Some old and some new

I have been haring off doing this and that, trying to make a living, braving the blizzard, and a few other things called a life that I overlooked a few things:

from last month's Star about the toll road to nowhere:

Many of those attending said cutting the county in half through farms, school districts, and small communities is not worth the economic benefits the project is supposed to generate. Others said the toll road may not even solve traffic woes.

“A toll road may, in fact, make things worse,” said Gary Moody. “A foreign consortium running that road would want more congestion because it would be good for business.”

Part of the proposed plan would give a private company operating the toll road a non-competition clause preventing the state from building an alternate route parallel to the toll road until the end of a possible 75-year lease.

A resident of Franklin, Moody, 50, also referred to the Central Indiana Suburban Transportation and Mobility Study conducted by the state in 2005. The study indicated the outer belt would be located on the edge of where the Indianapolis metropolitan area might be in another 30 years. Until then, few local travelers would likely use the beltway with one exception – those currently traveling between Anderson and Indianapolis on I-69 could instead take the outer belt to I-70 East, according to the report.

“We spent $850,000 on that study,” said Bobbie Tranter, 47, of Needham Township. “They’re saying that it did not show them what they need to know, or is it that it did not show them what they wanted it to say? In 20 years if this is needed, let’s go for it and do it and take my land. But until then let’s deal with the problems we need to deal with today.”

Several constituents questioned the route of the proposed saying it should be built near cities like Kokomo and Anderson where residents have faced job losses due to shut-downs of factories in automotive industries.

Others attending the meeting asked why the toll road is not being built in Hamilton County where traffic congestion, especially on I-69 near Fishers and Noblesville, is causing headaches for commuters traveling between the northern bedroom communities and Indianapolis.

Farmers in the audience are also concerned they will not be able to pass their land on to children and grandchildren, or that they will not be paid a fair price by the state for land that is now commanding about $25,000 an acre by developers. Some lament not only the potential loss of farms but also history of the area.

“Are we going to be giving the governor a blank check,” asked Sara Earles, 62, of Nineveh Township. “We have old cemeteries and history that will be wiped out if this goes through.”

Here is a link to get a look at the Senate Bill for the ICC. It went to the House on the 12th. Not sure if the General Assembly is shut down due to the snow or not. Masson's Blog has a report on the Senate vote. Looks like the vote was not along party lines.

From this post on today's TDW, I get the idea that the Governor and the President both want to push toll roads.

The Indianapolis Star had this rather lackluster report of Daniels' reception in Washington, DC.

Kenn Gividen has a post here with a different view on the subject. I disagree heartily and completely but it is a well written Libertarian argument.

Am I the only one who wonders about who will get the benefit from these privatization deals? Is Mighty Mitch going to have a cozy job waiting for him after he gets booted out of office? One of TDW's posters said he wanted a conservative because Mitch was a Liberal. Mitch is not a Liberal. Mitch is a short-sighted idiot who is a toady for Big Business instead of being our governor. Though, I do agree with that poster that if we pay taxes, we ought not pay user fees. That combination does nothing but infuriate Hoosiers.