Plan to add rail lines wins minority support(new station to be named Pandering Central?)

The usual liars at the Houston Chronicle ^ | 7/24/03 | lucas wall

[Diddle E. Squat]

Minority groups Wednesday applauded Metro's decision to add rail lines to the Gulfgate and Sunnyside neighborhoods in its final 2025 transit plan.

Lingering questions about funding the plan, however, still has small-city mayors jittery about the money they get from Metro to build and repair roads.

"They are really ignoring the multi-cities," said Hedwig Village Mayor Dee Srinivasan. "Part of the whole overall mobility plan is you have to have roads to get to rail stations. You can not ignore the road system."

The Metropolitan Transit Authority will formally present its system expansion plan to board members Friday. The board will vote on the plan July 31.

With the recent inclusion of rail segments to Gulfgate and Sunnyside, Metro has pleased some leaders of the city's black and Hispanic communities, who make up a significant voting bloc. The final plan will be submitted for voter endorsement in November.

"We've seen a complete turnaround in Metro," said Gilbert Moreno, director of the Association for the Advancement of Mexican Americans. The group was part of the coalition that fought for the East End extension after complaining the area was excluded from the first plan. "If you look at the facts, (the new lines) just make sense because that's where Houston is growing, in the minority communities."

Sunnyside neighborhood activists said Wednesday they also were pleased.

The Rev. James Nash, pastor of St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church, said ridership in the neighborhood necessitates a rail line.

"There are so many in the Sunnyside area who ride Metro that would be very, very exciting and convenient for them also," he said. " ... It will be a great benefit for having the rail out this way."

The final plan -- with 64 miles of new light rail, an eight-mile commuter rail to Missouri City, and dozens of new bus routes and Park & Ride lots -- leaves only one outspoken area of town out of the plan: the Outer Katy Corridor west of Loop 610.

"It's great that other areas will be getting a chance for rail," said Polly Ledvina, Katy Corridor Coalition leader. "What we don't understand, though, is why the Katy corridor is being completely ignored."

Metro is now fine-tuning the financial details of its $5 billion plan -- including what to do with the controversial "general mobility" fund that pays Houston, Harris County and smaller member cities for road work. Many are waiting for Mayor Lee Brown to chime in. Metro's board, controlled by a majority of Brown's appointees, is considering cutting the road money in half after 2009 or eliminating it all to fund more bus and rail.

"I'm spending most of my time now on rail," Brown told reporters Wednesday before meeting with Metro Chairman Arthur Schechter. "I support the overall vision (of the Metro plan). I have not reached a conclusion on the funding mechanism."

Chronicle reporter Kristen Mack contributed to this story.

[Diddle E. Squat]

That's it, that is all the new rail lines they are planning for through 2025. Despite Metro's taxing area covering virtually the entire county west of Hwy 59 north, notice how much of the (GOP) suburbs are ignored. Nothing to Kingwood, nothing north of Greenspoint, nothing to Tomball, nothing up 290(oh yeah, another article stated that they'd add that line to the map, but wouldn't fund it), nothing out the Katy freeway, nothing to Alief and Cinco Ranch, nothing to Clear Lake(all paying sales tax to Metro). But look at how much is inside the loop, in all the Democrat precincts. And Metro also wants to take away the road maintenance money it returns to member cities.

Now I understand that many think that any rail, and particularly light-rail, is a complete waste of money. I'll stay out of that argument for now, since polls continue to show a high level of support for adding rail service(like it or not, though the real poll will be this November). However, even if one accepts that some rail is inevitable, it still seems clear that Metro is screwing nearly half the taxpayers by hoping to ride to election victory on the backs of pandered to minorities, inside the loop libs, and the freeloader class. 2 lines from downtown to the Galleria, 2 to Hobby airport, but none down the Katy Fwy? With the mess it is, and the mess it will be during construction, shouldn't that have been their first priority, with the best chance of success? But no, they couldn't even work with TXDOT and the Tollway Authority to reserve a space for transit in the freeway design. And yes, both were willing to work with Metro(having done so on other multi-modal projects), but Metro never could get its act together. Then again, Metro is run by Democrats, and led by a New Jersey politician who falsified her resume. Maybe character does matter.

[D. Brian Carter]

Duh, right-wingers drive big, inefficient, polluting SUVs and don't need public transportation.

[D. Brian Carter]

Seriously, though, I'd love to see the map you posted overlaid or side-by-side with a demographic map and a map showing voting patterns, since I'm not familiar with the area.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Actually Metro's strategy is pretty clear if one reads between the lines. They are counting on getting the usual Dem votes, consisting of inside the loop beneficiaries, other minorities that follow the endorsement of the hispanic and black 'leaders', and the outside the loop typical Dems 'embarrassed to be from Houston' who are for every project that is portrayed as making Houston 'world class', which is how the rail has been sold. Then after the election they will come back and say how they now have to listen to the underserved suburbs(a problem they created themselves) and how unfair and unrealistic it is to ask them to wait until after 2025(and probably the usual mantra of how sprawl and roads are polluting Houston, blah, blah, blah. Oh, and watch for them to try and cut parking and raise rates downtown and in the Med Ctr. to 'force' commuters to use transit, which will later be expanded to the Galleria. Perhaps even setting up fees for driving in downtown, the Med Ctr., Galleria during the week, since 'progressive' London is now doing so.) Then they will request a tax increase to fund new bonds to extend these rail lines into the suburbs, and perhaps replace the road money they want to take from the cities for this current rail plan.

You watch.

[isthisnickcool]

Buy'em all bicycles.

[Diddle E. Squat]

I guarantee you a minimum of 90% of those rail lines run through Democrat-leaning precincts.

Flyer, do you know if any of those lines go through even a single precinct that voted GOP in a local election, excepting the Orlando Sanchez race?)

[Diddle E. Squat]

How about paying for their moving vans(to Canada)?

[Flyer]

Billion$ Ping!

An overlay of the proposed lines and congressional districts would be interesting. BTW - if they are putting rail to areas "who ride Metro" already they aren't helping get any cars off the road.

[Dog Gone]

This is yet another piece from the Houston Comical trying to shape public opinion for the November ballot question.

I haven't heard yet whether all residents in the Metro taxing area will be allowed to vote, or whether they intend to disenfranchise the people who actually will pay for this.

You might be able to guess what my suspicion is, though.

[grapeape]

Unless we all get our act together we will always have to put up with this. I started working on a page for us to have as a home with all of the information that we know of to be true so that we can do some comparison shopping but it is all of 30 mins. old. It is here I have a long way to go like the pictures, but if we get all of us contributing then we could finally get the information that we need to make a decision.

[Diddle E. Squat]

Are you going to be fair and critical of all the candidates? Right now it appears to be pro-Berry, and taking a shot at Orlando Sanchez.

[Flyer]

My quick math. . .

$69,400,000.00 for every mile of rail
$1,250.00 from every man, woman and child in the Houston metropolitan area
$5,000 for a family of four

For a rail system most of us will never use.

[humblegunner]

Maybe thats why the Metro buses are empty except for a couple
of sleeping guys who enjoy the A/C.. they are all waiting for the new
shiny speedy Metro Rail! Yeah, that's it.. those trains will be all packed up, I tell you!

< /sarcasm>

[ffusco]

Amortize the cost over the service life of the system for 20 years and my quick math is $250.00 per family of 4 per year.

Factor in the real estste development and appreciation of property values along the lines and it should be a boon to more midtown-type development.

As a homeowner in the first ward, I am looking forward to being able to take the metro along Washington, mostly for bar-hoping!

[Diddle E. Squat]

If they really want rail, commuter rail(which uses the existing freight railroad tracks, instead of building new tracks in the middle of streets) usually costs out at about 10-20% of the cost of light-rail($5-15 million per mile, vs. $40-100 million/mile), and Houston has freight railroads running towards nearly every suburb. But its not about moving people around, as much as rewarding certain political groups and building dense neighborhoods around these stations. Several of the proposed rail routes go by new or proposed big apartment and condos built by developers who are big Dem contributors, despite the fact that doing so redirected the lines from more logical direct routes. And that increased density will bring more traffic, because no matter how much track they lay, those trains won't serve the majority of trips made by even the residents living right next to the stations.

OBTW, what that map doesn't tell you is that the north line will be elevated most of the way north of I-610, doubling its cost. Yeah, that saves a few homes, but was that really necessary, when there are so many holes in their system plan, when they are confiscating the road repair money, and when the plan is already at $5 billion(not to mention that major cost overruns are the norm on these transit projects).

[Flyer]

appreciation of property values along the lines

I am looking forward to being able to take the metro along Washington, mostly for bar-hoping!

Catch 22 - if the property appreciates too much the low rent clubs will be forced out.

Hope to see you at the meeting this Saturday.

[grapeape]

Sorry, I paused to run to the store and make dinner. I want to have all of the facts that I can find and are germaine. Could you help with that?

[grapeape]

After reading that I have to go take a big dump.

[wysiwyg]

"They are really ignoring the multi-cities," said Hedwig Village Mayor Dee Srinivasan.

Gee, no kidding. You don't really think they care about the people who actually pay the taxes, do you? For those not familiar with Hedwig Village (or the rest of the Memorial Villages), the area is 95+% white, affluent and Republican.

[wysiwyg]

That'd be cheaper.