By Tarrant County Democratic Party - Jan. 18, 2008
Hearing on Wendy Davis' Candidacy for Sen. Dist. 10
Scheduled for Monday, January 23rd, 11am
The Firefighters' appeal to Chairman Art Brender's decision to declare Wendy Davis eligible as a candidate in the Senate District 10 Primary will be heard by the Court of Appeals on Monday, January 23rd, at 11am.
The Hearing will take place on the 9th Floor of the Tarrant County Justice Center.
Showing posts with label lawsuit. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lawsuit. Show all posts
Friday, January 18, 2008
Thursday, December 20, 2007
TxDOT attorney admits ad campaign is ongoing
By Terri Hall - T.U.R.F. - Dec. 20, 2007
Austin, TX, December 20, 2007 – Today in Travis County District Court, Judge Orlinda Naranjo did not sustain TxDOT’s objection to the requested material’s merits to the case, but ruled TURF’s document request was worded too broadly and needs to be resubmitted as part of the discovery phase TURF's lawsuit against TxDOT for illegal lobbying and use of taxpayer money to sell the public on toll roads.
“After tweaking the wording of the request a bit, we’ll be back in business. The Judge clearly agreed we have a right to get access to this information. She wanted to be sure we weren’t buried in piles of irrelevant documents,” notes a positive Terri Hall, Founder of TURF.
The court also granted TURF another 30 days to give them time to reword the document request and to depose witnesses based on the information discovered.
The most significant admission from the State was that the Keep Texas Moving ad campaign does have multiple phases (as the documents we presented to the court show that the State tried to deny), and that TxDOT is obligated to hand over any new documents related to any current lobbying or that relate to spending public money to promote toll roads.
“That’s HUGE! We went from a sworn affidavit saying the ad campaign is over therefore the case is moot, to an admission the campaign has multiple phases and is ongoing. We believe TxDOT is in the midst of rolling out Phase II or III of the Keep Texas Moving campaign since the public hearings for Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) 69 project start in February and are the target for the next phase of the campaign. The State admitted it MUST turn over any current information related to these allegations. It keeps the case alive and means we have a real shot at stopping the use of taxpayer money to promote the TTC!” Hall predicts.
The Attorney General Counsel representing TxDOT, Kristina Silcocks, tried to attack the merits of the case once again stating there is no ongoing lobbying of Congress and argued the Forward Momentum report sent to Congress in January that asks for legislation to allow them to buy back and toll existing interstates is in the past and cannot be explored in this lawsuit.
“Once again, TxDOT is wrong. An appropriations bill before the President RIGHT NOW includes an amendment PROHIBITING TxDOT from buying back interstates. There is CURRENT legislation pending as a direct result of TxDOT’s lobbying (in this case, as a backlash to TxDOT’s lobbying efforts). So for the State to tell the court TxDOT isn’t currently engaged in efforts to effect the outcome of legislation or support for toll roads, they’re quite mistaken,” notes Hall.
This lawsuit is brought pursuant to § 37, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. TxDOT’s expenditure of public funds for the Keep Texas Moving campaign is illegal, and an injunction prohibiting any further illegal expenditures in this regard.
TxDOT has violated § 556.004 of the Texas Government Code by directing the expenditure of public funds for political advocacy in support of toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, and have directly lobbied the United States Congress in favor of additional toll road programs as evidenced in its report, Forward Momentum as well as the Texas Legislature when it tried to defeat HB 1892, a private equity toll moratorium bill.
October 18, 2007, Judge Naranjo granted TURF a 90 day continuance and allowed them to move to discovery and take depositions. On Monday, September 24, Judge Naranjo did not grant a temporary restraining order (TRO). TxDOT unearthed a law that says they can advertise toll roads (Sec 228.004 of Transportation Code) and the citizens invoked another that says they can’t (Chapter 556, Texas Government Code). The burden to obtain a TRO is higher than for an injunction.
“TxDOT is waging a one-sided political ad campaign designed to sway public opinion in favor of the policy that puts money in TxDOT’s own coffers. School Boards cannot lobby in favor of their own bond elections, and yet TxDOT cites its own special law to line their own pockets at taxpayers’ expense,” says Terri Hall, Founder/Director of TURF.
Hall also notes that TxDOT’s campaign goes beyond mere advertising, “It’s propaganda and in some cases, the ads blatantly lie to the public! In one radio ad (scroll down to radio ad “continuing maintenance”), it claims it’s not signing contracts with non-compete agreements in them and yet last March TxDOT inked a deal with Cintra-Zachry for SH 130 that had a non-compete clause (which either prohibits or financially punishes the State for building competing infrastructure with a toll road).”
On August 22, 2007, TURF filed a formal complaint with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to investigate TxDOT’s illegal lobbying and asked him to prosecute TxDOT for criminal wrongdoing. See the formal complaint . The petition seeks immediate injunctive relief in a civil proceeding.
Read about TURF’s victory in court October 18 and
read TURF’s amended petition and supplemental affidavits go here: (Scroll to the bottom for links to the petition and affidavits)
Austin, TX, December 20, 2007 – Today in Travis County District Court, Judge Orlinda Naranjo did not sustain TxDOT’s objection to the requested material’s merits to the case, but ruled TURF’s document request was worded too broadly and needs to be resubmitted as part of the discovery phase TURF's lawsuit against TxDOT for illegal lobbying and use of taxpayer money to sell the public on toll roads.
“After tweaking the wording of the request a bit, we’ll be back in business. The Judge clearly agreed we have a right to get access to this information. She wanted to be sure we weren’t buried in piles of irrelevant documents,” notes a positive Terri Hall, Founder of TURF.
The court also granted TURF another 30 days to give them time to reword the document request and to depose witnesses based on the information discovered.
The most significant admission from the State was that the Keep Texas Moving ad campaign does have multiple phases (as the documents we presented to the court show that the State tried to deny), and that TxDOT is obligated to hand over any new documents related to any current lobbying or that relate to spending public money to promote toll roads.
“That’s HUGE! We went from a sworn affidavit saying the ad campaign is over therefore the case is moot, to an admission the campaign has multiple phases and is ongoing. We believe TxDOT is in the midst of rolling out Phase II or III of the Keep Texas Moving campaign since the public hearings for Trans Texas Corridor (TTC) 69 project start in February and are the target for the next phase of the campaign. The State admitted it MUST turn over any current information related to these allegations. It keeps the case alive and means we have a real shot at stopping the use of taxpayer money to promote the TTC!” Hall predicts.
The Attorney General Counsel representing TxDOT, Kristina Silcocks, tried to attack the merits of the case once again stating there is no ongoing lobbying of Congress and argued the Forward Momentum report sent to Congress in January that asks for legislation to allow them to buy back and toll existing interstates is in the past and cannot be explored in this lawsuit.
“Once again, TxDOT is wrong. An appropriations bill before the President RIGHT NOW includes an amendment PROHIBITING TxDOT from buying back interstates. There is CURRENT legislation pending as a direct result of TxDOT’s lobbying (in this case, as a backlash to TxDOT’s lobbying efforts). So for the State to tell the court TxDOT isn’t currently engaged in efforts to effect the outcome of legislation or support for toll roads, they’re quite mistaken,” notes Hall.
This lawsuit is brought pursuant to § 37, Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code. TxDOT’s expenditure of public funds for the Keep Texas Moving campaign is illegal, and an injunction prohibiting any further illegal expenditures in this regard.
TxDOT has violated § 556.004 of the Texas Government Code by directing the expenditure of public funds for political advocacy in support of toll roads and the Trans Texas Corridor, and have directly lobbied the United States Congress in favor of additional toll road programs as evidenced in its report, Forward Momentum as well as the Texas Legislature when it tried to defeat HB 1892, a private equity toll moratorium bill.
October 18, 2007, Judge Naranjo granted TURF a 90 day continuance and allowed them to move to discovery and take depositions. On Monday, September 24, Judge Naranjo did not grant a temporary restraining order (TRO). TxDOT unearthed a law that says they can advertise toll roads (Sec 228.004 of Transportation Code) and the citizens invoked another that says they can’t (Chapter 556, Texas Government Code). The burden to obtain a TRO is higher than for an injunction.
“TxDOT is waging a one-sided political ad campaign designed to sway public opinion in favor of the policy that puts money in TxDOT’s own coffers. School Boards cannot lobby in favor of their own bond elections, and yet TxDOT cites its own special law to line their own pockets at taxpayers’ expense,” says Terri Hall, Founder/Director of TURF.
Hall also notes that TxDOT’s campaign goes beyond mere advertising, “It’s propaganda and in some cases, the ads blatantly lie to the public! In one radio ad (scroll down to radio ad “continuing maintenance”), it claims it’s not signing contracts with non-compete agreements in them and yet last March TxDOT inked a deal with Cintra-Zachry for SH 130 that had a non-compete clause (which either prohibits or financially punishes the State for building competing infrastructure with a toll road).”
On August 22, 2007, TURF filed a formal complaint with Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle to investigate TxDOT’s illegal lobbying and asked him to prosecute TxDOT for criminal wrongdoing. See the formal complaint . The petition seeks immediate injunctive relief in a civil proceeding.
Read about TURF’s victory in court October 18 and
read TURF’s amended petition and supplemental affidavits go here: (Scroll to the bottom for links to the petition and affidavits)
Monday, October 22, 2007
TURF sues transportation board for equal protection
By Terri Hall - T.U.R.F. - Oct. 22, 2007
MPO Board composition violates First and 14th Amendments to U.S. Constitution
San Antonio, TX, Monday, October 22, 2007 – In what could change the way toll roads are decided and approved in Bexar County, TURF filed a NEW lawsuit in FEDERAL COURT to put the power over transportation decisions back in the hands of the PEOPLE. TURF recently scored a victory in STATE COURT in a different lawsuit against members of the Texas Transportation Department and Transportation Commission.
A lawsuit has been brought against the San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization (SAMPO) Transportation Policy Board that allocates tax dollars to transportation projects and approves toll rates and toll projects and San Antonio Councilwoman and MPO Chair Sheila McNeil. The lawsuit alleges that the composition of the SAMPO Board is unconstitutional and Chairwoman McNeil has been a party to denying the First Amendment right of free speech to the constituents of elected MPO Board members like State Representative David Leibowitz by blocking an agenda item and any debate on an issue brought up at his request. This novel lawsuit cuts to the heart of how toll roads are approved.
It’s based upon the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, 28 U.S.C. §1331, and 28 U.S.C. §§1343(3) and (4). The section of the post-Civil War civil rights enactments codified as 42 U.S.C. §1983 provides the Plaintiff’s enabling cause of action. A faction of governmental officials with the help of unelected board members have shut citizens and voters who oppose toll roads out of equal participation in the political process. The case will also argue that actions like Chairwoman McNeil’s removal of an agenda item asking for the funds TxDOT is spending on the Keep Texas Moving ad campaign be returned to building roads.
By way of recent example, in a SAMPO Transportation Policy Board meeting of September 24, 2007, Defendant McNeil, using the badge of authority of Chairmanship of the Board, arbitrarily removed from the meeting agenda a motion by State Representative and MPO Board member David Leibowitz calling for SAMPO to object to certain expenditures of public money by TXDOT promoting toll roads, which expenditures Representative Leibowitz believed to be inappropriate.
Defendant McNeil, acting under color of law, removed Representative Leibowitz’s motion from the meeting agenda even though Representative Leibowitz had properly and legitimately placed it on the meeting agenda and SAMPO had included it in the public posting of the agenda pursuant to the Texas Open Meetings Act. Defendant McNeil, acting under color of law, refused to permit Representative Leibowitz to present his motion because of her disfavor of his attempt to provide a voice for his constituents who oppose turning free public highways into toll roads.
TURF will be asking for both a temporary and permanent injunction to suspend ALL activities of the MPO until the case is decided and the Board’s composition is changed to reflect proper Constitutional representation allowing equal protection under the law per the 14th Amendment.
The unconstitutional MPO has blocked agenda items, voted against an independent review of toll plans that would bring accountability to the gross misuse of taxpayer money in these toll plans, voted against restoring the gas tax funded overpasses on 281 (281 in particular DOES NOT NEED TO BE TOLLED, what’s needed are overpasses and they’ve been paid for since 2003, the money is STILL there, they could do it tomorrow, but this un-Constitutional Board persists in preventing the simple solution that’s already paid for!
The MPO Board has also delayed votes, blocked the succession of the next Chair, and changed the bylaws to allow yet more illegal representation on the Board.
“The people of Texas are FED-UP with out-of-control abusive government. We’ve done everything in our power to exert the political pressure to change this unconstitutional Board, but when the deck is stacked and a powerful unelected voting block is allowed to persist unchecked, we have no choice but go to court to address our grievances. This is taxation without representation and we cannot and will not allow it to continue,” says Terri Hall, Founder and Director of TURF.
See history of the efforts of the pro-toll faction blocking citizens from equal representation. (scroll to bottom for links to each action)
Chairwoman McNeil stripped agenda item requested by State Representative David Leibowitz on expenditures for toll roads.
San Antonio attorney David Van Os, is representing TURF.
MPO Board composition violates First and 14th Amendments to U.S. Constitution
San Antonio, TX, Monday, October 22, 2007 – In what could change the way toll roads are decided and approved in Bexar County, TURF filed a NEW lawsuit in FEDERAL COURT to put the power over transportation decisions back in the hands of the PEOPLE. TURF recently scored a victory in STATE COURT in a different lawsuit against members of the Texas Transportation Department and Transportation Commission.
A lawsuit has been brought against the San Antonio Metropolitan Planning Organization (SAMPO) Transportation Policy Board that allocates tax dollars to transportation projects and approves toll rates and toll projects and San Antonio Councilwoman and MPO Chair Sheila McNeil. The lawsuit alleges that the composition of the SAMPO Board is unconstitutional and Chairwoman McNeil has been a party to denying the First Amendment right of free speech to the constituents of elected MPO Board members like State Representative David Leibowitz by blocking an agenda item and any debate on an issue brought up at his request. This novel lawsuit cuts to the heart of how toll roads are approved.
It’s based upon the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, 28 U.S.C. §1331, and 28 U.S.C. §§1343(3) and (4). The section of the post-Civil War civil rights enactments codified as 42 U.S.C. §1983 provides the Plaintiff’s enabling cause of action. A faction of governmental officials with the help of unelected board members have shut citizens and voters who oppose toll roads out of equal participation in the political process. The case will also argue that actions like Chairwoman McNeil’s removal of an agenda item asking for the funds TxDOT is spending on the Keep Texas Moving ad campaign be returned to building roads.
By way of recent example, in a SAMPO Transportation Policy Board meeting of September 24, 2007, Defendant McNeil, using the badge of authority of Chairmanship of the Board, arbitrarily removed from the meeting agenda a motion by State Representative and MPO Board member David Leibowitz calling for SAMPO to object to certain expenditures of public money by TXDOT promoting toll roads, which expenditures Representative Leibowitz believed to be inappropriate.
Defendant McNeil, acting under color of law, removed Representative Leibowitz’s motion from the meeting agenda even though Representative Leibowitz had properly and legitimately placed it on the meeting agenda and SAMPO had included it in the public posting of the agenda pursuant to the Texas Open Meetings Act. Defendant McNeil, acting under color of law, refused to permit Representative Leibowitz to present his motion because of her disfavor of his attempt to provide a voice for his constituents who oppose turning free public highways into toll roads.
TURF will be asking for both a temporary and permanent injunction to suspend ALL activities of the MPO until the case is decided and the Board’s composition is changed to reflect proper Constitutional representation allowing equal protection under the law per the 14th Amendment.
The unconstitutional MPO has blocked agenda items, voted against an independent review of toll plans that would bring accountability to the gross misuse of taxpayer money in these toll plans, voted against restoring the gas tax funded overpasses on 281 (281 in particular DOES NOT NEED TO BE TOLLED, what’s needed are overpasses and they’ve been paid for since 2003, the money is STILL there, they could do it tomorrow, but this un-Constitutional Board persists in preventing the simple solution that’s already paid for!
The MPO Board has also delayed votes, blocked the succession of the next Chair, and changed the bylaws to allow yet more illegal representation on the Board.
“The people of Texas are FED-UP with out-of-control abusive government. We’ve done everything in our power to exert the political pressure to change this unconstitutional Board, but when the deck is stacked and a powerful unelected voting block is allowed to persist unchecked, we have no choice but go to court to address our grievances. This is taxation without representation and we cannot and will not allow it to continue,” says Terri Hall, Founder and Director of TURF.
See history of the efforts of the pro-toll faction blocking citizens from equal representation. (scroll to bottom for links to each action)
Chairwoman McNeil stripped agenda item requested by State Representative David Leibowitz on expenditures for toll roads.
San Antonio attorney David Van Os, is representing TURF.
Monday, July 23, 2007
NTTA on road to more tolls - North Texas Tollway Authority set to expand vision, role with new projects
By MICHAEL A. LINDENBERGER - The Dallas Morning News - Sunday, July 22, 2007
The North Texas Tollway Authority's second decade promises to be nothing like its first.
Today, at age 10, NTTA is promising to expand its focus beyond Dallas and Collin counties to mesh with state and local plans that will radically increase the number of toll roads in North Texas.
As a result, the authority is poised to exert more influence than ever before over the way North Texas drivers get from one place to another.
In addition to building the 26-mile State Highway 121 toll road, NTTA has been asked to build or operate at least five other toll roads, and will partner in several other "priced" projects such as pay-to-use HOV lanes.
Critics: Change needed
Critics caution, however, that as NTTA plays a bigger role in solving transportation problems, it will need to do a better job of paying attention to the whole region.
"I have nothing against them, except for their history," said Denton City Council member Pete Kamp, who said NTTA has long ignored Denton and Tarrant counties. "They are telling us that they are now going to be, and I trust them to be, good to their word. But in the past they've simply been in Dallas and Collin counties."
Bill Hale, the engineer in charge of the Dallas district of the Texas Department of Transportation, said North Texas' transportation solutions have long depended on pooling resources from the state, the region's elected officials and the toll authority. "It's a three-legged stool, and everyone has a role to play," he said.
If that's true, NTTA's leg is about to get a lot stronger, as Mr. Hale conceded in an interview last week.
And that means it will be under more scrutiny, said Mike Nowels, a former Regional Transportation Council member from Lewisville. Answerable only to an independent board of directors, the authority has had too little oversight, he said.
"Does the Dallas North Tollway from [Interstate] 635 south into Dallas, is it really up to standards? Is it anywhere close?" Mr. Nowels asked. "Why hasn't the tollway authority invested in fixing it? It's gridlock every morning and gridlock every evening – and it's been that way for 20 years."
Optimism
NTTA officials and Mr. Morris said negotiations over Highway 121 are well ahead of schedule. An agreement is expected to be ready before the Texas Transportation Commission meets in Sugar Land on Thursday – a month before the deadline.
If the deadline is not met, the contract will go to Cintra, the Spanish firm that won preliminary approval in February to build the road.
Many of the Regional Transportation Council members who voted to let Cintra keep the contract said they now think NTTA will do a good job.
Mesquite City Council member John Heiman Jr. said many of the "no" votes were cast in opposition to the way NTTA was allowed to make a late bid after Cintra had been named the preliminary winner.
"I didn't vote against the NTTA; I was simply opposed to the process. It was awful," Mr. Heiman said.
Most RTC members have put the differences over Highway 121 behind them and are focused on building the region's badly needed roads, he said.
"There is so much need – and I am not talking about wants, I am talking basic needs of transportation – we're going to need a big head of steam to get it all done," Mr. Heiman said.
Mr. Morris said NTTA must be given the support it needs to live up to its commitments on Highway 121 and other roads it has promised to help build.
"We want them to succeed," Mr. Morris said. "We're going to do everything we can to assist them."
NTTA chairman Paul Wageman said board members have benefited from criticism.
That path ahead, he said, includes an increased focus on communities in Tarrant and Denton counties who have long felt ignored by NTTA.
Higher tolls ahead
Still, what has changed most of all is not NTTA, but the way local officials and transportation planners have so enthusiastically embraced tolling as a road-building strategy.
That would have been hard to imagine in June 1997, when the Legislature voted to create NTTA.
Former Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson helped lead the charge to persuade lawmakers to dissolve the Texas Turnpike Authority and replace it with NTTA.
At the time, the authority's only job was to maintain the Dallas North Tollway and collect millions of dollars in tolls. In time, it used those funds and others to build the President George Bush Turnpike, and has since embarked on a handful of other, smaller projects.
But Mr. Jackson, chancellor of the University of North Texas system since 2002, said the philosophy about the role of toll roads in the highway system a decade ago barely resembles what has emerged since the Highway 121 debate began.
These days, the idea is to set the toll rates high enough to create a rich revenue stream that can be used as collateral for massive upfront loans from banks or bondholders.
In the Highway 121 case, for example, NTTA has promised to pay the state $3.3 billion in cash to help finance a stream of other North Texas projects. The money will come from the sale of bonds secured by future toll revenue that exceeds what is needed to build and operate Highway 121 in Denton and Collin counties.
"Obviously money talks," Mr. Jackson said. Still, he said the new approach is necessary because of the paucity of funds from more traditional sources such as state and federal gas taxes.
Mr. Morris agreed.
"We're in such a financial crisis when it comes to transportation that the gas taxes are basically paying for the maintenance of the roads we already have," Mr. Morris said. "Ten years from now the only improvements we will be able to make will be the ones that are paid for by toll roads."
Fairness of toll rate
Some local leaders say they can stomach the increasing number of toll roads. But they say it's wrong to abandon the old policy of keeping toll rates as low as possible.
Frisco City Manager George Purefoy is among them. It's bad enough, he said, that Frisco's two main avenues to the rest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area – Highway 121 and Dallas North Tollway – both will be tolled.
But what's worse, he said, is that Frisco drivers will be paying artificially high rates just so NTTA can borrow the billions it has promised to pay upfront. He says the higher toll rates amount to an extra tax on drivers unlikely to use the roads on which the extra money is spent.
The Frisco City Council is considering filing suit to try to block the toll road, Mayor Mike Simpson said, but no decision has been made.
Last week, Mr. Morris said that legal threat could make it more difficult for NTTA to close the Highway 121 deal within the deadline.
In the meantime, drivers may need to get used to paying higher tolls – a price transportation officials such as Mr. Morris said is needed if residents want to ease the congestion that continues to clog North Texas roads.
Read more
The North Texas Tollway Authority's second decade promises to be nothing like its first.
Today, at age 10, NTTA is promising to expand its focus beyond Dallas and Collin counties to mesh with state and local plans that will radically increase the number of toll roads in North Texas.
As a result, the authority is poised to exert more influence than ever before over the way North Texas drivers get from one place to another.
"I call it the maturing of the NTTA," said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments. "Ten years ago, the NTTA's attitude may have been, 'We'll do a few projects, but we're not interested in managed lanes, or electronic toll roads. We basically build these big fat cash lanes.' " But that's changing fast, Mr. Morris said.
In addition to building the 26-mile State Highway 121 toll road, NTTA has been asked to build or operate at least five other toll roads, and will partner in several other "priced" projects such as pay-to-use HOV lanes.
Critics: Change needed
Critics caution, however, that as NTTA plays a bigger role in solving transportation problems, it will need to do a better job of paying attention to the whole region.
"I have nothing against them, except for their history," said Denton City Council member Pete Kamp, who said NTTA has long ignored Denton and Tarrant counties. "They are telling us that they are now going to be, and I trust them to be, good to their word. But in the past they've simply been in Dallas and Collin counties."
Bill Hale, the engineer in charge of the Dallas district of the Texas Department of Transportation, said North Texas' transportation solutions have long depended on pooling resources from the state, the region's elected officials and the toll authority. "It's a three-legged stool, and everyone has a role to play," he said.
If that's true, NTTA's leg is about to get a lot stronger, as Mr. Hale conceded in an interview last week.
And that means it will be under more scrutiny, said Mike Nowels, a former Regional Transportation Council member from Lewisville. Answerable only to an independent board of directors, the authority has had too little oversight, he said.
"Does the Dallas North Tollway from [Interstate] 635 south into Dallas, is it really up to standards? Is it anywhere close?" Mr. Nowels asked. "Why hasn't the tollway authority invested in fixing it? It's gridlock every morning and gridlock every evening – and it's been that way for 20 years."
Optimism
NTTA officials and Mr. Morris said negotiations over Highway 121 are well ahead of schedule. An agreement is expected to be ready before the Texas Transportation Commission meets in Sugar Land on Thursday – a month before the deadline.
If the deadline is not met, the contract will go to Cintra, the Spanish firm that won preliminary approval in February to build the road.
Many of the Regional Transportation Council members who voted to let Cintra keep the contract said they now think NTTA will do a good job.
Mesquite City Council member John Heiman Jr. said many of the "no" votes were cast in opposition to the way NTTA was allowed to make a late bid after Cintra had been named the preliminary winner.
"I didn't vote against the NTTA; I was simply opposed to the process. It was awful," Mr. Heiman said.
Most RTC members have put the differences over Highway 121 behind them and are focused on building the region's badly needed roads, he said.
"There is so much need – and I am not talking about wants, I am talking basic needs of transportation – we're going to need a big head of steam to get it all done," Mr. Heiman said.
Mr. Morris said NTTA must be given the support it needs to live up to its commitments on Highway 121 and other roads it has promised to help build.
"We want them to succeed," Mr. Morris said. "We're going to do everything we can to assist them."
NTTA chairman Paul Wageman said board members have benefited from criticism.
"I think it has been very instructive, and we're changing," Mr. Wageman said. "We're having to grow and adapt to a changing environment. Perhaps we were a little slow to adapt to that as a board, but the board is now fully focused on our road ahead."
That path ahead, he said, includes an increased focus on communities in Tarrant and Denton counties who have long felt ignored by NTTA.
Higher tolls ahead
Still, what has changed most of all is not NTTA, but the way local officials and transportation planners have so enthusiastically embraced tolling as a road-building strategy.
That would have been hard to imagine in June 1997, when the Legislature voted to create NTTA.
Former Dallas County Judge Lee Jackson helped lead the charge to persuade lawmakers to dissolve the Texas Turnpike Authority and replace it with NTTA.
At the time, the authority's only job was to maintain the Dallas North Tollway and collect millions of dollars in tolls. In time, it used those funds and others to build the President George Bush Turnpike, and has since embarked on a handful of other, smaller projects.
But Mr. Jackson, chancellor of the University of North Texas system since 2002, said the philosophy about the role of toll roads in the highway system a decade ago barely resembles what has emerged since the Highway 121 debate began.
"When the NTTA was formed, the idea was that every toll road would be built and operated to the lowest possible cost to the drivers," Mr. Jackson said. "The idea was to set the smallest possible toll rates."
These days, the idea is to set the toll rates high enough to create a rich revenue stream that can be used as collateral for massive upfront loans from banks or bondholders.
In the Highway 121 case, for example, NTTA has promised to pay the state $3.3 billion in cash to help finance a stream of other North Texas projects. The money will come from the sale of bonds secured by future toll revenue that exceeds what is needed to build and operate Highway 121 in Denton and Collin counties.
"Obviously money talks," Mr. Jackson said. Still, he said the new approach is necessary because of the paucity of funds from more traditional sources such as state and federal gas taxes.
Mr. Morris agreed.
"We're in such a financial crisis when it comes to transportation that the gas taxes are basically paying for the maintenance of the roads we already have," Mr. Morris said. "Ten years from now the only improvements we will be able to make will be the ones that are paid for by toll roads."
Fairness of toll rate
Some local leaders say they can stomach the increasing number of toll roads. But they say it's wrong to abandon the old policy of keeping toll rates as low as possible.
Frisco City Manager George Purefoy is among them. It's bad enough, he said, that Frisco's two main avenues to the rest of the Dallas-Fort Worth area – Highway 121 and Dallas North Tollway – both will be tolled.
But what's worse, he said, is that Frisco drivers will be paying artificially high rates just so NTTA can borrow the billions it has promised to pay upfront. He says the higher toll rates amount to an extra tax on drivers unlikely to use the roads on which the extra money is spent.
"Everyone wants to keep focusing on how much money the region is getting from this project, and no one seems to care how much more drivers are going to have to pay," he said. "Our drivers are going to have to pay a toll, an extra tax and then the gas tax, too."
The Frisco City Council is considering filing suit to try to block the toll road, Mayor Mike Simpson said, but no decision has been made.
Last week, Mr. Morris said that legal threat could make it more difficult for NTTA to close the Highway 121 deal within the deadline.
In the meantime, drivers may need to get used to paying higher tolls – a price transportation officials such as Mr. Morris said is needed if residents want to ease the congestion that continues to clog North Texas roads.
Read more
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