editor Posted May 5, 2008 Share Posted May 5, 2008 Construction of the light-rail expansion will begin in the East End Corridor this summer! Residents and business owners will want to know all the details, so we have scheduled a Construction Workshop to brief East End stakeholders. The workshop will be held jointly with the East Lawndale/Wayside Superneighborhood No. 64 & 88 meeting.What: METRO Solutions East End Corridor Construction Workshop and East Lawndale/Wayside Superneighborhood Meeting Date: Tuesday, May 13, 2008Time: 6:30 p.m.Location: Ripley HouseAddress: 4410 Navigation Blvd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I attended this meeting but had to leave a little before 8. the public response was overwhelmingly negative while i was there. several of the business owners stated they received low offers for their property on harrisburg. one was as low as $3/sq ft! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) I attended this meeting but had to leave a little before 8. the public response was overwhelmingly negative while i was there. Given your usual opinions on all matters METRO, I interpret this remark to mean most East End residents approved of the construction schedule. Edited May 14, 2008 by RedScare Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Given your usual opinions on all matters METRO, I interpret this remark to mean most East End residents approved of the construction schedule. stay away from the gas fumes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arisegundo Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Any more details? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Any more details?i was only there til about 8 and those that spoke up to that point spoke negatively about one thing or another (safety, the design near the railroad track would kill their biz, low ball offers, how much land will actually be acquired,etc). the one that seemed to affect people the most were that people were receiving low offers for their property not market value. from the pics METRO presented, the swath needed to fit in the rail and lanes was quite wide. an intersection they showed had 2 rail lanes, 4 car lanes and 2 left turn lanes. That sure didn't make the business owners feel any better.at this point though, METRO said there were no engineering designs available. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arisegundo Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 from the pics METRO presented, the swath needed to fit in the rail and lanes was quite wide. an intersection they showed had 2 rail lanes, 4 car lanes and 2 left turn lanes. That sure didn't make the business owners feel any better. I guess my little apartment's getting demolished, then! Harrisburg is only four lanes wide where I live. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 (edited) I guess my little apartment's getting demolished, then! Harrisburg is only four lanes wide where I live. the former sterling laundry building is right on harrisburg and will probably be a casualty. this has been a longtime favorite of mine. Edited May 14, 2008 by musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 the former sterling laundry building is right on harrisburg and will probably be a casualty. this has been a longtime favorite of mine.SAVE THE STERLING LAUNDRY BUILDING!! I love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 i was only there til about 8 and those that spoke up to that point spoke negatively about one thing or another (safety, the design near the railroad track would kill their biz, low ball offers, how much land will actually be acquired,etc). the one that seemed to affect people the most were that people were receiving low offers for their property not market value. from the pics METRO presented, the swath needed to fit in the rail and lanes was quite wide. an intersection they showed had 2 rail lanes, 4 car lanes and 2 left turn lanes. That sure didn't make the business owners feel any better.at this point though, METRO said there were no engineering designs available.I sure wish I could've been there, but no luck.Do you remember whether they said how large a ROW they were going to need? If you can give me that, I can use Google Earth and say what's likely to get demolished.I would suspect that nearly all of old town Magnolia gets demoed. Definitely Sterling Laundry, possibly Lenox BBQ. I hope that Sevfiv is up to some more photodocumentary work...and sooner would be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 Do you remember whether they said how large a ROW they were going to need? If you can give me that, I can use Google Earth and say what's likely to get demolished.I would suspect that nearly all of old town Magnolia gets demoed. Definitely Sterling Laundry, possibly Lenox BBQ. I hope that Sevfiv is up to some more photodocumentary work...and sooner would be better.i spoke with 2 of the reps before i left to find out the row required and they said that they don't know that yet. from the last meeting i went to, they said that with the current row (the harrisburg portion with the center turn lane), could only fit 1 vehicular lane each way without making it wider. if that's the case then the narrower portions of harrisburg will be really hit hard. i have a feeling lenox is history too. i'm gonna drive by the office metro opened soon and see if they have anything with detailed data. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arisegundo Posted May 14, 2008 Share Posted May 14, 2008 I sure wish I could've been there, but no luck.Do you remember whether they said how large a ROW they were going to need? If you can give me that, I can use Google Earth and say what's likely to get demolished.I would suspect that nearly all of old town Magnolia gets demoed. Definitely Sterling Laundry, possibly Lenox BBQ. I hope that Sevfiv is up to some more photodocumentary work...and sooner would be better.Sterling's already got the condemation sign on it, and in general the smaller structures and empty lots are on the north side. Unless the line's going to wobble back and forth like the Katy Freeway I'd say goodbye to everything on that side.I wonder if the barbecue place at the Dowling underpass is getting the ball. Squeezing the rails onto that asymmetrical curved underpass is going to look interesting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsb320 Posted July 25, 2008 Share Posted July 25, 2008 This is actually about the University Line. I haven't read it yet, but figured it was relative.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...ro/5906637.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 There is another Metro/East End meeting scheduled tomorrow evening at the Ripley House.http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metrop...an/5912346.htmlThe latest scuttlebut making the rounds is that plans for the S&I facility have turned out to be very different than what had been previously briefed. Unfortunately I don't have details on what 'different' means. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 i'm planning on going and can report back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 i'm planning on going and can report back.us too. You can meet the cap'n. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 us too. You can meet the cap'n. Awesome. Depending on the time, I plan on being there also. Parking should be fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arisegundo Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 I'm always at work when these things are happening. Look forward to the details from you guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLWM8609 Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 So who went? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 just got back.....very emotional. virtually everyone was against the project due to either the proposed bridge or the location of the service facility. METRO didn't present any technical information which didn't make the situation any better. I did speak to the board member present and asked why nothing was mentioned concerning taking/closing businesses. she said that legally that was not required by METRO because they are still in the discussion phase. they also aren't doing a full environmental study because they are not required due to the fact that METRO is not receiving federal funds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crunchtastic Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 they also aren't doing a full environmental study because they are not required due to the fact that METRO is not receiving federal funds.this is the crux of the issue. And with UP ponying up the money for the bridge, of course they don't want an environmental impact study. A legally binding study also means submitting final work plans. Oops. I'm not concernd with the S&I facility as much as with the overpass.There will be a dead zone under the bridge 7 blocks long and, in some locations, 3 blocks deep. Stops are between 8 and 13 blocks apart. !! In other news, our Astros pitcher Chris Sampson just hit a 3 run homer. We might not lose this game tonight after all! Now back to your regularly scheduled program.HAIF was well represented with me, musicman, niche and ricco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ricco67 Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 this is the crux of the issue. And with UP ponying up the money for the bridge, of course they don't want an environmental impact study. A legally binding study also means submitting final work plans. Oops. I'm not concernd with the S&I facility as much as with the overpass.There will be a dead zone under the bridge 7 blocks long and, in some locations, 3 blocks deep. Stops are between 8 and 13 blocks apart. !! In other news, our Astros pitcher Chris Sampson just hit a 3 run homer. We might not lose this game tonight after all! Now back to your regularly scheduled program.HAIF was well represented with me, musicman, niche and ricco.Yeah! What she said. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNiche Posted July 31, 2008 Share Posted July 31, 2008 this is the crux of the issue. And with UP ponying up the money for the bridge, of course they don't want an environmental impact study. A legally binding study also means submitting final work plans. Oops.That was something that really irked me. You'd think that they would want to finalize their engineering schematics, ROW takings, and anything else that could potentially be a thorn in their side before actually starting construction. It's called due diligence.And I didn't like some of the propaganda they were trying to sell. They had one sheet that tried to do a 'Fact vs. Fiction' where they took things that were being said negatively about the S&I facility, labelled them fiction, and then went on to explain something related but that did not refute the negative comments. For instance, they had one bullet that said (and I paraphrase) 'Fiction: All trains entering the S&I facility will have to cross Harrisburg. Fact: At no point in time will all 39 trains cross Harrisburg at the same time.' It just seems to totally undermine their credibility.Having said that, a lot of people that were there must also be frequent posters on the Chron Forums.Intellectual honesty was scarce, all the way around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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