PRESS ADVISORY
Contacts: Terri Hall,
Founder/Director, Texans
Uniting for Reform and
Freedom (TURF), (210)
275-0640
Texans to TxDOT: No
stimulus funds for toll
roads! Slow down and fix
it first, invest
stimulus wisely
Austin, TX, March 3,
2009
– The Texas
Transportation
Commission is poised to
ram through $1.7 billion
of new stimulus-funded
projects
at their meeting
Thursday. The project
list is chock full of
controversial projects,
including the Grand
Parkway in Houston, the
US-281 toll road across
the Edwards aquifer in
San Antonio, more toll
roads to nowhere, and
sprawl highways through
environmentally-sensitive
areas. Further, many
Texans object to
spending stimulus on
toll roads.
On Tuesday morning, Texans
from across the state will
converge at the capitol to
demand that Texas Department
of Transportation (TxDOT)
slow down and do this right.
We must ensure our federal
stimulus isn't wasted on
boondoggles!
What:
Joint citizen press
conference on stimulus funds
Who:
Texans United for Reform and
Freedom (TURF),
Terri Hall,
http://texasturf.org
Sierra Club
Lone Star Chapter, Ken
Kramer,
http://lonestar.sierraclub.org
Environment Texas,
Alejandro Savransky,
http://environmenttexas.org
Independent Texans,
Linda Curtis,
http://indytexans.org
Houston Tomorrow,
Jay Crossley,
http://houstontomorrow.org
Citizens' Transportation
Coalition
(CTC), Robin Holzer,
http://ctchouston.org
When:
Tuesday,
Mar 3,
2009 at
9:15 am
Where:
East steps of the Texas
capitol, Austin, TX
Visuals:
Texas capitol, Texans on the
steps, TxDOT headquarters
across the street
Background:
In February, the American
Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (ARRA) allocated $2.25
billion in federal
transportation funds to
Texas. The US Department of
Transportation (DOT) will
allow states
up to one year
to decide which projects to
build.
