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CULBER-GONE!


H-Town Man

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I felt this deserved its own thread. Time for Metro to pull out whatever money it has tucked away in mattresses and start laying track on Richmond a.s.a.p., and don't even think about Westpark until you're west of 610, go straight through Afton Oaks. Send the jackhammers out there tomorrow.

 

We wonnnnnnnnnnn, baby!

 

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Great news for Metro, but I have my doubts that they are in a position to begin construction on the old University line anytime soon.  Seems like they've given up on the line entirely.  

 

Plus, the law that Culberson got passed prohibiting federal funds for any rail down Richmond presumably still needs to be overturned. 

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32 minutes ago, mfastx said:

Great news for Metro, but I have my doubts that they are in a position to begin construction on the old University line anytime soon.  Seems like they've given up on the line entirely.  

 

Plus, the law that Culberson got passed prohibiting federal funds for any rail down Richmond presumably still needs to be overturned. 

 

Remember that Dems also took the House. Plus Trump has been will to throw fed money for infrastructure projects. I think thats a good combination to both overturn the law and get the money flowing. This was an incredible coup.

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mfastx is probably right, it will take some time to undo the damage Culberson did, and of course Fletcher has to win again every two years. The state may also gerrymander the district so that Culberson can get it back (just shear off Montrose and add a little to the Cy-Fair portion), but that is probably a race against time since everything in Harris County is getting bluer due to Hispanic birth rate and alienation of educated conservatives.

 

Speaking of Harris County turning blue, amazing to see that Ed Emmett was ousted by a 27 year-old with no experience. That is actually kind of worrying. He single-handedly saved the Astrodome and had a good grip on the flood situation.

 

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25 minutes ago, H-Town Man said:

mfastx is probably right, it will take some time to undo the damage Culberson did, and of course Fletcher has to win again every two years. The state may also gerrymander the district so that Culberson can get it back (just shear off Montrose and add a little to the Cy-Fair portion), but that is probably a race against time since everything in Harris County is getting bluer due to Hispanic birth rate and alienation of educated conservatives.

 

Speaking of Harris County turning blue, amazing to see that Ed Emmett was ousted by a 27 year-old with no experience. That is actually kind of worrying. He single-handedly saved the Astrodome and had a good grip on the flood situation.

 

Emmett was one of the few Republicans I liked. But the county and state are getting bluer and bluer by the year. No surprise honestly. 

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I lean Democratic but I always vote for several GOP folks, especially judges. 

 

Yesterday was the first time I voted straight party and I have no regrets. I like Ed, but a statement needed to be sent. The GOP in Texas should be very, very nervous. Every major county went Blue, including Republican strongholds like Williamson and Tarrant. 

 

Unfortunately, despite living 3 blocks from Kirby, I've been gerrymandered into TX 02 so I didn't get to vote for Lizzie. My good friend a grew up with, Todd Litton, did quite respectable considering how GOP leaning that district actually is. I don't think we've heard the last of Todd. 

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18 minutes ago, KinkaidAlum said:

I lean Democratic but I always vote for several GOP folks, especially judges. 

 

Yesterday was the first time I voted straight party and I have no regrets. I like Ed, but a statement needed to be sent. The GOP in Texas should be very, very nervous. Every major county went Blue, including Republican strongholds like Williamson and Tarrant. 

 

Unfortunately, despite living 3 blocks from Kirby, I've been gerrymandered into TX 02 so I didn't get to vote for Lizzie. My good friend a grew up with, Todd Litton, did quite respectable considering how GOP leaning that district actually is. I don't think we've heard the last of Todd. 

 

I think the balance of power in Texas between Republican and Democrat is somewhere between the Beto/Cruz results where the GOP won by just 3% and the governor's race where the GOP won by 13%. Beto was a sensation while Cruz was the former enemy of Trump and someone most Republicans are not too enthusiastic about for various reasons. The Democrats rode a wave of enthusiasm while the Republicans filed out to do their duty. If someone were to galvanize the Republicans the way Beto did the Democrats, you would see something like a 10-15% victory. I do think the Democrats win a major Texas race in the next 5-10 years, not sure when/who it will be.

 

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2 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

mfastx is probably right, it will take some time to undo the damage Culberson did, and of course Fletcher has to win again every two years. The state may also gerrymander the district so that Culberson can get it back (just shear off Montrose and add a little to the Cy-Fair portion), but that is probably a race against time since everything in Harris County is getting bluer due to Hispanic birth rate and alienation of educated conservatives.

 

Speaking of Harris County turning blue, amazing to see that Ed Emmett was ousted by a 27 year-old with no experience. That is actually kind of worrying. He single-handedly saved the Astrodome and had a good grip on the flood situation.

 

 

Montrose is actually districted to now Dan Crenshaw. One of the few new young GOP I actually like. He is more center-right. Many of the Dems that got voted in turning counties blue where center-left. The statements were clear, but it was a reject of extremism from both the right and left. Less Progressives and less Neo-Cons. I think the result will be fresh congress that will actually get a little work done.

 

I was sad to see Ed Emmett lose though. My guess is that they just didn't push for him enough. I know nothing about the new person. But from the comments it doesn't seem like its a welcomed change. Luckily as far as flood prevention goes, George P. Bush will continue as GLO and is looking to get the Feds involved with funding the Ike Dike and other flood preventions.

 

I'm looking forward to Lizzy, Shiela, and hopefully Ben go to the Feds and demand that we get the money that was promised us in that referendum and get a bunch of rail projects started immediately.

 

EDIT: While I state that I do like Dan Crenshaw, Montrose does not belong in his district. Montrose should be districted with Shiela Jackson Lee's district. We have more in common with the rest of the inner city than we do with people in Klein, and Spring. Even if the GOP does control the map after the census the demographics are vastly changing within Houston and I think it will be a lot harder to gerrymander Houston as many different people from many walks of life have entered the city. The city is just to diverse to gerrymander at in the upcoming census, I think.

 

CORRECTION: Dan Crenshaw

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1 hour ago, KinkaidAlum said:

I lean Democratic but I always vote for several GOP folks, especially judges. 

 

Yesterday was the first time I voted straight party and I have no regrets. I like Ed, but a statement needed to be sent.

 

And it will be both the first and the last time you vote a straight-party ticket, as the option to cast a straight-party vote will be removed in Texas starting with the next election. A long-overdue change, IMO, as it forces people to at least look at the candidates' names instead of just mindlessly opting for "D" or "R" (not saying you're part of that group, as you've clearly given your choices some thought). 

 

Ed Emmett was unquestionably collateral damage from the heavy straight-ticket voting. I am dismayed that he was thrown out in favor of someone who does not appear to be in the same ballpark as far as experience and qualifications, but I'm hopeful that Ms. Hidalgo will rise to the occasion and prove us doubters wrong. 

 

On the plus side, all the misdemeanor court judges who were fighting the Federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the county's bail system were summarily thrown out as well. I'm not entirely unsympathetic to some of their claims of doing so out of concern for judicial autonomy, but they picked the wrong hill to die on. 

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4 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

And it will be both the first and the last time you vote a straight-party ticket, as the option to cast a straight-party vote will be removed in Texas starting with the next election. A long-overdue change, IMO, as it forces people to at least look at the candidates' names instead of just mindlessly opting for "D" or "R" (not saying you're part of that group, as you've clearly given your choices some thought). 

 

Ed Emmett was unquestionably collateral damage from the heavy straight-ticket voting. I am dismayed that he was thrown out in favor of someone who does not appear to be in the same ballpark as far as experience and qualifications, but I'm hopeful that Ms. Hidalgo will rise to the occasion and prove us doubters wrong. 

 

On the plus side, all the misdemeanor court judges who were fighting the Federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the county's bail system were summarily thrown out as well. I'm not entirely unsympathetic to some of their claims of doing so out of concern for judicial autonomy, but they picked the wrong hill to die on. 

100% agree.

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4 hours ago, mkultra25 said:

 

And it will be both the first and the last time you vote a straight-party ticket, as the option to cast a straight-party vote will be removed in Texas starting with the next election. A long-overdue change, IMO, as it forces people to at least look at the candidates' names instead of just mindlessly opting for "D" or "R" (not saying you're part of that group, as you've clearly given your choices some thought). 

 

Ed Emmett was unquestionably collateral damage from the heavy straight-ticket voting. I am dismayed that he was thrown out in favor of someone who does not appear to be in the same ballpark as far as experience and qualifications, but I'm hopeful that Ms. Hidalgo will rise to the occasion and prove us doubters wrong. 

 

On the plus side, all the misdemeanor court judges who were fighting the Federal court ruling on the constitutionality of the county's bail system were summarily thrown out as well. I'm not entirely unsympathetic to some of their claims of doing so out of concern for judicial autonomy, but they picked the wrong hill to die on. 

Somebody is salty ;)

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2 hours ago, kennyc05 said:

Somebody is salty ;)

 

Nah, not salty at all. There was a lot to like in the election results. Very happy for state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, who won Gene Green's former Congressional seat without much opposition, but I'm not exactly an impartial observer as she's one of my neighbors. 

 

It's going to be interesting to see how the shift in power on Commissioner's Court plays out, as in addition to Emmett's loss Jack Morman was beaten by Adrian Garcia. Garcia wasn't shy about making changes when he was Sheriff, so I'm guessing he'll operate in similar fashion in his new job. 

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20 minutes ago, mkultra25 said:

 

Nah, not salty at all. There was a lot to like in the election results. Very happy for state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, who won Gene Green's former Congressional seat without much opposition, but I'm not exactly an impartial observer as she's one of my neighbors. 

 

It's going to be interesting to see how the shift in power on Commissioner's Court plays out, as in addition to Emmett's loss Jack Morman was beaten by Adrian Garcia. Garcia wasn't shy about making changes when he was Sheriff, so I'm guessing he'll operate in similar fashion in his new job. 

Yes it will be interesting to see how it all pans out. 

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I'm reminded of the old Wizard-of-Oz tune that began with the words "Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead".  :-)

 

But ... upon reflection it may be that greater damage was done by Bob Lanier, who as mayor, raided the giant nest egg Metro had accumulated by the early 90s.  I don't recall the exact amount, but I think it was in the neighborhood of $700-800 million.  What would that be worth today?  A lot!

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5 hours ago, j_cuevas713 said:

 

From the article:

Quote

 

But what does Fletcher’s election mean for any Richmond rail plans?

Patman said for cost reasons they’re now considering bus rapid transit for the Richmond corridor, to help provide better connections between downtown and The Galleria. But she added that project would also require help from Washington, D.C.

 

 

So it looks like Metro isn't planning rail on Richmond anyway.

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9 hours ago, EllenOlenska said:

Straight ticket voting is good tbh 

Also: Anyone want to give me a plausible vision of this effecting metrorail expansion? 

 

Straight ticket voting is easy.  Whether or not it's good is debatable.  At any rate, sounds like it is going away.

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13 hours ago, Luminare said:

 

Remember that Dems also took the House. Plus Trump has been will to throw fed money for infrastructure projects. I think thats a good combination to both overturn the law and get the money flowing. This was an incredible coup.

 

We'll have to see how this pans out.  The dems in the house may choose to #resist for the next two years, even on things they might otherwise agree on.  Remember how they bailed on a DACA fix?  Even if they can agree, which I think Trump is more likely to do since he's not really an ideologue, will the senate go along?  I'm thinking we're looking at two years of more gridlock.  Hope I'm wrong.

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22 hours ago, H-Town Man said:

I felt this deserved its own thread. Time for Metro to pull out whatever money it has tucked away in mattresses and start laying track on Richmond a.s.a.p., and don't even think about Westpark until you're west of 610, go straight through Afton Oaks. Send the jackhammers out there tomorrow.

 

We wonnnnnnnnnnn, baby!

 

 

Hell yeah. A Blue Wave in this city at the polls might finally lead to a Blue Line train at last. 

 

With McNair’s The Post Oak development coming, I’d definitely run the Blue Line in its originally planned alignment voters in this city approved - right through Afton Oaks. Traffic on 59 is bad enough already. If Metro is serious about increasing ridership, they’ll do the full Blue Line, maybe even tie it into the planned Hobby extension (instead of 2 lines to Hobby) 

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7 hours ago, ArchFan said:

I'm reminded of the old Wizard-of-Oz tune that began with the words "Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead".  :-)

 

But ... upon reflection it may be that greater damage was done by Bob Lanier, who as mayor, raided the giant nest egg Metro had accumulated by the early 90s.  I don't recall the exact amount, but I think it was in the neighborhood of $700-800 million.  What would that be worth today?  A lot!

I remember Lanier doing this.

 

but, be careful.....  metro may not have been able to “invest that money” ...... I don’t know but they may have rules against it.  If so, that money would be worth less today.

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