Monthly Archives: February 2014

Uncategorized

Metro North Line FAR Exceeds 1st Ridership Goals

Leave a comment

Some great news directly from the METRO website…

In its first month of operation, the Red/North Line extension exceeded ridership projections by 62 percent.

METRO launched its 5.3-mile extension of the Red/North Line last Dec. 21 – extending the line from HCC-Downtown Station eight more stops to Northline Transit Center/HCC.

In January, the first full month of operation, the Red/North Line averaged 4,200 weekday boardings. That’s 1,600 more than what we had forecasted for the average daily ridership by Sept. 30, the end of METRO’s fiscal year.

“This speaks volumes about the value of rail in the community, and how expanding the reach of one form of transit enhances others like our bus service,” said METRO Chairman Gilbert Garcia in a statement.

Added Tom Lambert, interim METRO president & CEO: “It’s providing better connectivity and improving the customer experience on many fronts.”

Consider these stats since the Red/North Line expanded:

•The amount of transit service has increased, adding 192 rail trips each weekday, replacing 149 weekday bus trips.

•The frequency of service has increased with peak and midday service running every 12 minutes compared to 15 minutes on previous bus route.

•On-time performance has improved. Route 79, which serves the Northline Transit Center, rose to the top ten routes for on-time performance from the bottom 10.

Ridership on the Red/North Line is expected to surge when two more light-rail lines open later this year, the Burnett Transit Center opens and a redesign of our bus system is implemented.

Once the Green/East End Line and the Purple/Southeast Line open later this year, METRO will have about 23 miles of rail.

Of course in order to properly open the Green and Purple Lines, METRO is going to need some rail cars if they expect those trains to run at full capacity. Even still, the news that North Line ridership has far surpassed initial goals is welcome, especially when considering that the line just opened and much of it’s support infrastructure isn’t completed yet.

I can’t say I’m surprised by this. Anyone who has been brave enough to ride the line immediately finds a charming and interesting way to traverse the Near Northside. The Burnett Transit Center is a striking new edition to Houston rail as the first elevated station in the system. And best yet, at the end of the line, they have access to shopping and dining options that weren’t previously available. Sure many Liberals may detest the thought of stepping into a WalMart, but for most non-politicals out there, the expanded shopping is sorely needed. Slowly but surely, Houstonians are starting to understand that public transit has a place in the city.

The venerable Off the Kuff has more.

Uncategorized

Is President Obama Afraid of Rachel Maddow?

Leave a comment

The Super Bowl is undoubtedly the United States’ largest annual sporting event. The football brawl is a day for most Americans to relax with friends, consume massive amounts of calories and yell at the tv. The game and all of the hype leading up to it have become one of the country’s most revered and respected traditions. During Super Bowl week, it’s also sufficient to say that lots of other news stories take a back seat to pre-game postulation.

But one interesting event is starting to become something of a tradition on Super Bowl night is political in nature. For the second time Fox News prime-time host Bill O’Reilly landed a major interview with President Barack Obama. Including an appearance on the O’Reilly Factor with then-candidate Obama, Sunday’s brawl marked the third time the President has interviewed with the cable news mogul. As Washington Post writer Dana Milbank notes, the most interesting take-away from this latest installment was much less about Obama, and more about growing mistrust within the country’s right flank.

This was O’Reilly’s third such session with Obama — and as such it served as a milepost on the conservative movement’s road to Obama hysteria. O’Reilly’s first sitdown with Obama, in 2008, was a lengthy and affectionate encounter. The second meeting, another Super Bowl interview in 2011, had its share of interruptions, but there was lighthearted banter and the questions were more neutral (“What is it about the job that has surprised you the most?”).

But this time, O’Reilly gave only a passing pleasantry at the end (“I think your heart is in the right place”) and otherwise was hostile from the start. He leaned forward in his seat, waving his pen and pointing his finger at the president. He shook his head doubtfully at some of Obama’s answers.

No doubt the Fox News viewers got what they wanted from the session. But there’s a whole other viewership that the President seems to be ignoring out there… the one that is left-of-center. By contrast to O’Reilly, MSNBC’s lead anchor Rachel Maddow has had only one session with candidate Barack Obama, and has NEVER been granted an interview during his Presidency. That’s right folks… arguably the most Progressive voice on television has been locked out of the White House for over 5 years.

One can only speculate the reason for this. Perhaps it has to do with the known fact that Bill O’Reilly’s program is the highest rated in Prime-time cable news. But if that were the case, then why would the President grant interviews to Jake Tapper at CNN, whose program is much lower than Maddow? Ratings has little or nothing to do with the decision. Or perhaps Maddow’s first and only interview was a bit too harsh for Obama to take. But then why would he even deal with O’Reilly??

Regardless of reason, this losing streak for Maddow needs to end. This country is more than just Conservatives and Independents… Progressives are just as American as anyone else, and we deserve to have our issued discussed with the President and American public too. I call upon President Obama to grant Rachel Maddow an interview this year. Whether it turns into a ‘Super Brawl’ or not… this interview is LONG overdue.

Uncategorized

Texoblogosphere: week of February 3rd

Leave a comment

The Texas Progressive Alliance still has a dozen or so Republican responses to the SOTU it needs to get through as it brings you this week’s roundup.

Off the Kuff takes a look at campaign finance reports for Harris County legislative and countywide candidates.

Horwitz at Texpatriate laments the loss of Algebra II as a High school graduation requirement.

In light of some of the more ridiculous back-and-forth between Wendy Davis and Greg Abbott and their campaigns — not to mention James O’Keefe and his clandestine, altered video — PDiddie at Brains and Eggs asks: “Is it insensitive to say that Abbott is ‘running’ for governor?”

CouldBeTrue of South Texas Chisme wants you to scream in horror over the Republican war on women. All Republican candidates for Lieutenant Governor are FOR keeping a brain dead woman with a severely abnormal fetus on life support against her family’s wishes.

This week, McBlogger has some advice for the Davis Campaign, the press and all the Democratic activists who are eager for a win this year.

Neil at All People Have Value wrote about the slate of Green Party candidates running in Texas in 2014. All People Have Value is part of NeilAquino.com.

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

Nonsequiteuse scoffs at the notion that Texas may turn into California.

Texas Redistricting updates us on the proposed fixes to the Voting Rights Act and other election law news.

John Coby names Randy Weber the frontrunner to replace Steve Stockman as the craziest Congressman from Southeast Texas.

Texas Clean Air Matters reports on the longrunning legal battle between Texas and the EPA over clean air regulations.

The Lunch Tray alerts us to potential changes to the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act.

Randy Bear examines the reasoning behind various LGBT groups’ non-endorsement of Wendy Davis in the Democratic primary for Governor.

Greg Wythe has the data to analyze the actual impact of Texas’ voter ID law in Harris County.

BOR asks why the Texas Medical Association supports candidates who oppose their own stated positions, and gets a non-responsive answer from them.

Houston Politics

Comprehensive Immigration Reform ‘Won’t’ Pass The House

Leave a comment

The curious case of the GOP versus Comprehensive Immigration Reform continues.

It appears that the latest plan that Republicans have cooked up to stall Immigration Reform is nothing more than an old stand-by… blame President Obama.

Here’s more from the Washington Post…

Republicans are starting to lay the blame on President Barack Obama if an overhaul of the nation’s broken immigration system fails to become law.

The GOP’s emerging plan on immigration is to criticize Obama as an untrustworthy leader and his administration as an unreliable enforcer of any laws that might be passed. Perhaps realizing the odds of finding a consensus on immigration are long, the Republicans have started telling voters that if the GOP-led House doesn’t take action this election year, it is Obama’s fault.

“If the president had been serious about this the last five years, we’d be further along in this discussion,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, a Republican, said Sunday.

I suppose making CIR a top priority of his administration during virtually every year of his Presidency isn’t getting serious enough? And not to mention that the only chamber to have done anything substantive at this point is the Democratically-controlled Senate, which passed Comprehensive Immigration Reform Legislation last year. Let’s also not forget that Obama is apparently much more serious on the issue than President George W. Bush. During the Bush administration, neither House of Congress got ANYTHING advanced on immigration. Make no mistake, the GOP is running plays from a tried and true playbook right now… desperately trying to sound serious about immigration reform just long enough to get through the 2014 elections. That’s the only reason for all of the caution and careful change in tone for 2014.

But on Wednesday’s Houston Matters with host Craig Cohen, Texas Congressman Kevin Brady decided to throw even that caution to the wind, and out the window. Here was the exchange from last week…

Craig Cohen: “Another topic of significance to Greater Houston that the President raised last night was immigration. What would it take to see comprehensive immigration reform pass through the House?”

Congressman Brady: “You know… it won’t. I think the House has learned from some of the massive bills, such as the Affordable Care Act, that comprehensive efforts are normally very sloppy, and we learn later just what the consequences of them are. The House is going to take a step-by-step approach.”

Step-by-step approach is code for “we’re going to stall for as long as humanly possible.” Their focus is only on the next election. The GOP agenda is not now, nor will it ever be serious about immigration reform. For someone like Congressman Brady, member of both the House Ways and Means Committee and House-Senate Joint Economic Committee, to be dismissing any hopes of a substantive bill from the House is a big problem. Brady lives in a very safe district that is majority white and majority Republican… basically, he can afford to tell the truth on this issue, and not worry about much blowback. Please folks, don’t be fooled by the Republican rhetoric. If you want Immigration reform passed, vote for the Democrats. And maybe someday, the Democratic party will grow a spine and run on the issue too.