Sen. Kirk Watson's Fat Chance
Watson: Appointees Could End TxDOT "Us Versus Them Mentality"
4/30/08
Richard Whittaker
Austin Chronicle
Copyright 2008
Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who doesn't normally weigh in on appointments, just called the Newsdesk to talk about Gov. Rick Perry's announcement earlier today about putting his former chief of staff Deirdre Delisi and North Texas toll road policy maker William Meadows on the Texas Transportation Commission.
"I knew they were coming, and my hope is that what we see with these two appointments is a change in direction," said Watson. He hopes this could indicate a shift from the "us versus them mentality at TxDOT," and place more emphasis on local control over decisions about road infrastructure.
With the failure of the lege to pass a meaningful state-wide toll road moratorium last session (mainly because many Dallas-area and North Texas planning stakeholders fought so bitterly against it), if Watson's right this could mean a partial end to the 'one size fits all' approach to road planning in Texas.
© 2008 Austin Chronicle:www.austinchronicle.com
To search TTC News Archives clickHERE
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog clickHERE
4/30/08
Richard Whittaker
Austin Chronicle
Copyright 2008
Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, who doesn't normally weigh in on appointments, just called the Newsdesk to talk about Gov. Rick Perry's announcement earlier today about putting his former chief of staff Deirdre Delisi and North Texas toll road policy maker William Meadows on the Texas Transportation Commission.
"I knew they were coming, and my hope is that what we see with these two appointments is a change in direction," said Watson. He hopes this could indicate a shift from the "us versus them mentality at TxDOT," and place more emphasis on local control over decisions about road infrastructure.
With the failure of the lege to pass a meaningful state-wide toll road moratorium last session (mainly because many Dallas-area and North Texas planning stakeholders fought so bitterly against it), if Watson's right this could mean a partial end to the 'one size fits all' approach to road planning in Texas.
© 2008 Austin Chronicle:
To search TTC News Archives click
To view the Trans-Texas Corridor Blog click
posted by Porkus Maximus Tex: at Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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