Pennsylvania Toll Road Sale Details Kept Top Secret

[donsu]

http://www.thenewspaper.com/news/16/1660.asp


Pennsylvania authorities keep details on the proposed sale of state toll roads secret from legislators and the public.
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Lawmakers who will decide whether to adopt the plan of Governor Edward G. Rendell (D) to sell the Pennsylvania Turnpike to one of 48 companies have been denied access to proposal details. Despite the impact on everyday users of the road, the state Department of Transportation has refused requests from state House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia), state Representative Joseph Markosek (D-Allegheny), the media and the public for copies of relevant documents.

"Submissions, which may contain proprietary information, are not made public," a PennDOT spokesman told the Philadelphia Inquirer newspaper.

Rendell hopes to sell the 160-mile toll road in return for a massive one-time payment of up to $30 billion to help balance the state budget. The road, at current toll levels, generates around $550 million in revenue each year. Legislation introduced in the General Assembly on Monday would authorize the sale. In Australia, California and Colorado, secrecy regarding contract details hid "non-compete" agreements from the public. These provisions were designed to increase congestion on nearby free roads to force motorists onto the pay route. The provisions also led to the failure of the public-private partnership in Australia and California.

New Jersey Governor John Corzine (D) is likewise looking to sell the New Jersey Turnpike and Garden State Parkway. A majority of New Jersey motorists, 56 percent, told AAA that they opposed selling the state roads.

The former investment bank employers of Governors Corzine and Rendell are among the bidders for the toll road deal.
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is it legal to sell off State assets without the citizens of the State knowing about it?

I think not.

you don't keep something a secret unless somebody's pockets are being stuffed with money

[Atman]

1. PROPRIETARY INFORMATION?

Are these patented roads, for chrissake? WTF?

.

[hedgehog]

2. Democratic office holders should not be selling off state assets

to private companies for any reason. That's for Republicans. No wonder so many people stay home on election day!

[depakid]

15. There are plenty of corrupt Dems

just like there are plenty of DINO's who'll stab us in the back.

And you're right- that's why people stay home on lection day.

[ThomCat]

3. This is just crazy.

The whole idea that making public infrastructure private and for-profit is going to help people in nuts. The idea that this is going to somehow improve service and cut costs is a deliberate lie. They idea that this will benefit anybody other than the corporation that gets the contract is absurd.
x(

Hiding the details behind these contract negotiations is damage control and scandal prevention. It should also be a crime.
:nuke:

[WinkyDink]

4. I have e-mailed the Allentown/Bethlehem newspapers (Express-Times, Morning-Call)

and have spoken to their reporters on this story, concerning the FOREIGN ownership (cf. "Mother Jones"---"The Highwaymen").

Don't know what it will take to get this out.

[natrat]

5. goes to show crooks can have a D or an R by there names

and that some states are seriously broke cuz of junior

[Mind_your_head]

6. Not this Shit Again!!! Everything is a d*mn SECRET - it's the PEOPLE's

asset!!! Paid for with taxpayer money & tolls. How dare they say it's a 'secret' that neither legislators or the public can know the details?

This REEKS of corruption.

[Hobo]

7. The Pa turnpike is longer than 160 miles

Are they just selling part of it?

Peace

Hobo

:beer: :toast:

[Junkdrawer]

8. Rendell was key in getting "No VVPAT" voting machines in PA...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=203&topic_id=415288

I've speculated many times that the whole voting machine deal smacked of a back-room deal. Now we see that Ed is big on back-room deals....

[Nikki Stone1]

9. Secrecy means it's just private looting of public structures, long since paid for

What can we do about it?

[whistle]

10. Totally illegal

[Nikki Stone1]

11. How can it be stopped?

:kick:

[donsu]

12. sunshine - spread the info

nt

[Nikki Stone1]

13. Doing so

But this is part of a large scale project to sell off public works to private entities

[donsu]

14. the Penn. citizens need to hire smart lawyers

nt

[Lasher]

16. This kind of thing has been going on with government-owned water companies

Democrats and publicans are doing it. Public drinking water systems have been built with taxpayer dollars and had been run by local government entities. Politicians realized they could sell these assets to private companies, which always jack up the water rates and will continue to do so to squeeze out all the profits they can.

The politicians get a boatload of money to spread around without having to raise taxes. Lots of their constituents are happy because they are stupid or selfish or both. Consumers end up paying for this forever. We are feeding on our own body fat.

[BlueEyedSon]

17. Dubai??

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

18. I have posted this before. There are roads throughout our country that are being sold

to foreign companies, and people just don't have a clue.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-07-15-u.s.-highways_x.htm

Foreign companies buying U.S. roads, bridges
Posted 7/15/2006 12:29 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AP) — Roads and bridges built by U.S. taxpayers are starting to be sold off, and so far foreign-owned companies are doing the buying.

On a single day in June, an Australian-Spanish partnership paid $3.8 billion to lease the Indiana Toll Road. An Australian company bought a 99-year lease on Virginia's Pocahontas Parkway, and Texas officials decided to let a Spanish-American partnership build and run a toll road from Austin to Seguin for 50 years.

Few people know that the tolls from the U.S. side of the tunnel between Detroit and Windsor, Canada, go to a subsidiary of an Australian company — which also owns a bridge in Alabama.

Some experts welcome the trend. Robert Poole, transportation director for the conservative think tank Reason Foundation, said private investors can raise more money than politicians to build new roads because these kind of owners are willing to raise tolls.

Continued at above link