Are Aggies really against high speed rail in Texas? Really??
February 12th, 2016
Or was this a well orchestrated slick political ploy backed by select state legislators and rural county administrators?
February 12, 2016 -
The headline reads: Aggie Student Senate Opposes Eminent Domain for Train | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Texans Against High Speed Rail issued a news release after the A&M Student Senate voted 60-2 to oppose a privately financed high speed rail project between Dallas and Houston:
"Jewett, Texas – In a nearly unanimous roll call, the Texas A&M University Student Senate, speaking on behalf of the student body, sent a clear message Wednesday night condemning the use of eminent domain by a private company, specifically the proposed Dallas Houston High-Speed Rail project. Texas A&M Senate Bill 68-36, entitled the Eminent Domain Opposition Act, was authored by Wayne Beckermann, Vice President of Municipal Affairs and public administration master’s student in the Bush School of Government and Public Service, and sponsored by Rules and Regulations Committee Chair Carlos Sonka, a senior petroleum engineer major." Souce: Texans Against High Speed Rail website.
The issue of eminent domain by a private company to use a 100-foot wide strip of land that would mostly run along an electric utility corridor between the two major cities was heard by the student senate Wednesday on the A&M campus. The "Eminent Domain Oppositions Act" was aimed specifically at the private Dallas-Houston high-speed rail project that will have a stop just outside of Bryan / College Station. Rural legislators and county officials who are opposed to high speed rail were invited to testify before the student group but the only pro high speed rail testimony came from Texas Central Partners, the railroad wanting to build the high speed line. No other pro-rail or rail advocacy organizations, including Texas Rail Advocates, the National Association of Railroad Passengers or urban legislators allegedly received an invitation to testify.
Public comments following the 60-2 vote against Texas Central were immediate and indignant that the "kangaroo kourt" did not have a balanced approach to the issue before voting. On Reddit.com comments ranged from "the two bill authors do not speak for the tens of thousands of Aggies who would benefit from high-speed rail" to "we don't want progress, and we want to make it harder to go to school at A&M, and we are stuck in the mentality of a century that ended 16 years ago." Another post indicated "It's probably worth noting that the author of the bill, a "public service and administration graduate student", also comes from a field in which ED (Eminent Domain) is a common tool of the trade."
Other student government organizations at Texas universities have issued letters of support for the high speed rail project in the past. Those were not influenced by the agenda of elected state senators, state representatives and rural county administrators but were promulgated by the students themselves.
So the real question is.... was the Aggies-Against-High-Speed-Rail push really the true feeling of the student body? or was there undue outside influence by career politicians pushing a special agenda of their own against a specific project?
To add to the irony, while the Aggie Student Senate was headed in an anti-rail direction TRA board member Taylor Sharpe pointed out that the Bryan-College Station Eagle published a poll at the bottom of an article where U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady asked Texas legislators to oppose the bullet train. The readers voted 72.9% in favor of high speed rail to connect the region to Dallas and Houston and 22.5% voted against high speed rail.
Are elected officials and student government leaders so out of touch with the general public?
February 12, 2016 -
The headline reads: Aggie Student Senate Opposes Eminent Domain for Train | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth. Texans Against High Speed Rail issued a news release after the A&M Student Senate voted 60-2 to oppose a privately financed high speed rail project between Dallas and Houston:
"Jewett, Texas – In a nearly unanimous roll call, the Texas A&M University Student Senate, speaking on behalf of the student body, sent a clear message Wednesday night condemning the use of eminent domain by a private company, specifically the proposed Dallas Houston High-Speed Rail project. Texas A&M Senate Bill 68-36, entitled the Eminent Domain Opposition Act, was authored by Wayne Beckermann, Vice President of Municipal Affairs and public administration master’s student in the Bush School of Government and Public Service, and sponsored by Rules and Regulations Committee Chair Carlos Sonka, a senior petroleum engineer major." Souce: Texans Against High Speed Rail website.
The issue of eminent domain by a private company to use a 100-foot wide strip of land that would mostly run along an electric utility corridor between the two major cities was heard by the student senate Wednesday on the A&M campus. The "Eminent Domain Oppositions Act" was aimed specifically at the private Dallas-Houston high-speed rail project that will have a stop just outside of Bryan / College Station. Rural legislators and county officials who are opposed to high speed rail were invited to testify before the student group but the only pro high speed rail testimony came from Texas Central Partners, the railroad wanting to build the high speed line. No other pro-rail or rail advocacy organizations, including Texas Rail Advocates, the National Association of Railroad Passengers or urban legislators allegedly received an invitation to testify.
Public comments following the 60-2 vote against Texas Central were immediate and indignant that the "kangaroo kourt" did not have a balanced approach to the issue before voting. On Reddit.com comments ranged from "the two bill authors do not speak for the tens of thousands of Aggies who would benefit from high-speed rail" to "we don't want progress, and we want to make it harder to go to school at A&M, and we are stuck in the mentality of a century that ended 16 years ago." Another post indicated "It's probably worth noting that the author of the bill, a "public service and administration graduate student", also comes from a field in which ED (Eminent Domain) is a common tool of the trade."
Other student government organizations at Texas universities have issued letters of support for the high speed rail project in the past. Those were not influenced by the agenda of elected state senators, state representatives and rural county administrators but were promulgated by the students themselves.
So the real question is.... was the Aggies-Against-High-Speed-Rail push really the true feeling of the student body? or was there undue outside influence by career politicians pushing a special agenda of their own against a specific project?
To add to the irony, while the Aggie Student Senate was headed in an anti-rail direction TRA board member Taylor Sharpe pointed out that the Bryan-College Station Eagle published a poll at the bottom of an article where U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady asked Texas legislators to oppose the bullet train. The readers voted 72.9% in favor of high speed rail to connect the region to Dallas and Houston and 22.5% voted against high speed rail.
Are elected officials and student government leaders so out of touch with the general public?