Thursday, February 21, 2008

DFWRCC urges Denton County Voters to support Hugh Coleman

By Faith Chatham - DFWRCC - Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Hugh Coleman (R) who is challenging Cynthia White (R) for Denton County Commissioner Pct 1 in the Republican Primary. In the General Election either White or Coleman will face Democratic candidate Phyllis Wolper, who is unopposed in the Democratic Primary.

Cynthia White, with Wendy Davis, led the NCTCOG RTC in developing a 2030 plan for the region calling for 675 additional miles of tolled roads or additional tolled HOV lanes in the DFW region by the year 2030. At the RTC's vote for awarding the contract for SH121 to either Cintra or NTTA, Cynthia Whilte and Wendy Davis both gave very long, pleading speeches, with tears in their eyes almost to the point of sobbing, begging members to vote for Cintra "because if we do not accept the Cintra bid, no investors will ever come to the Dallas Fort Worth area ever again."

Ms. White is a member of the Board of Directors of NASCO CORRIDOR GROUP which lobbied to get legislation passed to enable construction of the Trans Texas Corridor.


I asked Hugh Coleman specifically about his position on toll roads. He said: "I absolutely opposes tolling existing roads -- like SH121. We, the taxpayers, have already paid for it and should not be taxed again."

"Toll roads should be only as a last resort." He favors the old model --- where roads were constructed as toll roads only when other resources were not available for construction cost -- similar to the I-30 (Dallas Fort Worth Turnpike). The old model is frequently described as 'building the best road you can for the least money, maintaining it as efficiently as you can, keeping the tolls as low as possible and retiring the debt as fast as you can. When enough users had paid tolls to retire the debt, the road becomes non-tolled public road.'

Hugh Coleman does not favor tolling a road to raise revenue to use on other projects. Ms. White, a member of NASCO CORRIDOR GROUP, and former President of the NCTCOG Regional Transportation Commission, favors tolling existing highways, utilizing private partners who profit from investing their capital in the public infrastructure projects, and utilizing revenue from one project to create a revenue stream to fund other transportation projects. Under Ms. White's leadership the RTC has approved a toll rate structure which charges users higher tolls than are necessary to maintain the roads and retire the debts.

In the Republican Primary, DFW Regional Concerned Citizens urges Denton County Republican Voters to support Hugh Coleman.

See Denton Record-Chronicle Article.

Fair Use

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Material from diverse and sometimes temporary sources is being made available in a permanent unified manner, as part of an effort to advance understanding of the social justice issues associated with eminent domain and the privatization of public infrastructure. It is believed that this is a 'fair use' of the information as allowed under section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 USC Section 107, the site is maintained without profit for those who access it for research and educational purposes. For more information, see: http://www.law.cornell.edu/ To use material reproduced on this site for purposes that go beyond 'fair use', permission is required from the copyright owner indicated with a name and an Internet link at the end of each item. [NOTE: The text of this notice was lifted from CorridorNews.blogspot.com]

See ARCHIVE on side bar

Content is being archived weekly. Many pertinent articles regarding Transportation in the DFW Region are in the archives.

A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have. - Thomas Jefferson

The Opnions On this Site are Diverse

DFW Regional Concerned Citizens attempts to examine issues from all directions. When a story says "By Faith Chatham" it contains my viewpoint. When it is by others, but posted by Faith Chatham, it is from someone else's viewpoint. When I discover contents which is on topic for this site, I frequently link to other sites. Usually those sites contain content which differs from my viewpoint (and frequently that of other members of DFW-RCC).