Defending Our Property Rights & Freedom to Travel
LAND GRAB IN HILL COUNTRY

Developers want to steal land in Boerne & Bandera so they can develop protected lands in San Antonio 

Developers in the San Antonio area are up to no good AGAIN.

Due to the Endangered Species Act, developers cannot develop anymore land in certain parts of San Antonio due to it being the habitat of federally protected species. So rather than move their developments elsewhere, they're on the march to heist land from other private landowners in surrounding counties as a way to re-locate the 'habitat' further away. One of the proposed plans would require 3 acres of private property in the outlying counties for every one acre developed in a designated habitat in San Antonio (Bexar County).

So Bexar County and City of San Antonio is seeking approval for its Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) and is seeking an Incidental Take Permit (to STEAL private property). Public input is ESSENTIAL TO STOPPING THIS LAND GRAB!

ATTENTION!
IMPORTANT PUBLIC HEARINGS
Tell them you want the 'No ACTION alternative'
Please try to attend on of the two public hearings on the Habitat Conservation Permit

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with the City of San Antonio and Bexar County will conduct public meetings in Helotes, Texas and Kerrville, Texas, to obtain comments on the Southern Edwards Plateau draft Habitat Conservation Plan (dHCP), draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) and an incidental take permit application.

Public meetings are scheduled for 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. at each location. The dates and locations for the public meetings are:

Tuesday, February 3rd
Casa Helotes Senior Center
12070 Leslie Road
Helotes, Texas 78023

Wednesday, February 4th
YO Ranch Conference Center
2033 Sidney Baker
Kerrville, Texas 78028


TAKING OF PRIVATE PROPERTY FOR BIRDS & CRITTERS
Possible forms of 'mitigation' could include on-site preservation of
habitat, acquisition of off-site preserve lands (in other words STEAL PRIVATE PROPERTY), or purchase of conservation credits from an independent conservation bank (this involves asking landowners NOT to develop or use their land for the 30 years of the permit). Don't let the government restrict how you can use and enjoy your private property!

COUNTIES AFFECTED
The permit area-i.e., where incidental take will be permitted-includes Bexar County and those portions of the City's ETJ that do/
will expand into Medina, Kendall, and Bandera Counties over the life of the permit (which is 30 years).

SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENTS
To submit written comments, please use one of the following methods, and note that your comment is in reference to the SEP dHCP and dEIS:

Go to the Federal eRulemaking Portal at http://www.regulations.gov.

Follow the instructions for submitting comments
on Docket No. FWS-R2-ES-2014-0053.

Tell them you want the 'No ACTION alternative.'

DEADLINE: Comments must be received on or before March 19, 2015 at 11:59 PM.

Even if you don't live in the affected areas, please submit comments. It's only a matter of time before a similar plan takes YOUR private property!
SAN ANTONIO:
PUBLIC HEARING for I-35 toll project

Plan to attend and submit public comment 

podium_man.jpg TxDOT is holding an important public hearing on Thursday, February 26 to solicit public feedback on the proposed elevated toll 'managed lanes' on IH-35 from IH-410 to Schertz.

If you don't want to pay 50 cents a mile to travel on this vital interstate, show-up and BE HEARD! Even if you never take the toll road, your tax money will build it and bail it out and trucks will pass their toll costs onto YOU through a higher cost of goods. The current MPO plan has I-35 marked for a public private partnership. Cintra is already heavily lobbying to snag this vital interstate - the biggest FREE competition near its failing SH 130 tollway  - allowing Cintra to control all routes north-south in Central Texas!

PUBLIC HEARING
I-35 Toll Project
Thurs., February 26
5:00 PM
Morgan's Wonderland
5223 David Edward Drive
San Antonio, TX 78233

CAN YOU VOLUNTEER?
We need folks to help staff our table and pass out educational fliers to attendees. We also take email sign-ups and help direct folks to where they can offer comment (publicly at the microphone or to a court reporter/transcriber privately).

If you would like to help, please contact Sudie Sartor at sudiesartor@yahoo.com or (210) 488-5412.

SAVE THESE DATES

Mark your calendars for our next TURF meeting, Mar 5 & Toll-free Texas Day at the Capitol, March 23! 

fancy-fork.jpg
DATE CHANGE: Due to the I-35 toll project public hearing scheduled on our regular meeting night, Feb. 26, we have postponed our meeting to the following the Thursday to encourage you to attend the I-35 hearing.

Mark your calendars for our next meeting and for our BIG Toll-free Texas Day at the Capitol, Monday, March 23
.

TURF Meeting
Thurs., March 5    
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

NOTE: We'll also have our regularly scheduled meeting on the 4th Thursday of the month - Thurs., Mar. 26.  
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.

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.


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HEADLINES...
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TxDOT spends millions on tuition reimbursements
Much of it to a private not public university!
   
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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