believes the same pressure will be applied on other states, like Oklahoma, to go along with the project. He suggests that would mean a loss of more American jobs and could pose a threat to U.S. sovereignty.
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In Mexico for trade talks, Perry blasts immigration policies
Houston Chronicle, Mexico City Bureau | Aug. 28, 2007 | DUDLEY ALTHAUS
Posted on 08/28/2007 5:35:20 PM PDT by Dubya
MEXICO CITY — Leading a large delegation of Texas executives trying to drum up business in Mexico, Gov. Rick Perry on Tuesday criticized the U.S. Congress for failing to pass an immigration bill that would legalize millions of workers. "I don't think this is that difficult an issue if Congress would have the maturity to sit down and really discuss it and cut out all the mean rhetoric," Perry said during a break in the third day of meetings with Mexican officials and business executives. (Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
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Gov Rick Perry does a Dixie Chick---he criticizes the US while in a foreign country. Is Perry collaborating with a foreign government to influence the policies of the US government on the issue of amnesty for illegals? Gov Perry endorsed Giuliani's candidacy-----does candidate Giuliani agree with collaborating with foreign governments to change US policies? We need rational leaders who understand the dimensions of the problem. Perry and Giuliani are not among this group.
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