urbanspace

I was actually at the Council meeting and I only recall two people (other than Ada Edwards and MJ Kahn) speaking out against it. It was the guy from the ACLU and then Anthony Love. I think the guy from Neartown nailed it when he said that it was not the homeless Avondale and Hyde Park had issue with, but rather those that come into the neighborhood for no other purpose than to commit a crime and that they wanted this ordinance passed to allow HPD to be able to break these groups up before the drug deal or trick goes down. Those of us that live in the hood all know who these guys are. While the ordinance was originally crafted to address the homeless issue downtown, Avondale and Hyde Park want to extend the same ordinance, but target a different audience. I'm not sure they did the best job of making that distinction known at the meeting. I do agree with you that this ordinance does nothing to effectively address the homeless problem. The City really needs a comprehensive plan to address this issue and stop the patchwork policies.

Parking may be a problem east of Shepherd. Metro has already expressed its support on this issue to provide additional parking, whether that's through additional lots or aesthetically pleasing parking structures, but the businesses have to be in a position to want to even discuss with Metro. Unfortunately, they have refused to speak with Metro because they have been on the Anti Rail wagon whose position is not to compromise on anything short of killing rail on Richmond. My fear is that if Metro calls Culberson's bluff and proposes the line down Richmond and Culberson settles for a modified alignment, these businesses may have missed the boat in being able to get their wishlists in front of Metro. Consequently, many of the same arguments they have today may very well come true if rail goes down Richmond, but it will be because they put all their eggs in one basket and weren't willing to come to the table and compromise.

Here's the petition. http://richmondrail.org/support/petition.php

I received a copy of a press release that states that Culberson will announce his decision on Richmond Rail tomorrow, August 1st at 10am at James Coney Island at the corner of Richmond and Shepherd. Given the location, it's likely that he will announce that he is against any rail on Richmond. The press release was sent to Afton Oaks residents. The "Mobility Coalition" is sponsoring the event. This is one of the 'no rail on Richmond' groups.

I would encourage all of you that support a Richmond alignment to send a letter or email to the persons noted above. There are quite a few of us on this board that support urban mobility and clearly light rail down Richmond makes sense. Culberson's decision will be derived in part from the number of people that either support or do not support rail down Richmond. While over the past week or two, more supporters of a Richmond alignment have voiced their concerns, the anti-rail voice still clearly looms large. I've also attended these Metro meetings and I suppose the good news is that the anti-rail voice while loud, is limited. The bad news is that they are organized well enough that they show up to every meeting and voice their opposition. And with the lopsided coverage the Chronicle provides them, the impression to Culberson is that no one supports rail down Richmond, which is not true. Below is the email address to Nick Swyka. Nick is Culberson's district director and will be able to ensure your emails get routed to the Congressman. nick.swyka@mail.house.gov Again, I encourage you to send an email to Culberson in support of the Richmond alignment. If everyone that has viewed this thread would send an email of support, it would start to put a major dent in the anti Richmond rail perception. Don't need to write a novel, just a quick note stating you support rail on Richmond.