Congressman John Culberson blocks federal funding for rail on richmond and post oak FOREVER

Scared of minorities eh?

 

Oh yeah because opposing rail in favor of the concerns of those businesses makes me scared of minorities

 

I was already going to vote against him, so that's not really any more I can do.

 

Its worth noting that Culberson has expressed interest in supporting rail along US-90 + also down Westpark (eastern extent of University Line). Maybe he isn't as unreasonable as I thought.

 

srsly though, culberson is awful.

Spoiler

"look lois, it's the two symbols of the republican party. an elephant, and a big fat white guy who's threatened by change!"

Spoiler

 

my main man Donny Moist.

 

da1, what's the story on the HOV lanes this morning? Are they going to be open this afternoon?

 

I would hate to see the Richmond/Post Oak area suffer the same decline as Main Street and Fannin have suffered. People that shop and eat in the Post Oak area and Richmond area don't use light rail. They can afford cars. So why put rail there? Bus stops and light rail stops are horrific for high end development. This would destroy significant value and erode the tax base. If the goal is to get people off of using cars, that will never work in Houston -- it's simply too spread out and lacks density. Houston will never be Manhattan.

 

Sums up the mentality of the opposition, along with their limited understanding.

 

What the hell was up with that.

 

"Why should I exercise if I'm already fat?"

If the argument is "let's not do anything to encourage density, transportation efficiency, urban planning, vertical growth, etc, because we don't have any yet," then yeah... It's not that compelling of an argument.

 

I know I absolutely love that it takes me at least 10 minutes every afternoon just to get from Hidalgo to 610/59 via West Alabama. I hope we can do whatever it takes to never reduce that amount of time.

 

That doesn't look to me like nearly as effective a location. It's further from existing density, making reaching the train harder and pushing ridership down. Metro had a bunch of professional urban planner types spend a ton of time strategizing on the best routes based on their training, their research and data. And Culberson's going come in at the end and say, 'why can't we just plunk it down on Westpark?' Maybe Metro can make that work, but if it was the best plan, that's what they'd already be advocating for in the first place.

This is just wealthy, empowered residents in a nice part of town saying, 'not in my backyard.' Third Ward also protested the route Metro planned, objected to the eminent domain claims that would see some people evicted, and they got nowhere -- not even an article in the newspaper so far as I know. Third Ward doesn't have the money or the organization to cause Metro any worries, and the misfortune of Sheila Jackson Lee as a representative in Washington.

 

^I'm not saying Culberson is right, but you do have to admire his dedication to protect what (he feels) is in the best interest of his constituency. If he was my representative and aligned with my political spectrum, I couldn't be happier.

I truly believed he was some big-headed fool who rejected rail on principle. Then I realized, I was just thinking of Bigtexx

 

He was lobbied by a bunch of business interests on the rail route. That's not governing in the interest of your constituents nor does that indicate that he gives a damn about his larger constituency. All it speaks to is that some wealthy donors in his districts decided that rail wasn't going to benefit them so they lobbied him to kill it.

I'd like to think this is some noble gesture by Culberson to fight for his district but I guarantee you that if you polled his district, they'd vote in favor of a rail line through Richmond.

 

Has this been attempted? If the results would be as you claim, Culberson would have to take notice.

 

If it's already broken, why fix it? Right?? This is the issue with the short-sightedness of the opposition. There's no foresight for upward mobility by way of what development would bring 10-15 years from now.

 

Excellent insight, Ketchup Bot.