Note: The transcript of the meeting proceedings is reproduced here exactly as received from the Certified Shorthand Reporter. 1 1 METROPOLITAN TRANSIT AUTHORITY 2 MAGNOLIA MULTISERVICE CENTER 3 7037 CAPITOL STREET 4 THURSDAY, MAY 25, 2006 5 EAST END CORRIDOR 6 PUBLIC HEARING 7 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Transcript provided by: 19 The Captioning Company 20 P.O. Box 441179 21 Houston, Texas 77244-1179 22 (281)684-8973 (phone) 23 (281)347-2881 (fax) 24 mbryant5@houston.rr.com 25 2 1 P R O C E E D I N G S 2 3 4 MS. MEDINA: Good evening. Good evening. On 5 behalf of METRO, we want to welcome you to the third in a 6 series of community meetings. My name is Sylvia Medina, and 7 I work in the Community Outreach Department for METRO. 8 This evening, we will be presenting details from our recent 9 studies that METRO has conducted in the East End corridor as 10 part of the METRO Solutions Transit System Plan. 11 First, I want to introduce a couple of senior staff 12 members that we have here. And over here we have Rick 13 Brown. He's senior project director for METRO Solutions. 14 And I don't see Bryan Pennington here yet, but he may be 15 arriving shortly, but Bryan is our vice-president of 16 planning, engineering and construction. There is one other 17 individual that is not here this evening, and his name is 18 Roberto Trevino, and I mention his name because he is the 19 project engineer for the East End corridor. And Roberto 20 will be out in the community in the next several weeks. As 21 a matter of fact, I believe he's been by to visit the 22 Greater East End Management District so he will become more 23 visible in the community as we progress with the project. 24 Tonight's presentation will be conducted in English. 25 We have handouts of the presentation in Spanish. You can 3 1 look for the English version to be on the website tomorrow, 2 and if you have any questions about the presentation, should 3 you need assistance in Spanish, I'm available here to help 4 you with any translation that might be needed. 5 We also have an official stenographer here this evening 6 to my left, and she is going to be capturing comments and 7 they will become part of the public record and they also 8 will be posted on our website as they are transcribed. At 9 the end of the presentation, METRO staff as well as our 10 consultants will be available to answer any questions that 11 anyone may have. We encourage your involvement. We 12 encourage the input. It's a part of the process and it is 13 ongoing. 14 (Speaking Spanish). 15 MS. MEDINA: Now I'm going to turn it over to 16 Barbara Koslov. She is our project manager. Thank you on 17 behalf of METRO for being here this evening. We're so glad 18 to see all of the participation from the East End community. 19 Barbara... 20 MS. KOSLOV: Thank you, Sylvia. Good evening 21 and welcome all of you to our presentation about our 22 technical findings in the East End corridor. Basically, the 23 study we were conducting was to examine alignment options 24 for this East End corridor, to evaluate the options and then 25 determine what would be the best overall option to provide 4 1 better transit improvements in the East End corridor. 2 We came up with four alternatives. These alternatives 3 were based on previous study and research and also from 4 input that we received from the community. I'll go over the 5 alternatives starting from the north. We had the Navigation 6 alternative, and all of these alternatives come out of 7 downtown, and then they go into a right of way somewhere in 8 the vicinity of Velasco. So the Navigation alternative 9 extends from downtown and it runs along Navigation, in the 10 median of Navigation Boulevard. 11 And then we have the next alternative is what we call 12 the abandoned railroad right of way and hike and bike trail. 13 It comes out of downtown and goes along Commerce, and then 14 it transitions into what used to be a railroad right of way 15 but is now used as a hike and bike trail, and it continues 16 in the right of way until it gets to a point around 17 65th and then it goes over the railroad and becomes part 18 or goes into the active U. P. railroad right of way. But 19 it's all in that one line that used to be a right of way 20 from the far west and then it continues east to the Magnolia 21 Transit Center. 22 Our third option is Harrisburg. It comes along from 23 Capitol to Texas and then gets into Harrisburg and it 24 basically goes the whole length on Harrisburg Boulevard, and 25 it goes to the Magnolia Transit Center. 5 1 And finally, the fourth option is the U. P. railroad 2 right of way is an active railroad right of way, but we come 3 out of downtown along Capitol and get into the right of way 4 and share that right of way with U. P. And this is a map -- 5 we have the map over there also, but it shows four alignment 6 options, Navigation to the north, the hike and bike, 7 Harrisburg and then U. P. 8 And we have eight evaluation criteria that we used in 9 examining and evaluating each of the options. These 10 criteria -- and they are not in any order of preference or 11 priority, but they include ridership which is a key 12 evaluation criteria. We need to make sure whatever 13 alignment we use will attract riders. So we evaluate it in 14 terms of what we think the future ridership would be based 15 on a model that has population/employment variables in it. 16 It's a model that's used throughout the county, and it's one 17 that people agree that these numbers effectively can produce 18 projections. 19 Then we look at the cost. Well, what would it cost if 20 you run it on one street? We might have more property takes 21 or we might have some street issues in terms of elevations 22 or we might have to cross railroad tracks that require grade 23 separation. So what are all the costs that are involved in 24 building the right of way or the alignment on one of the 25 right of ways? 6 1 Then we look at land use, what's the proximity to 2 parks, hospitals, sensitive receptors. We look at future 3 development. How would it be if we develop -- if we put 4 this here? Are there opportunities for future development 5 and new growth and opportunities for more commercial 6 activity in areas where we can encourage more riders to use 7 the alignment? 8 Then we have constructability. Constructability is 9 kind of a hard one to describe, but basically it's not how 10 easy it is to construct, but how easy is it to get through 11 all the requirements to construct, such as if we're working 12 with U. P. we have to go through the whole process of 13 talking to the railroads before we can share that right of 14 way, or if we were working with the hike and bike trail, 15 there is a process of evaluating the trail and working with 16 the city to share that right of way. How easy is it for us 17 to get out there and construct this option based on other 18 requirements and other impacts to the alignment. 19 Then we have traffic. Well, what will this alignment 20 do if we put a guideway in the street or in the right of 21 way? How does it impact traffic? 22 And then finally, we listen to the community. So we 23 have talked to you. We've listened to you. And we're 24 trying to evaluate, well, what works best from both the 25 building, cost, ridership and community perspective. 7 1 The first -- let me walk through alignments and let me 2 back up a little. It's not in the presentation because I 3 guess I took for granted that maybe you've been following 4 the whole process, but we are talking about a BRT alignment, 5 which is bus rapid transit, and it operates very similar to 6 light rail, but it is a rubber-tired vehicle. We have a 7 picture over there that shows an LRT vehicle on one side and 8 a BRT vehicle next to it, but it's in a guideway. The 9 advantage of BRT is it can get out of the guideway. It's on 10 rubber tires so it's not connected to a wire above to get 11 its power source. But we are talking about BRT which 12 hopefully in the future would be converted to LRT. 13 Let me walk through these findings for each alignment. 14 On Navigation, we didn't include it on here, but the good 15 thing is it's a wide right of way. There is a lot of 16 capacity on the street, big median. It would probably be 17 very easy to build. The problem is it's located on the 18 northern end of the corridor where it's less densely 19 populated and it doesn't serve a lot of the community. Our 20 current ridership on the 48, which is the Navigation route, 21 is low and the projected travel demand in the future also 22 doesn't seem to justify the investment of putting in a 23 guideway on Navigation. There is also -- while there is a 24 lot of vacant property, there is little evidence of new 25 development occurring. 8 1 On the abandoned right of way, which is currently a 2 hike and bike trail, this is a neighborhood park. This is 3 where children play, people ride bikes. I think I have a 4 couple of people here today who told me they use their bike 5 on the hike and bike trail. It is a recreational facility 6 and asset to the community. There are safety and security 7 issues that we're concerned about when you run a bus or a 8 high speed vehicle adjacent to homes and to a park area. 9 It would be slowed down in terms of our negotiations 10 with the city and the hike and bike trail and with the U. P. 11 railroad when we go past 65th so we would have right of 12 way negotiations we would have to go through and possibly 13 some federal or state statutes we would have to meet in 14 putting a hike and bike -- a bus rapid transit on a hike and 15 bike trail. 16 And finally, the majority of the comments that we've 17 received from the community have been in opposition to METRO 18 using the hike and bike trail for a BRT. So we have heard 19 that that is not really where the community would like to 20 see the right of way. 21 Now, Harrisburg, the travel demand projections indicate 22 that Harrisburg is a great alternative. It has a good mix 23 of commercial development, residential development. There 24 are signs of a lot of new development occurring. There is a 25 new shopping mall that has just opened. There is a lot of 9 1 activity on Harrisburg which help bring in more transit. It 2 becomes a very good mix of activity and transit riders. 3 The guideway from the studies we've done, if you put a 4 guideway in the street -- and we are sensitive to the 5 traffic needs -- it wouldn't have a major impact on the 6 mobility along the street or to the capacity. There is 7 capacity on Harrisburg to allow us to put a right of way or 8 a guideway in the middle of the street. 9 The biggest impact from a negative side is that there 10 are parts of Harrisburg that are narrow. So there might be 11 some property impacts if we build a guideway and try to 12 maintain the travel or lane capacity. 13 Finally, we have the active U. P. railroad right of 14 way. And this one is a really costly option because, one, 15 the freight tracks right now are in the middle of the right 16 of way. We would have to relocate all the freight tracks to 17 allow the guideway -- the BRT guideway and the freight 18 tracks to run together. So that's very costly. There 19 are -- there is a crown where the freight tracks are, so we 20 would have to do some street work on all the cross streets 21 to make it easier to cross where the BRT and the tracks are. 22 So there would be a lot of work just to make the street 23 network properly. We would have to negotiate with U. P. and 24 make sure they're willing to share that right of way with 25 us. And the other problem is it is a narrow right of way 10 1 and in some places it's less than 50 feet. We would impact 2 some residential properties and there is one cemetery that 3 we wouldn't be able to avoid if you were trying to fit both 4 freight track and guideway on the same right of way. 5 So this is our matrix. And it basically -- we just 6 kind of scored it good, poor or average and it takes all the 7 things I just told you and shows you where you are on them. 8 On Navigation, the best thing about it is it is not very 9 expensive to build and there is available right of way. The 10 biggest problem is we don't feel from the demand numbers 11 we've received, the travel demand numbers and what we're 12 seeing happen today that we would have substantial amount of 13 ridership to warrant that capital investment. 14 On the hike and bike trail, the best thing is the 15 ridership would be good. It's right by Harrisburg. There 16 is a lot of activity. People are walking around. It's so 17 close to Harrisburg, you could make that move from the 18 commercial activity, but the real negative side is the 19 community has told us we're not sure we want it there. 20 On Harrisburg, for the most part, it's good travel 21 demand numbers. Right now the 50 Harrisburg carries about 22 three times more than the other routes in this same 23 corridor, way more than Navigation, considerably more than 24 Canal. So we know Harrisburg is a good street. Travel 25 demand supports more development. We think that it would 11 1 really strongly -- it would strongly attract a lot more 2 riders. And again, the biggest negative would be what would 3 be the impact to the adjacent right of way? 4 And finally on the U. P. railroad right of way, the 5 ridership again would be pretty good because it's so close 6 to Harrisburg, but other than that, it's just not a good 7 option. It is very costly to build. We impact right of 8 way. We have to work with U. P. And it just doesn't seem 9 like the cost that it would take to make it work effectively 10 is worth the investment because we have better alternatives. 11 Now, I just -- I've been meeting with -- Sylvia and I 12 have been going out to meetings, and Christine and Anthony, 13 so a lot of y'all have seen me before. So I just want to 14 cover with you some of the community input we've heard. We 15 are aware of some of the issues, and in general we've heard 16 the majority of people -- or from many of the comments we 17 received, Harrisburg makes the most sense. It's kind of a 18 gateway into the East End corridor. It's where there is a 19 lot of activity, and for most of you or many of you, we've 20 heard Harrisburg would be where they'd like to see an 21 improvement. 22 We've also heard that in addition to just putting 23 another -- or putting BRT or an improvement out there, you 24 want connectivity. You want to be connected to the system. 25 You want a faster, better trip from here in the East End 12 1 corridor to wherever else your destination is. And we've 2 heard that. So as we start designing this alignment, we 3 need to be sensitive to how we make connections so you can 4 get to U of H or downtown or the Texas Medical Center, 5 quicker and easier. And as part of the study, we are 6 looking into ways to provide better service or maybe faster 7 service to both Gulfgate and Hobby Airport. So those are 8 the things we've heard from you and, again, like I said, we 9 did hear some objection to the hike and bike trail. 10 So where do we go from here? Well, we're here to speak 11 tonight. We're walking through our technical findings, 12 letting you know what we found from the research we did, and 13 we'd like to get your comments. And we want to take these 14 comments and we'll refine our findings, reexamine them and 15 make a technical recommendation to our Board of Directors. 16 From there, the Board of Directors will review it, and 17 they will agree on a preferred alignment for the East End 18 corridor. After the corridor has been selected, such as 19 Harrisburg versus maybe Navigation or the U. P. right of 20 way, then preliminary engineering will get underway. And 21 what we do in preliminary engineering is it's a more 22 detailed engineering analysis to develop the guideway that 23 would work the best on whichever option we approve. How 24 wide would it be? Where would the stations be? And that 25 sort of detail that we have not presented to you tonight. 13 1 And then finally, we are going to conduct an 2 environmental analysis. We're going to see, well, what are 3 the impacts? We take the improvement we recommend and we 4 compare it to the no build or doing nothing and what are the 5 impacts? We look at noise, vibration, traffic once again in 6 a more detailed light, connectivity and that sort of -- land 7 use. So we do do an environmental assessment of the 8 improvement we're recommending. 9 And so this kind of walks you through the process that 10 I just described and sort of identifies where we're going to 11 be coming out to you again to get your input. Where we're 12 going to show you this is where we've decided we should 13 build this or how we would design the guideway, how it's 14 going to operate and we would speak with you and try to get 15 your input and you're a part of the process every bit of the 16 way. 17 From June -- from now, June 2006 to June 2007, we'll be 18 both conducting the preliminary engineering and the 19 environmental engineering or the environmental assessment. 20 Then following that, in July 2007 through December 2010, 21 that's when we begin design and construction. And hopefully 22 we'll be operating in 2011. 23 So that pretty much concludes my presentation. I 24 appreciate all of you coming out. We have boards along the 25 back that briefly summarize the information I just presented 14 1 to you. And we'll take questions from the floor now, and 2 then we'll be here as long as you like to ask questions 3 individually. So thank you very much, and again, I'll take 4 questions from the floor. Yes, ma'am? 5 MS. WEIS: Did I understand you to say that 6 if the line came on Harrisburg it would be less costly? 7 MS. KOSLOV: It really depends -- it's less 8 costly than some of the options. It really depends on how 9 we design the guideway, where they put this permanent 10 guideway for the buses or the LRT to run, and how -- where 11 we put the stations and how we impact the right of way, the 12 adjacent private right of way. It's not the cheapest 13 alternative, but it isn't the most costly either. It's 14 somewhere in the middle, and we're going to try to be as 15 sensitive as we can to the adjacent properties so we don't 16 impact them. But if we do impact them, we pay -- we 17 participate with the owner and try to make sure we come up 18 with a palatable solution. 19 MS. WEIS: I think that it should be 20 considered the least costly, should that be taken into 21 consideration? The bike right of way (Inaudible) but of 22 course I like the Harrisburg idea. 23 MS. KOSLOV: Again, we look at cost. 24 MR. BEARD: You need to repeat the question a 25 little bit. 15 1 MS. KOSLOV: I should have asked you. Can 2 you state your name because we have a court reporter and 3 she's recording everything. So if you can stand up and 4 state your name. 5 MS. WEIS: I'm Mary Weis, and I live between 6 Harrisburg and Capitol, and I just like the idea of being on 7 Harrisburg versus -- because it's the street going to Hobby. 8 And if it isn't too costly, I think that that would be the 9 right place to put it. 10 MS. KOSLOV: Mary, did you say? Mary says 11 she likes Harrisburg if it's not too costly, but she did ask 12 about what would be the cost on Harrisburg. And like I 13 said, we don't know the exact cost. It won't be the most 14 expensive option, but it might not be the least expensive 15 option either. It really depends on how we design the 16 guideway. 17 MS. WEIS: It would be wonderful if it was 18 done before I say goodbye to this cruel world. And there 19 are a few things I would like to see before my time. 20 MS. KOSLOV: Thank you. Yes, sir? 21 MR. DEL CARPIO: I'm Julio del Carpio. I own 22 Marbella, which is on Harrisburg between 66th and 67th. 23 I was measuring the building from my building to the 24 building across the street which is 86 feet. And the 25 minimum is 91 to have the six lanes; is that correct? 16 1 MS. KOSLOV: Yeah, if you have a guideway in 2 the middle and two lanes in each direction. 3 MR. DEL CARPIO: Would you consider using the 4 sides of the sidewalk from ten to eight feet so we do have 5 all six lanes? 6 MS. KOSLOV: I think that's an option. I 7 think we're looking at everything. We might reduce the size 8 of the sidewalks. We might reduce the width of the travel 9 lanes. I mean, I think there is a lot of things that we 10 haven't gotten into that technical engineering phase yet to 11 examine, but we are sensitive to the adjacent properties, 12 and if we can narrow the sidewalk or if we can narrow the 13 traffic lanes, I think we would definitely look into doing 14 that. 15 MR. DEL CARPIO: Because I would hate to lose 16 some of those buildings in that area. 17 MS. KOSLOV: Right. We're sensitive because 18 you're a property owner, and we're also sensitive because, 19 you know, there is a cost associated. So we're going to 20 work with you to do the smartest thing and the most 21 efficient thing. Yes, sir? 22 MR. PARRAS: My name is Juan Parras, and even 23 though it looks like based on your surveys that the U. P. 24 rail line would be the most expensive one, I myself would be 25 in favor of that and I'll tell you why. Because we already 17 1 have excessive railroad train tracks in our community, and 2 to run another one down the middle of Harrisburg only 3 actually a block from the U. P, you're going to have two 4 major railroads actually within a block. And again, we 5 already have excessively too much rail in the area, and I 6 think it may be more effective, I mean, if you actually use 7 the U. P. because I've seen in a lot of major cities where 8 they just build along the existing rail line another 9 parallel line to it and if you put rail, which is your 10 intention to eventually put rail in the middle of 11 Harrisburg, again, like I said, we're going to have two 12 railroads running parallel to each other, and to me it's 13 going to be more costly in the future than instead of 14 building it on the U. P. lines right now. 15 MS. KOSLOV: Okay. We're sensitive to that. 16 Again, one of the problems is the location -- the U. P. 17 track today is in the middle of the right of way, so it 18 would all need to be relocated. There is a number of spurs 19 or sidings that we would have to go over in an elevated 20 structure which impact the cost; but you know, you're right. 21 You are talking -- when you talk LRT or BRT, it's a short 22 vehicle that runs every six to 12 minutes. It's not a long 23 train with cars and cars and cars. So it's a different sort 24 of train system than the freight train, but I appreciate 25 your comment. Thank you. 18 1 MS. WEIS: Well, in this area anyway, from 2 right here about the 1600 block of Harrisburg, we are in 3 between two railroads that way. So if we don't hear the 4 whistles from this side, we get all the racquet from the 5 other side. If one is going down Harrisburg, we're blocked. 6 And we turn this way, we're blocked perhaps with the same 7 train, but I guess, anyway, if I'm not here in those days, 8 so what does it matter. 9 MS. KOSLOV: Yes? 10 MS. LIPTON: I'm Diane Lipton with the East 11 End Chamber of Commerce. Barbara, I'm just questioning -- 12 you said that the traffic flow wouldn't impact our putting 13 the rail down the middle -- or the tracks down the middle 14 wouldn't impact the traffic flow on Harrisburg 15 significantly? I'm a little -- I'm surprised at that 16 because I thought that wasn't what we thought. I'm just 17 asking do you -- is that based on two lanes on either side 18 or one lane on either side or either way or how could that 19 possibly be? 20 MS. KOSLOV: We had a traffic engineer come 21 out on a conceptual level, and basically he does traffic 22 counts. He did existing traffic counts, and then he put it 23 into this model he has and does projected traffic counts 24 based on information he has from the city and other entities 25 that do these projections. And what they do is called level 19 1 of service, you know, how fast the cars go when they are 2 moving forward and right now they operate at what we call a 3 very high level of service, which is A. and B. We found 4 that in very few places if you put -- took some of the 5 capacity away, it would constrain where you'd have failure 6 like an F. The worst -- and Wayside was the only place 7 where we had a level of service D. with one 18-foot lane on 8 either side in the alignment, the BRT running in the middle. 9 So basically, based on the numbers he has in terms of just 10 traffic flow, there is capacity on the street where we could 11 accommodate this alignment. 12 MS. LIPTON: Is that based on figures now or 13 projected years with new growth based on what the rail will 14 bring? 15 MS. KOSLOV: Both. Well, it's based on a 16 model that has been approved, and he's been using it in all 17 the other corridors. So he's not here, and I don't know if 18 there is someone -- 19 MR. BEARD: It really is based on the future 20 growth conditions. It's not only now, the existing traffic, 21 but it takes that traffic and projects it out 20 or 25 years 22 based upon the projections for redevelopment in the corridor 23 and then does another traffic analysis at that point. And 24 the conclusion of that traffic analysis was that it could 25 work with one wide lane on either side or obviously it would 20 1 work if we put both lanes back on each side. 2 MS. LIPTON: I can see that both lanes back 3 on each side, but I can't imagine -- anyway, I'd like to say 4 that my opinion from the Chamber perspective and I think 5 from my perspective is if we can have the two lanes on 6 either side, that would be much better even if they were 7 smaller lanes. 8 MS. KOSLOV: Okay. Do we have any other 9 comments? Yes, sir? 10 MR. POSTMAN: My name is Bryan Postman. I 11 live on Forest Hill. I was just curious about noticing on 12 your slide that you've got the enhanced bus route to Hobby 13 hopefully linking up with the Magnolia Center and then your 14 rapid bus system coming down to the Center. What with the 15 recent announcement of a possible Olympic bid again, has 16 METRO considered running rapid bus or even rail to Hobby 17 through Magnolia? I mean, you've got the right of way down 18 Broadway. Anyone can go through there and see you've got 19 30-foot wide easements and an esplanade running down the 20 whole length from Milby High School to the airport. The 21 only draw back would be linking from, say, Old Galveston 22 Road and the Magnolia Center, but you've got rail lines in 23 the back and you've got Mason Park you can link through. 24 I'm just curious if that's even being considered in the mix 25 right now. 21 1 MS. KOSLOV: In our METRO Solutions plan that 2 goes all the way through year 2025, there is a connection 3 that extends this BRT or guided rapid transit route all the 4 way to Hobby, but the first phase stops at the Magnolia 5 Transit Center. So then by 2011 we would have a piece that 6 went from downtown to Magnolia Transit Center. 7 MR. POSTMAN: I get that, but they are 8 predicting this possible Olympic bid for 2016, and if at 9 that point none of the airports link into the rapid rail or 10 rapid bus systems, what good are we doing there? Why don't 11 we have this system running out to one of the airports, one 12 or the other, and running it into an existing transit center 13 with high speed rail into downtown? 14 MS. KOSLOV: We'll definitely look into that. 15 I mean, we're trying to get this first phase done, but we'll 16 take that back and take it into consideration. 17 MR. MORENO: Okay. Again, I think the line 18 through Harrisburg looks very favorable. That's where the 19 area that we have, like, the most ridership as you 20 mentioned. You said it's the 50 bus that goes through 21 there. Isn't that one of METRO's most profitable routes? I 22 believe it is. So people know, we contribute a lot of the 23 ultimate revenue that does occur from the bus fares so to 24 speak; but then secondly, obviously the concerns of the 25 business community, you know, if we can solve it with 22 1 sufficient lanes, you know, it does appear to be tight, but 2 if you are on the east coast, rail works. This bus rapid 3 transit works in L.A, and you know, it's an efficient way to 4 move vast numbers of people, and again this community is 5 growing. 6 My biggest concerns would be it's spreading out. Our 7 community is spreading out. We're going further past 610, 8 and so you mentioned the access to the rest of the lines. 9 Right now my critique of the rail -- of the line is it just 10 stops at the Magnolia Transit Center and doesn't go 11 anywhere. It ultimately does need to go to Gulfgate with 12 some type of system, whether that's additional buses or 13 additional BRT down the line and then ultimately to Hobby. 14 But the other key aspect that a number of folks had 15 asked for was an extension to the University Line, and I 16 don't know how much that was looked at. The rail line is 17 going to go to University of Houston. We don't have the 18 ability to get to it from the way this plan is drawn, and 19 it's only two miles away down Lockwood. And so one 20 suggestion was some extension that would get us to the U of 21 H line because then you could take rail all the way to the 22 Medical Center, to the Galleria. Right now you'd have to go 23 downtown and go all the way around, and I believe for the 24 East End individuals, it's a very inefficient way and we're 25 actually being shortchanged. So that would be one of the 23 1 biggest things -- I'm with AAMA -- that we would suggest, is 2 some additional capacity that gets us to the other lines 3 more efficiently. 4 MS. KOSLOV: And I think the best way to 5 serve, let's say, the U of H would be with a very good 6 connection, and that's in the mix of all the things we're 7 looking at. 8 MS. HULSEY: Yes, I'm Jessica Hulsey. I 9 represent (Inaudible) Civic Association. I'm a little bit 10 concerned when I see hike and bike trails. Many of the 11 members are here this evening also with that concern. You 12 see, this is all we have. We don't have anything else, 13 especially from senior citizens. They use the hike and bike 14 trails a lot. I use it every morning, and safety will be 15 also one of our main concerns. That will be too close to 16 our homes. That will be too inside the residential area, 17 but of course, you know, see we don't have any sidewalks. 18 We don't have anything, and the hike and bike trails -- it's 19 about the only amenities besides the park; but for us, you 20 know, as we are growing older. 21 The hike and bike trails -- it's the only way, you 22 know. As I said, no sidewalks, just a hike and bike trail 23 for us right in the middle of the neighborhood, but of 24 course safety for our children. We have several schools 25 very close. Our children walk to schools through the hike 24 1 and bike trails and streets of course, but I'm concerned. 2 I'm worried. And so is many of our senior citizens who they 3 walk from the Eastwood Senior Center to the end of -- there 4 will be Morrison Street. They use that hike and bike trail 5 for the daily exercise. 6 I don't know, hopefully you will -- you know, METRO 7 will look at that side as being one of the ones, the right 8 one. Definitely Harrisburg, but of course we need to think 9 and seriously about our business owners because some -- some 10 of them, they are concerned about the value, the property, 11 you know, what's going to happen. So I'm supporting the 12 business owners on Harrisburg, too, but I'm concerned about 13 our children inside the neighborhood. I reside there and 14 not too far away from the hike and bike trails. Thank you. 15 MS. KOSLOV: Thank you. Thank you for your 16 comments. Right here. 17 MS. LOPEZ: You might not need it. I think 18 Jessica said it all very well, but I live on Linwood Street. 19 I have been in the neighborhood about 60 years plus. I 20 don't -- just leave the trail alone. That's ours. That's 21 all that we have. You can see mothers and every morning or 22 any time during the day and they will carry their babies in 23 the strollers, but they are exercising and so is the baby in 24 the stroller, and then people my age, and we use it and we 25 don't want anything to happen to it because that's all we 25 1 have. Thank you. 2 MS. MEDINA: Your name, please. 3 MS. KOSLOV: Say it louder. 4 MS. LOPEZ: Rose Lopez. 5 MS. MEDINA: Please give your name, thank 6 you. 7 MR. PARRAS: My name is Juan Parras, and I'd 8 kind of like to echo what the gentleman from AAMA stated is 9 that, you know, if we do want to have long-term vision, we 10 don't want this short distance that goes from downtown to 11 right here at 76th Street. And that's why, again, I 12 emphasized the fact that if you build parallel to existing 13 lines, especially like the U. P. line, you can build there 14 parallel all the way to 610, beyond Beltway 8 and farther. 15 And I think that's what we need if we're going to have a 16 light rail system like it exists in other major cities. 17 Because they are not just two or three mile tracks. You 18 know, they go from one end of the town to the other end, 19 east and west and south and north. So we need to think 20 ahead like you said, and that's why I believe building on 21 existing lines, parallel to those lines already, and that 22 way you basically don't even have to worry too much even 23 about environmental concerns because if you do, you know, 24 you would have been dealing with them on current existing 25 lines, but anyway, that's another point I wanted to make, 26 1 and thank you for your long-term vision. 2 MS. KOSLOV: Thank you. Any other comments? 3 Yes, sir? 4 MR. DICK: My name is David Dick. I have a 5 question. I know that the BRT is being built as a BRT with 6 the possibility of converting to LRT in a future time. That 7 means that the line will be built just like it would with 8 rails below the surface so that if it was converted at a 9 future time to LRT, then that would be uncovered. The 10 electricity would be run and it could be converted quickly 11 to LRT. Is there a timeline that you have in mind as far as 12 the criteria for converting? 13 MS. KOSLOV: Part of the timeline -- and I 14 might let Mr. Pennington answer -- but a lot has to do with 15 our ridership. What the travel demand is and how well we 16 attract riders, and when we reach capacity on a BRT or when 17 we begin to approach capacity, then we would say, oh, we 18 need to consider conversion because we need more capacity to 19 provide that service. So a lot of it has to do with the 20 ridership and the travel demand that occurs, you know, as 21 the system grows. 22 MR. DICK: Okay. The other part of the 23 question then relates to the part that goes into the 24 downtown. I know that downtown was just totally 25 reconstructed, brand new streets, and I've been told by some 27 1 of the engineers that the part downtown will run -- can be 2 separated from the regular traffic lanes, and it won't have 3 to be torn up to be able to run the BRTs to connect to the 4 other rail lines that are downtown and going north. 5 My question is, when the criterion is met that you say 6 it's time to turn it to LRT, what happens downtown? Are you 7 going to have to tear up the streets downtown at that point 8 in time, which would create a probably two-year construction 9 period where everything is torn up again? That would mean 10 that you wouldn't be able to use that part of the system for 11 that period of time if it's not built that way to begin 12 with. So it doesn't really make sense to me for you to 13 build part of the line as a BRT with the rail lines 14 underneath it, but the part downtown not built that way. 15 I've been told different things about what the BRT is, and 16 I'm kind of trying to get clear on what's going to happen on 17 that section going downtown. 18 MS. KOSLOV: I'm going to let Steve Beard 19 answer that. 20 MR. BEARD: Thanks, everybody. I'm Steve 21 Beard from the planning department of METRO. What we're 22 talking about downtown as we come off the guideway in this 23 East End corridor, or in the Southeast Corridor, we would 24 operate on regular city streets into downtown. It would 25 operate on a diamond lane kind of operation. There would be 28 1 special stops at set stations along the alignment, but we 2 would not tear up the street. It would be very minimal 3 except for maybe some things -- amenities along the 4 sidewalks at certain locations. 5 And that's a great question, the other part of it is 6 what happens in the future to that particular part of the 7 guideway? Well, one of the things that we have to look at 8 is ultimately where is this line going to go? Ultimately, 9 is it going to cross the Main Street Line through downtown 10 as light rail or one of the other possibilities under 11 serious consideration is that this line would then begin to 12 swing to the north side and go into a new intermodal 13 terminal, which would bring together all kinds of 14 transportation nodes right on the north end of downtown. 15 The line perhaps could be interlined to go further north 16 ultimately all the way up to Bush Intercontinental Airport. 17 There could be transfers there on the Main Street Line to go 18 south through downtown, the Medical Center, could tie in to 19 potential future commuter rail lines. So the idea is on 20 this piece downtown is to not make that decision today and 21 perhaps make the wrong decision and do a lot of tear up 22 construction that we wouldn't use in the future; but to stop 23 the guideway, run on city streets, and then as ridership 24 grows, ultimately make that decision about whether the 25 connection is made east/west through downtown or on the 29 1 north side of downtown at the intermodal terminal that is 2 also under very detailed study by METRO at the current time. 3 So hopefully that answers your question. We're trying to 4 preserve our options as we go along. One more? 5 MR. DICK: Just a -- that would probably mean 6 that if you do decide to build LRT to get to those transit 7 centers near downtown, that you could probably continue to 8 use the BRT on the street and maybe build rail, LRT, on a 9 slightly different route while you could continue to use the 10 BRT and not disrupt service and so have interconnectability 11 throughout the whole system that way. 12 MR. BEARD: Exactly so. Exactly so. 13 MS. MEDINA: Any other questions? 14 MS. ALVARADO: Hi, good evening. Carol 15 Alvarado, city council member. I don't want to comment so 16 much on the route because I'm going to support whatever the 17 community and the businesses want, but I just again want to 18 go on record that I'm not for the BRT. That's not what we 19 voted for. I wish we were having a conversation about LRT, 20 and it seems like that decision has already been made that 21 we're not going to have light rail until ridership gets to a 22 point that's satisfactory to METRO. I just -- I'm concerned 23 about ridership on the BRT because no matter how you dress 24 it up, it's still a bus, and I think you're going to have 25 people that aren't going to want to get on a bus. 30 1 I agree with Gilbert Moreno. I feel like we have one 2 shot at this and let's get it right. Let's get the maximum 3 amount of use that we can with this with the extensions to 4 the airport and connecting to the university. So I'm glad 5 to see there are so many people out here. That tells you 6 that this community wants light rail, but I just -- I'm real 7 pessimistic about the BRT and maybe, you know, over time 8 I'll get over that hump, but I just -- I really wish that it 9 was LRT because, again, that's what most of the people 10 sitting in this room voted for. Thank you. 11 MS. PIERRE: Good evening. My name is Liz 12 Pierre and I am a resident. I live in Houston Country Club 13 Place. I just want to echo some of the comments that I 14 heard regarding your consideration of a connection between 15 the BRT rails to the University of Houston within the Phase 16 I part of your project. I understand that there are some 17 other phases that may be coming in the future, but we're 18 going to have this and we're so close to the University of 19 Houston. In my mind, it doesn't make sense to have to go 20 downtown before you come right back up to get to U of H. So 21 I really would hope that you would consider adding some sort 22 of piece or connection other than just a connection from the 23 BART. If it's BART or light rail, if it's light rail 24 through a bus to University of Houston, I think it needs to 25 be the same type of system that we have whether it be on 31 1 Harrisburg or whatever, but we definitely need to be able to 2 connect to the University of Houston. 3 MS. KOSLOV: I think we'll take a couple more 4 questions and then we'll just meet individually with 5 everybody. Yes, sir? 6 MR. WALLE: Armando Walle with Congressman 7 Gene Green's office. I have two questions. Will this be 8 the plan that you submit to the FTA, or when do you go about 9 submitting this to the FTA? 10 MS. KOSLOV: Okay, well, right now this 11 project is basically being looked at from a local level. 12 It's not going to go through the traditional federal 13 process. We are going to go through environmental analysis 14 that meets the NEPA requirements and so -- but we're not 15 going through -- we've already kind of done our analysis so 16 we're not quite on the same federal track that some of the 17 other projects are. We are not doing the New Starts 18 application to be in that pipeline. Our plan is to meet all 19 the federal requirements and this would be our local match 20 when we ask for federal funds on other projects, but we are 21 going to follow the federal guidelines and do the analysis 22 so we can meet the requirements. 23 MR. WALLE: But you would still have to 24 submit this plan so that -- contingent on the north and 25 other lines because you're going to -- you have to submit 32 1 all of it as a whole to get approval because it's all 2 contingent on the other lines so that you can do your local 3 match for Harrisburg. Am I confused about that? 4 MR. BEARD: This is a totally locally funded 5 project as a part of this Phase II program, so it will not 6 be submitted to the Federal Transit Administration. 7 MR. WALLE: Okay. 8 MR. BEARD: And the local funding for this 9 corridor would not be used for the other four corridors as a 10 match. It's a totally separate local project, but as 11 Barbara said, we do hope to preserve the option in the 12 future to use the local dollars that's spent on this 13 corridor for match. Perhaps it's a match for the next 14 extension down to Gulfgate or down towards Hobby so we can 15 take advantage of what we spend here and leverage those 16 dollars with federal dollars on the next phase of the 17 project. 18 MR. WALLE: Okay. My second question is will 19 the rails be in the ground so that once ridership does hit 20 your threshold, that it would be a natural transition? It 21 would be a quicker transition, or what's METRO's comment or 22 view on the rails in the ground? 23 MS. KOSLOV: I'm going to let Steve. 24 MR. WALLE: I guess for the record on behalf 25 of the congressman, we also were very displeased that we're 33 1 not getting light rail, but in the event that it does come 2 to fruition, we want a natural quick transition. 3 MR. BEARD: The direction from Mr. Wilson, 4 METRO's president and chief executive officer, is to move 5 forward with projects that are very quickly convertible to 6 light rail. His direction to us has been to develop 7 projects that have the rails in place and the other needed 8 infrastructure so that we can very quickly, when ridership 9 warrants, convert bus rapid transit to light rail transit. 10 MR. MORENO: Steve, how many stops would 11 exist from downtown to the Magnolia Transit Center? 12 MR. BEARD: How many stations? 13 MS. KOSLOV: There is a total of five, there 14 is Dowling, and three in between and then Magnolia. 15 MS. MEDINA: We're going to take one more 16 question. 17 MR. PARRAS: Actually it's not a question but 18 another observation and a comment. I have been going to the 19 community meetings ever since we voted for light rail like 20 Ms. Alvarado said, and we have been complaining that we're 21 not getting what we voted for. So I just want to connect at 22 least some statements that were made here that it was 23 Congressman Gene Green's office, Carol Alvarado's office, Al 24 Green and all those elected officials from this area that 25 told us, take what you get because this is money that we 34 1 can't send back. So they approved and they pushed the idea 2 of us getting buses on tires. 3 And now I'm hearing something different that, you know, 4 we should be getting what we voted for. I myself believe 5 that. We should get what we voted for. We voted for light 6 rail and the other areas and partS of town, they also voted 7 for light rail to go to certain lines and not certain 8 streets, and now they're fighting that issue. And I think 9 we should join forces with them and either approve what we 10 voted for or let us vote on the referendum again. Thank 11 you. 12 MS. KOSLOV: Thank you. 13 MR. PARRAS: Juan Parras. 14 MS. KOSLOV: Let me just -- a couple of 15 things I just want to let you know. One, we have comment 16 cards in the back, so if you didn't feel comfortable 17 speaking or we ran out of time, please put your comments -- 18 put them in English or in Spanish -- but we are collecting 19 the comment cards. We do read them. We are trying to get 20 all the information we can so that is -- they are back there 21 on the table, and if you feel like there is something you'd 22 like for us to know, please don't be afraid to say so. 23 If you want to come and talk to the court reporter, 24 she's also available to take your comments. Finally, we 25 will be taking our technical findings to the Board of 35 1 Directors on June 15th, the one o'clock board meeting. If 2 you would like to make any comments at that time, I just 3 want to let you know that's the board meeting when we 4 discuss this will be on the agenda. Thank you. 5 MS. MEDINA: Before we adjourn, first of all 6 on behalf of METRO, let me thank you for your participation 7 and attendance this evening. This by far has been our 8 largest crowd and I'm extremely pleased to see this. I do 9 want to introduce two members of our senior staff that 10 arrived. Over here to my left is Bryan Pennington. He's 11 vice-president of planning, engineering and construction. 12 And on to my right is George Smalley. He's vice-president 13 of external affairs. I want to thank them both for being 14 with us this evening. 15 Again, we're going to stay as long as you need us to. 16 If you have questions, we can walk you through the boards. 17 Go to our website tomorrow at ridemetro.org and all of this 18 information will be loaded, and you'll be able to access it. 19 (Speaking Spanish). 20 21 22 INDIVIDUAL COMMENTS: 23 24 MR. GALLEGOS: I'm Robert Gallegos from 25 Houston Country Club Place -- president of Houston Country 36 1 Club Place, and I'd like to make a comment that in regards 2 to the Harrisburg Line, I also agree that it should -- Phase 3 I should include all the way to the Hobby Airport, possibly 4 up through Broadway, and the purpose is to -- for 5 development and for ridership. I think you'd get the 6 development. You would get the ridership on Phase I going 7 from downtown down Harrisburg and then from Harrisburg up 8 Broadway all the way to Hobby Airport, and if it could 9 somehow be hooked up to the Southeast Line and that way 10 you'll also have connection to the U of H, Texas Southern 11 and back to downtown. Okay. 12 13 14 MS. ACOSTA: We want the rail on Harrisburg, 15 and we don't want an increase in fares. Also we don't want 16 an increase in property taxes to fund the light rail. Get 17 the funds through the federal funds. And the comment about 18 the neighborhood, we want our bike trail to stay and because 19 all the neighborhood people use it, I mean, from children to 20 seniors. It's on a daily basis, you know, so please do not 21 take the bike trail away. 22 23 (Hearing adjourned). 24 25 37 1 THE STATE OF TEXAS: 2 3 COUNTY OF HARRIS: 4 5 I, Lynda Marie Bryant, Certified Shorthand 6 Reporter, in and for the State of Texas, do hereby certify 7 that proceedings were taken by me in machine shorthand and 8 later transcribed from machine shorthand to typewritten form 9 by me. 10 I further certify that the above and foregoing 11 transcription, as set forth in typewriting, is a full, true 12 and correct transcript of the proceedings. 13 Given under my hand and seal of office on this, 14 the 5th day of June 2006. 15 16 17 18 19 ______________________________ 20 Lynda Marie Bryant, 21 CSR, RPR, RMR, CRR, CCP 22 CSR No. 2756 23 State of Texas 24 Expiration: 12/31/07 25