Mass Transit & Energy Use
Oppostion Again Seeking to De-Rail Transit in Houston
By Leslie Locke
Oct 16, 2001, 19:20

An attempt by Proposition 3 supporters to derail Metro’s progress along Main Street reflects a decade of opposition to rail in Houston. Proposition 3 together with Proposition 1 will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot and will decide the fate of the tracks laid through the Medical Center.

Proposition 1 calls for the city to require the Metropolitan Mass Transit to hold a referendum before building any future rail lines in Houston. However, it will exempt the $300 million project now under construction from downtown to Reliant Park. Metro says the line is one-fourth completed and should be running in early 2004.

Proposition 3 requires voter approval for any future rail lines and requires the city to hold a election within eight months to vote on the current project. The proposition would force Metro to rip up 7.5 miles of light rail line even if the project were nearly completed. Proposition 3 would require the city to return the streets to the condition they were in before the work began or to better condition, and to do so within a reasonable time.

Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector Paul Bettencourt initiated the drive to obtain at least 20,000 registered voters by mid-September to get Proposition 3 on the ballot.

“Orlando Sanchez supported Proposition 3 for the principle of just letting the people vote,” said Chris Bagala, communications campaign director for Sanchez. “Of course the people must vote on a half-a-billion-dollar, 7.5-mile rail in Houston.”

The proposition would amend the city charter. City Council would be required to hold an election at taxpayers expense before granting Metro permission to build any part of rail in Houston.

Another snag in the amendment involves a state law prohibiting Metro from holding elections unless to issue bonds. Metro will not be ready to do that for years. Since Metro was forbidden from holding a rail referendum, the Metro board – not the voters – decided to build light rail along Main Street. The Metro board also saw the advantage of not having to raise $1 million in political advertising to win a referendum campaign.

In 1988, voters approved a referendum for a regional transportation plan allocating a quarter cent from sales tax to be spent on mass transit, including road work. The word “rail” wasn’t on the ballot but was prominent in campaign literature.

Three years later, Bob Lanier was elected mayor after promising not to build the rail system. With power to appoint half the board members, Metro cancelled its rail plan.

Under Lanier, Metro used funds to fix pot holes in city streets and to build sidewalks, bike trails and drainage ditches. He created a Metropolitan Transit Police Department funded by Metro reserves. In his eight years in office, Lanier stopped the monorail plan and used up more than $500 million out of the $650 million in reserves that Metro had been built up over two decades.

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