Houston Politics

Is Ted Poe A Go for Light Rail?

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Unless mine eyes and ears deceived me… yes. Though unlike the Chronicle’s Dug Begley, I’m not exactly ready to call him a ‘new rail line champion’.

In a bit of a shocker on the House floor yesterday, Congressman Ted Poe spoke in support of federal funding for Houston METRO’s University Line, the “cornerstone” branch of Houston’s light rail expansion that would connect Downtown and the Medical Center to the Galleria.

It’s common knowledge that John Culberson, who represents the area in which the westernmost branch of the rail line will run, is Capitol Hill’s most vocal opponent of rail transit. He has tried time and time again to kill all urban rail projects in Houston. But in speaking with Ted Poe yesterday on the House Floor, he almost sounded supportive of the line as well. Perhaps he was just trying to sound cordial with Poe and his Republican colleagues, but it’s a greater positive step than he’s ever taken before. From the video, Here’s what Poe had to say about the rail…

“…I have never been a strong champion of light rail, but my Congressional district includes a significant portion of the proposed rail line… A majority of my constituents in the affected area that would be served support the light rail. I am concerned that Section 166 of the bill that would prohibit federal funds from going to a part of the University Line that falls in… Mr. Culberson’s district, number 7. This language, although affecting his district primarily, indirectly affects my constituents because it has the effect of killing the whole project. Federal funds are needed to build the University Line in Houston. To be clear, Section 166 really doesn’t save any federal money, it just sends those funds to somewhere else…

I’ve recently surveyed the constituents who live in the affected area in my Congressional district… Those in the affected area want light rail. On Facebook alone over the last few days, 604 people supported light rail and 340 opposed it.”

Just in case you’ve forgotten, this rare occurrence where a member of Congress is against a project, but is later swayed by the overwhelming support of his constituents? That’s actually how our government is supposed to work. Americans send Congress to Washington so that they will vote the interests of their constituents, not just hold to their personal, rigid beliefs. It was also quite surprising to see Poe concede this fact publicly.

Now the next question… will Ted Poe’s reasoning be enough to sway John Culberson to drop his bill killing federal funding? No one knows for sure, but after yesterday’s events in Congress, Houston is again closer than ever to completing a major piece of it’s planned transit infrastructure. It’s good to see that some in Washington are beginning to figure out that Houston doesn’t need to fall behind just to prove a talking point.

Many Republicans in Culberson’s district are in support of transit investment. I asked Republican activist and Houstonian Christopher Busby what he thought of Poe’s remarks, and here was his response…

“As a former University of Houston student who understands the need for a modern transportation system, I think Congressman Poe’s support for the University line is great. As we continue to grow and become a more dense urban population, projects like the University light rail will become more and more essential to the development of our city’s infrastructure. We have reached the time when development of new roads and maintenance of old ones is not enough to sustain our population growth.”

But having more Houstonians in support of rail transit is just the first step. Most of the University Line is still planned as an At-Grade system, and that’s going to lead to more accidents in the future. While renewed hopes for federal funding are great, it’s time for city leaders and METRO to consider grade separation for the University Line. Most expect that when completed, this line will have the highest ridership of the whole system. It will also be traveling through the most high-density area of the city… an area that is still growing very rapidly. More people and more cars make for a higher probability of accidents. But if Houston plans for a better system now, those future issues can be avoided.

For more on this, check out Off the Kuff.

Houston Politics

Signs Everywhere: Is Houston Ready for Zoning?

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First it was the infamous ‘Stop Ashby Highrise’ lobby… a bitter battle to defeat developers that have worked well within the bounds of Houston law, and want to build on land that they rightfully own. Sure the battle is still raging thanks to a barrage of lawsuits, but at the end of the day, there’s nothing to really stop them from building whatever they want there.

The impressive campaign to defend the “character” of Southampton (Ashby High rise’s future neighborhood) did not go unnoticed. Now in Houston, there is a wave of ‘Stop the Highrise’ activity, from San Felipe in the Galleria to a rapid coalition forming to block development in the Heights. These neighborhoods continue to spends thousands of dollars to somehow change developers’ minds, or enrage the public enough to force the city to stop the activity.

The big gaping problem that these neighborhoods don’t want to address?? The city of Houston does not have basic, comprehensive zoning laws. Granted there are some city ordinances that have done much to regulate lot size like Chapter 42, but it is one small piece of a much larger puzzle. There is very little to actually protect a neighborhood from having a high rise built in the middle of it if a developer owns the land and gets the proper variances. Because actual zoning law is so weak, developers are going to win these fights every time, no matter how much attention the signs get. The latest attempt to enact zoning was in 1994, and was overwhelmingly defeated in a low-turnout referendum. Now many argue that there are big advantages to this… of which the most prominent is affordable housing throughout the city.

Instead of spending thousands of dollars to demonize the developers, why not put zoning laws on the ballot and let Houstonians decide? Remember the red-light camera debacle? As many complaints as were lodged against the city then, the ballot measure has ensured their removal. Done. END OF STORY. This could have also been the fate of Ashby High Rise, if the residents of Southampton had put 1/4th the energy they did in screaming signs and transferred it to the ballot box. What we have yet to figure out… until the citizens of Houston come together and put comprehensive zoning in place, there will always be another Ashby. And in the end, the developers will win that fight too. In an area that is growing as rapidly as Houston, stuff is going to get built, and it has to go somewhere. If we choose not to regulate with proper zoning, then all the crafty sign campaigns in the world aren’t going to make a difference.

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Quantity: Hall Wants 6 Debates with Parker

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This was just released by Houston Mayoral candidate Ben Hall, via his website and social media…

July 31, 2013

The Honorable Annise Parker Mayor of Houston 901 Bagby Street Houston, TX 77002

Dear Mayor Parker,

I am writing to propose that you and I share our contrasting ideas and vision for the future of this great city through a series of debates.

Three debates should be held after Labor Day but prior to the start of early voting and three additional debates after the start of early voting and before our November election. Too much is at stake for us not to share our plans for Houston with her citizens, and I hope you agree promptly to debating six times this fall.

I have instructed my staff to contact your campaign staff to begin discussions on the details.

Please accept this invitation.

Sincerely,

Ben Hall

This bold challenge comes at a time when the Hall campaign has struggled to dominate the news cycle. The seemingly endless parade of “Houston is best” lists continue to cast a resplendent light on the Parker administration. And what little press Hall is garnering is sadly not so good. As fellow blogger Horwitz at Texpatriate writes, Hall’s social media outreach has become something of a worst-case scenario.

To be clear, I fully support Mr. Hall’s call for some Mayoral debates. This election is important to Houstonians, and they deserve to hear contrasting visions for the city. But six debates, especially three packed in during early voting, seems overly excessive. It smacks of desperation from the Hall campaign if they are trying to rely so heavily on undecided voters. As the percentage of early voters continues to climb… 30 percent voted early in the last Mayoral election and a whopping 58 percent in 2012, the thought of having some last-minute debate shocker save the day isn’t very feasible. Hall needs to start sharing with voters the specifics of what he can offer the city of Houston, and why he would be a better choice than the current administration. If Facebook troubles weren’t enough of an indicator, it’s time for the Hall campaign to think quality over quantity.

Houston Politics

Texoblogosphere: July 29th

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The Texas Progressive Alliance applauds the entry of the Justice Department into the fight to continuing to subject the state to preclearance as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff points out that Greg Abbott would deny the same type of care that he himself has benefited from to millions of people who could not now receive it.

Horwitz at Texpatriate chronicles the unmitigated disaster that occurred when Ben Hall tried to advertise on Facebook.

WCNews at Eye on Williamson says if Texas wants the federal government to stay out of it’s electoral business the solution is easy. All they have to do is stop discriminating, Texas and the DOJ.

Former Democratic state representative Aaron Pena found out the hard way that becoming a Republican doesn’t help much when you’re driving while brown in south Texas. PDiddie at Brains and Eggs observed that not even his Greg Abbott t-shirt could save him from being ICE’d.

After hearing all of the crazy right-wing rhetoric, Texas Leftist wondered what Republicans really say about Immigration Reform away from the glare of talk radio and Fox News. Here’s the interesting result.

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And here are some posts of interest from other Texas blogs.

Mark Bennett maintains that it is foolish to claim that “stand your ground” laws had nothing to do with the Zimmerman verdict.

Austin Contrarian demonstrates why the rent is too damn high in the capital city.

Better Texas asks what can be done to help disadvantaged children succeed in school.

Eileen Smith sorts out the Republican candidates for Lite Guv.

Texas Watch wants us to close the “Six Flags loophole”.

Texas Vox wraps up water legislation from the regular and special sessions.

Texas Redistricting lays out the Section 3 arguments in the fight over the Voting Rights Act and how it should still apply here.

Juanita has had it with the spurious claims about “jars of feces” being brought to the Lege when the final vote on the anti-abortion bill was taking place.

BOR notes that Senate Democrats are demanding a women’s health study during the legislative off-season.

And Tuesday Cain, the 14-year-old girl who held up a provocative sign during the protests against the omnibus anti-abortion bill at the Capitol, would appreciate it if all the so-called grownups on the Internet stopped calling her a whore.

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Francis I: A True Reformer Pope?

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After some preliminary research on Pope Francis, I had a hunch that this guy would be something of a reformer. Perhaps even more important than being the first Pope from Latin America, Francis is also the first Jesuit to ascend to the papacy. Unlike the orthodoxy of the Catholic church as a whole, the Jesuits were founded on the principles of embracing change and… dare I say it… progress. The Daily Beast does a good job of boiling it down.

Under St. Ignatius, the Society of Jesus believed that reform in the Catholic Church began with reform of the individual. The founding members of the Society of Jesus took a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience under Ignatius… The Jesuits encourage toleration for other religions, teach other theology in their institutions, and also believe in free education for all.

Given that the Jesuit order was founded at the University of Paris in 1537, it’s no surprise that they put such an emphasis on knowledge, education and the honest exchange of ideas. Take an American university founded by Jesuits in 1855… the University of San Francisco. As the oldest university in a city pivotal to GLBT history, USF has been at odds many times with the Catholic Church. One of the most prominent was the invitation to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom to a 2004 Commencement Speaker, when only months earlier he made US history by declaring same-sex marriages were legal in the city of San Francisco. Even at the height of this controversy and immense backlash from within the Catholic church, USF was proud to have Newsom participate. Some university officials even argued at the time that doing anything to hinder the conversation would be “against Jesuit principles”.

So that is the school of thought that Pope Francis ascribes to… one that is in many ways quite contradictory to greater Catholicism. Understanding this point gives context to a surprisingly candid press conference the Pope gave earlier today. Here’s an excerpt from the Washington Post…

Pope Francis reached out to gays on Monday, saying he wouldn’t judge priests for their sexual orientation in a remarkably open and wide-ranging news conference as he returned from his first foreign trip…

Francis’ remarks came Monday during a plane journey back to the Vatican from his first foreign trip in Brazil.

He was funny and candid during his first news conference that lasted almost an hour and a half. He didn’t dodge a single question, even thanking the journalist who raised allegations reported by an Italian newsmagazine that one of his trusted monsignors was involved in a scandalous gay tryst.

Francis said he investigated and found nothing to back up the allegations.

Francis was asked about Italian media reports suggesting that a group within the church tried to blackmail fellow church officials with evidence of their homosexual activities. Italian media reported this year that the allegations contributed to Benedict’s decision to resign.

Stressing that Catholic social teaching that calls for homosexuals to be treated with dignity and not marginalized, Francis said it was something else entirely to conspire to use private information for blackmail or to exert pressure.

Francis was responding to reports that a trusted aide was involved in an alleged gay tryst a decade ago. He said he investigated the allegations according to canon law and found nothing to back them up. But he took journalists to task for reporting on the matter, saying the allegations concerned matters of sin, not crimes like sexually abusing children.

And when someone sins and confesses, he said, God not only forgives but forgets.

“We don’t have the right to not forget,” he said.

So is Pope Francis ready to declare all GLBT people as fully equal within the church? Probably not. But if recent events and Jesuit history are any indication, he is at least ready and willing to advance the Catholic conversation with the GLBT community. And that alone is reason for “cautious” optimism. Even if you’re not an especially religious person, or an all-out atheist, don’t forget that the Catholic church is still one of largest institutions in the world. Just as President Obama’s personal “evolution” to support marriage equality caused major movement on the issue within the US, Pope Francis’ opinion carries real weight among the Catholic faithful.

I’m anxious to see what lies ahead.

Music Musings

Music Musings: Celebrating 40 years of Chaka Khan

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As a musician and singer, I can tell you that there are actually a lot of good “voices” out there. So many people really can sing and perform. But one measure that separates the good from the great? Longevity. Some artists have been able to stay relevant through the very short attention span that is today’s music and entertainment industry.

I’m not sure how she’s done it, but Chaka Khan is the epitome of a music Superstar. 2013 celebrates her 40th year as a world-wide musical icon. Starting as a soul-force of the 70s black power movement with her band Rufus, Chaka Khan went on to become one of the most prominent artists of the disco era with songs like I’m Every Woman. Then at a time when many artists were rejected in the “Disco Sucks” era of the 80s, Chaka jumped to super-stardom with hits like I Feel for You and Through the Fire. And to think that today after 40 years in the business, she’s still sounding as good today as she ever did? That’s the mark of a true legend. 

UPDATE: Ms. Khan is also a legend even outside of the music world. She’s never been one to shy away from some of our nation’s toughest issues. Just today (July 27th), Khan sang for the Rainbow Push Coalition’s forum to combat gun violence in Chicago, just one day before her 40th anniversary concert in Millennium Park. She, like fellow music legend Stevie Wonder, has cancelled all upcoming performances in the Florida to protest the state’s Stand Your Ground law. 
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UPgrade: Rethinking Houston’s Rail Transit

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As a resident of Houston, I get it… this city likes its construction projects built fast and CHEAP. So many major projects in Houston have been done with little regard for preservation or aesthetics. It’s definitely not an uncommon modus operandi for all of Texas, but even among the major cities, Houston is still the king of fast and cheap.

But this lack of planning on the forefront creates problems later on. People have known for over a century that the safest way to build rail mass transit is grade separation from a city’s road infrastructure, especially if the train is going to be in a high population area. This is of course why so many cities from London, New York, Chicago and even Dallas have chosen to build their mass transit systems mostly in this way. Grade separation, whether below ground like a subway or above ground like an elevated railway, is always safer than having multiple transport mode interactions at-grade. Unfortunately in Houston’s transit rail plan, safety is taking a backseat to cost. As Clifford Pugh at Culturemap writes, this reality had deadly consequences even this week in Houston…

A woman on a bicycle was killed in a collision with a light rail train in downtown Houston Monday morning, a spokesman for METRO confirmed to KHOU Channel 11.

The incident happened shortly after 8 a.m. on Main street at Walker street. An account by METRO indicates the college student, who has not been identified, exited a northbound train at the Main Street Square station with her bike, walked it to the intersection and immediately got on it at Walker and rode away, crossing the intersection when she was hit by an oncoming southbound train. The train lurched to a stop approximately 20 yards later with the woman’s body pinned underneath.

This week’s accident involved a cyclist, but many have been caused by motorists, and even pedestrians having to interact with the rail line at-grade. The issue is compounded by the fact that Houston is a car-centric city, where drivers are still less likely to be aware of trains, pedestrians, cyclists, or anyone else who need to share the road. This was a big problem in 2004 when the Red Line opened, but the city continues to struggle. Crash incidents peaked again in 2008, and still remain higher than most other metros when compared by transit mile. Though the city has spent millions of dollars to try and better educate all parties on safer road usage, these horrific accidents continue to occur.

The simplest solution to this problem? Building rail lines correctly from the start. Grade separation isn’t cheap… on the front end it’s a more expensive proposition. But, ironically, so is building roads. Of all the freeways that sprawl out across the city and metropolitan area, no one has ever thought to question whether they should be built at-grade. Freeways are always built with grade separation, and we need to hold our rail transit with the same level of import. I agree with the opinion that a full subway, and all of the expensive digging that would have to occur to make it happen, is probably not a good fit for Houston. But elevated rail is a much more reasonable proposition. Houston’s 7.5-mile Red Line was finished in 2004 and cost $394 million dollars. But no one ever asks how much money has had to be spent since then because of all of these accidents. Could we have saved money, time and human lives had we invested properly in rail transit from the start?

Houston’s North Line is set to open late this year. The line is already being constructed with large elevated sections, both of which are required at railroad crossings. This is because railway companies own the right-of-way and will not allow at-grade crossings with other rail vehicles.  Given how much more traffic passes through intersections, this policy should be implemented for major streets, and high activity areas as well. Houston needs to learn from its mistakes and create a safer transit system for all citizens. 

A Voice for the Rest of Texas