The “STOPTHETOLL” movement of which the Common Sense Campaign has been playing a major role in gaining opposition to the ALDOT/Ivey TOLLING PLAN, has reached another critical stage in that Governor Ivey’s office is starting to pay attention to what various critics have been saying. Earlier this week, State Auditor (AGITATOR!) Jim Zeigler met with former Congressman Jo Bonner, the Governor’s Chief of Staff; the next day, State Senator Greg Albritton (who represents a portion of Baldwin Cty) also met with Bonner—both delivered messages in opposition to the toll, but, critically, offered alternative means to fund the project.

If you take a look below at the ad we ran in Lagniappe this past Wednesday, notice how many local politicians are saying the ALDOT plan is “UNACCEPTABLE”; notice too how we are pushing the Governor to find alternative funding sources and to make a decision supporting NO TOLLS.

In our previous ad in Lagniappe, we laid out several funding approaches that have been vetted as doable by Congressman Byrne and others involved in state financial matters—take a look:

• GOMESA FUNDS—These are funds from the Oil and Gas reserves that ALDOT says are not applicable to transportation projects—CONGRESSMAN BYRNE SAYS THAT IS WRONG—GOMESA CAN BE USED FOR THIS PROJECT! Why not dedicate $20M per year from GOMESA and if for some reason GOMESA revenues fall short of what is necessary to meet the commitment, the Legislature can fill that gap by using the Rainy Day Fund (RDF) to temporarily fill the gap with the expectation the money will be put back into the RDF as has been done previously when the Legislature borrowed from the RDF.
• GAS TAX FUNDS—The new gas tax will go into effect in September—it is expected over time to bring in $320M per year,67% of which will go to the state=$240M for various projects. We have pushed for ALDOT to dedicate 20% of that pot of money to the I-10 Mobile Bay Bridge       project—why not?
• Senator Albritton has said he has discovered a separate source within the state budget that could be used as part of the above sources to provide even more funds toward the project. UH,OH—TOLLING IS IN TROUBLE!
• SCALING BACK THE BRIDGE PROJECT! Of the many issues that have driven people to question ALDOT’s approach to this project, the “TAJ MAHAL” aspects of the new bridge is something few can stomach given the limited resources and the ALDOT reliance on tolls to fund the project!
  
         ***Kevin Spriggs and I met with Matt Erickson who is the ALDOT Mobile coordinator for the project and we brought this issue up for discussion—he said that they are reviewing all the plans because of the cost issue. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE TO PRESS ON EVEN IF WE GET ALL THE FUNDING NEEDED TO AVOID TOLLS—A NO FRILLS BRIDGE THAT SOLVES THE PROBLEM IS SUFFICIENT!In sum, the aim of inding legitimate alternative sources is to provide a revenue stream that would enable ALDOT TO BOND OUT THE COST OF THE PROJECT THUS AVOIDING TOLLS.
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       ***OUR PROBLEM IS NOT FINDING MORE SOURCES—IT IS ALDOT’S DIRECTOR WHO HAS BEEN QUOTED IN THE PRESS AS SAYING THAT, “THE PEOPLE WITH THE MONEY KNOW WHERE I CAN BE FOUND!!”
  
     ***WHY IS SOMEONE WITH THAT ATTITUDE STILL AT ALDOT? INSTEAD OF BEATING THE BUSHES TO FIND FUNDING, HE IS SITTING ON HIS THRONE SAYING “COME TO ME IF YOU WANT TO”—GOV IVEY NEEDS TO CLEAN HOUSE AND PUT SOMEONE IN CHARGE WHO HAS A MORE PRO-ACTIVE APPROACH TOWARDS DOING WHAT IS NECESSARY TO AVOID HURTING THE PEOPLE DOWN HERE WITH AN ONEROUS TOLL/TAX!
• JIM ZEIGLER’S “BLOCK THE TOLL” MOVEMENT IS CALLING FOR A MASSIVE EMAIL BLITZ TO THE TOLL AUTHORITY MEMBERS (SEE LINK TO FIND EMAILS)  AND TO CALL GOVERNOR IVEY THIS MONDAY,29 JULY—LET’S DO OUR PART BY EMAILING THE TOLL AUTHORITY MEMBERS AND LIGHTING UP GOV IVEY'S OFFICE TO SEND A HUGE  “NO TOLL” MESSAGE! https://www.facebook.com/groups/1276861619188737/announcements/
• CALL GOV IVEY AND TELL HER NO TOLLS AND PRESS HER TO FIND ALTERNATIVE FUNDING FOR THE I-10 MOBILE BAY BRIDGE PROJECT!         CALL#: 334-242-7100
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