Ahoy, Maties! Another "Public Pirate" Partnership!
County needs to move now on FM 1488 condemnations
Our View: Time to push for eminent domain on FM 1488 holdouts
12/30/2005
The Courier
Copyright 2005
When The Courier's update Wednesday on the $160 million in bond projects indicated that the FM 1488 expansion project was being delayed by property owners holding out for a better deal on selling rights of way, it sounded like something we'd heard before.
Sure enough - the county was offering the same excuse back in Sept. 2004 for delays in the start of construction on FM 1488. That was more than a year ago; and work still hasn't started.
It's time to get this project rolling, and that means the county must move forward with property condemnation, and right now.
It's not that we're big fans of condemning private property for public use. We're in support of limiting the government powers of eminent domain when it involves condemning and buying out one private party and then turning over that property to another private property in the interests of economic development or other such arguments. The Legislature rightly sought to curb those powers in the last legislative session.
But eminent domain, in which the government condemns property and pays the owner fair market value determined by an independent, neutral arbiter, is designed specifically for public projects like the FM 1488 expansion. The county needs to be willing to be aggressive in using this tool, in order to get the rights of way needed to launch the necessary road work and serve the public interest in this crucial project.
The start of construction for FM 1488 is a can that has been kicked repeatedly down the road, to no effect. Where county officials once hoped work could start by the end of 2005, now they're looking at July 2006 - if all of the right of way necessary for the project to start can be purchased.
The manager for the Montgomery County Transportation Program overseeing the county's $160 million bond project is Jennie Taraborelli of Houston-based Pate Engineers.
She told The Courier in a story this week that some landowners along the highway believe "this is their moment to capitalize" and therefore are holding out for the best deal possible.
They've held out long enough. It's time for the county to stop kicking the can down the road and start condemnation proceedings on the relative handful of people who are holding up a project intended to benefit thousands of county residents. The July 2006 timeline for start of FM 1488 construction must not be missed.
Reader Opinions
Jan 2 2006
Alice Sorsby McGuffie
I am very uncomfortable with the idea of a private company taking on so much of the power of the government without the same accountability to the public.
It appears that this "aggressive" approach toward building Montgomery County's new "shadow toll road" at the expense of the environment and landowners may foretell how TxDOT and its private agents will handle the massive Trans Texas Corridor "Crossroads of the Americas" project.
Those "Crossroads" toward privatization are looking more and more like the "Crossbones of Piratization" to me. Maybe these new alliances between the public and private sectors should be called Public Pirate Partnerships. Ahoy, Mates!
©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2006 www.hcnonline.com
Our View: Time to push for eminent domain on FM 1488 holdouts
12/30/2005
The Courier
Copyright 2005
When The Courier's update Wednesday on the $160 million in bond projects indicated that the FM 1488 expansion project was being delayed by property owners holding out for a better deal on selling rights of way, it sounded like something we'd heard before.
Sure enough - the county was offering the same excuse back in Sept. 2004 for delays in the start of construction on FM 1488. That was more than a year ago; and work still hasn't started.
It's time to get this project rolling, and that means the county must move forward with property condemnation, and right now.
It's not that we're big fans of condemning private property for public use. We're in support of limiting the government powers of eminent domain when it involves condemning and buying out one private party and then turning over that property to another private property in the interests of economic development or other such arguments. The Legislature rightly sought to curb those powers in the last legislative session.
But eminent domain, in which the government condemns property and pays the owner fair market value determined by an independent, neutral arbiter, is designed specifically for public projects like the FM 1488 expansion. The county needs to be willing to be aggressive in using this tool, in order to get the rights of way needed to launch the necessary road work and serve the public interest in this crucial project.
The start of construction for FM 1488 is a can that has been kicked repeatedly down the road, to no effect. Where county officials once hoped work could start by the end of 2005, now they're looking at July 2006 - if all of the right of way necessary for the project to start can be purchased.
The manager for the Montgomery County Transportation Program overseeing the county's $160 million bond project is Jennie Taraborelli of Houston-based Pate Engineers.
She told The Courier in a story this week that some landowners along the highway believe "this is their moment to capitalize" and therefore are holding out for the best deal possible.
They've held out long enough. It's time for the county to stop kicking the can down the road and start condemnation proceedings on the relative handful of people who are holding up a project intended to benefit thousands of county residents. The July 2006 timeline for start of FM 1488 construction must not be missed.
Reader Opinions
Jan 2 2006
Alice Sorsby McGuffie
I am very uncomfortable with the idea of a private company taking on so much of the power of the government without the same accountability to the public.
It appears that this "aggressive" approach toward building Montgomery County's new "shadow toll road" at the expense of the environment and landowners may foretell how TxDOT and its private agents will handle the massive Trans Texas Corridor "Crossroads of the Americas" project.
Those "Crossroads" toward privatization are looking more and more like the "Crossbones of Piratization" to me. Maybe these new alliances between the public and private sectors should be called Public Pirate Partnerships. Ahoy, Mates!
©Houston Community Newspapers Online 2006
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Monday, January 02, 2006
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