Columnist Steve Flowers’ recent hyperbole
regarding the Alabama Supreme Court column cannot go unremarked. He
said folks couldn’t get a remedy there if a doctor wrongly cut
off an arm or leg. It’s flatly untrue.
Knowledgeable folks know the court is
conservative/moderate. If it were a steak, it’d be medium well.
Trial lawyers and other wild-eyed liberals
can complain about the ExxonMobil decision until doomsday, but it was
correct. They’re using that decision (with which every major
newspaper agreed) to try to elect a liberal pawn.
Trial lawyers vowed after the Year 2000 judicial
elections to regain the Supreme Court and return it to those thrilling
days of yesteryear when they rode the court like a horse and milked it
like a cow. They promulgated a 10-year plan to regain the court, and
sadly it is working.
There’s a remedy for an unjust decision by
the State Supreme Court. Any case can be appealed. The charge by
Flowers is about as true as a trial lawyer’s moral compass. He
stepped way over the line.
Wild accusations like this must be answered and
the record set straight. Conscientious newspapers provide a right to
reply.
AVALA would like demonstrable proof of any such
heinous decision the court has made, and we’d back away. But we
keep a close watch.
AVALA believes in the jury system and that anyone
harmed through no fault of his/her own should be reasonably
compensated, including fair punitive damages. We don’t lobby the
legislature or donate to candidates.
Skip Tucker
Director
Alabama Voters Against
Lawsuit Abuse
P.O. Box 2847
Montgomery, AL 36102-2487
334/263-0052
Recent reports by the Federal Highway
Administration indicate that 12 percent of our nation’s bridges
are so blatantly deteriorated that they must be rigorously inspected
and quickly repaired.
While this statistic is certainly alarming, it
pales when compared to the deterioration of Alabama’s own aging
infrastructure.
According to the Reason Foundation, our state
currently ranks 29th in terms of road conditions and cost
effectiveness, 39th in rural interstate conditions and urban interstate
conditions, 40th in road fatality rates, and 28th in bridge
deficiencies, for a ranking of 43rd overall.
Repairing these deficient and aging structures
has become an immense and overwhelming task for state and local
transportation departments to handle.
Soaring construction costs, revenue shortages,
and diminished budgets only serve to make the problems worse.
Congestion on our roadways has risen by more than
40 percent in the last 15 years, while our capacity to meet these needs
has grown by a mere two percent.
National estimates indicate that Alabama is home
to nearly 1,700 bridges classified as structurally obsolete or
structurally deficient. In some cases, weight limitations imposed on
aging bridges requires emergency and commercial vehicles to alter their
routes entirely.
These lengthy alternative routes directly impact
and further burden Alabama families, who are already strained by
soaring gas prices and a struggling economy.
It is painfully apparent that the time has come
for our state to consider innovative solutions and alternative measures
to maximize our transportation infrastructure. Our road system is well
beyond the point of cosmetic repairs and routine maintenance.
The Department of Transportation is doing an
amazing job with the limited resources at their disposal. But, we
need a comprehensive approach to solving these issues. Far too long has
it been acceptable to neglect vital road projects.
Without an effective solution to firmly address
the insufficiencies in our transportation infrastructure, Alabama is in
severe jeopardy of losing out on future economic development
opportunities while failing to properly serve the businesses that are
already here.
We can no longer remain in a state of complacency
regarding the needs of our transportation infrastructure. It is time to
embrace alternative funding methods like public-private partnerships as
effective solutions for dealing with our infrastructure needs.
Public-private partnerships can revitalize our
ability to address the needs of our citizens and restore functionality
to our existing infrastructure, while also channeling coordinated
resources into new and innovative projects.
Public-private partnerships stand as a true
testament to American ingenuity. Public-private partnerships refer to
business ventures between public agencies and private sector companies
that allow for increased private sector participation. These innovative
partnerships emerged from the encouragement of private investment in
infrastructure by the government.
Under the terms of a public-private-partnership,
private sector companies take on greater dynamics in the financing,
design, and construction of infrastructure projects. Increased
involvement by the private sector gives public agencies the essential
and financial capital necessary to pursue more diverse and expansive
objectives.
Public-private partnerships are essential to
restoring innovation and affordability to our state transportation
system. Across the nation, city, county, and state governments are
utilizing innovative and proven financing methods, through a
combination of financial resources, to provide the much needed revenue
to restore functionality and safety to roads, bridges, and waterways.
Public-private partnerships yield highly
expedited completion times, improved quality and sustainment, and
maximized cost savings on all transportation projects. It is vital to
the preservation and vitality of our state’s economic prosperity
that our state puts itself in a position to reap the abounding benefits
of public-private partnerships.
Recently, my office has made significant strides
towards positioning our state to take full advantage of the positive
benefits that emerge from public-private partnerships.
In May, I called for the creation of the
Lieutenant Governor’s Commission on Public Private Partnership
Projects. This coordinated effort will consist of five appointments
each for the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the house and
will be chaired by state senator Roger Bedford.
This commission is responsible for exploring
innovative methods of financing state infrastructure projects such as
the North-South Highway and will strive to identify additional areas of
improvement for future economic development in our state.
The commission held its first meeting on Aug. 19,
and will report its findings and recommendations to the Alabama
Legislature at the start of the 2009 regular session.
History has shown us that transportation
infrastructure is a critical component to expanding economic
development. The quality of life and economic competitiveness of our
state sits squarely on the shoulders of our transportation
infrastructure. Though building and maintaining roads and bridges is an
expensive business venture, it is a necessary one.
I think it is a priority that we establish a
major North-South thoroughfare in the western part of our state. Our
East-West corridors along I-59/20, I-10 and US 72 have contributed
greatly to significant and unprecedented residential and commercial
growth in our state.
However, without a substantial investment in a
North-South highway project, the western part of our state will
remain detached from development, heavily agricultural, and locked in a
devastating state of poverty. We are in dire need of a major North
South Highway to maximize the economic development opportunities
allowed by the development of the Tennessee Tombigbee waterway.
In the face of great adversity, we have a prime
opportunity and an obligation to the people of Alabama to be innovative
in our approach to finding solutions to these growing problems. As we
move forward in implementing effective and innovative strategies to
meet new and emerging challenges, we remain steadfast in our efforts to
affect progressive and lasting change for the state of Alabama.
Lieutenant Governor
Jim Folsom Jr.
Montgomery
334-242-7900
