METRO Claims 3rd Victim, Continues to Terrorize Houstonians

There are none, that's why the left turn the dufus made was an ILLEGAL one. Not only did he not "have to" he wasn't supposed to.

Sorry if I just misunderstood what you posted.

 

glad you are amused

too bad you can't choo choo a intelligent response

 

Should have kept reading...

One thing that is the same about these different types of trains, if you don't follow the law around the tracks, you gonna get hurt.

 

"I CHOO CHOO CHOOSE YOU."

 

It's bull****. I'm not a fan of Metro or Shirley DeLibero.

1. It isn't my party. I'm not a democrat. And since there were also Harris County GOP members who endorsed the plan as well as the entire Greater Houston Partnership - not exactly a bastion of anti-conservative philosophy - I wouldn't exactly say the dems and liberals were the only one's who "won."

2. Since you don't have a crystal ball, you have no idea if it will "cripple Houston's infrastructure for decades." This is just a naysayers way of diverting attention away from the "uninformed public." By the way, thanks for suggesting those who suppolrt light rail are idiots. Right back at ya, pardner.

I do not think that light rail is the be-all, end-all solution for Houston transportation problems. However, I also don't think it is the lynch pin in the destruction of Houston's transportation system. I also don't think it is one of the seven signs of the apocolypse. Like most things, it will have its positives and negatives and we'll just have to wait and see.

My point was that engaging in hyperbolic debate about rail after the fact and trying to show its failure due to the inept and illegal actions of a few drivers downtown is a poor argument.

3. I hope you are very happy in your new home city wherever it is. But, since most experts feel that Houston's population will grow dramatically over the next 15 years, I'm guessing Houston's future as a ghost town is more than a little exaggerated. If people want to leave because of light rail, hey, that's their perrogative. Maybe taking all those SUV's out of Houston will help us come into compliance with EPA standards before the 2007 deadline.

4. I agree that there will be additional votes on rail and I welcome them. It's democracy and people have a right to choose. In this case, they chose rail. We'll see if that decision holds.

 

Indeed, so, when faced with the scenario of having a rail system, you'd rather it have as few routes and serve as few people as possible throughout its lifetime?

That's a lose-lose scenario, you don't get what you want, we don't get what we want..even a basic familiarity with network economics would cause you to realize that its economic value is directly proportional to the number of nodes that network has therein. But you'd seek to minimize this value out of personal spite? A childish and not-very civic minded response. Hopefully the moving truck is outside your apartment as we speak. Please do your best to stay away from the Eastern seaboard if at all possible.

RELOCATION APPROVED

 

This is my issue with the whole debate, by the way. Not anything you said, but the fact that our debates about these issues is so limited, so dedicated to the small picture (even when people say they're focusing on the big picture).

This rail debate is the perfect example. What was the campaign all about? Transportation. Rail vs. Highways, etc. And that appears to continue to be what it's about.

But it shouldn't be about just that because you cannot separate the quality of life into components like that. Think about the reasons people live where they live, drive what they drive and where they drive, where they work, etc. and take everything involved in that to make a master decision on a variety of issues that all affect each other.

For example, in Dallas, we passed the Trinity River plan, now it's a big mess and it was a sham from the start, but I think it serves as an example of what I'm talking about.

As it turns out, the city leaders are going to build a highway with the bulk of the money. The other choice was not to build rail, or to add more buses or anything like that, though. The way the project was sold to the voters was, in part, about creating better living downtown.

If you increase the number of people who live downtown, you change traffic patterns, so making downtown more attractive to potential residents affects your transportation plans.

To often, things that affect the quality of life are left to private developers, and those things are created often without much of a master plan. But the decisions those developers make affect the rest of the taxpayers. If developers build up McKinney, the rest of us are going to end up paying to expand Highway 75 (including eventually adding train service to the city because that's the direction rail is going).

If developers don't develop a liveable space downtown, the city has to spend money to get peope in and out of downtown for work.

Since these things affect taxpayers so deeply, there's no reason the city government shouldn't be more involved in at least attempting to make a plan. The city of Dallas could do wonders for downtown living by master planning the area. Partnering with developers to build out their plan through tax incentives, etc., building park spaces and other areas that directly affect the quality of life and impact the decision as to whether to live in the suburbs or in the urban core. Cleaning up neighborhoods that have fallen into disrepair by investing public money there. Don't just let the area fester and become abandoned while the population moves further and further away, requiring more tax dollars to transport them to the center city for work, etc.

It's all interconnected, so we should stop looking at this as a rail vs. highways issue because there are so many factors that affect transportation in the city, including where people choose to live in the first place.

If that makes any sense at all (which it probably doesn't because I'm feeling a little out of it today. It all makes sense in my head, though).

 

Where are you moving to, T_J?

Did your secretary's clothing style have anything to do with that decision?

 

T_J,

I was on your side in the light rail referendum. But the bloody thing passed. It is not what I wanted to see, but it is nowhere near as bad as you portray it. It isn't going to eat people's children or smash the williams Tower to its very foundation.

Your use of hyperbole and bravado make you seem like a fringe reactionary. Your personal attacks on people make conservatives seem like the people that Dems portray them as. Do me a favor and stop hurting the party I support.

Thank you.

 

mrpaige: That was outstanding! I completely agree.

There are so many things that go into making a city attractive to people who live here, visit here and consider moving here. Having options is a good thing.

 

Metro announces changes to rail in response to collisions
By LUCAS WALL
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
RESOURCES

Metro officials, responding to three collisions between light rail trains and vehicles last week, announced today that its trains will sound a louder warning at intersections and flash strobe lights to better warn motorists.

The transit authority executives called a news conference Monday afternoon to encourage drivers to pay more attention to traffic rules along the Main Street light rail line where the city's first rail system is now under test in preparation for a New Year's Day grand opening. The three crashes last week were all the fault of drivers making illegal turns or failing to pay attention to a train coming down the street, Metro police said, and a fourth incident last month also involved a driver making an unauthorized turn.

"Clearly people are not getting the message, or they are just ignoring it," said Shirley DeLibero, Metropolitan Transit Authority president and CEO. "As much as we're doing to preach safety, ultimately drivers and pedestrians have to have the responsibility for their own actions."

Metro trains had been sounding a bell at most intersections and a louder whistle at gated crossings over major intersections. Jeff Arndt, chief operating officer, said trains are now sounding the whistle at all intersections and will continue doing so until the safety situation improves. Each train also has a loud horn that can be sounded in an emergency, such a car pulling out in front of a train.

The 98,000-pound trains are not able to stop instantly, DeLibero stressed, and the four collisions thus far have involved vehicles making sudden turns into them. No horn or warning device can prevent that kind of driver error, she said, pointing to a fatal crash Sunday in Dallas when a woman drove her Chevrolet Blazer through a flashing crossing gate and smashed into a Dallas Area Rapid Transit light rail train. The driver's daughter was killed and the driver and two passengers were hospitalized. It was the third fatality this year involving motorists who ignored crossing arms and ran into DART trains.

No one has been seriously injured in the four Metro train collisions but property damage has added up to tens of thousands of dollars. Metro executives emphasized the high cost of ignoring traffic rules: Drivers who crash into trains will be fined and their insurance rates will likely shoot up after their company pays for repairs to their car and the train.

Metro police will step up patrols along the line to target drivers making illegal turns and ignoring other rules.

"There is signage along the entire corridor and also lane markings," said Metro Police Chief Tom Lambert. "We will be blizting this corridor to make sure we are putting the appropriate enforcement focus."

DeLibero said Metro will produce a safety commercial this week and begin airing it on local TV stations as soon as possible.

"My concern is that people aren't paying any attention," she said. "I realize this is a new mode for Houston and we know that. That's why we went out over a year ago and started the education program."

Metro has distributed more than 1.5 million rail-safety brochures, run 98 newspaper advertisements, and aired 1,200 radio spots, Lambert said. Once the TV commercials air, Metro will have spent about $1 million promoting safety along the 7 1/2-mile rail line.

 

In Mahler's Symphony no. 4 the arrival of death/the Devil is trumpeted by loud horns. Clearly Metro's loud hailing will be of a similar nature and is, indeed, a sign of the apocalypse (not to mention the "666" message infused in the strobes flash). The Rail will become a deranged Saturn and devour it's children, the citizens of Houston.

 

These are examples of the signs making the turns illegal. They are about a foot square, suspended fifteen feet above the center of the road.

 

How about more Handsome Cabs? I hear that Michael Richards is looking for steady work...

 

what's ironic is that there are turn lanes still up and running near the med center that have you doing EXACTLY what that sign on the left prohibits, which dc sports just posted.

on fannin...going out of the med center towards rice univ and hermann park...there is a light with a protected left turn...and while you're waiting to turn, you're sitting right upon those rail tracks...my wife and i commented the other day about it while driving home from the texans game. i think in the ordinary situation you would have the train behind you which would trigger your green light so you could turn...but what happens if a train is coming from the opposite direction as well??? you'd be turning right into the path of that train.

 

Well, as we are head to head in the popularity contest, I guess I should disagree with this analysis. I can't disagree with the nice Mahler ref, but I believe the rail is the child of Houston, and it is rising up, Zeus-like, to eat its Titan-like (obese, BBQ-infused) parents.

 

Thank God. We could stand to lose a few bobble heads.

 

You are obviously an idiot.

 

Hey, Kris Kringlaud, I'm not the one with a reclining bicycle.



The stress of the new light rail train is obviously eating
at you now. Just stay away from the main corridor, okay?