Kinda sorta dog related
Chris Barnes
I do not know how many club members are aware of the "East Loop"
road project being proposed to create a 22 mile long highway
through the eastern part of Brazos County. But for people whose
hobby (duck hunting & training dogs) absolutely depends on
having rural areas, I am asking everyone to help us put a stop to
this project.
Details of the road:
- The first thing to understand is that the "Inner East Loop"
being talked about is just the first of THREE "loops" around the
eastern part of Brazos County, all of them proposed to be
between Hwy 6 and FM 2038. Even if this loop doesn't hit
property you care about, the odds are that one of them will.
- This first loop is proposed to run from the corner of Hwy 30
& Hwy 40 (Fitch) in south College Station to the corner of
FM2818 & Hwy 6 north of Bryan. The projected cost for this
is somewhere north of $700 million of your tax dollars (local
property taxes & state TxDot - but it all comes from your
taxes).
- None of these projects are about helping with existing
traffic for people living in the east part of the county NOR
relieving traffic off of Hwy 6. The Hwy 6 expansion is a
completely different project (one we probably do need, imho).
- These projects ARE about
- making it easier for developers to take rural property and build subdivisions & strip shopping centers
- changing the tax base from rural (Ag Value) property to
residential and commercial property, giving the local
politicians more money (ie. more power).
The important thing to keep in mind is that this affects EVERYONE
who lives in Brazos County - not just those of us who live east of
Hwy 6. The place we have the hunt tests (Parton Wakefield's
place) is in danger from this. The place we met for the club
picnic is in danger. What I am asking each person - especially if
you live in Brazos County - to do is :
- Inform yourself about this. I am part of a group that is
working to put a stop to this and we have a website at
https://noeastloop.com/ and a Facebook group at
https://www.facebook.com/groups/noeastloop.
- The Brazos County Commissioner's Court meets every Tuesday
morning at 10am. It is worth it to take off from work to come
at least once.
- If you already know about this (and are against it),
- Sign the petition. We are doing a PAPER petition so we can
get real signatures on it. Contact me if you want to sign
it. Contact me and I'll figure out how to get it to you to
sign.
- get involved. I am coordinating the "block walking" to take the petition to as many people as possible. There are other ways to get involved on the website I gave above.
Last, I will say that this IS a fight we can win. There
are so many people who are affected and are already getting
involved that the county powers-that-be are already scared. Some
of them will probably not be re-elected because of this. But we
need to keep the heat on them.
If you have any questions, PLEASE do no hesitate to contact me.
My cell phone is below.
-- Chris Barnes 979-220-0004 ch...@txbarnes.com