Defending Our Property Rights & Freedom to Travel
New Governor, New Day

Abbott inaugurated, Patrick announces Transportation Committee members 

The 84th legislature is off and running and we FINALLY have a new Governor, one that campaigned on OUR cause and wants to bring much-needed relief to Texas commuters WITHOUT TOLLS.

Last Friday, Lt. Governor Dan Patrick released his committee assignments. Who sits on the Transportation Committees will shape all future transportation legislation.

TTH & TURF will be in Austin throughout the session to ensure not one dime of the new road funding goes to support any toll road or elements of a toll project. See below for how you can help.

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JOE STRAUS RE-ELECTED SPEAKER
Joe Straus, from San Antonio, has failed to end diversions of the gas tax, failed to properly fund roads, advanced every toll road bill - including the sale of TX highways to foreign corporations in his own backyard and across Texas, allowed gas taxes, sales taxes, & property taxes to be used to build and bail out toll projects that can't pay for themselves, and BLOCKED all of our reform bills.

BUT...the legislature overwhelmingly re-elected Straus as Speaker of the Texas House and we start this session with a clean slate. A lot has changed in state leadership with a marked shift AGAINST toll roads. So we'll see who Straus appoints to lead the Transportation Committee, which will give us an indication if he's backing off Perry's old toll road agenda and moving onto greener pastures.

MPO SHAFTS ALAMO COMMUTERS

Wastes Prop 1 funds on non-priority projects, keeps 281 toll road despite promise to spend funds on 281

MPO Executive Director, Sid Martinez 
Despite the attempts by elected officials on the Alamo Area MPO to listen to the public, the bureaucrats won the day by misleading and outright lying to our elected representatives about how Prop 1 could be used.

MPO Executive Director Sid Martinez steered every question to a tolled outcome and flat out told elected officials they couldn't spend the money on US 281. But the law does allow an MPO to use it on a freeway project like US 281 if the MPO would remove the tolls from the project.

Notably absent for a second meeting in a row was Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff whose precinct covers the US 281 corridor. His own father, County Judge Nelson Wolff, told the Transportation Commission to use Prop 1 funds to turn toll lanes back to free lanes on parts of US 281, and Kevin Wolff is allowing the MPO to defy that order and the consistent requests of both Senator Donna Campbell and Rep. Lyle Larson's to fix US 281 as a freeway not a tollway. Now he'll likely line-up and hide behind the MPO's talking points that the money can't be used on this highway. But don't buy it, it can - they simply won't!

TURF Meeting THURSDAY  

Get ready to gear-up for the legislative session! 

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Find out the scoop on yesterday's MPO meeting, committee appointments, legislation, and our BIG plans for Toll-free Texas Day at the Capitol.

You won't want to miss this meeting. 

TURF Meeting
Thurs., Jan. 29   
Chester's Hamburgers 
16699 San Pedro 
San Antonio, TX 
(Off US 281 at Thousand Oaks/Mecca exit) 
6:00 PM
(Order dinner on your own) 
6:30 PM
Meeting begins

A BIG WAY YOU CAN HELP

Won't you consider a monthly donation? 

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With the upcoming 84th legislative session about to begin (January 13), our work kicks into high gear and requires lots of travel to Austin to meet with lawmakers, testify in vital committee hearings, provide bill analysis for legislators, and get our reform bills PASSED!

A gift of any amount, $10, $20, or more is most appreciated, but we're also in need of ongoing monthly contributions earmarked for the six months of the legislative session. If you're interested, please contact Sudie Sartor here.

We need the resources to STOP tolls on existing roads & to get pro-taxpayer transportation policies and reforms in place.
 
With HUNDREDS of toll projects planned in Texas, EVERYONE will be effected by these NEW taxes!

Or send in a check to:
Texans Uniting for Reform and Freedom (or TURF)
PO Box 29254
San Antonio, TX 78229-0254

WATCH THIS CHILLING VIDEO 

Wonder why the process is so broken? Watch this

Award-winning filmmaker William Molina has delivered another outstanding montage with recent footage from the December Alamo Area MPO meeting that chronicles the history of the MPO ignoring the public. The toll road decision-making process is as bankrupt as our road policy.


Pass it on!

Happenings around the state...
AUSTIN -

The Capitol Area MPO (CAMPO) will be holding important public meetings on its long-range plan.

The fate of I-35 will be largely determined by what goes in this plan. Cintra wants to sink its teeth into I-35 and control all routes north-south in the central part of our state. I-35 is the life blood of commerce in Texas. We can't let it be tolled, much less fall into the hands of a foreign company!

So stay tuned and give feedback.

CAMPO staff, the Technical Advisory Committee, and the Transportation Policy Board are identifying and refining the mix of transportation projects that will form the backbone of the 2040 Plan. One focus of the 2040 Plan will be improving IH-35.  IH-35 in the CAMPO area consistently ranks in the Top 100 most congested roads in Texas.
 
Staff is currently drafting the 2040 Plan and looks forward to sharing it with the public in March 2015. Please see our calendar for more details.

DFW-

Proposition 1 Funding Recommendations
In November 2014, Texas voters approved Proposition 1, a constitutional amendment that provides a new source of state funding for the construction, maintenance and rehabilitation of public roadways in Texas. Toll roads and transit projects are not eligible to receive funds.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area is expected to receive about $367.6 million for projects this year, and transportation partners and local officials have worked diligently and with a sense of urgency to develop a list of potential projects to receive Proposition 1 funding. Projects must go to construction in 2015. This is a significant step toward meeting the unmet roadway funding needs in Texas, and input from the public is important. Staff will discuss the impact to the region, potential projects and an expedited schedule for decision-making.

SUBMIT COMMENTS TO: jstout@nctcog.org

Monday, Feb. 2
6:30 pm
Fort Worth Intermodal Transportation Center
1001 Jones Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76102

Tuesday, Feb. 3
10:30 am
North Central Texas Council of Governments
616 Six Flags Drive
Arlington, Texas 76011

Tuesday, Feb. 3
6:30 pm
J. Erik Jonsson Central Library
1515 Young Street
Dallas, Texas 75201

Getting There and Parking: The downtown J. Erik Jonsson Central Library is located at the corner of Young and Ervay Streets, across from City Hall. The entrance to the underground parking garage is located on the Wood Street side of the building. The garage is next to the former Federal Reserve Bank parking lot on the back side of the Urban Market. Wood Street runs one-way going east. To enter the parking garage, use the first ramp. Parking in the library garage is $0.75 per hour for the first and second hours. The library is also accessible by DART bus and train.

ELLIS, GRIMES, WALLER, MONTGOMERY, LEON COUNTIES -

Say 'NO' to foreign high speed rail in Texas!

This looks an awful lot like the Trans Texas Corridor rail plan. The citizens that live in the path of the proposed Japanese-owned & operated High Speed Rail (HSR) line are joining together and using local government to stop HSR in Texas. Plans would mow down their homes and ranches to make way for a noisy high-speed rail track between Houston and Dallas. Find out more about their efforts at NO TEXAS HSR.com.

Continue to contact your elected officials and tell them to say 'No' to High Speed Rail in Texas. It'll inevitably be an affront to private property rights and a boondoggle leaving taxpayers holding the bag when this foreign corporation fails to make a profit.

Find out who represents you here.
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typical toll booth located on i-75 in southwest florida
Transportation Committees key to needed reforms 
Doubts about Prop 1 loom as Texas faces oil bust

 
HEADLINES...
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Citizens sue to stop Cintra from tolling I-77 in North Carolina

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TxDOT spends millions on tuition reimbursements
Much of it to a private not public university!
   
  Read more...
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Texas Transportation Reform: Fiscal responsibility FIRST  
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Federal gas tax hike coming? 
Thune puts it on the table 
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"I...place economy among the first and most important of republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared... Taxation follows that, and in its turn wretchedness and oppression."
--Thomas Jefferson,
Letter to William Plumer, 1816