Note: The transcript of the meeting proceedings is reproduced here exactly as received from the Certified Shorthand Reporter. 1 1 METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY 2 UNIVERSITY CORRIDOR PUBLIC FORUM 3 TUESDAY, APRIL 25, 2006 4 SOUTH MAIN BAPTIST CHURCH 5 4100 MAIN STREET 6 HOUSTON, TEXAS 7 6:30 P.M. TO 8:30 P.M. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Transcript provided by: 20 The Captioning Company 21 P.O. Box 441179 22 Houston, Texas 77244-1179 23 (281)684-8973 (phone) 24 (281)347-2881 (fax) 25 mbryant5@houston.rr.com. 2 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 3 4 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: Good evening. Could 5 I ask if everyone would find a seat or a chair or a place to 6 sit so that we can get -- have as much time as we can -- so 7 we can have as much time as possible for us to hear your 8 questions, your concerns, your comments. 9 After the Q&A session, we will have time for you to go 10 back and revisit the charts and so forth if you'd like; but 11 I have to ask you to forgive me. I've got something 12 dripping in my throat or something and I've been coughing 13 like a fool for the last week. I would like to take the 14 opportunity, one -- I think everybody -- does everyone have 15 an agenda? And we're going to follow, as they say in my 16 grandmother's church, as printed on the program. I would 17 like to take the opportunity to, one, introduce myself to 18 you. My name is Ada Edwards and I have the opportunity to 19 serve as the elected representative for District D, of which 20 this rail part is a part of. 21 In the further southern parts of District D, we've had 22 about 20 meetings regarding rail, and we've come up with 23 some processes and some things that are helping to build a 24 consensus in the southern part of the district. This 25 particular evening is the second in a series of community 3 1 meetings regarding the Richmond/Westpark, this side of the 2 rail, since we're on this side of what I call Main Street 3 part. 4 Basically, I would just like to let you know, and 5 hopefully that you'll have the confidence to believe, there 6 has been a lot of talk about what is and what is not. This 7 meeting is basically a meeting for us to gather information 8 about routing possibilities, probabilities, and how that 9 works. Nothing has been written. Nothing has been decided, 10 and I'm here and I'm sure METRO is here for the same reason, 11 to hear what you have to say. 12 I know there is a lot of concern about where it should 13 go and that's what we're here to hear, to listen to you, to 14 hear your ideas, your concerns, your comments. Once again, 15 I'd like to thank the South Main Baptist Church leadership 16 and congregation for allowing us to visit, have this 17 visitation here in their church, and with that I would ask 18 that we be very mindful of our time when we come up to the 19 microphone so that everyone will get at least one shot to 20 say what they need to say; and if you want to come back 21 again, I'll ask that you wait until everyone has been up 22 once before someone comes back up twice. Hopefully we can 23 agree with that. 24 The young lady here is doing a transcription of the 25 questions so that we're clear on what was said and what was 4 1 not said, and I understand this will also be on the website. 2 MR. SEDLAK: Yes, it will. 3 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: The transcript will 4 also be available to you through the METRO website; but when 5 you come to the microphone, we ask that you say your name 6 clearly, and if you're representing an organization, if you 7 want to, we'd appreciate having that information as well. 8 Again, I say thank you for coming and I'm going to be 9 quiet so we can move this show forward. And I'd like to 10 introduce and bring to the microphone Mr. John Sedlak who'll 11 be representing primarily METRO here this evening. 12 Mr. Sedlak... 13 MR. SEDLAK: Councilwoman, thank you very 14 much and we truly appreciate the leadership that 15 Councilwoman Edwards has shown in working with METRO and 16 calling these meetings, and I know a lot of you have been to 17 numerous meetings, as the council member has mentioned. 18 And, again, the question, why are we continuing to have 19 these meetings? Haven't decisions been made? Well, I will, 20 again, reiterate what has been stated. Decisions have not 21 been made. We're here to gain your comments, gain your 22 insights so that the decision-making process can begin and 23 that is the process we're now just starting. 24 This is the seventh of -- or eighth of a series of 25 meetings that the three district council members have hosted 5 1 over the last three weeks. Both myself and our president, 2 Frank Wilson, have been in attendance with the council 3 members and have been engaging with the community in this 4 process. And quite simply, what we're after is gaining your 5 input as we continue with the process that we have just now 6 engaged in. 7 We have -- that being the METRO board -- has just given 8 us authority to enter into contracts with companies that 9 will conduct what we're calling design development and 10 preliminary engineering in the University Corridor. And to 11 accomplish that work, we need to have the information and 12 the involvement of the public so that we can identify those 13 issues of concern, issues that you believe may impact you, 14 and then issues that may be opportunities for us to examine. 15 At the same time that we will be doing design 16 development work and further engineering development, we 17 will be doing a Draft Environmental Impact Statement. All 18 of this is a requirement of the Federal Transit 19 Administration. We are requesting funding support from 20 Washington to provide 50 percent of the capital cost of 21 whatever investment we make in this corridor. And we call 22 this a travel corridor, running from east over at the 23 University of Houston, Texas Southern University, moving to 24 the west over to Main Street and then from Main Street 25 moving west towards Greenway Plaza and towards the 6 1 Uptown/Galleria area. 2 You're most interested in this area along the west, and 3 we've heard concerns already expressed by the community at 4 the various meetings we've attended. We've heard concern 5 about residents and access to residences, whether there will 6 be impact on businesses and access to those businesses. 7 Trees -- the right of way requirements, what the streetscape 8 is going to be like upon completion of a project and what it 9 would be like during construction of a project. Traffic 10 congestion, left turning movements, these are comments we've 11 already heard and have had identified to us; but we're here 12 to hear additional comments that you would have this 13 evening. 14 One of the key things that we've heard through all of 15 our meetings is that we had disruption to the community, to 16 businesses, while METRO developed the Main Street Line. I 17 was very directly involved in that project, and I'll be the 18 first to admit that we could have done a better job and need 19 to do a far better job on construction of transit 20 improvements that will take place all across our service 21 region. 22 We need to provide better access in terms of street 23 access. We need to provide better access for pedestrians. 24 We need to maintain the access. Some of the access was cut 25 off completely for sections of Main Street throughout that 7 1 construction. 2 We had a unique situation that existed. That project 3 was accelerated by some ten months in schedule to meet some 4 big events that were being held here in Houston at the 5 beginning of 2004. And so the entire project, seven and a 6 half miles, went under construction at one time. Not only 7 did it go under construction at one time, but we had major 8 utility relocations that were being done. So we had impact. 9 We need to provide information to businesses and the 10 patrons of those businesses as to how you access those 11 facilities. That's a job we need to do far better than what 12 we had done. 13 We need to minimize the utility relocation. As I 14 mentioned, an awful lot of relocation was done up and down 15 Main Street. We believe in the corridors that we'll be 16 working over the next several years we can minimize those 17 utility relocations and that will minimize the amount of 18 construction. We believe we can segment construction so 19 that it can have construction activities occurring only in 20 one area for a shorter period of time, and when that 21 construction is complete, then construction moves on to a 22 next area. That's an improvement and that would be a 23 significant enhancement to anybody that would live along a 24 right of way that would be affected. 25 We also need to look at can we do construction work off 8 1 hours where businesses or residents might be affected. How 2 can we do it so that the construction activities coincide 3 with what goes on along the properties that are adjacent to 4 a construction zone? So there is an awful lot of things we 5 can do better. 6 Councilwoman has already stated that we're recording 7 these meetings. It will be a few days before the complete 8 recordings are done, but they will be posted on the website. 9 And you can go back and look at the seven previous meetings 10 if you're interested and look at questions that have been 11 raised and the responses that we've been providing to the 12 citizens at these meetings. So I want to thank you. I want 13 to thank you on behalf of METRO's board, on behalf of 14 METRO's president and our staff. We're very glad you're 15 here tonight. So the real importance is to hear from you 16 and I know we have one card. 17 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: Let me do some 18 housekeeping rules if I can. I'm sorry, I forgot to ask you 19 to join us. We're going to have comments and questions 20 written on cards and you can also come to the mic for a live 21 question, a verbal question. The way we have done it in the 22 past, we've done a written question and then we go to a 23 person at the mic, and then back to a written question and 24 then a person at the mic and try to give it that kind of 25 synergy. So if I can get a consensus if that's okay with 9 1 you as to how -- that way we keep a constant flow going. So 2 if you want to come to the mic and don't want to write a 3 question, you're welcome to do this. So you don't have to 4 put your names on these cards. We'll just keep the cards as 5 a record of the questions. Is that okay? 6 I want to also take the opportunity, John, to introduce 7 a member from our office staff, Ms. Nzinga Rideaux, and we 8 have a member from Ms. Clutterbuck's staff, I think -- can 9 you stand, sir? Mr. Douglass, Tim Douglass, and anyone else 10 from City Hall that I'm missing? I would say that the mayor 11 is very interested in making sure that our citizens are 12 being heard, are being heard and listened to. And that we 13 are going to be trying to develop a consensus as we move 14 forward on this, but Council Member Clutterbuck, Council 15 Member Holm and our office are very vigilant in this effort 16 to make sure we get as much as and as much needed input from 17 our community as we move forward on this. I'm going to give 18 Mr. Sedlak the cards, and he can call and do the answers and 19 then if you want to come to the microphone -- do we have any 20 more cards? 21 MR. FRANK: Four more. 22 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: There we go. 23 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you, Councilwoman. First 24 question here was what will happen when the rail comes from 25 the University of Houston, crosses the Main Street Line and 10 1 goes under the spur? Will bridges be built? That's an 2 excellent question. As we begin this effort to examine just 3 exactly where this transit investment would be made, 4 certainly we believe this corridor will justify the 5 development of light rail. We believe the ridership that 6 would be generated by trip-making from the east side of Main 7 Street over to the Main Street area and then connections 8 that we have to the Medical Center, connections to downtown 9 and then connections to the west, particularly the 10 activities along this western stretch will justify enough 11 ridership to qualify the project for federal funding. 12 That's part of the criteria we must go through. These 13 projects are examined from across the country, and projects 14 that have the greatest ridership, relative to the cost, have 15 the best ranking, and they are scored nationally by the 16 Federal Transit Administration. 17 We need to put our best project forward, and so the 18 location of this investment and focus that light rail we 19 believe is justified, but as part of this process we'll also 20 examine bus improvements. So we will be comparing a bus 21 improvement against a light rail improvement. How we will 22 exactly come across Main Street and how we will come from 23 the University of Houston over to the west, there are 24 several potential routes in which we could come from U of H, 25 past Texas Southern University, over to Main Street. We 11 1 have examined previously Wheeler Street. We've examined 2 Richmond Avenue as well as Elgin from the east. As we come 3 to Main Street, we have a station here just south of South 4 Main Baptist Church. That's the Wheeler station. It's a 5 major hub station for us where we also have bus connections 6 that come in to the station to the rail line. 7 From here, we have a couple of possibilities going to 8 the west, and we have a chart in the back of the room that 9 shows a couple of different routing options. One route 10 option is to continue to the west on Richmond Avenue, with 11 connections to University of St. Thomas, over to Greenway 12 Plaza, and then over to the Uptown/Galleria area. Another 13 option is to utilize a portion of the Southwest Freeway 14 right of way, U.S. 59, and also Westpark right of way. 15 AUDIENCE MEMBER: That's the best one. 16 (Applause). 17 MR. SEDLAK: I appreciate your comments and 18 we'll have opportunity to go further into that. So we have 19 several options before us. We have heard of suggestions 20 that we should consider Westheimer, that we should consider 21 a mix of several of these potential routes. A portion of 22 the route along Richmond, a portion of the route along 23 Westpark, various places to make crossings from one street 24 to another. All of these involve engineering 25 considerations, considerations of how we would work within 12 1 the traffic conditions that exist and traffic conditions in 2 the future. They involve a look at the various conditions 3 of businesses and residential properties along the right of 4 way. And in each case, what we are about to do with our 5 study process is examine each of those areas in a great 6 level of detail. That level of detail then will allow us to 7 come back to the community, provide information to you 8 relative to one street versus another street, and whether or 9 not we have to elevate a line over a particular street or 10 over a railroad crossing. Such as when you cross a major 11 freight railroad line, we would have to go over it or under 12 it or elevate that railroad line or push that railroad line 13 under us. We would not cross that kind of a facility at 14 grade. 15 So those are the sorts of issues we will be looking at. 16 When someone asks us, well, how exactly are we going to do 17 that? Right now, I can't tell you because I don't know that 18 answer. And our staff doesn't have that answer or our 19 consultants, but within the coming months, as the consultant 20 team that's working on this advances this work, we'll be 21 coming back. We'll be getting your further input and we'll 22 have some specific information. 23 What kind of right of way requirements will we have, 24 what happens with a turn, if you try to turn from one street 25 to another street, how much area of land do we need to make 13 1 that turn, what's the radius, what's the sort of engineering 2 requirements -- all of that information would be brought 3 back to you with discussion. So I hope that's of some help 4 in answering that question. 5 The next question here is why does the line not reach 6 the Galleria area? That's a first question. A second one, 7 why are the east and west lines on either side of 59? I'm 8 trying to figure that one out. The third is will the 9 Wheeler station be a transfer station? A fourth question 10 here, will the track be elevated? So let me take them one 11 at a time. 12 Why does the line not reach the Galleria area? The 13 METRO Solution plan that we have right now examines or will 14 examine this University Corridor, the connection between 15 Main Street to the west and to the east. And as we get to 16 the Uptown/Galleria area, that line would interconnect with 17 an uptown transit improvement. The look that we have given 18 to that particular travel area is that that line would be a 19 bus rapid transit investment that would be made on Post Oak 20 Boulevard and would have station stops along that street 21 just as the light rail station stops exist on Main Street. 22 Buses that have multiple doors would be used. Those 23 buses would stop at those station stops, and the function of 24 how you would use the transit system would be the same as 25 how you use the Main Street Line today. 14 1 So, yes, there would be a connection with the Galleria 2 area and it would be via that Uptown Line. Where exactly 3 would we connect with that Uptown Line is what this study 4 process is about. If you would go across Richmond, you 5 would come into the Post Oak/Uptown area at that location. 6 If you would go to Westpark, you would move to the south of 7 59 and you would come over to the Uptown area south of U.S. 8 59, the Southwest Freeway, and you would need to connect 9 then up to Post Oak Boulevard. There has been some design 10 and some construction that's already taken place with the 11 Westpark toll road to allow that to happen. So there has 12 been some consideration of that possibility. 13 The other possibilities we've heard is Westheimer and 14 coming into the Galleria area via that street. So those are 15 decisions yet to be made, examinations of traffic, cost, 16 ridership, all of those factors that I've mentioned earlier 17 would have to be examined. 18 Why are the east and west lines on either side of 59? 19 Not sure -- can anybody explain that further? 20 AUDIENCE MEMBER: It looks like they might be 21 talking about the two options on your -- 22 MR. SEDLAK: On either side of 59, the 23 Southwest Freeway. As we know 59 continues to the east and 24 it's elevated as it comes over the Wheeler station. Why are 25 they either side? Quite simply as we have looked at this 15 1 particular travel area, we try to maximize how many people 2 would use a transit system if it was built and put into 3 place. 4 For federal funding, that's a necessity. We look at 5 Richmond because there are existing residential areas, there 6 are existing activity areas like the University of 7 St. Thomas, like the Menil area. As you move to the west, 8 the Greenway Plaza area, the Lakewood Church, Edwards 9 Cinema, the other business areas along the Greenway Plaza 10 area and then as you move to the west, the Uptown/Galleria 11 complex. 12 As one would also look as an alternative, we have 13 examined the Westpark corridor because METRO owns a portion 14 of right of way in the Westpark corridor. Now, that right 15 of way ends or comes to almost no right of way in the 16 vicinity of Shepherd, and as you move east of Shepherd, 17 there is essentially no right of way available at that 18 point. So then you begin to look at how can you introduce a 19 line within the U.S. 59 right of way. So that's why we look 20 at either side of the 59 going both east and west. 21 Another question, will the Wheeler station be a 22 transfer station? That answer is yes. You would have the 23 capability of making a movement from a University Line to 24 the Main Street Line. Just exactly how we do that is a 25 matter of further engineering examination; whether you can 16 1 directly connect the tracks or whether we would need to have 2 a transfer movement off of one vehicle on to another. So 3 that's an examination that will have to take place. A lot 4 of it is dependent upon ridership, other factors such as the 5 engineering that's necessary and then the operational 6 considerations. 7 A fourth question here was will the track be elevated? 8 And as I mentioned, once we come to the Union Pacific 9 railroad line, you must separate from that line. Now, how 10 we do that is an engineering question and some of these 11 other factors. Do we go up and over? Do we go under? Do 12 we move the railroad line? All questions to be answered. 13 AUDIENCE MEMBER: What does Union Pacific 14 say? 15 MR. SEDLAK: What does Union Pacific say? 16 We're going to go first to Mr. Barnum. 17 MR. BARNUM: Good to see you, John. I'm Dan 18 Barnum. I live at 3108 Austin in the Midtown area. I'm 19 also the chairman of the planning committee for the Midtown 20 Management District. And you've answered one of my concerns 21 about what's happening at Wheeler station. My other concern 22 right now is can you comment on METRO's ability to use 23 eminent domain for development at the station areas -- not 24 for alignment, but for transit-oriented development at the 25 station areas? 17 1 MR. SEDLAK: That question will probably come 2 up again. Another individual may have that same question, 3 Dan, but METRO does have the authority and the right to use 4 eminent domain as part of its legislative authority. METRO 5 has used that sparingly over its history. Very, very few 6 times has that been used and very few times on the Main 7 Street project. I believe less than nine acquisitions that 8 were necessary via eminent domain. Two of those were for 9 the large area at the south end that involves a parking lot 10 and the maintenance facility. The rest were very small 11 parcels, primarily along -- around the Wheeler station 12 because the line transitions from Main Street to San Jacinto 13 and Fannin. And a lot of those were small acquisitions of 14 property to accomplish that. 15 METRO's view has been that that's an action of last 16 resort, and as we examine whether there will be property 17 needed in any area along this line -- and again at this 18 point I don't know that to be the case -- because if we stay 19 entirely within public right of way, within the street right 20 of way, we wouldn't need additional private right of way. 21 But likely there will be some private right of way needed, 22 and then we'll need to go through a process of appraising 23 the land and then making a fair offer to a landowner, and 24 then taking that through a negotiation, ultimately then a 25 decision is to be made whether that land can be acquired 18 1 through a negotiated settlement or whether the land is 2 necessary for the development of the transit project. 3 Now, you raised the question, would you buy land for 4 purely joint development or transit-oriented development? 5 We're examining that on properties that we own today, that 6 METRO owns today, such as down at the Texas Medical Center 7 where a transit center has been built, but today we have not 8 acquired land anywhere along these lines purely for that 9 purpose. That will be a question. I know that question has 10 come up. And past history is being reexamined. There are 11 policy decisions of our board which will need to be taken up 12 by our board once again to determine do we only acquire land 13 through that right of eminent domain purely for transit 14 purposes for the facility necessary to operate the transit 15 system or can you acquire land for other purposes? Our 16 legislative authority allows us to do that, but again, that 17 has not been done in METRO's past. I hope that's helpful, 18 Dan. Yes, sir? 19 MR. BELLO: Good evening, my name is Trevor 20 Bello. I have a business on Richmond at Mandell. I've been 21 there 16 years, and I've worked really hard to have the 22 business going. As a matter of fact, I bought the business 23 when it was all the way down after the City of Houston 24 almost put them out of business when they were putting those 25 big water sewers in there. And I employ about nine people, 19 1 three of them are over 70, African American. And they will 2 not get jobs anywhere else. I've got two Mexicans, one 3 Hispanic and two part-time African Americans that work on 4 weekends. One of them supporting four kids, that are 5 divorced, and one of them planning to go to college. 6 And working 16 hours a day when I was building the 7 business up, I didn't get the privilege of getting big 8 bonuses like the city does in giving people where they have 9 blatant disregard and blatant raises to helping themselves 10 to the pot. And I came here from another country to build 11 an American dream, and all I can see right now is whenever 12 the city starts building this project, I think in about two 13 months I'll be out of business. I know that for a fact. 14 And all the people working for me will not -- because I know 15 for sure even now I've got customers telling me if you go 16 for the rail, we're not going to come to your business. So 17 they are threatening me right now with not coming to my 18 business. And two months from now when the rail starts up, 19 they'll be going somewhere else for sure along with the ones 20 that do support my business and not having rail on Richmond. 21 I know you guys have great intentions, Mr. Sedlak, 22 Mr. Wilson, and I want to ask all of you, including the 23 METRO board, the city council members who are for the rail 24 and all of you who are drawing these incomes, guaranteed 25 income and bonuses, I've put every penny I own into my 20 1 business. I don't have IRA's, 401(k), no insurance, no 2 disability and all the good stuff that the city gives their 3 people. I ask you to put yourself in my situation like 4 Trading Places like Eddie Murphy, and let's see how all of 5 you, including the board members, would feel having your 6 entire life savings being jeopardized by a project that's 7 little more than a shuttle service. 8 And I've lived in a city where 2 million people 9 traveled on a train -- 2 million, not 10,000 or 5,000, and 10 that's what's called a train service. 11 So my question -- it's sort of a question really. I'm 12 making a statement saying why would you have a shuttle 13 service that affects hundreds of thousands of people, 400 14 businesses -- and I've been up and down Richmond. I am not 15 speaking for business owners, but I've met one business 16 owner on Richmond that did not want the rail. I don't care 17 what people that live two houses in back of me want -- 18 people on Richmond and businesses on Richmond, we do not 19 want the rail. There is no way you can guarantee it. 20 You look at Abu Ghraib, you look at the F.B.I. and they 21 have in their custody Zacarias Moussoui, and what happened? 22 They blow up the World Trade Center. And once whenever you 23 guys give the project to somebody else's hands, you've got 24 no control. I've got no authority. I know you have the 25 money to pay them, but when the job gets going -- I'll give 21 1 you an example of a guy, Al Lee, Fannin Flower Shop, a good 2 friend of mine. He had a business on Fannin and he said, 3 "Oh, they're going to give me a month's notice" and 4 everything else. And one bright morning the heavy equipment 5 came out and began digging him up and blocked him off 6 completely. All his flowers died, and in two weeks he was 7 out of there. Where is all the guarantees he got and from 8 whom? And who do you call when they are tearing up your 9 place and you lost your power and everything else? 10 And I don't think you can do it. Mr. Wilson can't do 11 it. The METRO board can't do it. You have no -- you have 12 no control over those guys on the construction equipment. 13 You got no control the way the attitudes -- how they work, 14 the rednecks that our whole industry employs, and they don't 15 care about us. They really don't. You guys have good 16 hearts, but you don't have the control or the capacity or 17 the authority. You just got the money and money anyone has. 18 And I came to America for the American dream, and there 19 is a lot of people up and down my street that are in the 20 same situation like me. They are Mexican, they are Indian, 21 Pakistani or African American that own businesses, and we 22 don't have -- you know, we count. We do count. We pay 23 taxes. And we don't just get up and go and get jobs. We 24 don't have big degrees. We weren't born with silver spoons 25 in our mouth. Maybe in two years or generations I'll have a 22 1 grandson who will have an energy company or discover a 2 shuttle right now. If I'm out of business, I'm out. I'm 3 considering getting a grocery cart and moving down below the 4 59 bridge if we don't tear it down. Thank you. 5 MR. SEDLAK: Trevor -- 6 (Applause). 7 MR. SEDLAK: I want to thank you very much 8 for the sincerity of your comments. No question, you are 9 very sincere about your business, and I can tell you that 10 with all sincerity, we will be very concerned and we will 11 focus on this issue. This has been a continuing theme that 12 we've heard. In fact, we have a meeting this Thursday 13 morning coming up later this week, and it will, again, 14 involve businesses up and down this corridor. Again, the 15 purpose is that there has been a request that everybody 16 wants to be heard, that these evening meetings have been 17 difficult for some people to make because they're running a 18 business. 19 Without question, this is an area that METRO takes very 20 seriously. We'll examine closely and work with the 21 community in whichever route is chosen, whatever decisions 22 are made, as to how we can minimize any impacts. And the 23 effort first is to make sure that any impacts that occur are 24 brought to the shortest duration and we find ways in which 25 businesses can coexist with a short-term construction 23 1 activity to be benefited by a long-term improvement. 2 Now, you know, I can't stand here and say that we have 3 those answers. That's something we have to work 4 collectively with the entire community. And I sincerely 5 appreciate your making the comments and coming here tonight. 6 We have a card. So let me get into the card first and 7 then, Ted, I'll come right back to you. First question of 8 ridership, cost ratio is important to this decision. Which 9 potential route, Richmond versus Westpark, provides the 10 greater proximity to locations of riders wanting access? 11 It would appear you have an inherent conflict. The option 12 that creates the most opposition now because it is populated 13 heavily with businesses and people probably gets you the 14 best ridership when completed. 15 Let me answer this one first, cost ratio and ridership. 16 As I mentioned, that is a key criteria that as we compete 17 for funding with well over 100 projects across the United 18 States, they are putting forth very similar transit 19 improvements to this one, light rail or bus rapid transit in 20 corridors in some cases very similar to what we're examining 21 here. We do look at potential ridership, and the way 22 transit works the best is when stations are in the closest 23 proximity to the greatest number of people or activities. 24 Some might not believe it to be the case on Main Street, but 25 I can tell you that the Main Street Line is a very big 24 1 success as our colleagues across the country look at what's 2 occurred with the Main Street light rail line. 3 Today we carry approximately 40,000 riders on a daily 4 basis. That was a forecast that wasn't expected to be 5 reached until the year 2020. We did it in 18 months. One 6 of the reasons that it works and carries as many people as 7 it does is it comes in close proximity to major activity 8 areas, the downtown, the court complex, the county complex, 9 the sports arenas, the theatre district. As you come into 10 the Midtown area, the residential facilities now in Midtown, 11 and then into the Museum District, the zoo, into the Medical 12 Center, the proximity to the jobs there and visitors and 13 students. And then to the sports complex. So the close 14 proximity where people can walk to a transit station will 15 yield a higher ridership. 16 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Didn't you reroute all the 17 bus lines to dump them onto the rail? 18 MR. SEDLAK: We rerouted some key bus routes 19 that came from the west, primarily those routes along 20 Bellaire Boulevard as they came towards the Medical Center. 21 Those passengers transfer on to the light rail, and in fact 22 those routes have had increased ridership now to the west of 23 the Medical Center. The reason behind that is the routes 24 are more reliable. With a longer distance, all the way into 25 downtown, they got hung up with traffic. So we rerouted 25 1 routes that would benefit by connecting to the light rail 2 line and improving the trip times that people would take and 3 how they would -- how they would have improved service along 4 the -- through a longer period of the day. That's how we 5 looked at rerouting buses. 6 Yes, we have to examine these streets for ridership and 7 cost, potentially a Richmond route may be more costly than a 8 Westpark route, but I'll tell you if we have to also go 9 through a portion of the Southwest Freeway, that will also 10 be very expensive. So we have to look at all of these 11 potential options. 12 Second question here was are you considering taking out 13 Richmond to at least Greenway Plaza and possibly cutting 14 over through to Westpark? That's one of the routing options 15 that's shown on a map in the back of the room. 16 Any thoughts to improving pedestrian pathways 17 throughout the adjoining neighborhoods to make it more 18 likely for people to walk to the rail? Without question, 19 pedestrian access is an important part of how one of these 20 transit systems functions, and we would look at key routes, 21 pedestrian routes, and whether or not the project could 22 assist in making that improvement or whether we could work 23 with the city or an improvement area to make improvements on 24 a sidewalk. Without question, sidewalk access, and when 25 that's improved, people can use that more effectively. 26 1 Thank you, Councilwoman. I also wanted to mention that 2 with us tonight is a representative from State Rep Martha 3 Wong's office, Patricia Sheldon. I saw Patricia earlier. 4 Hi, Patricia. Thank you for being here with us this 5 evening. And Ted Richardson. 6 MR. RICHARDSON: Hello again. It's good to 7 see you both again and thank you for hosting this. I'm Ted 8 Richardson, a retired architect. I reside in West Lane 9 Place. I have no financial interest in any route that METRO 10 might choose. I have no financial relationship to any 11 development that METRO might be involved in or get involved 12 in. And I have no financial relationship with any 13 consultants -- none, nada. The only thing that can affect 14 me if METRO does something is to affect the property value 15 of my home in West Lane Place. 16 You've asked for suggestions in the past, and I 17 appreciate that. And here are mine: And I believe that all 18 of these suggestions are consistent with the basic 19 conclusions that you reached when you published the 20 March 1983 supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement 21 for the Houston rail rapid transit project. Granted, that 22 ended up being a heavy rail project, but in the preliminary 23 studies, light rail was studied, and I think that's 24 important that we end up with a system that's consistent 25 with this because when we go to the Feds, if we can say here 27 1 is what we did in '83. Look how smart we are. We've got a 2 proposed route and a proposed technology that we looked at 3 20 some odd years ago, and we're consistent with that except 4 for the heavy rail issue. But as far as moving people on 5 rail to stations, activity centers, that's what this is all 6 about. And I think it's to our benefit if we're consistent 7 with it. So that's that. 8 Consistent with that, don't place rail on Richmond -- 9 and that was in the document. 10 (Applause). 11 MR. RICHARDSON: And as a sidebar to that, I 12 think it's critical that we avoid thinking of Main Street as 13 a template for Richmond. It's not. It's not anything like 14 it. And the reason I say that is Main Street, which is 15 reduced to one lane down, for example, in front of your 16 building, if somebody stops in that lane like the bus did 17 that took us to the METRO board meeting a couple of months 18 ago and stopped all southbound traffic for ten minutes, that 19 could happen with a stalled car, terrorists, flooding, all 20 kinds of things. So that's not a template as far as 21 reducing something to one lane. 22 Additionally, if you're stuck on Main Street, you can 23 go to many other streets to go away from the downtown area. 24 You've got Travis and Milam and Smith and Fannin and San 25 Jacinto, all those streets go different ways. Richmond, if 28 1 you're stuck on Richmond, you've got to go over to 2 Westheimer or the Southwest Freeway. Alabama will help you 3 a little bit, go over to Westheimer, but there is nothing 4 close. I think they are about a mile apart from each other. 5 So to me that's a whole different deal and that template 6 won't work. 7 Emphasize the basic rail route originally described in 8 this environmental impact statement as the 9 Southwest/Westpark corridor except stay on the south side 10 all the way into town and to the Wheeler station. From 11 Montrose east, there isn't a utility corridor, and if you go 12 down to Wentworth Street and look on the south side of the 13 new red brick wall that has been built with the freeway, 14 there is very little in there that's in the way of an 15 extension of the Westpark right of way. One of the 16 buildings that's in the way looks like about a four 17 apartment building that's right in the way, and it's up for 18 sale. So it looks like that would be an easy fix. So stay 19 on the south all the way to the Wheeler station. Don't get 20 involved in crossing Southwest Freeway. 21 Avoid pedestrian and vehicle interferences with the 22 rail line to the fullest extent possible. Utilize elevated 23 stations, clear spanning over major north/south streets with 24 pedestrian access to both sides of the major north/south 25 street. So if you've got Kirby Drive and you've got a 29 1 station over that's parallel to your line, then you can drop 2 down on either side from the station to either side of the 3 street. Show how the light rail line would be extended to 4 the West Belt and beyond because of all the people out in 5 the Alief area and areas out west that could benefit from 6 the rail line. 7 Between Montrose and West Belt, plan for the same ten 8 station locations that were in this supplemental draft 9 except locate the Montrose station on the south side of the 10 freeway which is where O'Rourkes Restaurant is which has 11 gone out of business because of the bridge construction and 12 consider the deletion of the Newcastle station and the 13 addition of elevated stations over both Buffalo Speedway and 14 Weslayan. 15 Regarding eminent domain -- honor METRO's 1983 16 commitment to the public which would limit condemnation to 17 the transit needs only, and I understand that my letter and 18 proposal is going to be considered at the May board meeting. 19 And I want to talk to you more about that. 20 Seven -- regarding the protection of neighborhoods, 21 honor your commitments to the Sunset/Montclair Civic 22 Association made in 1983 and extend them to other 23 neighborhoods as stated in a METRO letter dated June 9th, 24 1983. That was this letter signed by Alan Kiepper that has 25 commitments for ten -- there must be 15 or 20 commitments on 30 1 neighborhood protection. So I ask that and I'll give you a 2 copy of it. 3 MR. SEDLAK: I think I have that one, Ted. 4 MR. RICHARDSON: Good. Now, question, if 5 rail is built at grade on Richmond Avenue, for example at 6 Kirby Drive, please address these four issues: Public 7 safety of pedestrians and vehicles, traffic congestion, 8 emergency vehicles accommodation, and the use of Richmond 9 and Kirby as evacuation routes. Before you respond, I want 10 to mention a few things: One, the 2001 traffic map shows 11 that 63,380 vehicles passed through the intersection of 12 Kirby and Richmond in a 24 hour count day. 63,380 -- that's 13 in 2001. 14 Current projections, which are based on the 2004 15 monitoring and testing will probably indicate in excess of 16 73,000 vehicles per day passing through that intersection. 17 Most of those vehicles pass through the intersection during 18 the morning, noon and afternoon rush hour. A large part of 19 those 73,000, these are the same times when METRO would have 20 the highest ridership. Trains running every six minutes in 21 each direction. That equates to 60 trains entering the 22 intersection during a three hour rush period along with 23 several thousand cars. Trains have the right of way when 24 they pass through major intersections, thus all other 25 vehicles must stop. 31 1 Question -- what similar existing rail line and vehicle 2 intersections can you mention to reassure the public about 3 each of the four issues stated? And next, will you include 4 an estimated value of lost man hours and wasted gasoline and 5 oil in your cost studies? Thank you. 6 MR. SEDLAK: Sure. Let me answer the first 7 one -- the last one first. Yes, the studies include that 8 sort of analysis that's done as part of the environmental 9 impact work. That's to be accomplished here in the coming 10 months and probably through the end of this calendar year. 11 You mention a lot of things, Ted. You've been with us 12 at I believe every one of the meetings that has been held, 13 and we appreciate your comments. They've gone into the 14 record. Your comments regarding eminent domain proceedings 15 and land acquisition -- yes, we've received your letters and 16 that will be under discussion for consideration by our board 17 and how exactly they will work with that, whether any action 18 is necessary or some further resolutions, that's work to be 19 considered. 20 You mentioned a lot of suggestions of making changes or 21 at least reverting back to some of the concepts that were 22 put forward in 1983. Grade separation through a good 23 portion of the line, grade separation from traffic, elevated 24 stations, et cetera. 25 I appreciate those comments in terms of examination of 32 1 a transit investment. Any time we go into elevated 2 structures, that adds cost and in some cases considerable 3 cost. Elevated stations, not only does it add cost, but the 4 potential of impacts, visual impacts and impacts to 5 adjoining properties or adjoining locations. So all of 6 those have been items that have been considered. 7 One of the reasons that we consider an at grade 8 investment is that we can maintain the cost and contain the 9 cost, but it comes with other issues. Traffic is a 10 significant issue, just as you have mentioned, and we have 11 to do very serious traffic analysis, not only to determine 12 the conditions that exist today, but the conditions that 13 would exist 20 and 30 years into the future. We all believe 14 and acknowledge that Houston is going to grow. So those are 15 all reasons why a transit investment is also being 16 considered because of those growth patterns and because of 17 the conditions that exist today. It's going to change. If 18 METRO does nothing in terms of a transit investment, the 19 areas along these routes will change. 20 Now, how can we work with the community so that we can 21 come up with the best investment so that the changes can be 22 the most positive for our community, for the residents of 23 our community and for those that are immediately adjacent to 24 where we would make an investment? That's what this is 25 about, and I appreciate those comments. They've been 33 1 recorded, and again, as we go through our studies, each one 2 of these is going to be addressed. Thank you, Ted. 3 MR. RICHARDSON: Will you add 4 constructability issue savings to my comments if we are in 5 the Westpark corridor. And thank you for having it here 6 because I think since I came from the south going north on 7 Main Street without realizing what I was getting into, I 8 learned real quickly what it's like trying to make a 9 left-hand turn on Main Street into the church, and that's 10 the thing we are worried about on Richmond. 11 (Applause). 12 MR. SEDLAK: Let me take one from a card and 13 then I'll come back to you, sir. Question here was who is 14 the supplier of the trains for METRO? The answer is Siemens 15 Corporation. Who supplied them on Main Street? That's who 16 it was. Do any of the board members own these companies? I 17 am certainly not aware of that. Not aware of any time that 18 any votes have been made regarding actions with the Siemens 19 Corporation, I haven't heard any board member either past or 20 current have any issues of conflict with that company. 21 Since some board members have a conflict of interest in 22 the companies that contracts are let, why aren't those 23 companies excluded from the process? Well, the board 24 members serve at the discretion of their elected officials, 25 the county, city or multicities, the councils, the mayor, 34 1 the commission from the county. And they are volunteer 2 members. They serve at the pleasure of these appointing 3 agencies. The board members all sign an ethics statement as 4 to what they are able to do as board members, and if they 5 have an interest in a particular property or company, they 6 must exclude themselves from any consideration or vote on 7 that issue. 8 This question went on to say, since LAN received one of 9 the contracts, LAN is an engineering company here locally in 10 Houston, and they received one of the contracts. We're 11 negotiating a contract with them now, and a board member was 12 a V. P. of that company. He abstained from the vote. I 13 suspect that that could cause major problems like the 14 Hermann Hospital Estate scandal. I'm not aware of that 15 particular issue. I'm not aware of it, but please comment 16 on this as it is the same scenario. 17 That individual board member abstained from a vote on a 18 contract that involved an engineering company being selected 19 to negotiate a contract. As I say, that contract 20 negotiation is underway. It hasn't been completed as of 21 yet, but that's within the statutes of METRO as long as the 22 board member that has an interest excludes themselves from 23 any involvement in that decision-making process, and that 24 was the case. Yes, sir. 25 MR. MEYER: Okay, my name is Neal Meyer. I'm 35 1 a life-long Houstonian, and I'll try to keep this within 2 about 90 seconds. Really quick, I'll tell a story. Six 3 weeks ago my car broke down, and I live at Westheimer and 4 Galleria area, and I work downtown. Basically I took METRO 5 to get to work. It took me door to door about 60 minutes 6 versus about a 25 minute trip in my car. So I know for a 7 fact now that riding my car generally saves me about an hour 8 a day for anybody who supports mass transit in the city. 9 They really need to compare that, you know, how much time do 10 people save by riding in automobiles and what is that impact 11 as far as the overall popularity of using mass transit. 12 I'm going to go ahead and make a little commentary and 13 then just a few quick questions. As a matter of the public 14 record in 1998, the then METRO board spent $84 million 15 purchasing 448 buses versus the $324 million that were spent 16 building a light rail line. And I also noticed in the 17 handout that the number of bus trips that are no longer 18 going along Main Street says 346. And I can't help but 19 think that the numbers that I'm seeing in terms of overall 20 ridership, people talk about the overall success of the 21 METRORail line as 40,000 passengers a day. One question I 22 had was, is do people know how many passengers were actually 23 taking those buses beforehand? And that is an overall 24 concern because I'm seeing that -- the numbers that I'm 25 seeing is that the overall patronage of METRO is generally 36 1 staying about even. In other words, what I'm seeing is that 2 the building of the light rail line seems to have amounted 3 to something of a substitution effect. You've rerouted all 4 these lines. You canceled some bus routes, and then the 5 overall patronage seems to be the same. So what I'm seeing 6 here is that we spent several hundred million dollars and 7 overall patronage has stayed the same. To me, that's like 8 you're burning money right there. You're not helping the 9 community. 10 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Amen, brother. 11 (Applause). 12 MR. MEYER: So, yeah, one question is, was 13 there any statistics on how many people rode those bus 14 routes before the light rail was implemented? And then 15 another question would be -- is that you mentioned about bus 16 improvements. Is that a federal requirement? In other 17 words, it would seem to me as though there would be 18 something -- if the federal government is asking for this or 19 if you're going to be asking the federal government for this 20 money, you know, what would be the result if we did nothing? 21 And then spent some money on bus improvements and ergo save 22 all those businesses, forget about the real estate 23 redevelopment and everything else. And -- 24 AUDIENCE MEMBER: There wouldn't be any 25 political patronage then. 37 1 MR. MEYER: And there would be no political 2 patronage, I guess, and I guess would that information be 3 published? In other words, you would say that, okay, well, 4 we think that X. number of riders would patronize the rail 5 line wherever we ran it versus what will we do if we did 6 nothing? 7 And also how many bus routes -- I've also been aware 8 that a lot of bus routes have been canceled. Will that 9 information also be published as to, you know, to let the 10 public know that, well, we may build this rail line; we may 11 have to cancel bus service? One of the things in the 2003 12 referendum was that 50 percent more bus service was promised 13 to the public. 14 MR. SEDLAK: A lot of good questions. Neal, 15 I think it was? 16 MR. MEYER: Yeah. 17 MR. SEDLAK: I appreciate those questions. 18 Let me see if I can address them very quickly. You 19 mentioned using METRO and taking you significant time. I 20 don't know -- you didn't qualify if you were using bus or 21 rail or a combination of both. We have some staff members 22 in the back of the room. I'd be curious to know more 23 details about your trip. That would be helpful for us to 24 look at it and see what was actually happening with that 25 particular trip. You've also mentioned statistics on 38 1 ridership. I can tell you we are reaching all time highs 2 right now on our ridership, both bus and rail, in terms of 3 the overall METRO system. 4 There is a lot of things that have happened. We've 5 obviously put the rail line in place. A lot of the street 6 construction that was going on in downtown and other areas 7 of the city has essentially ended, which allows us to 8 stabilize the transit system. That's important to the 9 patrons. And we are facing increasing fuel costs. I'm not 10 sure if anybody in the room would know where they're going 11 to be two months from now or six months from now or a year 12 from now, let alone a week from now. So we are challenged. 13 We're challenged with how can we provide effective 14 transportation in this growing metropolitan region over the 15 next couple of decades and do it in an efficient way, 16 provide alternatives for a variety of individuals, some that 17 want to use public transit because they have no other 18 choice, some because they want to use it because it will 19 help them and improve their trip to get to a location they 20 want to get to. So there are a whole lot of things we're 21 looking at. 22 Bus improvements, the federal government does require. 23 As we do this examination of an environmental impact 24 statement, we examine a built project which would be either 25 a bus improvement or a rail improvement against doing no 39 1 action, leaving the services that exists today in place and 2 seeing how that performs over 20 plus years time into the 3 future. So that is something that we do examine as part of 4 our environmental work. 5 You mentioned also bus routes have been canceled and, 6 yes, about two years ago we did discontinue poor performing 7 routes. Those were routes that were so costly to run, we 8 had very little ridership on them, and it was the first time 9 in about a dozen years that some bus routes had been 10 discontinued. 11 But that's been helpful, again, in using the resources 12 in better places. Where the routes are better used, we're 13 putting more service in place today, and when we put more 14 service in place, we generally see a return in ridership. 15 So those are all activities that are going on. I hope I've 16 answered most all of your questions. If not, one of the 17 other ones you mentioned was statistics on bus routes that 18 we moved into the rail line. I don't have those statistics 19 off the top of my head, but as part of our responses to 20 these questions and putting them into our website, we'll be 21 working on that so that we will get accurate information and 22 as we do the documentation of these plans, yes, that 23 information will be available to the public. 24 Ma'am, if we can have your question. 25 MS. OLDS: Yes, my name is Sue Olds, and I 40 1 can speak as one who's been directly impacted by what METRO 2 has done in the past and it's still affecting what I do. I 3 belong to this community here, this South Main faith 4 community. To get into our campus, Sunday after Sunday, we 5 have people who can't get to our campus because they can't 6 figure out where to turn left on Main. If they miss 7 Richmond, they've got to go way down and make more turns and 8 circle around and around to try to figure out how to get to 9 our campus. So we were directly affected, and I guarantee 10 you, along Richmond there will be the same issues only 11 compounded with many more cross streets going across. 12 I work in that area. I work off of Audley which is 13 between Buffalo and Kirby, Richmond and West Alabama. If 14 you have thought about this, there is a high school, a big 15 high school right over there, Lamar High School, fronting on 16 Westheimer. Those kids come down the side streets, all of 17 the through streets like a bat out of Hades, and I guarantee 18 you they're going to run into that train because they don't 19 pay no attention to anybody. They have earphones on and 20 they're just bopping along, and I've had more than one 21 occasion where I had to just slam my brakes to keep being 22 run over by kids that just aren't looking or paying 23 attention. 24 So you've got lots of traffic crossing just as the 25 gentleman earlier said, but also what it will do to 41 1 businesses. All you have to do is start at Wheeler and 2 drive down Main Street. Building after building is boarded 3 up and vacant. Buildings that were built thinking they 4 would be occupied are still sitting vacant after all this 5 time. There is no reason to come into the in between points 6 between the METRO stations or the rail stations. People 7 aren't going to come to those businesses in between the 8 stopping points. And that's really impacting this whole 9 area. 10 And you know I appreciate the fact that y'all are 11 concerned and that you're hearing our concerns, but when we 12 voted for light rail in '83, we really thought it was going 13 to be other than Richmond, other than Westheimer on these 14 other streets. We were told it would be down Westpark and 15 that they would work out the logistics as it got closer in. 16 So a lot of people would not have voted for light rail if it 17 had not been purported that this was going to be the route, 18 and I think that's something you really need to consider 19 because like this gentleman whose business is on Richmond, I 20 can assure you, it's going to impact for a long time even if 21 you just do it in segments and you speed up the process. 22 It's still impacting my church and you completed the process 23 on Main. You can't get to our parking lot except at 24 Richmond and come down behind the church. We have people 25 who are late every Sunday because they can't figure out how 42 1 to get to our main parking lot, and we were assured when 2 they started this process they would not block access to our 3 main parking lot which they've effectively done. Thank you 4 for hearing me out. 5 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you for your comments. 6 (Applause). 7 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you very much. Thank you 8 for being here this evening, and we appreciate again the 9 opportunity to be here and the campus. It's a wonderful, 10 wonderful campus and wonderful facility. 11 We need to take a look at what we can do in your Sunday 12 traffic movements. Maybe we can help out with that and -- 13 MS. OLDS: I know the mayor came to present a 14 historical plaque to us. He was ten minutes late because he 15 couldn't figure out how to get here. 16 MR. SEDLAK: Sir -- well, let me go to a 17 card. We'll keep alternating here. Universities line is 18 proposed to go all the way from Uptown to the University of 19 Houston. If the residents at the west end don't want rail 20 service, can we still have the rail from University of 21 Houston to Wheeler Main Street station? 22 Good question, one certainly we would have to consider 23 as our study work is done and as we try to have decisions 24 made in the coming year. Yes, sir? 25 MR. LOPEZ: Hello, good afternoon, my name is 43 1 Eduardo Lopez. My wife and myself own a Mexican restaurant 2 in Pueblito Place on Richmond at Mandell. We have done -- 3 we have been there for 12 years. Thank God we're doing 4 well, and we want to stay that way. We definitely think 5 that if Richmond was the side, we probably need the METRO in 6 there. The problem is it's just so little as it is. This 7 morning we had a delivery and a pretty big truck, food 8 business truck. They had to park on the street on Richmond, 9 and that's every other day. And pretty much if we lose one 10 lane on Richmond, we're going to create a big catastrophe. 11 And that means that we probably will not get deliveries. 12 And it's going to just impact our business on a way that we 13 won't be able to survive. I don't know if the water can be 14 shut down, et cetera, et cetera. 15 I love the idea of having transportation. Houston 16 needs to grow up. Pollution, gas prices -- it's reality. 17 It's 2006 and the city must grow. We're growing. We just 18 had a new baby, and my baby is going to have a lot of 19 babies. 20 MR. SEDLAK: Congratulations. 21 MR. LOPEZ: The Mexicans happen to be related 22 to rabbits I guess. We make a lot of babies. We have to 23 cook a lot of fajitas and frijoles, so please help us get a 24 METRO but not on Richmond. The excellent idea on Westpark 25 and the freeway is the best thing that I have heard from 44 1 METRO. Hopefully, you execute it. People voted like she 2 said. Like many people in the west part of Richmond say 3 they want it on Westpark. Keep it that way. I love 4 Democracy. We voted. Do what we voted for and everybody is 5 going to be happy. Nobody is going to lose their business. 6 Nobody is going to shut down on Westpark, and I'm going to 7 stay in business. 8 MR. SEDLAK: Good. We thank you for your 9 comments. I wish you the best with your new child, and we 10 hope your child is a transit rider in the future. 11 MR. LOPEZ: Maybe one day. 12 MR. SEDLAK: And, again, you know, we're 13 going to work with the community as we're here this evening, 14 as we have been over the last six months, as we will be in 15 the coming six months. This is what this process is about, 16 learning about areas of concern and then a determination, 17 what can we do to alleviate that concern. If we can't 18 alleviate that concern, then we've got to make a decision 19 and these -- 20 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Westpark, 59. 21 MR. SEDLAK: And these are difficult 22 decisions and also can you get the funding that's necessary 23 to accomplish this. So these are all the items that have to 24 be considered. It's a complex process we go through. We're 25 going to try to simplify it and make it as understandable as 45 1 possible, and this is an important part. So thank you for 2 being here tonight. Yes, sir? 3 MR. CHANG: My name is Chu Chang, and my wife 4 and I have a business at 1417 Richmond, which is east of 5 Shepherd. We have been running our business since 1982 from 6 the first day we came to the United States. So 25 years we 7 have involved a lot of money and time in this business. 8 So we already have raised children, and in a few more 9 years we're going to retire or sell our business and our 10 business value is 300,000. If METRO builds a railroad at 11 Richmond, my business will be ruined. And in two months if 12 they begin construction, we cannot survive. So we sell that 13 business, we don't have any money for retirement. So, 14 please, please METRO consider to build the railroad on 15 Westpark, to respect the vote in year 2003. We already 16 approved it. So, please, respect the voters, any chance you 17 have to respect the voters. Okay, thank you, sir. 18 MR. SEDLAK: Appreciate that comment, sir. 19 Thank you. Let me move to a question on the card here. 20 I've heard people say it's important to put transit where 21 the people are. Why is it so important to be right next to 22 businesses and offices? That's also where people are. 23 People go to businesses because they work or frequent that 24 business for whatever purpose the business is established 25 for. The same goes with offices. Some rather large office 46 1 facilities along this University Corridor, particularly at 2 Greenway Plaza, and how do you serve a very large demand in 3 travel to that complex and do it in such a way that transit 4 is a viable alternative? So that's one of the reasons why 5 you would try to be next to businesses and offices. Yes, 6 ma'am? 7 MS. LEDGERWOOD: My name is Eileen Ledgerwood 8 and I've got three quick points. I live at Westpark and 9 Newcastle, and there is nothing out there. If you live out 10 there, the bus doesn't run in the middle of the day. To go 11 to the rodeo, we have to park at Sears here and hope we can 12 get to catch the train because there is no access. 13 My daughter goes to Lamar High School. And since HISD 14 cut out the buses within two miles, she'd have to walk 15 across the freeway. So for her to take METRO to school from 16 Westpark and Newcastle, it's a Westpark bus, to the Kirby 17 bus, to the Richmond bus and then walking from Richmond down 18 east side, you know, and when you're 16 years old, and it's 19 raining, you know, parents aren't home, what are you going 20 to do? And that whole process takes an hour and a half, and 21 school days already start early. 22 And my third point is I own a business at 1205 Richmond 23 and that's east of Hazard. The cross street is Graustark. 24 I look at St. Thomas out my door every day. There is one 25 guy that rides it out of that stop from 9 in the morning to 47 1 2 in the morning and he's not a St. Thomas student. Most of 2 those kids are very affluent and they drive. And I myself 3 have tried taking Richmond bus service even. And if you get 4 around Richmond and Kirby, if you notice all those birds on 5 all the wires, just a tremendous amount of birds this year, 6 they've taken away all the shelters there. If you look at 7 the concrete, it's all stained with bird, you know, stuff. 8 But standing there in the sun in that kind of 9 environment, in heels, you can actually feel the heat from 10 the concrete burn the bottom of your feet through your 11 shoes, and I just wish that anyone that's trying to, you 12 know, decide any of these things would actually get out 13 there and try to commute in even -- Newcastle and 14 Westpark -- it takes me four minutes now that the spur is 15 open, really, to get from my house to Richmond to my bar. 16 But trying to take METRO an hour and a half and that's just 17 kind of -- just ridiculous. So I wish the people that are 18 making these decisions would actually get on these streets 19 and see that Richmond is a neighborhood. It's not like 20 downtown. No one lives right there on Main. We've got a 21 neighborhood there with kids and schools. We live within 22 five minutes. Should be five minutes, but if all this goes 23 through on Richmond, it's going to take so much time, and I 24 can guarantee you I'll be out of business within two months 25 as well. And all my customers live within a five mile 48 1 radius, and you know I just hate to see that happen. 2 MR. SEDLAK: I appreciate those comments. 3 (Applause). 4 MR. SEDLAK: I need to get that shelter 5 location again. You said it was at Richmond and which cross 6 street which so dirty? 7 MS. LEDGERWOOD: At Kirby, right by 8 Pappasito's. 9 MR. SEDLAK: We need to get the maintenance 10 folks to clean that. That shouldn't be -- a shelter 11 shouldn't be in that condition, but again, we appreciate 12 your comments. We've done an awful lot of hard work over 13 the last two decades to try to make improvements to the 14 METRO system. That's in adding bus routes and adding 15 shelters. At one point in time, we had very few shelters in 16 this city, and I can tell you today we have over 2,000 17 shelters, which is a big improvement. Shelters do provide a 18 point of refuge when weather gets pretty bad here. 19 We've made a lot of improvements in getting new buses 20 that don't break down the way they used to 20 years ago. It 21 was a pretty bad operation and we've made a lot of 22 improvements there, but we still have room to improve. Just 23 as you say, a trip that may take 90 minutes -- a trip 24 shouldn't take 90 minutes. We need to have a better way to 25 connect routes together. We need to have a better way to 49 1 have some routes that run express and that get people to the 2 destinations that they want to go to, but running a transit 3 system is tough in a city that's built around an automobile. 4 That's what Houston has been built around for the last 100 5 years. 6 So we're challenged by that, but we have hard work to 7 do and we're going to focus on that because just as you 8 said, it's tough to use the transit system. We may need to 9 make it easier to use. Yes, ma'am, if I can go to you next. 10 MS. NEUER: Hi, my name is Charjean Neuer. I 11 live in Afton Oaks, one block south of Richmond, and I 12 actually have two questions. First one is a little long. 13 The second one will be short. 14 MR. SEDLAK: Maybe I'll answer the second one 15 first. 16 MS. NEUER: It kind of ties into the first 17 one. We've been told that the problem with putting the 18 light rail on Westpark -- this is one of the things that was 19 mentioned last summer at the meeting at the Marriott 20 Courtyard -- is that all the major destination points are 21 north of 59, and I believe you've made reference to that 22 today. 23 All of the major destination points were north of 59 in 24 2003. We've heard from supporters of the rail on Richmond 25 that another problem with Westpark is that it peters out at 50 1 Kirby, possibly Shepherd. It petered out at Kirby or 2 Shepherd in 2003. We've been told that METRO has to present 3 alternative routes to the federal government to get the 4 federal funding. The National Environmental Policy Act of 5 1969 -- that also existed in 2003. 6 So the question that comes to my mind is, was METRO in 7 2003 when it sold this portion of the light rail to the 8 voters as being Westpark, was it just grossly incompetent to 9 not take into account these factors, or was it using the 10 word Westpark which resonates with Houston voters as a 11 logical place to put some sort of transit system and using 12 that as a buzz word which worked to some extent because you 13 did get your vote very narrowly? And if it's neither of the 14 above, why didn't you call it the University Corridor? Why 15 didn't you call it the east/west line to be somewhere inside 16 the loop? Why didn't you call it the Richmond/Westpark 17 line? Because what you tell us now is that, you know, the 18 language in the ballot, blah, blah, blah, read the fine 19 print, et cetera. 20 But we are angry not just because it's coming down 21 Richmond possibly, but because we feel tricked. We feel 22 that you pulled a fast one over us. And I will tell you, I 23 will never vote for anything that METRO wants again. I 24 don't care what it is. 25 (Applause). 51 1 MS. NEUER: Because I don't know that what I 2 vote for is what I'm going to get. That's my first 3 question. 4 My second question is at one of the prior meetings 5 Mr. Wilson was asked something along those same lines in 6 probably a much more concise way, and he -- you know, 7 federal regulations, alternative routes, et cetera, et 8 cetera, but then he says this question is kind of a 9 presumption. It says you've already decided, meaning METRO, 10 and you're not doing what the referendum says. 11 That isn't necessarily true right now. No decision is 12 made. It could go anywhere at this point, obviously with 13 your support and the federal government's blessings. What 14 I've heard, I've been to a number of these meetings, not all 15 of them, unfortunately, and what I have heard is primarily 16 opposition to Richmond. So I don't think you have our 17 support for it being on Richmond. And what I'm wondering is 18 how do you plan on determining if you have our support? Are 19 we going to have another referendum? 20 MR. SEDLAK: That's a good question. Good 21 question. And the answer to that is we need to let this 22 process work through as it is designed to work through, 23 which is conduct the study, the examination that needs to be 24 conducted so we do have an accurate representation of all 25 the facts that are necessary to make decisions. Then the 52 1 METRO board will be presented all the facts, all the 2 information and the input from the community. And I can 3 tell you several METRO board members have been with us at 4 these community meetings and are listening very carefully to 5 the comments, the concerns, the expressions that have been 6 made by all of the speakers. So, again, no decision has 7 been made and it will be at the conclusion of at least the 8 assembly of this data and a look at environmental impacts or 9 issues or ways in which you could minimize any impacts or 10 concerns. 11 Again, we don't -- I wish I could stand here tonight 12 and say I've got the answers or METRO has the answers to all 13 of the community's questions. I don't have that. But as 14 soon as we do, you'll know it as well as we will because 15 we -- this is an open process and it is a process that we're 16 out here with the community and we are listening. 17 MS. NEUER: I think our concern is that your 18 studies show -- show that Richmond will have higher 19 ridership, et cetera, et cetera. And so what are you going 20 to do if that is the result of the study that METRO meets 21 these -- that Richmond looks like it should be the route and 22 is the route that is going to get federal funding, and yet 23 you have all these people saying you don't have our support. 24 That's what -- that is what I would like an answer to 25 because it's wait and see, wait and see, but wait and see 53 1 and then what? Because I know you say METRO is impartial, 2 but we get a strong sense that you really like Richmond. So 3 if your consultants determine that Richmond is the most cost 4 effective, higher ridership -- highest ridership route, I 5 mean what is the answer to that? What if that is the answer 6 according to the studies? Do you say, sorry, Houston, we're 7 not going to build it? Do you say -- 8 MR. SEDLAK: Could be an answer. 9 MS. NEUER: Do you say we have to do it down 10 Richmond? 11 MR. SEDLAK: Could be an answer. And when 12 all of this information is pulled together and the facts are 13 put forward, and a complete review of all the facts with the 14 community, with the public at large -- because it's not just 15 the immediate community here, it is a broader community, but 16 you are the most affected community by what would be 17 considered. All of that then is brought before the METRO 18 board and tough decisions are then made. The METRO board is 19 a board that represents the community, the city, the county, 20 the multicities in this region. So the board will have a 21 tough decision and staff -- the position staff and 22 consultants have is to put forward accurate data that is 23 without question the facts and the truth, and then decisions 24 can be made. 25 But again, this board does report to elected leaders 54 1 such as the councilwoman and the rest of the council and the 2 mayor and that's why we have three council members that are 3 showing a lot of leadership by being out here engaging in a 4 great deal of discussion with the community. I'm just -- 5 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: Can I ask a question 6 to you? I'm hearing you say that after you get all of the 7 information, how is the decision made? Is there going to 8 be -- 9 MS. NEUER: What I understand the process is, 10 they do the studies on at least two routes. Present that to 11 the federal government. The federal government says this is 12 the route that will get you our money. What if that route 13 is Richmond? 14 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: And that's what I'm 15 hearing you say. 16 MS. NEUER: You're hearing people say we 17 don't want it down Richmond. 18 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: I thought I heard 19 you say would there be another vote? 20 MS. NEUER: That's going back to Mr. Wilson 21 saying that, you know, it could go anywhere at this point, 22 obviously with your support and the federal government's 23 blessing, which to me suggests that he acknowledges that he 24 doesn't have our support yet and that the referendum doesn't 25 give him the support to put it down Richmond. 55 1 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: Well, I can't speak 2 to your assumptions, but I would say the probability that 3 going back to a public vote just on this particular piece 4 are slim to none. And I can't say that, but I'm just trying 5 to be straight up honest with you. And your question as to 6 how the decision will be made I think is a valid question. 7 And that's a question that I'll be looking at closely 8 because the METRO board does have the ultimate decision. 9 We had the same situation on the southern side, over in 10 Wheeler and TSU, and we finally came up with a community 11 group of people that worked with METRO and developed a -- I 12 don't want to say alternative route -- but a route that 13 could be fit both based on engineering and community needs 14 and wants and the same issue of this is our community, we 15 want to have a part in it. So that was how they solved that 16 issue on that end of the route. The community came and 17 said, you know, we don't want that, and we're willing to 18 work with you and the engineers and whoever else to try to 19 develop a policy out of this, but it's a good question. 20 It's a very valid question. Thank you. 21 MS. NEUER: Thank you. 22 MR. SEDLAK: I guess that was the long and 23 the short question. 24 MS. NEUER: I'm not really sure I got an 25 answer to the first part, but that's okay. 56 1 MR. SEDLAK: I appreciate you being here. 2 AUDIENCE MEMBER: I was wondering if you're 3 going to go back to the cards. 4 MR. SEDLAK: I'm coming right back to a card. 5 What do you project will happen to traffic in this corridor 6 if we don't build a rail line? As I have viewed traffic and 7 transportation in this region over 20 some years, I believe 8 it will increase. So I believe not only in this travel 9 corridor of the city, but in all other travel corridors of 10 the city, I think we'll see increased traffic movements and 11 we'll need to work to alleviate those or to live within the 12 traffic conditions that will be presented. Yes, ma'am? 13 MS. HOWE: My name is Katherine Howe. I'm a 14 Houston native. I work in the Museum District. I ride the 15 light rail all the time. I really like it. I live -- 16 (Applause). 17 MS. HOWE: Well, thank you. It's really 18 convenient. I live in Boulevard Oaks, and what I'd like to 19 do is make one observation and then ask one question. I had 20 the good fortune in 1983 of being Ted Richardson's neighbor 21 and working in the Sunset Terrace/Montclair subdivision when 22 the whole rail issue was going on and behind his house, and 23 I think it was even in his house when Alan Kiepper came to 24 check it out and see what this was all about. As I recall, 25 we were working to stop light rail on Westpark. And the 57 1 arguments, some of the convincing arguments we made were 2 that the elevated rail was not applicable to a small 3 residential neighborhood. That the ridership was not there 4 in that neighborhood. And that that area so heavily 5 restricted for single-family homes would not provide 6 ridership for a Westpark corridor area. 7 I would argue that a lot of those same problems are 8 still inherent in that Westpark section beginning from 9 Boulevard Oaks, going out through the West University area, 10 Southampton and beyond it. Those are some of the most 11 heavily restricted subdivisions in the City of Houston and 12 they are restricted to single-family homes. So the 13 opportunity for ridership growth south of the freeway is 14 marginal, and I'm glad that you -- not marginal, but 15 certainly less than elsewhere in the city. I'm glad that 16 you all are considering this issue. 17 My specific question has to do with the Westpark or I 18 should say the easement between Montrose and Shepherd. 19 That's the point, those -- that easement which I think 20 Reliant Energy fenced and gated. So that houses that back 21 up to that easement have a sense of security in terms of 22 limited access to it and then they have their own fences. 23 So at this point with the construction that's going on, you 24 have the sound barrier for the Southwest Freeway, the 25 easement space and then the fences. I would assume that one 58 1 of two things would happen in that very small tight area 2 close in where you would put the rail line. One is that you 3 would either leave the fences for the private individuals as 4 they are or you would put a sound barrier up above on both 5 sides. So the question is if you put up double barriers, 6 one at the freeway and one behind residences, are you 7 creating a tunnel through which light rail will have to go 8 open at the top but a three-sided tunnel where you would 9 have limited sight access for cross streets? 10 And the other is if you don't do that in that small 11 space, how will METRO be able to police that area so that 12 the residents would have some security that they wouldn't 13 have people going over fences and accessing their houses and 14 their neighborhoods from the rail line? 15 MR. SEDLAK: Well, thank you, first, for 16 being a rider, a patron of METRO. You brought some 17 challenging engineering issues to the table. That 18 particular area you speak of, east of Shepherd, METRO's 19 property, METRO has right of way along Westpark. It 20 declines as it approaches Shepherd, and then essentially 21 there is declining property right of way that is owned by 22 CenterPoint. And they have a transmission line that runs 23 along that right of way. The declining nature of the right 24 of way is such that to do a transit, a two-directional 25 transit improvement in that area, is incredibly difficult 59 1 because it narrows down to a very small right of way. It 2 takes us about 24 feet to have a two-directional transit 3 line, and I believe we don't have 24 feet once you get a 4 short ways down that right of way. 5 So we have looked previously at the potential of access 6 inside the 59 right of way. And just exactly how we do that 7 is also an engineering challenge, whether you have to stack 8 one line on top of another line and how you would physically 9 get into that right of way. So there are some challenges in 10 doing that, but again, part of this study is we've hired a 11 good engineering team to examine these various routes and 12 options. They are going to go through that examination. 13 They'll come back and we'll have a meeting like this, and 14 we'll put drawings up on the wall with dimensions because 15 most of these issues are going to be decided over feet and 16 inches, some very critical dimensions. 17 And you make a comment about walls. If you put 18 retaining walls or walls up to be a sound barrier or sound 19 mitigation, you also have sight line issues, and so those 20 are operational considerations. So all of these things will 21 have to be looked at and looked at in some level of detail. 22 So thank you for the questions tonight. 23 Let me ask a card here. Could we have a time limit on 24 the speakers? If you mean me, I apologize. I apologize for 25 maybe some long-winded answers. I'll try to cut down my 60 1 answers, but I think the speakers have done pretty well 2 tonight and in minimizing their questions. It 8:15 and we 3 have a couple more here tonight, the council member and a 4 few more cards. I'll try to speed up my answers. Daphne, 5 good to see you. 6 MS. SCARBROUGH: Nice to see you, John. I'm 7 Daphne Scarbrough. I own The Brass Maiden at 2016 Richmond. 8 I'm one of the founders of the Mobility Coalition for the 9 Quality of Life. I live on Richmond Avenue as well. And I 10 think -- what I keep hearing over and over again at all 11 these meetings is that there is a trust issue involved with 12 METRO. And I happen to know that one of our members of the 13 mobility coalition made a very nice presentation to 14 President Frank Wilson and David Wolff, the chairman, about 15 a possible alternative of taking the Westpark alignment and 16 taking it over Shepherd, over a bridge, and taking it down 17 the northeast. Another version would have it coming down 18 the HOV lane, which when you read METRO's history was the 19 origin of what the HOV lanes were going to evolve in. And 20 so it seems that METRO has really deviated from all that. 21 And then yet today this has come to me that I have a drawing 22 of the Edloe Street station from METRO and it only shows 23 Richmond Avenue as an alignment. 24 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Oh, my goodness! 25 MS. SCARBROUGH: So I'm so confused if we're 61 1 considering -- and you just paid this contract for 2 $40 million. I mean, how many options are you really 3 studying? We never hear anything about Westpark being 4 studied, and that's one reason METRO has a problem with the 5 trust issue. Because we did vote in 2003, and we did not 6 vote for Richmond Avenue. We voted for Westpark. And so 7 now this is what we're all having to deal with, and it is a 8 very different situation. 9 So are there other options out there? Do you have 10 other renderings at this point? 11 MR. SEDLAK: There will be other renderings 12 developed and there will be in numerous locations across 13 this entire corridor as one looks from east all the way to 14 the west. 15 MS. SCARBROUGH: So when will these be 16 available for us to see them? 17 MR. SEDLAK: We're actively working to 18 assemble that sort of material right now so we can come out 19 and have those kinds of discussions with the public at 20 large. 21 MS. SCARBROUGH: Are we talking 60 days? 22 MR. SEDLAK: I believe in 60 days we'll be 23 able to call a meeting that is associated with the 24 environmental impact statement work and have an ability to 25 put some illustrations forward that would say what would a 62 1 transit improvement look like in this location or in this 2 location? And I'm trying to answer some of these questions 3 just as the previous speaker. How would you go down this 4 particular right of way? 5 MS. SCARBROUGH: You gave an outline to this 6 engineering company. I mean, you have some idea of how many 7 possibilities you have. And that is what interests all of 8 us. What are these possibilities? That is the question 9 mark that everyone is concerned about. 10 MR. SEDLAK: And those are answers we need to 11 come back to the community with, Daphne. I appreciate it. 12 Thank you very much. And I've got a question here. The 13 current bus system is hard to use in a wheelchair or with 14 kids in a stroller. What will you do to make the proposed 15 rail line more accessible? I can say this, that the design 16 was done to meet all of the requirements of the Americans 17 with Disabilities Act. Level platforms with the light rail 18 vehicles, ramp access to gain entry to the platforms, a lot 19 of attention to the design of the vehicles themselves to get 20 on and off. 21 I can tell you that we had a board member that was in a 22 wheelchair who participated in the design of the rail 23 vehicle. So we believe we've made quite an accessible rail 24 system and all of the METRO bus system today is also 25 accessible either through a lift device or a low floor bus 63 1 that kneels down and allows a passenger to board either in a 2 wheelchair or with a stroller or with other maybe temporary 3 disabilities. So we're going to keep working on that and 4 trying to make the system even more accessible. 5 Sir, you have a question? 6 MR. SIKES: Thank you. My name is Andy 7 Sikes. I'm a professional surveyor, professional engineer. 8 Transit is not my profession. I'm here as a member of South 9 Main Baptist Church. A speaker without portfolio, if you 10 will, except 35 years of participation on this campus. 11 MR. SEDLAK: That's a pretty strong 12 portfolio. 13 MR. SIKES: Thank you. I've got some 14 prepared comments that I'd like to present here in just a 15 moment, but as I sit here and listen, I see some problems 16 possibly with public relations, possibly with your minds 17 already made up; but public relations -- why go to a meeting 18 where you're proposing to get feedback from the community 19 and display a sign that says we're here because we're forced 20 to be here in order to get the money. We're forced by 21 somebody that's not in your community to proceed. Why are 22 we here? What does alphabet soup make us do? I suggest you 23 need to get a new publicity person and get some positive 24 words to replace those adverbs. 25 Just sitting here looking at it, they don't contribute 64 1 to you getting the information you want. 2 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you, sir. 3 MR. SIKES: You also might want to get 4 whoever wrote this piece of paper and ask them to put 5 balanced answers to the subjects. I read -- as I read 6 these, every answer is Westpark is horrible, Richmond is 7 decided. That's what it says. It may not be fair to read 8 it that way, but that's what I hear. 9 Getting back to my reason for being here, I've been 10 trying to attend this church almost every Sunday for 35 11 years. My wife was raised here. Sometimes you have to go 12 where you have to go. This is the best church I've been to 13 in my 60 years of life, and I was in (Inaudible) in various 14 places. I come up south -- from the south on 288. Since 15 the Main Street Line was put in, it has added four rail 16 crossings, three traffic lights, and about five turns to my 17 route in here on Sunday morning. It's not an exaggeration. 18 I can point them out to you. 19 South Main line has had a serious detrimental effect on 20 the effectiveness of South Main Baptist Church, Houston, 21 Texas. 22 AUDIENCE MEMBER: Tell it like it is. 23 MR. SIKES: That's the way it is. Now then, 24 I suggested that I was going to try to provide a positive 25 commentary. Let me move on to that. 65 1 And this is right straight out of City Planning 101. 2 I'll offer it today because it appears that you may need 3 something to hang a different decision on besides Richmond. 4 A couple of observations -- current development along 5 Richmond is based on a paradigm of vehicle car 6 transportation, single-family residential, low density 7 population. That's what's there. It's been there for 100 8 years. Well, maybe not. South Main came to this location 9 80 years ago at the end of a rail line that comes right 10 outside this building. Some of the rails are still there. 11 MR. SEDLAK: Sure. 12 MR. SIKES: But for the last 50 years, 13 anyway, it's been a low density neighborhood. Businesses 14 have been built, and I tested two today on that density and 15 on that transportation paradigm. A new mode of 16 transportation, i.e, light rail or any other rail has a 17 different paradigm. And I know that word has been kind of 18 worn out over the last ten years, but in fact, mass 19 transportation requires high density nodes of population, 20 trip origin, if you will, as the official term that's used 21 in city planning and high density destination, trip 22 destination, origin destination. Origin destination has 23 been the process for designing transportation modes, whether 24 they are streets, highways or railroads. 25 As you look at the corridor that's being apparently 66 1 touted as the most likely, that is Richmond, you have a 2 dysfunctional distributed low density origin that is not 3 compatible with rail. That's just a fact. 4 Those people that have their businesses built on that 5 is a very emotional fact, but it is just a fact. South Main 6 Baptist Church to a great extent is based on that density. 7 So what's going to happen? Wherever you build rail, 8 it's going to have some high density nodes of public access, 9 the terminals. Those terminals will, as a force of nature, 10 develop high density population for origins. 11 You can build those origin points where there is low 12 density now and destroy homes and destroy businesses, or you 13 can build it where there is nothing and create new 14 businesses and new opportunities. That's Westpark. 15 The new needs to be built where there is nothing, not 16 in a place where it destroys dreams and hopes. Thank you. 17 (Applause). 18 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you. Thank you for the 19 comments. Let me see if I can just answer one real, real 20 fast here. You have alphabet soup. We need to make this 21 more understandable. We're forced to go through a process, 22 or maybe we need to use a different term, but yes, we are 23 following a federal process. That's what's required to 24 receive federal dollars. Now, you made just a comment -- 25 MR. SIKES: My point is that it needs to be 67 1 our process, not their process. 2 COUNCIL MEMBER EDWARDS: Right. 3 MR. SEDLAK: Yes. Yes. 4 (Applause). 5 MR. SEDLAK: Yes, but I do have to tell you 6 that it is their process. I wish I could tell you 7 otherwise, but it is their process. It is the federal 8 government's process. And I'll just give you one quick 9 example and I'll make it short here. 10 You mentioned that transit creates density. Yes, 11 absolutely believe that as I've seen around the country; but 12 as this federal process is followed, you can't use that to 13 justify a transit project. You have to justify the project 14 based on what is there existing and whether the improved or 15 whether the improvement that you make will attract ridership 16 from increased population that is projected to occur in that 17 area not just because of the transit investment. So you 18 can't use the transit investment as creating density as a 19 means to justify the federal fund. They don't allow us to 20 do that. That's part of the -- this process doesn't make 21 sense. I can't explain it; but I wish we could use a local 22 process, purely a local process for that decision-making. 23 Your comments were well taken though. Thank you. 24 MR. SIKES: Am I not mistaken that you're 25 only about three blocks walk from Richmond down to Westpark? 68 1 MR. SEDLAK: Yeah, across -- across -- 2 MR. SIKES: Across is a pedestrian walk 3 across the freeway at grade. 4 MR. SEDLAK: The distance about -- 2,000 feet 5 is about the distance. A question to me, have you ever 6 taken a ride along Richmond? Yes, ma'am. Many, many times. 7 And once the small businesses are gone, who will benefit? 8 Me personally, I hope not a single small business would be 9 affected by the transit improvement. I can't -- I can't 10 guarantee that, but certainly from METRO's standpoint as we 11 work with a community during a construction project, we're 12 certainly going to do everything we can to work with small 13 businesses. Yes, ma'am? 14 MS. CAMPBELL: Thank you for the opportunity 15 to speak tonight. My name is Christina Campbell, and I live 16 and work in District C. I own a business on Richmond and 17 Kirby, and with the promise of the rail, I opened a business 18 in Midtown and the business failed. I lost $185,000 along 19 with many other business owners. I've been in business for 20 26 years here in Houston, and my business is my income and 21 my retirement. I can say that the businesses on Richmond 22 and along Richmond, along with mine, will go out of 23 business. The METRORail I believe will become what I see as 24 the Richmond wall. And the mayor said in a meeting that we 25 had with him that nothing will happen if the people don't 69 1 want it. And when I live and see and hear the folks in 2 Afton Oaks, the folks along Richmond, the homeowners, the 3 business owners saying that this is not something that 4 supports their livelihood, the quality of life, doesn't 5 really reduce or increase -- increase mobility for people. 6 I can't even figure out where people would park to even take 7 this line. I ask you to -- and I ask the METRO board to 8 review their conscience. 9 When my father used to say, you do the right things, 10 and the right things happen. And the fact is that if the 11 reason that it would go down Richmond is because we can get 12 the money, then I say the METRO board has to live with that 13 and they have to see the faces of the people that have been 14 coming to these meetings and truly care about what happens 15 in Houston and in their own very special neighborhoods. And 16 so I ask you to please consider this and to search your own 17 conscience for what's really right, not what gets the money, 18 but what really serves our neighborhoods. Thank you so 19 much. 20 MR. SEDLAK: Thank you for your comments. 21 (Applause). 22 MR. SEDLAK: Certainly the METRO board is 23 listening very, very carefully. Let me go to a question 24 here. The METRO website has a west corridor map that shows 25 a possible rail alignment east of Main Street on Blodgett. 70 1 This alignment does not show up on the east map. Blodgett 2 is a narrow street and rail placement would have a negative 3 impact on vehicular traffic. Is Blodgett being considered 4 for rail? If not, can the web maps be coordinated and 5 updated? 6 I can say that Blodgett has been considered previously. 7 Certainly the discussions with the community that we have 8 worked with with Council Member Edwards have expressed their 9 concerns with Blodgett -- the others being Alabama and 10 El