CasaNova Posted June 10, 2008 Share Posted June 10, 2008 Good for Jacksonville, I hope they get it done. Nice for H-Town to be a trendsetter instead of a follower. . http://www.metrojacksonville.com/content/view/735/116/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trae Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Houston METRORail Timeline:1988 - Voters approve plan to construct twenty miles of light rail.1992 - New Mayor Bob Lanier kills light rail plan and proceeds to spend $500 million set aside for light rail on the Metro police force and fixing potholes.Oh bitchass named Bob Lanier. I never knew light rail was approved over 20 years ago in Houston. Wonder what the plans looked like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lockmat Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Did they just ignoarnly make it seem like it's been paradise since the Red line opened, or are we just really cynical? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Oh bitchass named Bob Lanier. I never knew light rail was approved over 20 years ago in Houston. Wonder what the plans looked like.and wonder why the roads and sidewalks were greatly improved too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Did they just ignoarnly make it seem like it's been paradise since the Red line opened, or are we just really cynical?look at the website. it discusses urbanism/light rail/why brt is bad/buses are bad/owning a car is bad/limiting time people can park on the street, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeebus Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 It was a very optimistic article, but I'm sure Jacksonville's real feeling on the matter was: "WTH! Houston got light-rail before us? Oh hell no!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 and wonder why the roads and sidewalks were greatly improved too.Hah! He didn't spend that money on sidewalks! If he had, we wouldn't have had to spend $80 million or so on Cotswald. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Hah! He didn't spend that money on sidewalks! If he had, we wouldn't have had to spend $80 million or so on Cotswald.Lanier did get Houston to sidewalk many hoods that were annexd in the late 70s. This was focused on hoods with schools where kids had to walk in the street. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 17, 2008 Share Posted June 17, 2008 Hah! He didn't spend that money on sidewalks! If he had, we wouldn't have had to spend $80 million or so on Cotswald.i can show you quite a few hoods who got some....downtown already had em. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxDave Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Houston METRORail Timeline:1988 - Voters approve plan to construct twenty miles of light rail.1992 - New Mayor Bob Lanier kills light rail plan and proceeds to spend $500 million set aside for light rail on the Metro police force and fixing potholes.Oh bitchass named Bob Lanier. I never knew light rail was approved over 20 years ago in Houston. Wonder what the plans looked like.I believe the 1988 plan was not for light rail as we know it today - instead it was a (reportedly) expensive monorail that was planned to run overhead along Richmond to the Galleria area.Bob Lanier redirected those Metro funds to much needed neighborhood improvements - a good investment at the time, but the delay in a transit plan may be actually costing the city more today. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 I believe the 1988 plan was not for light rail as we know it today - instead it was a (reportedly) expensive monorail that was planned to run overhead along Richmond to the Galleria area.Bob Lanier redirected those Metro funds to much needed neighborhood improvements - a good investment at the time, but the delay in a transit plan may be actually costing the city more today.Correct. The 1983 plan was heavy rail running generally north parallel to I-45. The 1988 plan was a monorail loop connecting downtown, Greenway and the Galleria, affectionately known as Gerald's Hines' personal transportation system. Once the link was made between the very expensive monorail and Hines' properties, proponents were unable to disassociate the two, and the proposal was voted down.As for Lanier's redirecting METRO funds to much needed neighborhood improvements....no, he redirected METRO funds to the City of Houston's coffers. Most of the expanded budget went to hiring a slew of new cops to combat Houston's national number one homicide rate of 43 homicides per 100,000 people (by comparison, the 2007 rate was 14 per 100,000). While the cops were sorely needed, it did not solve the murder rate problem, as Houston's homicides remained above 500 for another 10 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HtownWxBoy Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Did they just ignoarnly make it seem like it's been paradise since the Red line opened, or are we just really cynical? A little of both... but I definitely think people around here are cynical too often. But seriously, that was a great article! 2000 - House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Delay and Rep. John Culberson are successful in denying federal funds to help pay for METRORail. 2003 - Secretly financially backed by Tom Delay, Texans for True Mobility sue and force a vote to stop METRORail construction. Republican scum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 A little of both... but I definitely think people around here are cynical too often. But seriously, that was a great article! 2000 - House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Delay and Rep. John Culberson are successful in denying federal funds to help pay for METRORail. 2003 - Secretly financially backed by Tom Delay, Texans for True Mobility sue and force a vote to stop METRORail construction. Republican scum. Scum is not exclusive to Republicans, Democrats, or any other party. Plenty of mass transit plans have been scuttled by Democrats, too (the Gold Line subway in Chicago, decades of Amtrak expansion, etc...) It's not about parties. It's about who's donating to the politician's campaign. If car manufacturers and dealers, concrete companies, and highway construction firms weren't able to donate to politicians this country would be a different place. Once the link was made between the very expensive monorail and Hines' properties, proponents were unable to disassociate the two, and the proposal was voted down. I thought the article said that the voters approved it, and it was Lanier who killed it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 As for Lanier's redirecting METRO funds to much needed neighborhood improvements....no, he redirected METRO funds to the City of Houston's coffers. Most of the expanded budget went to hiring a slew of new cops to combat Houston's national number one homicide rate of 43 homicides per 100,000 people (by comparison, the 2007 rate was 14 per 100,000). While the cops were sorely needed, it did not solve the murder rate problem, as Houston's homicides remained above 500 for another 10 years.As Houston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
editor Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 As Houston Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HtownWxBoy Posted June 21, 2008 Share Posted June 21, 2008 Scum is not exclusive to Republicans, Democrats, or any other party. Plenty of mass transit plans have been scuttled by Democrats, too (the Gold Line subway in Chicago, decades of Amtrak expansion, etc...) It's not about parties. It's about who's donating to the politician's campaign. If car manufacturers and dealers, concrete companies, and highway construction firms weren't able to donate to politicians this country would be a different place. I wasn't calling them scum b/c of the whole rail thing... I was calling them scum because... well... because they are scum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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