|
|
 |
|
Visit
METRO @
|
|
|
By Rad Salle
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle
After years of often contentious debate, million of dollars spent
on feasibility studies, and legal and legislative wrangling that
reached as far the US Congress, construction started Tuesday (03.13.01)
on Houston's first light rail line.
And neither an unresolved lawsuit seeking to stop construction on
the line nor a back-row heckler seemed to dampen the spirits of
local politicians and Metropolitan Transit Authority officials who
came to mark the historical event by driving ceremonial gold-colored
spikes into a section of silver-painted track.
"Light rail is on its way to Houston, and I am once ecstatic
Metro president," said transit authority CEO Shirley DeLibero.
DeLibero was joined at the ceremony -- held at the site of the agency's
planned downtown transit center and administration building at Main
Street and St. Joseph Parkway -- by Houston Mayor Lee Brown, Harris
County Judge Robert Eckels, Metro chairman Robert Miller and Spring
Valley Mayor Louise Richman, who represented the 14 other cities
in Metro's service area.
Opponents of the 4.5-mile line might ding the precious-metal motif
of the golden spikes appropriate, in view of the line's $300 million
projected cost and almost negligible impact on regional traffic
congestion or air pollution.
 Supporters
cite the benefits of light rail as a relative clean and quiet substitute
for buses along the route, a spur to commercial and residential
development there, and amenity linking such activity centers as
downtown, Midtown, Herman Park, the Texas Medical Center and Rice
University, and the Reliant Park/Astrodome complex.
And as DeLibero told the crowd, "I see it as a cornerstone
to a regional system with possible expansion to both airports as
well as the rapidly growing suburban corridors."
Despite as the optimism, the tortured history of Houston's rail
project was not forgotten amid the hoopla. Last year, US Rep. Tom
DeLay, R-Sugar Land, blocked $65 million in federal funding for
the line and even on the morning of Tuesday's festivities, Metro
officials were in court to discuss developments in a lawsuit filed
by Houston City Councilman Rob Todd, seeking the force a public
referendum on the project.
Miller told the crown he is "extending the hand of friendship
and conciliation" to opponents of the rail line, saying, "There
is much more that unites us than divides us."
Miller noted that current rail project is a very small part of Metro's
budgeted spending (about 7 percent) for transportation, streets
and other measures.
"Let's agree to disagree on this one issue, and let's move
forward and continue to cooperate on other transportation and transits
issues without continuing rancor or bitterness," Miller said.
Someone in the audience had shouted, "I want a vote!"
Metro had indented to schedule a referendum on the rail line until
the county attorney ruled that it would be illegal unless bonded
debt was issued.
And in a special meeting earlier Tuesday, the Metro board approved
a resolution that any future rail extensions"will be submitted
for voter approval."
Such referendum, the resolution says, will identify the planned
route corridors, mode of transportation, and the approximate cost,
debt and time involved.
 The
board also authorized Siemen Transportation Systems Inc. to provide
rail cars and the power system for $118 million, and awarded low-bid
contract to three companies to lay the tracks and build the stations
about $115 million.
These contractors and their shares: Texas Sterling Construction
Co. of Houston, $65 million; Becon Management of Houston, $13 million'
and Beers Construction Co. of Atlanta, $36 million.
Before the special meeting, former state civil District Judge David
Medina was sworn in as the newest Metro board member, succeeding
attorney J. Kent Adams, who has been appointed a justice of the
peace. Medina and Miller represented Harris County on the nine-member
board.
|
