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Election 2012: Houston voters consider funding measure with light rail consequences
Houston passenger trains must not exist. Every time I go into that city I never see one, including during rush hour peaks. The freeways are always congested, which tells me if those trains do exist, they must be parked in some rail yard. The tracks are in place. I drive over them in order to get into certain grocery store facilities.
Whomever came up with this backward referendum belongs in the 1930’s when street cars started to be phased out.
So they created a mass transit authority with its own funding, only to divert the money elsewhere? Some Texas politicians must have learned from Illinois’ diversion of pension funds, or Congress ‘borrowing’ from the Social Security bankroll. Why not simply add a proviso that any money diverted to local municipalities from the transit authority can ONLY be used for mass transit local projects?
Jeffery Guse, your rants make no sense at all!
Jeffery;
Using your logic then trains in the Chicago metro area must not exist as well. It seems every time I go into that city, whether its weekends or during the week the expressways always seem congested. Which using your logic says that if the trains do exist they must be parked in some rail yard. And that I am sure would be a big surprise to the thousands of people who use them.
1)Houston mass transet was not designed to be exclusively rail, and funds are being used for bus, and road repair as well, and have been since the transet authotity inception.
2)The vote is not just a question of rail vs. non-rail but also pits suburbs vs. City of Houston. The suburbs as well as the city pay a tax levy for transet, but so far have not been included in transet plans, they get a tax kickback. Mass transet in Houston stops at the city limits. Bus lines and park and rides stop at the city limits. The only way suburbs can cash in is to take the cash.
3)The light rail that exists is not too useful in solving the city’s traffic problems. Commuter rail that would get most of the rush-hour traffic off the streets is, so far, not part of the plan. The existing light rail does not serve either of the airports, it does not run very close to the major high rise offices on the west side of downtown and it does not really get within easy walking distance of the convention center, the baseball, soccer and basketball stadiums.
Houston has got to be one of the most oout of step places in all of urban America. The one light rail line they have has been remarkably successful. I don’t see that mauch traffic on the Katy toll lanes, and half of the users don’t even have meet the occupancy requirements for using those lanes. Toll roads are scofflaw socialism for speeding jackasses, greedy land develpoers, and caSINos, the later of which is ringing up the biggest debt of all and should be shut down.