Citizen Tom

Beware of politicians with fancy new schemes to spend your money.  From the point-of-view of too many politicians, the only unqualified good is more money to spend.  Anything that brings more money into the ”public” treasury so they can spend it is good.  So it is that the Supreme Court made an odd decision a while back.  The Court decided that “public use” (from the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution) includes the prospect that a different use might result in the collection of more tax money (see Kelo v. New London).  Wikipedia has a nice explanation of this pathetic decision (here).

Out of one side of their mouths, many Virginia politicians joined in expressing the general disdain for the Kelo decision.  However, what came out of the other side of their mouths was just another scheme to use the right of eminent domain for the privileged few.  

As members of the elite, our politicians know the elite know better than the rest of us what we need.  And they also know the elite work hard and deserve more.  So it is that we have visions of HOT lanes spreading their tendrils across Virginia. 

What are HOT lanes?  VDOT describes HOT Lanes this way.

The Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) is partnering with Fluor-Transurban in the development of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane projects for Interstates 95/395 and the Capital Beltway/Interstate 495. The projects are designed to help alleviate congestion.

The I-95/395 project will expand the existing reversible high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on I-95/395 from two to three lanes and extend two new lanes south to Massaponax from Eads Street near the Pentagon.

Two HOV/Bus/HOT lanes will be added on the Capital Beltway in each direction between the Springfield Interchange and just north of the Dulles Toll Road.  (from here)

HOT lanes are special lanes that anybody but your typical commuter can use.  Because of this public/private partnership, HOT lanes are also a good way for people with connections to siphon off your tax dollars. 

Whenever we use the right of eminent domain, it is not a trivial exercise.  Consider what happens.  Whether they like it or not, ordinary citizens have to adjust to the demands of the majority.  Ordinary citizens have to sell their land at a price set by a judge.  Those with land nearby may also have to put up with an obnoxious new neighbor.  In the case of the Washington Beltway, citizens have to put up with a huge noisy road that never seems to stop growing. 

Along Americana Drive in Annandale, well-maintained apartment complexes are nestled in lush, dense woods. Swimming pools and tennis courts are connected by a network of paved footpaths. Depending on the spot, the roar of the Capital Beltway can sound like little more than a faint whisper.

That last fact will change dramatically with an enormous widening project recently begun along the Beltway, which lies a stone’s throw from such Annandale complexes as Heritage Court, Heritage Woods, Ivy Mount and Lafayette Forest. Like neighborhoods all along the 14-mile stretch of Beltway where two lanes will be added in each direction, these communities are about to lose virtually all of the vegetative buffer that has grown between them and the highway for 40 years. And they’re not happy about it.  (from here)

When we use government force against our fellow citizens, we need a good reason.  When we use the right of eminent domain, we better be building something that really is for public use, not just a privileged few.  In the past when we have built toll facilities, our government did not make special lanes or special deals with private companies.  Instead the government just sold some bonds and paid off the bonds with tolls.  The arrangement was simple and straight-forward.  Everybody knew what was going on, and nobody got any special deals. 

Now, however, our politicians are making special deals for anybody who wants to give them money, and they cannot resist lying to anybody who doesn’t pay them off.  You thought that private company was suppose to finance the beltway HOT Lanes.  Think again.

A privately backed plan to build express toll lanes on the Virginia portion of the Capital Beltway, which was promoted as a way to ease traffic without using taxpayer money, has become so expensive that the firms behind the project could require more than $100 million in public funds to make it work, according to state transportation officials. (from here)

$100 million?  That is just the tip of the iceberg.  The whole arrangement of building roads with “private” funding has the same reek that building that football stadium for Washington Redskins had.  For a relatively small fee from a private company, our government is giving that private company a sole source contract that allows it to charge the public.   A few people benefit.  In reality, the taxpayers will pay most of the bill.  Is it any surprise we now have evidence of illegal campaign contributions.

Illegal political contributions helped an Australian firm land a lucrative toll road deal that grants the company unprecedented power over Northern Virginia’s transportation future. Last week, Transurban wrote and asked state lawmakers to return checks that the Melbourne-based toll road operator had written in violation of federal campaign laws (details).

But the deal these contributions helped bring about has already been finalized. In June, the US Department of Transportation created a first-of-its-kind $1.6 billion financing package that consisted of tax-free bonds, loans and state taxpayer grants to support the project that will add a pair of High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes to the Interstate 495 Capital Beltway just outside of Washington, DC. To this amount, Transurban only added $349 million of its own capital — less than the cost of interest — toward the construction of the toll lanes (details). (from here)

This whole arrangement stinks.  Do we really want to sell our roads to private companies – foreign companies to boot?  

Transurban’s chief toll road operations are based in Melbourne, Australia. In 2006, the company won a 99-year lease of the 8.8-mile Pocahontas Parkway in Richmond, VA.

A year later, Transurban began working with the federal government and state of Virginia to expand the Capital Beltway from eight lanes to 12 lanes through the implementation of high-occupancy toll lanes.

Transurban and partner Fluor Corporation of Texas partnered to build HOT lanes on the Beltway using $589 million in private activity bonds issued by the federal government, another $589 million in federal grants, $409 million from the state of Virginia, and $350 million in privately raised capital.

The toll operator will build and manage the lanes in exchange for 75 years of toll revenue.

A third tolling proposal involving Transurban has not yet come to fruition. It involves the expansion of Interstate 95 and Interstate 395, also in Virginia.  (from here)

It is one thing to have government regulating a public utility like an electric company.  In that case the government stands back and regulates.   It does not form some weird ”public/private partnership.”  It just regulates.  Even then the whole situation has certain odor.  Dominion for example contributes millions to politicians.  However, at least Dominion spends its own money, and when Dominion uses eminent domain, it does so to provide electricity to everyone, not just a priviledged few.