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Wednesday, June 11, 2008
How the story broke
The story behind the story of the day is worth telling, even if its significance amounts only to an easily-made joke about an eager politician.
Midday Tuesday, TxDOT public information officers contacted news outlets letting them know of a telephone conference call later that day. On the call, reporters learned details of the TTC project revision with the understanding that the news would be not be published until 10 a.m. Wednesday. Embargoes are somewhat routine when organizations distribute information to large groups of journalists, although TxDOT offered no explanation for the embargo Tuesday.
About 5 p.m., State Sen. Robert Nichols sent reporters a statement “for immediate release,” referring to all the details under embargo. With Nichols’ statement made public, all bets were off, on the embargo. As the New York Times reported last year, such complications are occurring more frequently as the Internet increases the competition between papers to break news. In short order, The Daily Sentinel, The Lufkin Daily News, and Associated Press all had stories on the changes to the TTC.
I had an opportunity to ask Sen. Nichols Wednesday why he broke the embargo. He simply didn’t know it was there, he said.
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Reactions Roundup
Here’s a quick sampling of what local officials and others are saying about the latest developments in the TTC-69 saga.
Mayor Roger Van Horn
“I am glad for the landowners who worked very hard to get those people who make policy to look again at our needs versus cost, being land and money. So I’m happy for them. What I like about it is it’s a good example of how the process works: proposals are made, people are talked to, listened to.”
County Judge Joe English
“I’m excited about the idea that the governor changed his mind. I think that the original proposal lopped off a lot of land in our county and it was unnecessary, and I certainly was concerned as everyone else was.”
Terri Hall, founder of TexasTURF
We actually have several concerns about this thing. While were delighted that thery’re agreeing to use the existing right of way, and thats going to relieve a certain number of land owners, by the same token, this now requires… TxDOT to now re-do, or at least at a minimum, supplement their environmental document to reflect the new project route and to have to now go back and study the impacts of that route and take public comment. They basically have to re-do their public hearing process again.”
U.S. Rep. Louie Gohmert (via press release)
“TxDOT’s announcement today that it will recommend the use of existing highways for the I-69 corridor appears to be a bit of silver lining in the stormy debate surrounding the highway, but as east Texans continually express to me, there are still serious concerns regarding this issue. It truly is a victory, though, that our citizens’ overwhelming feedback has caused TxDOT to scrap their plans of swallowing the land of east Texas with the massive footprint of the original Trans-Texas Corridor. This shows that a person’s voice really can make a difference, and I am glad the department finally listened. However, our top priority is to ensure that the sovereignty of the United States and our border security are not compromised, and we still have to get reassurance that these values will be protected under this project. I will to continue to speak with TxDOT officials to gain further clarity on these matters, but for now, we’re pleased with this announcement.”
City Manager Jim Jeffers
“There’s still an awful lot of work to be done.”
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A big announcement
It’s shaping up to be a busy 24 hours for the TxDOT and the Trans Texas Corridor. State Sen. Robert Nichols broke the story yesterday that TTC-69 will likely follow the path of U.S. 59, and today, a series of press conferences will attempt to answer some of the many questions that arise in the wake of that news.
(We’ll plan to talk more about how the news broke yesterday and some other behind-the-scenes tidbits in a post later today.)
A set of graphics illustrating the changes to the TTC-69 corridor are posted on the TxDOT Web site, along with the press release that will be the basis of all questions and answers today. A revised map and fact sheet are attached below.
More updates to come throughout the day.
