​When one author praises another on a book jacket, and the second author then does the same on the first author's tome, that's logrolling. It's a practice that's also common among academics and movie critics. In politics, logrolling happens when political favors are exchanged, even among members of different parties. The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) got into the logrolling game this week when it applauded the $260 billion federal transportation reauthorization bill and, especially, language included that could speed up road construction, including another agency's 241 Foothill-South toll road expansion.
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Photo by Meranda Carter/ OC Weekly

​Give Wahoo's Fish Taco co-founder Wing Lam credit for working his Mexican food chain into widely seen television commercials for other companies. In 2000, he and his righteous whiskers appeared in a national spot for Merrill Lynch and its small business services. Lately, Lam and his Wahoo's van have turned up in Southern California Ford Dealers ads touting the vehicle made for small businesses.

But in the most-recent Ford commercial, Lam sneaks in a political message.
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​Developers of the despised Foothill (241) Toll Road expansion into San Clemente figure if you can't beat 'em, piecemeal 'em.

That's the takeaway from a Foothill/Eastern Transportation Corridor Agency committee approving $206 million be spent for the first four miles of a planned 16-mile extension that would ultimately connect with the San Diego (5) Freeway in San Clemente.
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​Foes of the 241 Foothill-South toll road carving through San Clemente are calling bullshit on the Transportation Corridor Agency's latest ploy to win public support: propping up their unpopular project as a statewide job creator, economic stimulus and deficit buster.
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Surfrider Foundation

The swindle'n continues.

​UPDATE, MAY 9, 4:20 P.M.: The basis for the most recent PR campaign--pushing the need for additional evacuation routes in the case of a emergency at SONGS or Camp Pendleton--was a concern expressed in a public poll from November 2010 (months before the tragic events in Japan), according to Lisa Telles, a spokeswoman with the TCA.More >>

​As Michael Moore so elegantly demonstrated in Bowling for Columbine, policymakers have perfected the art of using fear to sway the American public into supporting war, overpopulated prisons and the further erosion of our freedoms.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies (TCA) is now pulling the fear card to regain public support of the left-for-dead 241 toll road extension.

The latest scare tactic involves a report of a grenade on the 5 freeway.
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Rush hour

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The country's economic woes have reportedly extended to Orange County's toll roads, where ridership is down as once-paying drivers opt to ply the public lanes and apply the savings to offset rising gasoline prices.

The agencies that operate the toll roads have responded with raffles and drawings that award winners financial credits to be used for future rides. You've just got to pay and ride now for a chance to win.

That may not be working.
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Ancestor walks take on new meaning after efforts to carve a toll road through Pahne failed.

​Holiday celebrating started early for local environmental groups.

On Friday, a diverse coalition of allies marked the one-year anniversary of a U.S. Department of Commerce decision that effectively stopped the Foothill/Eastern (241) toll road from being carved through a state park and sacred American Indian land. Some groups involved in that battle were already riding high from Wednesday's unanimous San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board vote to adopt a set of new regulations to control runoff into the receiving waters of the Pacific Ocean off South County.
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Photo by Steve Ong

Aliso Viejo resident Steve Ong's winning shot.

​An amateur photo contest aimed at promoting Orange County's quasi-private toll roads gave new meaning to drive-by shooting.

Folks who left comments on the Transportation Corridor Agencies--or The Toll Roads--Facebook page had other definitions: stupid, dangerous and "a boondoggle."

Drivers of the Lexus lanes made a stunning observation as soon as the contest was announced a couple months ago: operating a camera while operating a vehicle at high speeds can get you killed, and stopping to do anything other than pay a toll is verboten.

Those obstacles must've limited the entries. Steve Ong of Aliso Viejo and Irvine's Zoe Thompson, whose shot follows the jump, were the only announced winners. Both received $50 in tolls. Even more entertaining than their purty pictures were the contest comments.
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