Gov. Perry’s press release announced that TEXAS taxpayers are providing $800,000 through the Texas Enterprise Fund to close a deal with Fritz Industries, Inc. in Greenville, TX.
COULD THIS HAVE ANYTHING to do with the “Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study”, proposing to build the new multimodal (includes toll road option) transportation facility along or near the Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District (NETEX) right-of-way, from IH-30 in Greenville (Hunt County), through Collin County, to the President George Bush Turnpike in Dallas County? By the way, NETEX already signed a lease agreement on Jan 9, 2013 with a private company named Cotton Belt Turnpike LP (public private partnership) to do such a thing, so this study is a “cart before the horse” study.
Founded in 1956 by Frederick “Fritz” Weisend, Fritz Industries, Inc. is an independent, employee owned company with integrated manufacturing and on-site research and development. They manufacture products used in drilling and cementing, and stimulation fluids that are critical to the daily operations of oilfield service companies. The company conducts research and development to improve productivity in new oil and gas wells and extend the life of existing wells. Corporate headquarters and manufacturing facilities are located in Mesquite, Texas, with additional manufacturing facilities in Greenville, Texas.
Gov. Perry’s press release states: Fritz Industries President and CEO Dan Montgomery said he gives credit to Gov. Perry, Sen. Deuell and Rep. Flynn for closing this deal. Greenville Mayor Steve Reid said. “I also want to commend the Greenville economic development team of: Chairman Larry Green Jr. and board members, CEO Greg Sims and staff, the City Council and city staff, our County Judge John Horn and commissioners.”
Many residents living within the Blacklands Corridor probably missed the public notice, but on July 25th a 2 hour public hearing was held and hosted by the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCoG), titled Blacklands Corridor Feasibility Study. The notice said:
“Residents, elected officials, business leaders and all individuals interested are invited to an open house and public meeting to learn about and discuss the transportation study that will soon begin and focus on the Blacklands Corridor in Collin, Dallas and Hunt counties. The “Study” will evaluate the need for a new transportation facility along or near the Northeast Texas Rural Rail Transportation District (NETEX) right-of-way from IH 30 in Hunt County to the President George Bush Turnpike in Dallas County.
At the open house and public meeting, staff from the North Central Texas Council of Governments Transportation Department will seek initial input from the public about transportation priorities in the area and summarize the study:
• Geographic area
• Purpose, process and goals
• Timeline
• Opportunities for public involvement
Is it possible that it’s not really the residents’ priorities that the NCTCoG is interested in hearing from, but the transportation “priorities” are really aimed toward the transport of goods for corporate entities wanting to get from Greenville, TX to the Barnett Shale natural gas and oil field? Could it also be part of the international trade treaties our federal tyrants sign onto, such as NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Asia-Pacific trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement, and the 19 other foreign Free Trade Agreements?
The United States has become addicted to imported consumer goods, more so than exporting American goods, to the tune of a $34.2 Billion trade deficit (June 2013 Trade Numbers). So if one’s addiction to imports is strong enough, one won’t mind paying multiple times and in perpetuity to build and travel a paved highway alongside the 18 wheelers across DFW because beginning Sept. 1st, you’ll be paying for transportation not only with gas taxes, but with your local sales & property taxes (SB 1110), and then of course there’s the user fee called a toll tax. Texans are paying for roads multiple times through various taxes and tolls in perpetuity, to private companies and some of these benefactors are foreign companies.
Let’s all eat cake and enjoy our imported wheat, delivered to us through free trade agreements, gas taxes, your local sales & property taxes, and toll taxes in perpetuity.
See if your legislator voted for SB 1110. If so, ask him/her why?
House of Representatives
Senate
It has nothing to do with commuter traffic. Even if Greenville’s population doubled in the next 20 years to 50K (which now I know why it will), a tollroad cannot by sustained and profitable by a city of 50K. It has to do with huge tracts of land that The Walton Group Inc from Canada has purchased on the south side of Greenville and there are plans to develop thousands of houses there. This toll road is about nothing but the players involved devising a way to get the building materials there and make a profit off of that too. If you go back and listen to the meeting they had with the Rowlett City Council they admit they see it as mainly being truck traffic. Now I know why, and it is just another part of the scheme of them lining their pockets at our expense. Think about all of the noise and particulate pollution that will be for the city of Rowlett. There is so much political cronyism and back scratching going on with this between members of the NCTCOG, Public Werks Inc (TTA) and the Walton Group, that even I can see it.