Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutMarie C (TCA) From: Denise Colber Subject: Public Comments Date: Monday,April 19,20214:17:36 PM I am writing to you as Orange County desperately needs your assistance to right an ongoing wrong! There is massive and ongoing fraud. In short: the public was promised that tolls on the 73 would cover that facility's debt service and, after OVER 30 years (by now), what started as a toll road would become a freeway, i.e., a public road with no tolls. That promise has been broken. The insult to this injury is that presently there is no discernible earnest effort to do anything to rectify the situation. Indeed, the 73's debt, which started below $900 million, now stands above $2.4 billion. Meanwhile special interests enrich themselves, bond holders enjoy a sweet deal... even as the traveling public continues to get stiffed. The upshot, given the rising tolls, is that traffic on the other public roads is more congested than it should be, notably traffic on the 405 and Coast Highway. Each day tens of thousands of vehicles, for example, drive twice through Laguna Beach, merely to avoid the tolls. There is a documented history of how the toll road agency and its enabling partner agencies of Caltrans, OCTA and the County Board of Supervisors has abused the public trust. Additional forensic audits may be in the offing. However, what does, what will it matter? I ask that question as none of this information has begun to provide a meaningful remedy. And any new insights will similarly fail to provide a remedy. The lone remedy is for the original public promise to be fulfilled for the toll road to become a freeway. I am writing with hope you will consider helping to advance the righteous remedy. Honestly it's hard to imagine absent the involvement of someone like you, our elected official how the debt, still climbing, can ever be retired. By way of background, below a link to the relevant Orange County Grand Jury Report of 2019-2020. htip://www.ocgrandjury.org/.../2020-06-29_GJ_Report_TCA.12df htips://www.ocregister.com/.../these-toll-roads-wont.../ htips://www.la,gunabeachindy.com/letter-toll-road-thou,ghts/ Please look into removing the City for the TCA Joint Power Agreement so they can finally commit to paying down the bonds. The numbers above are just for the 73 Toll Road and do Not Include the massive debt burden on the Foothill Branch. Thank you Marie C.