In Fort Worth - And Ready For The Convention To Begin

Well, I made it to Fort Worth and got settled into my room at the hotel. Pretty nice room. The top two pictures were taken from my room window. Note that the Convention Center is just right across the street from my hotel.

I'm getting a bit older, and picked this hotel be cause I was trying to save myself some walking. I'll be doing enough of that the next two days anyway -- just getting around in the huge building.

Seems like a bunch of other Democrats had the same idea, as I've met a lot of them in the hotel. I even ran into Texas progressive leader Jim Hightower and my Facebook friend (and good Democrat) Art Pronin in the lobby. Art told me Sissy Farenthold (former candidate for governor) is also in the hotel.

As you can see from the picture at the left, I was able to get my press pass -- but it wasn't easy this time. Texas has drawn some interest from the national media this year, so the press secretary decided bloggers should not have a press pass this year -- because the press room would be too crowded.

I threw aa fit, reminding her that I had been issued a press pass for the last six conventions. After about two hours, they gave me the press credentials. I think she thought that was easier than dealing with me for the next two days.

The convention starts officially on Friday. I'm ready. I love this stuff!

Panhandle Youth Is Stock Show Winner

I need to depart from politics for a few minutes today to congratulate a fellow Panhandle dweller on his remarkable achievement. The picture above shows sixth-grader Stock Martin of Hereford as he leads his European crossbred steer from the show ring at the Forth Worth Stock Show (the premier stock show in the state of Texas). Stock's steer is named "Lunchbox", and this year he was named the Grand Champion steer of the stock show.

The steer sold for $205,000 in the stock show auction. Martin says most of that money will go into his college fund, and the rest will be used to buy more cattle. Congratulations Stock! You have to beat the best of the best to win at the Fort Worth Stock Show -- and we here in the Panhandle are very proud of your accomplishment.

Hank Williams Jr. Lets His Racist Flag Fly

(The cartoon above is by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times.)

I'm not quite old enough to remember the original Hank Williams, but I grew up listening to his music. My father thought he was the greatest country singer who ever lived, so I knew all of his songs. They were great songs and I still enjoy listening to them -- whether it's from an old album of Hank, or a modern singer belting it out. That's why I am so disappointed in his son -- Hank Williams Jr.

Junior never had half the talent of his father. Few musicians do. But he decided to make up for the lack of talent by being a douchbag, and a racist to boot. And recently, that is coming out more and more. He had a good gig singing the opening song for Monday Night Football, but he threw that away by comparing President Obama to Hitler. Getting booted from that gig should have taught him something, but evidently it didn't. He's still determined to put his racism on display for the world to see.

Last Sunday night Junior was playing in Fort Worth at the Stockyards. Evidently he thought he could let his racist flag fly since he was in Texas. He told the crowd who had come to hear him play:

"We've got a Muslim for a president who hates cowboys, hates cowgirls, hates fishing, hates farming, loves gays, and we hate him!"

Read more here: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/politex/2012/09/hank-williams-jr-calls-obama-a-muslim-during-fort-worth-concert.html#storylink=cpy

Frankly, as a Texan, I'm both shocked and angry by his racist outburst. Texas is a red state, and still has too many home-grown racists, but they are no longer anywhere near a majority. Most people, even Republicans, in Texas are decent folk who would like to leave that kind of behavior in the past (where it belongs). It's offensive that outsiders like Junior think they can get away with that kind of nonsense here these days.

Maybe it's time for Junior to retire and crawl back under his rock. All he's doing now is dishonoring his father's good name.

Arson At FW Democrat's Office

Is this what the state of politics is devolving into in Texas these days? If you can't vote someone out of office, you try to burn them out? The picture above shows the front door of the office of State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth). About 4:00pm on Tuesday, someone set fire to the outside door of the Democrat's office, probably with a Molotov cocktail. The senator called it a "homemade explosive device".

It could have been even worse if the fire hadn't been quickly discovered. Instead of just arson, it could have resulted in arson and murder -- because there were two workers in the office when the fire was set. Fortunately, they heard the device hit and one of them quickly put the fire out with a fire extinguisher.

The arson is being investigated by the Fort Worth Fire and Police Departments, and they are being aided in that investigation by the Texas Department of Public Safety (State Troopers -- who investigate any attack on a state official). I hope they are able to quickly apprehend this criminal (or criminals) and deal out a severe punishment.This is not a political act, but a criminal act.

But it may well have been a criminal act based on some political beliefs. Davis has been a thorn in the side of right-wing Republicans since being elected. She opposed their deep cuts to Texas' already poorly funded schools, and she has strongly defended women's health and Planned Parenthood. She also took the state to court when the Republican legislature tried to gerrymander her district to prevent her re-election (and she won).

I don't think Republican officials had anything to do with this crime, but their over-the-top political rhetoric could well have persuaded some right-wing teabagging nut-job to do it. This is the kind of thing that can happen when you label political opponents as "enemies" of the state or country.

Texas Atheists Buy Bus Ads

Starting today, the above ad will appear on four buses in Fort Worth, Texas.   The ads were paid for by the Dallas-Fort Worth Coalition of Reason (an umbrella group of 15 different local organizations, including Metroplex Atheists).   The group shelled out about $2480 to print the ads and buy the space on the buses.

I'm sure many area christian fundamentalists will consider this to be a person attack on their religion (and will probably quickly deface the ads), but that was not the intention of the Coalition of Reason.   Area coordinator for the group, Terry McDonald, said,   "We're not trying to convert anybody.   There's so much religion in this area, and it's so visible, we're just trying to let people who are not believers know that there's a lot of people like them."

That's a worthy goal and something that's badly needed here in the Bible-belt, where atheists can easily feel alone and oppressed.   Personally, I appreciate the broad-minded attitude and belief in fair-play demonstrated by the Fort Worth city bus system, known as The T.   Joan Hunter, spokeswoman for The T, said,   "We try to be fair to all parties in accepting advertising, and we do not discriminate among faiths and beliefs.   They met the criteria.   If we receive other requests from other faiths, we'll evaluate them as well."

That's a bit more broad-minded than the Dallas bus system (Dallas Area Rapid Transit), who turned down an attempt by the Coalition of Reason to buy ads on their buses.   DART spokesman Morgan Lyons said,   "We rejected the ads because we don't accept ads from religious groups."   That's acceptable if they really mean that, but I have to wonder if they'd really turn down an ad from one of the mainstream fundamentalist churches in the city.

Of course outrage over the rather innocuous ads is already starting.   The Fort Worth Star-Telegram ran a silly and unscientific poll regarding the issue.   As I am writing this 487 people (46% of respondents) say The T shouldn't have accepted the ads and say they won't ride the buses until the ads come off of them (although I suspect these people aren't bus riders anyway).

Why are so many christians so afraid of a different point of view being represented?   Is their faith really so fragile?

Ranch Style Beans Leaving Fort Worth

For me, this is terrible news. I have eaten Ranch Style Beans since I was a child -- both as a vegetable side with a meal or by themselves as a meal. In fact, I have been known to eat them cold out of the can. Suffice it to say, I absolutely love Ranch Style Beans!

I also took pride in knowing they were made and canned in that bastion of western culture -- Fort Worth. They have been made since 1932 in the same plant (pictured above) just off Hwy 287 on the east side of Fort Worth -- not too far from downtown. Ranch Style Beans are a part of Fort Worth's history.

And I'm not alone in my love for the chili-flavored beans. Humphrey Bogart used to buy them 10 cases at a time. And Grace Kelly and Lyndon Baines Johnson have both made special orders for the beans -- not to mention thousands of ordinary Americans like me who wouldn't be caught without a couple of cans in the kitchen cabinet.

But it now looks like Fort Worth will be losing this bit of its culinary history. The corporate giant, ConAgra, has owned the brand since 2000, and they have now decided to move the canning of Ranch Style Beans to factories in Ohio and Tennessee.

They say the Fort Worth plant is outdated, and it is cheaper to move the production than to refurbish the old plant or build a new one. They are probably right, but that doesn't make me or the 121 workers losing their jobs feel any better.

I agree with Jim Lane, attorney and former Fort Worth City Council member. He says, "This is shocking, because I've been eating Ranch Style Beans since I can remember. A lot of our heritage and history is there. We should do everything we can to keep companies like that in Fort Worth. As for me, I can't get myself to eat beans from Ohio. I guess a lot of us in Fort Worth will be cooking our own beans."

ConAgra also owns another brand that used to be made and canned in Texas -- Wolf Brand Chili, and sadly, it just doesn't taste as good as it used to taste. I guess I'm left with the probably futile hope that they don't screw up the taste of Ranch Style Beans.

The Product Of Fear-Mongering

There was a bit of excitement in Fort Worth Wednesday afternoon. Hundreds of people evacuated the Bank of America building, and the Fire Department was called to help along with several ambulances. The Fire Department had been told there was a carbon monoxide leak in the building -- an invisible and odorless gas that can be fatal.

It all started when two ladies became dizzy, and reported that to their supervisor. The supervisor then made an announcement " over the building’s PA system saying that anyone feeling these symptoms should exit the building to an outside location." Many of the approximately 2,000 employees went to the parking lot, and emergency personnel were notified.

Twelve people were taken to the hospital by ambulance, while another twenty-two went to the hospital on a city bus. About 110 people were evaluated and released at the scene. The Fire Department used their detection equipment to find any dangerous gases or chemicals in the building, and what they found was -- perfume.

That's right, it seems the first two women had gotten dizzy because they were close to someone spraying a very liberal amount of perfume (brand unknown). After that, Fire Department officials said "psychosomatic behavior" took over and a lot of people convinced themselves they were sick.

According to psychologist Hap Klinefelter, "Emotions are real contagious. A lot of times people will reason from their feelings. It introduces the power of suggestion and it makes them real susceptible to misinterpreting physical cues or it will distort their perceptions."

Psychologist Mary Lynn Crow agreed, saying, "Your thinking can actually cause you to feel pain or discomfort. Fear is one of the most contagious emotions there is. When you say to people, 'Hey, there is a contaminant in the building and it is making people sick,’ then it easy for them to feel accordingly."

I can't help but think this kind of hysteria is a product of the fear-mongering Bush administration. Bush and Cheney wanted Americans to be afraid, because that allowed them to seize more and more power -- power our Founding Fathers never meant for government to have. Bush and his cohorts had people thinking terrorists were hiding under every bed, and no one in America is safe.

The result of that kind of fear-mongering is 34 people going to the hospital and emergency personnel being called because someone used a bit too much perfume. I think we need to get a grip on ourselves.

SB686 Is A Misguided Effort

If you've read this blog for long, then you know I'm a supporter of State Senator Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth). I supported her candidacy and election last Fall, and I still think she's going to make a great senator for the good people of Fort Worth. But I cannot support the newest bill she has proposed -- SB686. Rep. Bob Orr (R-Burleson) has introduced a companion bill in the House -- HB876.

It should have given Senator Davis a warning to know that the same bill in the House was introduced by a Republican. The bills are supposed to "protect" neighborhoods by allowing natural gas pipelines to be built on highway right of ways instead of through neighborhoods.

In reality, these are just more bills to help the giant gas companies. They are having trouble with neighborhood activists in their attemppt to build the unsightly and dangerous pipelines in neighborhood areas of Fort Worth. The gas companies won't have to fight the activists if they can just run the pipelines along Fort Worth's roadways.

But, aren't Fort Worth's roadways already dangerous ebough without running natural gas pipelines alongside them? Won't that just make them more dangerous for motorists who have to use those roadways?

I hope Senator Davis rethinks this bill, because I think it is misguided. The problem is not putting gas pipelines in urban neighborhoods. The real problem is allowing drilling, wells, pumps and pipelines for natural gas anywhere inside the city limits of this urban area. Fort Worth's city leaders have let their greed get the best of them by letting the gas companies drill inside their city (including downtown).

This dangerous madness needs to be stopped. The city and its citizens are more important than gas company dollars (or should be at least).

Congratulations Senator Davis

It looks like congratulations are in order for Senator Wendy Davis. The rookie senator from Fort Worth just got her first piece of legislation passed in the Texas Senate (SB576). Even better, the bill was passed unanimously. It's always nice when you propose a bill that everyone thinks is a good idea. Here's how the bill was described in a press release:

"SB 576 is a bill designed to help make Tax Increment Financing districts (TIFs) a more effective economic development tool. SB 576 would improve the economic viability of TIFs by allowing cities to use TIF funds to make infrastructure improvements outside of the district boundaries, if those improvements directly benefit the district. The bill would also improve historic preservation efforts inside TIFs by allowing cities to grant historic preservation incentives without requiring historic property owners to be "carved out" of the district."

Senator Davis said, "I'm very proud to have passed Senate Bill 576 -- my first bill -- on the Senate floor today, and I think it is fitting that my first piece of legislation was about improving an economic development tool often used back home in Tarrant County. I am eager to continue working on the issues my constituents sent me here to address, and I look forward to passing many more bills on their behalf."

I also congratulate the people of Fort Worth. They have elected a good senator, who is interested in helping Fort Worth and the state of Texas.

Gas Drilling In Fort Worth

It was bad enough that the city of Fort Worth decided to let energy companies drill for natural gas within their city limits -- even in the downtown area. But now the gas companies want to drill even closer to homes, apartments and parks.

The city has an ordinance that says drilling cannot take place within 600 feet (200 yards) of houses, parks, schools, churches or hospitals (somehow apartments didn't make it into the ordinance). But there is a way around the ordinance. The gas companies can apply for a "high-impact" permit that would lower the distance to 200 feet.

The city council must approve the "high-impact" permit, but so far they have never turned one down. To date, 120 of the permits have been requested. Just in the last year, 62 permits were requested (Chesapeake-44, XTO-13, Devon-5).

In some neighborhoods, the residents are even signing off on the "high-impact" permits. I can only think they're letting their greed get the better of their common sense (they are paid royalties on the gas produced).

It's hard to believe the good people of Fort Worth are allowing this to happen. At the same time that they are spending millions to improve their city (Trinity River Project, downtown renovation, 7th street renovation, etc.), they are selling out to the ugliness and poison of gas drilling.

Even if you ignore the ugliness of the drilling, the destruction of the environment, the toxic water and sludge pits, and the poisoning of the soil and ground water, there is another consideration the city seems to be overlooking. What's going to happen when they experience a gas explosion (only 200 feet or less from a neighborhood)? And there will be one or more -- it's just a question of when.

I shudder to think what the leaders of the city and the gas companies are doing to the wonderful city of Fort Worth.

Gas Company Files Against 72 Year-Old

The people of Fort Worth had better get used to this kind of thing. It's going to happen a lot, now that they have approved the drilling for natural gas within the city limits. Some people are going to make a lot of money off the drilling, and a lot more people are going to get their property condemned and taken so the gas company can build a network of pipelines across the city (including downtown and residential areas).

Jerry Horton, a 72 year-old Fort Worth woman, didn't sign up to allow any gas drilling on her property. But that doesn't make any difference. Chesapeake Energy has filed suit in court to start condemnation proceedings on her property. They want to put a pipeline through her front yard (and the yards of 44 other homes in the Meadowbrook area).

So far, Ms Horton has refused to allow the pipeline, but she probably will have to eventually allow it. The state of Texas has given gas companies the right to condemn whatever property they want in order to build their pipelines.

So, not only will ugly gas wells be drilled with accomanying sludge pits, but the property of those who wanted nothing to do with the gas drilling will be condemned. This will happen to hundreds of properties, whether the owner wants to allow it or not.

Drilling inside the city limits of a major city is just insane. I still can't belive the city council is allowing this. Maybe it's time for the citizens of Fort Worth to throw these rascals out and elect some people who will protect the people and the city.

Will Ft. Worth Regret It's Greed ?

Back in April and May of this year, Fort Worth approved the drilling for natural gas within it's city limits. Both residents and government officials let their greed get the best of them, and opted for kick cash from the drilling companies. The right to drill for the gas was given both in residential areas and in the downtown area. Soon drilling rigs and pipelines will be all over the city.

The gas companies have made all sorts of promises to the city about clean drilling and safe pipelines, but the sad fact is that they're promises that probably can't be kept. There is no such thing as clean drilling or pipelines that will not leak (at least eventually).

Take for example, the land owned by Jay Marcom in Ranger, Texas. His land is criss-crossed by pipelines and a compressor station, and they're leaking. His surface dirt smells like oil and the ground water smells like gasoline. And both have been polluted with chemicals like benzene, xylene and toluene -- all are cancer-causing agents. In fact, the ground water is so polluted that if you put a match to it, it will burn.

Is this the legacy the gas companies are leaving Fort Worth? Things seem fine now as wallets are fattened and promises are made. But what about the future. Will future generations inherit a city where large portions of it are toxic sludge pits and poisoned soil and water?

Fort Worth is a wonderful city that has just recently revitalized it's downtown. I hope they're not now sowing the seeds of their own destruction.

Will Gas And Greed Ruin Fort Worth ?

It hasn't been too many years ago that the downtown area of Fort Worth was in trouble. Most people were doing their shopping in malls in other areas of town, and after dark, the downtown looked more like a ghost town than a thriving city. But city officials and developers got together to re-vitalize downtown. Sundance Square was developed, and gave a shot in the arm to the whole downtown.

With a re-modeled convention center at the south end of downtown, a plan for a community college at the north end of downtown along with the Trinity River Project, and Sundance Square between them, it looked like Fort Worth was finally turning the corner. The downtown area was once again attracting both shopping and entertainment dollars. It was becoming a fun place to go.

That's what makes this story so puzzling. Just as Fort Worth's downtown is becoming a viable, fun and increasingly beautiful place, it looks like the greed for gas dollars may ruin it all. Contracts have now been signed that will allow the drilling for natural gas under Sundance Square, and other downtown landowners are negotiating to do the same.

The wells would be located at the edges of downtown, with one of them just a few blocks from the Convention Center and Interstate 30. Another would be located near the new community college and Trinity River Project. Is this really the kind of thing they want visitors to Fort Worth to be greeted by -- the dirty and dangerous drilling sites?

The landowners say they were careful to pick the "cleanest" drilling company. That's a bit like picking the cleanest mudhole. All drilling sites are dirty and dangerous, and our Republican-dominated Texas Railroad Commission cannot be counted on to make the drillers obey the few laws that exist.

It was bad enough that contracts for drilling were being signed in residential districts all across Fort Worth. Now with the drillers going after downtown also, it looks like things are getting out of hand. It looks like greed is now more important than civic pride and responsibility.

Although my job has moved me to the Panhandle, I lived over 20 years in Tarrant County and grew to love Fort Worth. It is one of Texas' greatest cities.

I just hate to see them taking a giant step backwards after all they have accomplished.

Fort Worth To Lose 650 Good Jobs

Fort Worth just got some bad news yesterday. The city will be losing 650 good jobs. Lockheed Corporation just announced they will be laying off 850 engineers from their program to build the F-35 fighter aircraft. Around 200 will be absorbed into other programs, but the other 650 are just out-of-luck.

With our country headed straight for what could be a prolonged recession, this is not the kind of news any city wants to hear.

For years, the Bush administration has encouraged corporations to ship good jobs overseas. Now the recession compounds this problem by starting to cause the loss of other good jobs. This might not be a problem if the economy was replacing these good jobs with other good jobs.

But that is not what is happening. The economic policies of the Bush administration has produced very few jobs. And the jobs it has produced are much lower-paying service industry jobs. That is one reason the recession will be worse and last longer than the Republicans would have us believe.

The Republicans have preached for the last few years that what was good for the corporations was good for everyone, but that is a lie. It is good for the corporations to ship jobs overseas, depress wages and destroy unions. But that is not good for the average worker.

These disastrous economic policies of the last few years cannot be fixed with a one-time economic "stimulus package". There is only one way to begin to fix our economic problems. We must vote the Republicans out of office and stop letting the corporations decide our economic policy.

If we don't, we may find our recession turning into a depression just like it did about 80 years ago. There are those who say it couldn't happen again -- they are wrong.

Bible Doesn't Give Immunity For Rudeness

Fort Worth's public transportation system is known as "The T". Last Saturday morning, a bus driver for The T kicked a woman and her children off the bus for disruptive behavior. The woman had been reading to her children in a very loud voice.

The driver asked the woman to lower her voice, and she told him "no". Then she continued her loud reading. The driver said rules against loud behavior are posted on every bus, and the other passengers were looking at him like "Are you going to enforce the rules or what?" Since she would not cooperate and obey the rules, the driver stopped the bus and escorted the woman and her children off.

That sounds like the driver was given no choice, and acted within the rules. But the woman saw it differently. The book she was loudly reading from was the Bible. Evidently she thinks that since it was the Bible, that makes her immune to the rules that ALL bus passengers must obey.

The woman called several local TV stations and claimed she had been persecuted because of "religious speech". A spokesman from The T said she was not thrown off the bus for reading the Bible, but for loud and disruptive behavior.

This woman was in the wrong, and had no right to be rude to the other passengers. She has to obey the same rules as any other passenger -- regardless of whether she was reading from the Bible or another book. This is not discrimination.

I'll bet she would have been the first to complain if a fellow passenger was reading too loudly from the Koran!

NOTE -- The T did go the "extra mile" in this instance. The driver called his supervisor, and the supervisor took the woman and her children to their destination -- church. Personally, I think this is more than she deserved.

More Political "Dirty Tricks" In Fort Worth

Fort Worth has not traditionally been a hotbed for political "dirty tricks", but it looks like that may be changing. A few days before the election, someone tried to suppress the Hispanic vote by passing out fliers with the wrong election date on them. The flier urged people to vote on Saturday the 10th, when the election was actually Tuesday the 6th.

Now there has been a second incident. On the morning of the election, an automated phone call went out to many voters. The call accused Republican and former state rep. Bob Leonard of voting in the past to raise taxes. The inference was that this was an anti-Republican vote, when in fact the bill he voted for was negotiated by Republican leadership. Here is the text of that call:

"This is a voter alert. Please pay close attention. Bob Leonard does not want you to hear this message. Craig Goldman's supporters recently revealed that as a state representative in the mid-1980s, Bob Leonard voted to raise your taxes. One of his last votes was to increase taxes on most household goods, cars, guns -- almost anything you can think of, Bob wanted to tax. Maybe that is why he quit to become a lobbyist after making that vote. Today cast your vote for Texas and against Bob Leonard."

Some believe this call could have changed the outcome of the election. In early voting totals, Leonard finished second to Democrat Dan Barrett. But after election day votes were totaled, Mark Shelton finished in second place.

The call, which many received about 8:00am, was illegal in several ways. Automated calls can't be made before 9:00am, must state the nature of the call, give the identity of the caller, and give either the phone number or address of the caller. This call did none of those things.

So far, all of the candidates have denied being resposible for the calls. But regardless of who is responsible, both the calls and the fliers are illegal. I hope those responsible parties can be found and prosecuted.

This kind of behavior cannot be tolerated in a democracy.

Democrat Leads Way To District 97 Runoff

The District 97 seat in Fort Worth for state representative has been a pretty safe seat for Republicans for the last few years, but that may be changing. There was a special election to fill that seat yesterday, and the Democrat, Dan Barrett, did very well.

Barrett was facing opposition from 6 Republican candidates in the election, and he led the field garnering about 32% of the vote. Here are the results:

Dan Barrett..........32%

Mark Shelton..........23%

Bob Leonard..........19%

Craig Goldman..........17%

Chris Hatch, Jeff Humber and James Schull all received less than 6%

There will now be a runoff between Barrett and Shelton. Now it comes down to which party can turn out the votes in the runoff. Traditionally, even less people will vote in the runoff than voted yesterday in the election. I believe the Democrats have a chance to take this seat. The Democrats are energized and I believe they will turn out in good numbers for the runoff.

It won't be easy though. We can expect Craddick to put some money in to support Shelton now. Barrett was the only candidate in the race who was not a Craddick supporter, and if he is elected it would be one more step toward a new Speaker of the House.

City, County & State Want New Toll Lanes On I-35W

Anyone who lives in or near Tarrant county knows that Interstate 35W north of downtown has been inadequate for the traffic it carries for several years now. It only has two lanes, and it needs to have at least two more [making a total of four lanes going each way].

When Tarrant county got a huge multi-million dollar bond proposal passed earlier this year, they said part of the money would be to "fix I-35W". I thought at the time this meant they would widen the freeway, and I'm sure a lot of others thought the same. After all, that is the "fix" that is needed. But we were wrong. Evidently the money was just for repairs and not for widening the freeway. I still think they were misleading when trying to get the bond proposal passed.

Now they are doing something even worse. Fort Worth and Tarrant county officials have joined with state officials to push a proposal that would widen I-35W and Loop 820 with new TOLL LANES! It's not bad enough that these officials support that boondoggle called the Trans-Texas Corridor, now they want to build new toll lanes inside the county.

It seems like these officials never pass up an opportunity to squeeze another dollar out of their constituents. What do they have against poor and working folks? Do they just not like us, or just can't be bothered with thinking about us?

I'm sure these officials have plenty of money to throw around and spend on taking a toll road. After all, you pretty much have to be well-off to even run for political office these days. But there are lots of working people who really can't afford the extra expense of taking a toll road to work and back. They're still going to be crammed into the two existing lanes, while the rich speed by in the new toll lanes.

The working people pay most of the taxes, and they deserve to have a decent way to get to and from work. But it seems that everything the city, county and state does nowdays is geared toward helping the rich. Widening I-35W and Loop 820 is badly needed, but it is ridiculous and unfair to do it by adding toll lanes.

If we need to raise the gas tax a little to pay for new and improved roads, then we should do it. That would be a lot cheaper for most people than toll roads. This is just a bad idea, and it should be stopped before it gets any further.