Seems some of you in the Power Elite Coral Bay Club crowd were offended by comments in my last I-95 Toll Road posting. Well sorry to offend you but YOU have offended us by your heavy handed stuff it down their throats approach in trying to force a toll on I-95 through Eastern North Carolina. When someone tries to force their will on you without even the civility of asking your opinion one should expect those so offended to fight back and so we shall. For the record too we the people will not go away this time as we did last time a couple of years ago when you backed off and came back with another plan this time around.
Those of us in the We The People category who are fighting back is growing longer by the day. Here is a partial list of those groups who are just saying NO to tolling I-95.
Halifax County Board of Commissioners
Halifax County Economic Development Commission
Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce
City Council of Roanoke Rapids
Halifax County Convention and Visitors Bureau
Johnston County Board of Commissioners
Johnston County Tourism Authority
City of Smithfield
Nash County Tourism Development Authority
Fayetteville County Commissioners
Town of Kenly
Greater Smithfield Selma Chamber of Commerce
This list if growing daily and includes some fine newspapers along the corridor as well. Such as The Smithfield Herald, The Wilson Daily Times, The Mount Olive Tribune, The Daily Herald in Roanoke Rapids, and The Robesonian in Lumberton. How about you editors in Dunn and Rocky Mount weigh in as well and let me know you are with us. For the record shame on The Fayetteville Observer for weighing on the other side. Your willingness to self serve is showing my former employers. Understand not taking a stand is in essence saying you are against us, so no middle ground here to hide.
While we are at it let's talk politics and just who is with us and who is against us here in our toll fight. Congratulations and big kudos to Congresswoman Renee Ellmers for not only coming out against the toll, but actually doing something about it. Congresswoman Ellmers has entered a bill to actually forbid any tolling on I-95 through North Carolina. Congressman Mike McIntrye has also publicly stated his opposition to the toll as well. How about it Mike and sign on to Ms. Ellmers bill and be a co-sponsor of her bill to forbid the toll. That would be a nice piece of bipartisanship there. Just where is Congressman Butterfield here. Mr. Butterfield are you so tied to the Power Elite that you can not look after the people in your district who will lose jobs when I-95 is tolled. You had no problem getting upset at the first series of new district maps last year, how about some more of that getting upset regarding your constituents. If you have come out against the toll road make it known in a press release please.
As those of us who are against the poll have dug into the pages of the I-95 document we continue to fun little bits of information that NCDOT has failed to bring forward other than deep in the small print for obvious reasons. One is that the approximately $40 per round trip is only the PROPOSED starting toll. The toll could be more, maybe a lot more, since only when the final costs of the construction project are totaled does NCDOT decide what the poll will be and as anyone knows government NEVER goes down on taxes. Add in that the starting toll will not be the toll rate forever, NCDOT has built in an "inflation" escalator which means the toll could increase a couple dollars every year for the up to 40 years the toll is expected to be in force.
I have also yet to hear one NCDOT official tell me when the toll will actually end. Could be they do not plan for it to ever end, since they would like this problem of funding I-95 off their plates forever so as to spend gas tax money elsewhere in the state. How about that your children, your grandchildren, even your great grandchildren, could be paying an ever increasing toll just to ride on I-95. So defeating the toll is important to do now.
The good news is that the people who have come out at the show and tell meetings by NCDOT along the corridor have been vocal and firm about their objection at using a toll to fund upgrades and maintenance of I-95. The other good news is that your concern has had an effect on the Power Elite who have backed off some with their insistence on the toll plan. You know an election is coming up and it is never smart to make the voters mad right before an election. Let's keep up the pressure and work to defeat this toll and this time bury it for good.
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