Perry denies TTC part of push for North American Union

By Terri Hall - T.U.R.F. - Sunday, 19 August 2007

Read Jerry Corsi's book, The Late Great USA, the Coming merger with Mexico and Canada, to see the irrefutable evidence for yourself. Search this web site for SPP, NAFTA Superhighway, or North American Union to connect the dots. Anyone who believes the Governor over ordinary citizens and documents available from our own government needs their head examined.

Remember Perry is pushing the Trans Texas Corridor (against his own Party's platform) to such a degree that he vetoed a bill that would have protected landowners from their land being taken and given to private interests for private gain, HB 2006, he vetoed the people's moratorium bill on privatized toll roads, HB 1892, and his ex-aide worked for the company awarded the bid to build the Trans Texas Corridor before and after working for the Governor. He barely won re-election running on strong border security, and, in less than a month after he won, flip-flopped and came out for open borders and a guest worker program. Perry's not looking out for you, and his word is for sale to the highest bidder just like our highways. While politicians and reporters are busy trying to marginalize watchdogs, our government is laying the groundwork for deep integration with Canada and Mexico through the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP). Since 19 state legislatures have passed resolutions against it, it's getting tougher for Perry and his crowd to make the "conspiracy theory" charge stick.

Perry's push for super highway raises conspiracy buzz
Some say it's part of a plan to create one nation in North America
By R.G. RATCLIFFE - Houston Chronicle - Aug. 18, 2007
AUSTIN — Black helicopters, the Illuminati, Gov. Rick Perry and the Trans-Texas Corridor are all now part of the vernacular of the global domination conspiracy theorists.

Perry's push for the Trans-Texas Corridor super highway is part of a secret plan, the conspiracy theorists say, to create the North American Union — a single nation consisting of Canada, Mexico and the United States with a currency called the Amero.

Government denials of the North American Union and descriptions of it as a myth seem to add fuel to the fire. A Google search for "North American Union" and "Rick Perry" returns about 13,400 Web page results.

"Conspiracy theories abound, and some people have an awful lot of time on their hands to come up with such far-fetched notions,"

said Perry spokesman Robert Black.

Perry enhanced the conspiracy buzz earlier this summer by traveling to Turkey to attend the secretive Bilderberg conference, which conspiracy theorists believe is a cabal of international monied interests and power brokers pressing for globalization.

And the conspiracy rhetoric is likely to ratchet up this week as President Bush meets with Mexican President Felipe Calderon and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Quebec in their third summit to discuss North American relations under the Security and Prosperity Partnership.

"There is absolutely a connection with all of it," said Texas Eagle Forum President Cathie Adams. The Trans-Texas Corridor "is something not being driven by the people of Texas."

The first, and most controversial, leg of the Trans-Texas Corridor plan is a proposed 1,200-foot-wide private toll road to run from Laredo to the Oklahoma border parallel to Interstate 35. This TTC-35 would be built by a consortium headed by Spanish owned Cintra S.A. and Zachry Construction Corp. of San Antonio.

The seed of the North American Union controversy rests in the 1992-93 passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement under Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton. Under that treaty, Interstate 35 was designated informally as the NAFTA highway.

'Stealth' attempt
Fast-forward to March 2005 to Crawford, when President Bush, Harper and then-Mexican President Vicente Fox agreed to pursue the Security and Prosperity Partnership, SPP. The idea was to promote cooperation among the countries on economic and security issues.But conservative author Jerome Corsi — in his new book: The Late Great U.S.A.: The Coming Merger with Mexico and Canada — argues the SPP is a "stealth" attempt to wipe out the nations' borders and form a single economy like the European Union.

With an entire chapter dedicated to Perry's Trans-Texas Corridor plan, Corsi says the first step to integrating the economies is to integrate the transportation infrastructure.

"His (Perry's) actions have been to fight hard to build this toll road and not listen to the objections expressed by the people of Texas," Corsi said.

Corsi became nationally known in 2004 as the co-author of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. Corsi said extensive research shows the SPP has created working groups on the North American Union that answer to presidential Cabinet secretaries.

"This is more of a shadow bureaucracy, a shadow government already in effect," Corsi said. "Unless it is stopped, it will turn into a North American Union with an Amero."

The official federal Web site for the SPP has a section dedicated to busting the North American Union as myth.

"The SPP does not attempt to modify our sovereignty or currency or change the American system of government designed by our Founding Fathers,"

the site says.

But that has not stopped a growing opposition to the North American Union by groups such as the Eagle Forum, The Conservative Caucus and the John Birch Society.

'Wanted' individual
The North American Union also has been fodder for cable television commentators: CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox's Bill O'Reilly.Perry fueled his role in the debate in June by attending the Bilderberg annual conference, a secretive closed-door meeting of about 120 business, government and media leaders from Europe and North America.

Republican presidential candidate and U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Lake Jackson was asked about the trip on the syndicated talk radio show of Alex Jones in June. Paul said the trip was "a sign that he's involved in the international conspiracy."

Jones' Web site features mug shot-like photos of Perry labeled "Wanted for Treason." Jones in an interview said Perry's trip and the Trans-Texas Corridor show a willingness by the governor to sell out Texas' infrastructure to international bankers.

"Perry is actively waging war, economically in the interests of the elites and neomercantilism," Jones said.

The 2001 book Toward a North American Community: Lessons from the Old World for the New by Robert A. Pastor, an American University professor and director of the Center for Democracy and Election Management, is cited by Corsi as the blueprint for the merger.

"I've never proposed a North American Union," Pastor said. "The only people who talk about a North American Union are those people who are trying to generate fear."

Belief in sovereignty
Pastor said greater cooperation between the three countries makes sense for both economics and internal security.Pastor said those promoting the conspiracy are doing so because of "historical xenophobia," "a fear of immigrants, mostly from Mexico" and a "traditional isolationism."

Black said there is no way the governor would support merging the U.S. with its neighbors.

"The governor is a firm believer in the sovereignty of the United States. Too many of our brave men and women have died defending it," Black said.

Diminshed Access addressed in eminent domain bill vetoed by Perry

Fort Bend County claimed road projects to cost more if law passed
State Sen. Glenn Hegar disagrees with critics who want governor to veto legislation
By ZEN T. C. ZHENG - Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle - June 14, 2007

Citing potential higher cost in condemning private property for road projects, Fort Bend leaders are pushing to kill a Texas House bill that would obligate governments to pay property owners for decreased access to their land resulting from eminent domain.

A resolution passed by [Fort Bend] Commissioners Court urges Gov. Rick Perry to veto House Bill 2006, which was sponsored by Sen. Kyle Janek, R-Houston, and sent to Perry for his signature on May 29.

The bill, which was adopted by both the House and Senate last month, aims to reform an existing state law on eminent domain to further protect private-property rights by requiring a comprehensive set of factors — including "diminished access" — to be taken into consideration in the land-taking and compensation process.
Eminent domain, commonly known as condemnation, is the practice in which a government legally seizes private property for public use while paying the owner for the "fair market value" of the land.

Failure to reach an agreement between land owners and the government often leads to condemnation.


'Diminished access?'
The notion of "fair market value" has been of much debate and propelled Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, to amend the House bill, which specifically obligates local or state government to compensate private land owners for "any diminished access" along state highways or toll road projects.

The amendment was Hegar's second effort to address the issue during the 80th Legislature after Senate Bill 1711, which he authored and was adopted by the Senate, died at the House.

"The current law doesn't take diminished access into account in considering the value of property. That's why I added the amendment to the bill," Hegar said. "If you lose a point of entrance to your property because a road is coming through, that affects the market value of the property."

In protesting the bill, county officials contend that often alternative "reasonable access" to the property remains while a normal access is eliminated because of condemnation and circumstances don't warrant compensation.

They also argue that "diminished access" is a subjective notion open to different interpretations, hence giving rise to potential dispute and litigation.

"The proposed changes in the bill to the government code, the local government code and the property code would result in significant cost increases for local government across the state of Texas," the resolution states.

Hegar dismissed the claim that the term "diminished access" is subjective.

He argued that land valuation can also be a subjective process, which often occurs when government entities resort to condemnation.

"What is the value of your property for the large part depends on the person who does the valuation on it," Hegar said.

Higher legal costs?
County Commissioner Andy Meyers said the bill would fatten the pockets of attorneys representing property owners. County Judge Bob Hebert agreed.
...
Hegar said if an alternative access remains as an equal access without causing problem for the property owner, then it would not be regarded as "diminished access" and would be a nonissue.

"It's no different than your house. If all the doors are boarded up except for your window, you can still come into the house crossing the window. You still have access to your house, but it's diminished," he said. "That's the problem the bill is trying to address."
Commissioner Tom Stavinoha said Hegar's effort was in response to requests from farmers groups, who Stavinoha said were not informed about the impact of the bill.

Hegar said he was approached by Texas Farm Bureau and Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, whose members are concerned about possible condemnation of their land by the state Trans-Texas Corridor project, which is on hold due to a two-year legislative moratorium.
"It's a very real issue, more so in rural areas, such as Fort Bend," Hegar said. "I'm a pro-property rights individual. And I don't understand why private property rights are such a bad thing."
In urging Perry to veto the bill, the county resolution states that the bill would have "detrimental financial impact on local governments trying to improve mobility within their communities."

Hegar said the claim is "not supported by facts."

Read more

Eminent domain bill among 49 Perry vetoed

Hundreds of new laws take effect at end of August
By JANET ELLIOTT - Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau - June 16, 2007

AUSTIN — An eminent domain bill that opponents said could shut down road construction was among 49 bills vetoed Friday by Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry also struck bills involving ex-convicts' right to possess firearms, increasing the early release of prisoners and prohibiting school buses from idling near campuses.

Although the governor has until Sunday to review legislation, he completed his bill signings and vetoes on Friday night. Most of the hundreds of bills that he has signed into law will go into effect by the end of August.

Major legislation approved by Perry will add up to 130,000 more children to the Children's Health Insurance Program by allowing many working parents to enroll their youngsters annually instead of every six months.

The governor also signed "Jessica's Law," a major priority of Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, to hike penalties for pedophiles, including expanding the death penalty to those who twice commit the most heinous forms of child rape.

Also becoming law with Perry's signature was legislation requiring insurance companies to pay for treatment of children with autism. The Texas Association of Business had urged Perry to veto the bill because of the group's standing opposition to mandates on employers.

But advocates said the measure requiring companies to cover treatment for 3- to-5-year-old children with autism, would give families hope, save some from bankruptcy and reduce long-term costs for taxpayers.

The eminent domain bill, HB 2006, had enjoyed Perry's support until an amendment was added late in the session that state and local officials said could cost taxpayers billions of dollars. The amendment would have allowed property owners to sue for "diminished access" to their property because of new roads or road construction. Current law requires property owners to show "material or substantial damages" before seeking compensation.

Another provision would have allowed the recovery of damages for changes in traffic patterns and visibility of the property from the road. Texas courts have long disallowed this practice because it would make some public projects too expensive to build, Perry said.

He said he had alerted legislators who handled the bill to his concerns. But House author Rep. Beverly Woolley, R-Houston, said she feared there wasn't time in the last days of the session to work out compromise language.

The bill was strongly supported by Republicans as a response to a controversial decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on private property rights.

But Perry said he had received letters from many fast-growth cities and counties asking him to veto it because the cost of constructing projects will increase by more than $1 billion.

Sen. Glenn Hegar, R-Katy, who offered the amendment that Perry opposed, said he was stunned by the reaction from local officials. He said the amendment was identical to a failed bill he carried but that "no one testified against it, no one came to visit me, no fiscal implication (was added to it)."

Read more

ACTION ALERT - Tarrant County Commissioners Court and Eminent Domain

by Faith Chatham - June 11, 2007

Tarrant County Commissioner to vote on sending letter
Urging Governor to veto HB 2006 at Regular meeting
Tarrant County Commissioners Court - 10 a.m., Tues., June 12

Linda Lancaster addressed the court last week and urged them not so sign the Letter Judge Glen (supercorridor at public expense) Whitley wants them to send to Governor Perry urging him to veto HB 2006 - the eminent domain bill.
The bill, which restores some of the protections the NASCO Corridor group pushed to get enacted. (Whitley and RTC chairwoman Cynthia White and Denton Mayor Pro-tem and RTC member Tex Kamp - serve on the NASCO Corridor Board of Directors) NASCO lobbied to get propert rights stripped from property owners through passage of legislation legalizing use of private public partnerships for construction interstate (international) super transportation corridors funded by gasoline tax money, public bonds and tolls on existing and future state and federal highways. NASCO'S MISSION STATEMENT includes:

To be a strong advocacy and lobby group for transportation and related issues and interests of the jurisdictions along the corridor.

We urge all Tarrant County Citizens to appear at the Tarrant County Commissioner's Court meeting tomorrow (Tuesday, June 12 -10:00 a.m.) and speak out against the Commissioners Court sending this letter urging Governor Perry to veto this eminent domain bill.
To gain federal, provincial/state, and municipal government support in all three NAFTA countries.

To gain and maintain tri-lateral private sector membership support for NASCO’s vision and goals.

To push for, facilitate and support any Corridor related projects or initiatives that focus on enhancing the security, safety and efficiency of transportation, trade processing and logistics systems along the corridor

All state representatives and state senators from this 16 county North Central Texas Region voted for the bill, yet Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley is pushing hard to get the Governor to veto it! Citizens of Tarrant County testified at the TxDOT hearing, expressing outrage and anger that the eminent domain laws had been changed to accomodate the special interests of big monied backers of the TTC -- many of whom are financial backers of NASCO).

Anyone who attempt to persuade the public to believe that it is necessary to veto this bill in order to acquire property at a fair price through the exercise of eminent domain is lying. This bill does not prevent the exercise of eminent domain for legitimate uses which are in the public good. This bill defines legitimate use of eminent domain:

A governmental or private entity may not take private property through the use of eminent domain if the taking:
(1) confers a private benefit on a particular private party through the use of the property;
(2) is for a public use that is merely a pretext to confer a private benefit on a particular private party; [or]
(3) is for economic development purposes, unless the economic development is a secondary purpose resulting from municipal community development or municipal urban renewal activities to eliminate an existing affirmative harm on society from slum or blighted areas under:

While restoring some protection to the citizen-property owner, this bill does not prevent exercise of eminent domain for legitimate projects for the public good.

(c) This section does not affect the authority of an entity authorized by law to take private property through the use of eminent domain for:
(1) transportation projects, including, but not limited to, railroads, airports, or public roads or highways;
(2) entities authorized under Section 59, Article XVI, Texas Constitution, including:
(A) port authorities;
(B) navigation districts; and
(C) any other conservation or reclamation districts that act as ports;
(3) water supply, wastewater, flood control, and drainage projects;
(4) public buildings, hospitals, and parks;
(5) the provision of utility services;
(6) a sports and community venue project approved by voters at an election held on or before December 1, 2005, under Chapter 334 or 335, Local Government Code;
(7) the operations of:
(A) a common carrier pipeline [subject to Chapter 111, Natural Resources Code, and Section B(3)(b), Article 2.01, Texas Business Corporation Act]; or
(B) an energy transporter, as that term is defined by Section 186.051, Utilities Code;
(8) a purpose authorized by Chapter 181, Utilities Code;
(9) underground storage operations subject to Chapter 91, Natural Resources Code;
(10) a waste disposal project; or
(11) a library, museum, or related facility and any infrastructure related to the facility.

It seeks to clarify and restore balance and fairness to the process, by stating that

the governmental entity must authorize the initiation of the condemnation proceedings at a public meeting by a record vote.

It stipulates that the public use for which the property is condemned must be stated in the motion.
If the property is not used for that use in ten years, the land owner is allowed to repurchase the land for the same amount the governmental entities paid them for it.

The bill stipulates that governmental entities seeking property through eminent domain condemnation process must negotiate with the landowner fairly.

BONA FIDE OFFER REQUIRED. An entity with eminent domain authority that wants to acquire real property for a public use must make a bona fide offer to acquire the property from the property owner voluntarily. A bona fide offer is an offer that is not arbitrary or capricious and is based on a reasonably thorough investigation and honest assessment of the amount of the just compensation due to the landowner as a result of the taking.

It stipulates that citizens must be informed of their right to repurchase the property.

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION REQUIRED AT TIME OF ACQUISITION. A governmental entity shall disclose in writing to the property owner, at the time of acquisition of the property through eminent domain, that:
(1) the owner or the owner's heirs, successors, or assigns are entitled to repurchase the property if the public use for which the property was acquired through eminent domain is canceled before the 10th anniversary of the date of acquisition; and
(2) the repurchase price is the price paid to the owner by the governmental entity at the time the governmental entity acquired the property through eminent domain.

It requires that the governmental body must submit evidence of fair market value before the property is condemned.

EVIDENCE. (a) For the purposes of this section, market value is the price a property will bring when offered for sale by a person who desires to sell the property, but is not obliged to sell the property, and is bought by a person who desires to buy the property, but is not under a necessity to buy the property.
(b) As the basis for assessing actual damages to a property owner from a condemnation, the special commissioners shall, subject to the Texas Rules of Evidence, admit evidence on:
(1) the market value, before the condemnation, of the property being condemned;
being condemned;
(2) subject to Section 21.042, the net change to the market value of the property owner's remaining property, considering both injury and benefit to the property owner; and
(3) [(4)] the use of the property for the purpose of the condemnation.

It also attempts to address loss of value and access issues:

(e) If a portion of a tract or parcel of real property is condemned for the use, construction, operation, or maintenance of the state highway system or of a county toll project described by Chapter 284, Transportation Code, that is eligible for designation as part of the state highway system, the special commissioners shall consider any diminished access to the highway and to or from the remaining property to the extent that it affects the present market value of the real property, including any factors considered when determining actual fair market value of property for ad valorem tax purposes.

It provides some relocation compensation.

(a) A department, agency, instrumentality, or political subdivision of this state shall [may] provide a relocation advisory service for an individual, a family, a business concern, a farming or ranching operation, or a nonprofit organization that [if the service] is compatible with the Federal Uniform Relocation Assistance Advisory Program, 23 U.S.C.A. 501, et seq.
(b) This state or a political subdivision of this state shall [may], as a cost of acquiring real property, pay moving expenses and rental supplements, make relocation payments, provide financial assistance to acquire replacement housing, and compensate for expenses incidental to the transfer of the property if an individual, a family, the personal property of a business, a farming or ranching operation, or a nonprofit organization is displaced in connection with the acquisition.

If the courts find that govenmental entites do not make bona fide good faith offers to land owners based on fair market value, this bill stipulates that the landowner/citizens legal fees will be paid by the governmental entity.

(d) If a court hearing a suit under this chapter determines that a condemning entity did not make a bona fide offer to acquire the property from the property owner voluntarily as required by Section 21.0112, the court shall abate the suit and order the condemnor to make a bona fide offer. If the court finds that by filing a petition under Section 21.012 or by filing any other motion or pleading in the proceeding initiated by the filing of that petition the condemnor violated Chapter 10, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, the court shall order the condemnor to pay:
(1) all costs as provided by Subsection (a); and
(2) any reasonable attorney's fees incurred by the owner that are directly related to the violation.

This bill is about fairness.

Judge Whitley is not serving the good of the citizens of Texas and of Tarrant County in pushing for a veto of this bill.

Eminent Domain, lies, manipulation and deceit on both forks of the Trinity

Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer calls D Magazine publisher Wick Allison on distortation of "facts" (Trinity Toll/Park project)
Ed Oakley mutters against bothersome property rights in Dallas City Council;
Citizens face elected officials on both sides of the Trinity over eminent domain and property rights
By Faith Chatham - June 8, 2007
The saga in Dallas continues between media moguls, (DMN and D Magazine publisher Wick Allison, City Council person Angela Hunt and Dallas Observer columnist Jim Schutze. Biased coverage of the political scene is nothing new in big city journalism, but DMN under BELO's coverage of toll roads and transportation frequently seems to translate it into a new art form.

For a couple of weeks I've been posting articles on the Trinity Park-- er Tollway -- with sparring between opponents and proponents of the Trinity Toll Way. Trinity Vote has attempted to clarify the facts.

This week Jim Schutze's column (My Brain on Crack - Wick Allison, The Trinity Park Project. Have I gone mad?)

It costs money. We have to borrow. We have to pay more taxes. It's an investment.

But look. This is also like a car deal. We went to the showroom in 1998 when we voted to let the city borrow $246 million for the Trinity River Project. We chose a fancy one—the Lexus SUV with the leather and the mag wheels and the two DVD players and the GPS navigation.

Now it's eight years later. They're trying to get us to take this Ford Escape with steel rims, cloth seats, a cheap portable CD player with earbuds and a map of Texas in the glove box. And the contract says we could owe them a billion dollars.

Irritated with coverage which he's termed "fiction" rather than "fact", columnist Jim Schutze ripped the facade off of the DMN's editorial a few weeks ago. City Council woman Angela Hunt took her speaking tour on the road and penned an open letter to Wick Allison to set the record straight. A soft-spoken very articulate lady with a Mission, Council Woman Hunt is upset that the project described to the citizens before they were asked to vote on the bonds for Trinity Park is vastly different now than what the citizens approved. She's (along thousands of other registered voters who have signed the Trinity Vote petition) are demanding that the Toll Road be taken back before the voters before ground is broken. Hunt outlines the differences between what the citizens were told prior to the bond election and what the City of Dallas, TxDOT, the RTC of the NCTCOG and other planners plan to deliver with those precious bond dollars which get paid by hard-earned dollars out of citizens’ pockets plans to actually build. The Belmont Debate between Councilwoman Hunt and Craig Holcomb has made it onto YOU TUBE VIDEO)

Numerous decades old DMN news stories and public meeting descriptors of Trinity Park with its PARKWAY, described as a 'low speed 45 mile and hour parkway with numerous entrances in to the park' have surfaced recently. Big dollars backers of the Toll Road (Trinity Commons Foundation) have been on the speaker’s circuit, trying to strike fear into the public about flood control and potential loss of Federal flood control dollars if the Toll Road proposal is killed. Jim Schutze came out with his computer keys blazing over that one. He quoted U.S. Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson who fought hard for those flood control dollars and clarified for the Dallas Observer readers that there the flood control dollars remain for flood control whether any road ever gets built in or near or through the Trinity flood plane near downtown Dallas! Amid charges (and a YOU TUBE VIDEO of what some allege are "paid educational consultants" who functioned as political operatives during the May 12th City of Dallas elections to interfere with the petition drive to collect signatures calling for a referendum on the Trinity Toll Way, and charges that they were employed by the non-profit Trinity Commons Foundation promoting the Toll Way, and rumbles about possible lawsuits and/or charges for violations of election law, the plot thickened in Dallas and the soup smelled worse than the stagnant sediment ponds cropping up in Wise County and other places where injection gas drilling is changing the landscape. Schutze referred to "Laura's goons" in earlier columns.

Angela Hunt earned accolades from Schutze in the spring for detailed research and for saving reporters from boredom at meetings of Dallas City Council Trinity River Committee.This week's Jim has devoted his column to taking DMagazine publisher Wick Allison to task. I'm including excerpts here but urge you to read it in its entirety.
Jim Schutze is one of the best columnists in this area. He's consistently refused to cave to pressure by publishers or peers to water down his rhetoric or avoid topics which fly counter to the financial interests of the high and powerful, politically ambitious, or his own publishers (which has changed over the years, probably due to his refusal to sell out his journalist integrity to satisfy the corporate board room.

Schutze writes:

Wick Allison, the publisher of D magazine, has devoted his entire publisher's note in the December edition to a discussion of whether Jim Schutze—that would be moi—has been telling the truth or distorting the facts about the Trinity Project. He doesn't come right out and say it, but I think his implied conclusion is that Jim Schutze smokes crack.

So first off, let me take you back to what we saw in that showroom eight years ago. Before the 1998 bond election the "We Love Dallas" bond campaign committee published a brochure showing a sailboat regatta on a lake the length of downtown with a huge fountain in the center and promenades and terraces on the downtown bank.

The brochure's promise to voters was clear and explicit: "If you've ever taken a stroll down San Antonio's Riverwalk, sat by a lake in New York's beautiful Central Park, or driven along Austin's scenic Town Lake, then you know how valuable these recreational resources are to a city...

"With absolutely no tax increase to Dallas citizens, the Trinity River Project is the key to making 21st Century Dallas a world-class city—an 8,500-acre greenbelt bursting with new business and entertainment."

I'm a big advocate of following the money. Schutze lays out the Trinity Park -er Toll Way? Project shortfall.

In response to my open records demand, Trinity Project director Rebecca Dugger provided me with numbers to show the ultimate cost of each portion of the plan as it exists now. She also gave me the amounts available from the 1998 bonds and all of the money that has been found from other sources to help pay for the project.

I put all this in a simple spreadsheet and figured the shortfalls. Let me just give you some highlights. According to the city's own official numbers, provided to me in response to a legal demand for them, the cost for building trails alone will be $36.149 million.

Of that, the bond money will pay for $10.256 million. The city told me it had found $7.067 million from other sources. That leaves a shortfall of $18.826 million for the trails.

Look at it again. The money we approved eight years ago now only pays for 28 percent of the cost of the trails. The city has persuaded other entities to pick up an additional 20 percent. That means you and I, dear local taxpayer, are on the books for an additional 52 percent or almost 19 million bucks just for trails.

I sat at a conference table in City Hall and challenged the mayor, the city manager, Dugger and Assistant City Manager Jill Jordan to show me where my shortfalls were wrong. I gave them my spreadsheets.

Here are samples of the things they did not argue with: a $16 million shortfall to make the river curvy instead of straight; a $50 million shortfall for park roads; a $19 million shortfall for digging out the proposed lakes; a $27 million shortfall for improvements to S.M. Wright Boulevard.

To me and in public, Mayor Miller has been offering an excuse for these shortfalls that strikes me as especially dishonest. Her mantra is that everything costs more these days. It's sort of the Neiman Marcus defense: Only a cheapster would be surprised that stuff costs more than it used to.

Tarrant County citizens are up in arms over Tarrant County Judge Glen Whitley, Whitley, a board member on NASCO, an international non-profit organization based in Dallas with a stated mission to develop interstate international super transportation corridors to speed up shipment of freight from ports in Mexico through Texas to Kansas City and Canada), fervently lobbied the Texas Legislature to exclude the DFW region from the 2 year moratorium on toll roads. Now Whitley is trying to persuade the Tarrant County Commissioners Court that it is wise for them to sign a letter urging Governor Perry to veto HB 2006 - a bill which curtains some of the dubious practices enacted in the previous session of the Legislature in TTC empowering legislation (promoted by NASCO!). Arlington school teacher Linda Lancaster showed up at Tarrant County Commissioners Court Tuesday (6-5) and said her piece. They delayed voting on signing the letter until next week. Hopefully many others will show up at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday the 12th and remind those folks that the powerbrokers who met in Fort Worth last week with NASCO are not the people who voted them into office and can vote them out!
The Dallas Observer readers also weigh in this week (published June 7, 2007) on Eminent Domain. Kudos to Fort Worth Star-Telegram political reporter Anna Tinsley for alerting readers to Whitley's attempt to undermine the citizens of Tarrant County to the detriment of landowners all over Texas.
Pirates of the Council |Hardee Har |Past Tense |And Finally Pirates of the Council and subtitled: The Pixies, The Police, Dallas comics, property rights ,

Is it safe?: "The Good Laura"—perfect title for Jim Schutze's article (May 31) exposing Bill Blaydes' ruthlessness and Ed Oakley's incredible disregard for individual property rights.

Folks, they can come after your property if they can do what Blaydes with Oakley's assistance tried to do to Jack Pierce at Hollywood Overhead Doors.

Makes you wonder if it's safe to invest in Dallas anymore. Well, at least Blaydes and Oakley will be private citizens in a few weeks.

Sharon Boyd

Jim Schutze's column (published May 31, 2007) The Good Laura, Or, how Bill Blaydes locked up the Bastard of the Year award

I have to tell you this story because it's three things: 1) an appalling example of arrogance and sleaziness at City Hall, 2) a stirring example of integrity and courage at City Hall, and 3) it's about Laura Miller.
This guy owns a business that has been in his family since 1938. Since the 1950s the business has occupied a series of metal barns on nine acres down in a hollow near Walnut Hill and White Rock Trail, in a little leftover remnant of countryside swallowed up by the city.

A small equestrian center is near him, as is a DART train track and a creek called Jackson Branch. You could pass this place a thousand times and never know it's there.

Across the DART tracks from him, major development plans are afoot. The guys doing the developing want this guy's nine acres. Offered to buy him out. He said no. Not interested.

Jack Pierce's business, Hollywood Door, makes garage doors, but its main business is the hand manufacture of huge, very heavy industrial overhead doors. His product is expensive to ship because it's so heavy. Over the last seven decades, his family has developed a good regional trade based in part on having the business right where it is.

He does not want to move, at least not at the prices being offered. The location is worth more to him than its real estate value. This company employs 40 people, and it makes a product, which it actually sells to other people.

Makes stuff. Sells stuff. This is what used to be called a "business," as opposed to insider grease-ball political land-flipping, which is what some people think is a business today.

Got it so far? Developers offer. Business owner says no.

Then he gets a letter. An official letter. A City Hall letter. It appears that Bill Blaydes, the council person for that area, wants to call a hearing to see whether the city should yank the man's zoning out from under him, which would force him to sell.

The saga moves to the City Council chamber:

I mean, are you still with me here? The guy's been on the property since the 1950s. His business is almost invisible from the road, emits no smoke or noise, generates very light traffic. But Commissar Blaydes comes along with his letter and pretty much tells him to get the hell off his own property.

And even worse in my book: While Pierce is standing there at the microphone looking up at the mighty councilpersons with his life and his family's business in his hand, Councilman Ed Oakley, one of two candidates for mayor in the June 16 runoff election, launches into this big, sleazy package of lies aimed at pushing him into giving up.

Talking in his trademark incomprehensible used-car-salesman-on-crank cadence, Oakley says to Pierce: "Let me just ask you hypothetically if you were to go through this process and the process and the staff would allow you to have your area that allowed the use that you have there today which is a manufacturing facility and in addition to that it was created into a p.d. or sub-district that allowed for the other uses such as mixed-use or whatever the neighborhood would determine but you were allowed to be legal and conforming but along with that some of the obnoxious uses that maybe the neighborhood would be fearful of such as a recycling plant or something would be left out of that and would allow you to continue the family business in perpetuity which would be legal which would be a given zoning which would allow you to use that specific use but then the additional uses would allow for residential or mixed-use development or office or retail which aren't allowed there today which actually gives you more land-use rights than what you would have today giving up some of the things that would be obnoxious would you be amenable to sitting down having that conversation?"

Pierce gave the perfect answer. He said, "Sir, I am out of my depth here today."

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Oakley, a City Hall apologist who has replaced Laura Miller as the city's point person working with Trinity Commons Foundation to get the big high speed Toll Road built through the what the voters voted to fund as a Park, is not high on the list of many of his former supporters. His opponent in the Dallas's Mayoral runoff also favors building the Parkway, but as an outsider, Tom Leppert seems less offensive when he discusses it than does insider Ed Oakley. Oakley, who represents a district in the southern quadrant of the city, should be concerned for the property rights of the little guy, but seems to spout the Corporate, big developer, big dollar interest line more than adhering to a more populist Democratic line. The Dallas County Democratic Party made an unprecedented move in endorsing a candidate in what is normally a nonpartisan city race, yet many of the Democratic activists I know are less than enthusiastic about the prospects of having Mr. Oakley as Mayor. Objections do not seem to relate to his openly gay lifestyle but to his conduct in rubbing elbows with the rich and powerful and failure to champion the plight of the little man in eminent domain squabbles and other issues when John Q Citizen must face off against the City of Dallas.

In previous column's Schutze has chided DMN reporter Steve Blow for superficial coverage of City Council and the Trinity Toll /Park Project in particular.

Today, as our fledging group of activists (DFW REGIONAL CONCERNED CITIZENS) trot down to the NCTCOG offices on Six Flags Drive in Arlington to tell the RTC and NCTCOG staff how their policies disturb us, it is encouraging to open my e-mail box and find Jim Schutze's column. Schutze can make dead serious squabbles entertaining. The Texas Legislature has scattered and I'm left to summer re-runs on television. Honestly, video links to Texas Senate Transportation Hearings and battles on the Texas House Floor as representative after representative asked Speaker Craddick to vacate the chair provided much more entertainment to me this Spring than slick news entertainment journals on network TV. (For me, one of the definite pluses to watching the Texas House and Senate via internet is that they don't cover Anna Nicole, any of her offspring or relatives or alleged paramours!)

Maybe it's those early bedside stories read to me as a child about knights and the round table and crusaders rescuing the underdog from the wicked, selfish despot that are rekindled when I watch Angela Hunt and Jim Schutze take on Trinity Commons, big corporate donors and Dallas City Hall. Whatever it is, I'm gratified that the Dallas Observer fights the giant with their feather.

In Fort Worth, Mayor Mike Moncrief (dubbed by the Fort Worth Weekly as the "GASFATHER" for his facilitation of the drilling of hundreds of gas wells in the densely populated cowtown,( and Fort Worth City Council members voted to send a letter to Perry urging veto of HB 2006 (restoring protection to landowners from seizure of property through eminent domain for private commercial development. Decades of property rights were bartered away by legislators in the 78th and 79th session of the Texas Legislature by massive changes to the Texas Transportation Code and eminent domain laws were enacted by state representatives and state senators who had accepted substantial campaign contributions from pro-toll road proponents. Speaker Craddick and Lt. Governor David Dewhurst moved the bills at rapid speed through their branches of the house. (Craddick, Dewhurst, Perry, Abbott, and Susan Combs all accepted campaign donations from Zachry Construction and Zachry family members. A significant correlation emerged between Democratic and Republican incumbents who accepted Zachry and other toll road proponents campaign contributions and their roles in sponsoring, voting for and moving TTC/CDA enabling legislation through both houses of the Texas Legislature. Public outcry against the taking of hundreds of thousands of acres of Texans unified grassroots activist in both parties to descend upon Austin. This past legislative session several folks who were instrumental in getting these bills passed stood and appeared to repent. (Steve Odgen, Florence Sharpio and others). When it was time to vote, however, Odgen's "Come to Jesus" contrition evaporated and he voted for Perry's detested "market valuation language" which many think negates the two year moratorium on CDA toll roads for most of the state.

It's been a busy season. Keeping up with who's pulling what and how the truth is twisted to give an illusion but the citizens are left holding lots of debt, empty promises, and developers, politicians, and engineering firms and highway contractors sit licking their lips with cream all over their greedy mouths seems to surpass the energy it must have required British Royalty to keep up with the palace intrigues in centuries past. We may be "tilting at windmills" but with citizens' access to the internet and writers like Jim Schutze of the Dallas Observer and Jeff Prince of the Fort Worth Weekly maybe enough voters will wake up and realize that Judge Glen Whitley, Mayor Mike Moncrief and most of the City Council and County Commissioners in the DFW Region have conspired to fleece them of property and to double tax them for use of public infrastructure! Hammering on computer keys helps, but ultimately it is the voter's responsibility to evaluate whether local officials are truly looking out for citizens' welfare. Pushing that button or marking that little box in the election booth is ultimately the only way we can depose folks who misuse their office to lobby to ensure that the rich and powerful get richer and richer and the honest working folks forfeit property and political privilege to the dark room schemes of scum bags who think that the TTC is good for Texas!

Eminent domain letter is delayed

By ANNA M. TINSLEY - Star-Telegram Staff Writer - Wed, Jun. 06, 2007

Tarrant County commissioners must wait to send a letter to Gov. Rick Perry asking him to veto an eminent domain bill, because the full court must approve such a move, and one member wasn't present at Tuesday's meeting.

Even so, Arlington property owner Linda Lancaster spoke to the Commissioners Court, urging them to instead send a letter supporting the bill.

"Why on earth would elected officials think citizens want less protection from eminent domain?" she asked. "We depend on you for protection and representation."

The issue: House Bill 2006 would give landowners more rights when governments take property through eminent domain, a controversial practice in which local governments appropriate land for public projects. The bill would ensure that landowners receive good-faith offers, be compensated for damage done to adjoining property, and have a chance to buy back their land -- at the same price they received -- if it isn't needed in 10 years for the development.

The cost: Officials have said the measure could cost the state an extra $1 billion a year in transportation projects.

The status: Perry has until June 17 to sign or veto bills. Commissioners say they hope to vote on sending a letter asking for a veto Tuesday.[Tuesday, June 12th at 10:30 a.m.]

Roll call: Commissioner Gary Fickes was not present Tuesday, preventing the vote.

Read Linda Lancaster's address to the County Commissioners

Tarrant County Commissioners urged by Glen Whitley to urge Gov. to veto Eminent Domain HB 2006

Anna Tinsley of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram alerts citizens that an agenda item on Tuesday, Tarrant County Commmissioner's Court meeting is the Commissioners signing a letter to Governor Perry urging him to veto the bill which restores some rights to citizens against having property lost to private developers through eminent domain.

Judge Glen Whitley is the major advocate of vetoing the bill. A member of the NASCO Board of Directors, a Dallas based international organization which has promoted massive changes to the Texas and Federal Transportation Code during the past 6 years, enabling private companies to acquire property rights to develop infrastructure using eminent domain, Whitley serves on the NCTCOG Executive Board, the RTC, and is in his first year as Tarrant County Judge.

We urge citizens to speak out to Tarrant County Commissioner, urging them not to sign the letter to Governor Perry urging him to veto this legislation. Read this excellent article by Anna Tinsley. She lists the Amendments which will be on the ballot in November in Texas at the end of this informative article.

Tarrant County opposes legislation on eminent domain

By ANNA M. TINSLEY - Star-Telegram staff writer - Sun, Jun. 03, 2007

It pits property owners against government agencies, wildlife conservationists against bureaucrats.

And it's kicked up a firestorm throughout Texas.

Pleas from both sides are flooding into Gov. Rick Perry's office over House Bill 2006, a measure awaiting the governor's signature that would give property owners more protection when forced to turn over their land to the government through eminent domain.

...

Tarrant County is leading the charge against the bill, preparing a letter asking Perry to veto the legislation. The Texas Wildlife Association, the Institute for Justice and other supporters want it to be signed. Perry has until June 17 to take action.

"We are convinced that the legislation ... will result in much greater costs to taxpayers because the overall costs of acquiring right-of-way for public road projects, both local and state, will be increased significantly," the proposed Tarrant County letter says.

Rep. Beverly Woolley, who carried the bill along with fellow Houston Republican Sen. Kyle Janek, said it's geared to protect property rights.

"Texas courts have chipped away at property-owner protections for decades," Woolley said. "I believe governmental entities should not operate with a sense of entitlement to my land.

"House Bill 2006 restores these property-owner protections."

Added protections

If Perry signs the bill, landowners would have more rights when governments step in to take property through eminent domain, a controversial practice that allows local governments to take and buy land for public projects.

The bill would ensure that landowners receive good-faith offers for condemned property, be compensated for damage done to adjoining property, and have a chance to buy back their land -- at the same price they received -- if it isn't needed in 10 years for the development.

If signed into law, the provision would go into effect Sept. 1. The buyback provision would require a constitutional amendment that would go before voters on Nov. 6.

The measure defines "public use" to keep land from being taken for economic development and creates a process for courts to determine whether initial purchase offers are fair.

It has followed sharp reaction to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 in a Connecticut case that said local governments could take private homes and businesses for economic development. That same year, Texas lawmakers passed legislation prohibiting such use, and they came back this session to add further protections.

...
Seeking a veto

Tarrant County commissioners will vote formally Tuesday on sending the letter to Perry asking for the veto. Whitley said other counties, including Harris and Denton, are expected to follow suit.

The Texas Municipal League is urging any cities concerned about the bill to send letters to Perry asking for a veto.

"It's much worse than we thought it would be," said Frank Sturzl, the league's executive director. "Requiring the state to pay for loss of access, that has never happened before. That will make some roads very expensive."

Fort Worth officials are still evaluating the bill's impact on city projects.

"We are real concerned about provisions in the bill, and we believe we'll be in more litigation for projects where eminent domain is being used," said Joe Paniagua, an assistant city manager. "We are concerned about the unintended consequences."

Officials with the Tarrant Regional Water District and the Trinity River Vision Authority -- which are overseeing the $435 million Trinity Uptown project -- said the changes to the law should not dramatically affect their operations.

J.D. Granger, executive director of the Trinity River Vision Authority, said the buyback provision shouldn't affect Trinity Uptown, since eminent domain provisions will be used only for land needed directly for the flood-control portions of the project.

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