Texas Transit Association

Mayor Lee Brown rode a bus Thursday afternoon, plugging Metro’s transit-expansion proposal to the two dozen surprised riders aboard.

“Don’t forget to vote for the Metro plan,” Brown reminded passengers after hopping on a Route 85 bus at the Northwest Transit Center.

View Metro’s educational video at the Chronicle “site”:http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/2193040.

Mayor Brown rides bus, plugging Metro’s plan
By LUCAS WALL
Oct. 30, 2003 Houston Chronicle

Several riders sat next to the mayor on the 20-minute ride to City Hall, getting his autograph and sharing their thoughts on the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Nov. 4 referendum and other city issues. Brown had a receptive audience.

“This city is growing,” said Michael Bonner, heading to work detailing cars. “I’ve been here for 3 1/2 years and man, I see stuff building and expanding. So yeah, I agree with the plan for more rail and more bus.”

Bethanne Wenger, en route to her job at the Texas Medical Center, said she takes three buses to reach work. She hopes transit improvements include more direct service to the medical complex.

“We are way behind compared to other cities,” she said. “I don’t see how we can address our needs presently if we don’t do some expansion.”

Metro seeks approval for 73 miles of rail, 44 new bus routes, expanded HOV lanes and five more years of local road funding. A $640 million bond issue on the ballot would start “Metro Solutions” implementation with 22 miles of light rail.

Brown joined about 50 dignitaries on the east steps of City Hall at a pro-Metro rally.

“Building more highways and roads can not resolve the transportation problem we’re faced with today,” he told the audience of about 100. “We must work now to prevent gridlock and poor air quality.”

Metro opponents would like to use the $5.8 billion in planned rail expenditures for wider highways, arguing light rail will not reduce traffic.

“There are those who say it’s too expensive,” Brown said. “I don’t know about you, but I think the Katy Freeway is pretty expensive. But we didn’t stop and not build that.”

Cost estimates for the Katy widening that started earlier this year are up to $1.7 billion, about $250 million higher than initially thought.

“I can’t believe that our friend [anti-rail leader] Michael Stevens and others would say that we actually need more concrete in this community,” said state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston. “We must not yield to those looking out for their own selfish interests.”

George DeMontrond, owner of DeMontrond Automotive Group, spoke on behalf of the Greater Houston Partnership, a group of 1,700 businesses that overwhelmingly endorsed Metro’s plan.

“You would think that as an automobile dealer, I might be opposed to this,” DeMontrond said. “But I’m for growth and making Houston great. I’m for making the businesses prosperous here. So in that vein, I am for this rail, for the whole Metro Solutions.”

In other Metro campaign news Thursday:

·Texans for True Mobility, the anti-rail group Stevens leads, invited 12 “concerned women” to speak about the dangers of light rail. Jessica Colon said rail has more fatalities than other modes.

American Public Transportation Association data from 2001, however, show 16 non-suicide fatalities on light rail in the United States compared with 100 on transit buses and more than 40,000 in private cars and trucks. Private vehicles had 17 times more fatalities than public buses per 100 million miles traveled, the figures indicate. (The 2001 per-mile fatality rate for light rail was not available).

“Public transportation is much safer than car travel,” said Donna Aggazio, APTA spokeswoman.

·Young Conservatives of Texas and the Latina PAC, a committee working to politically empower Houston’s Hispanics, issued statements in opposition of the referendum.

“YCT urgers Houston-area voters to reject Metro’s $8 billion light rail boondoggle that will lead Houston off track into a descending spiral of cost overruns, deficits and tax increases,” the group said. “Light rail projects in other cities inevitably suffer from huge cost overruns and Houston will be no exception.”

·The Inner City Coalition for Houston, a group of Inner Loop ministers, business owners, and community leaders, held a news conference to endorse the Metro plan. Also, the Hotel & Motel Association of Greater Houston issued a statement in favor of transit expansion.