Forging Ahead
I heard it on the radio this morning but only now had the chance to find an online source: Metro has let $40 million in contracts for the new light rail expansion– even though it doesn’t know where the rail’s going to go yet.
Supposedly, anyway.
Plans for a light rail line at the center of a debate over its route — whether it should run on Richmond or Westpark, or both — began to take shape Thursday with the approval of nearly $40 million in contracts.
The firms and their corridors are: Dannenbaum Engineering (North), Huitt-Zollars Inc. (Uptown), LAN (Southeast), Omega Engineers Inc. (Harrisburg) and TCB Transit (University).
The board also awarded a $3 million contract to prepare an environmental impact study for the University line to Carter & Burgess Inc. The study and findings , which will include a recommended route, are required by federal funding rules.
The allocation of any money to study a Richmond route is a waste, but a firm indicator that the Metro board intends to run roughshod over the wishes of Richmond Ave. businesses and residences, not to mention a public referendum that approved sending the tracks down Westpark.
Further, the nature (and resolve) of the Metro board is quite obvious from the unanimity of the votes:
Board member Rafael Ortega abstained from votes on both the environmental and engineering contracts, as well as from discussion of both issues. Ortega is an engineer and vice president of Houston-based LAN (Lockwood, Andrews & Newnam Inc.). He said he owns no part of the company.
Metro Vice President John Sedlak said there is no ethical conflict in awarding a contract to the company, since Ortega abstained from the votes, which were otherwise unanimous.
Ortega said he was careful to follow state law and Metro’s code of ethics. He said he abstained from the environmental item because of having partnered with Carter & Burgess on other projects.
It’s good that Metro has professional engineers on the board, but you think that would be balanced out by “ordinary joes.” (Hahahahahahahahahaha! Just kidding, who’d do a crazy thing like appoint ordinary citizens with no political connections to a board with the power to hand out billions in public contracts? Man, I kill me…)
Anyway I think we can see where this is going. Metro wil run a special bus lane down Westpark, claim to have fulfilled the voter’s mandate, but then build the rail down Richmond Avenue.
Metro: “Well, golly, it didn’t say we can’t do both!”
Citizens: “But it said the rail had to go down Westpark.”
Metro: “Oh that. Well it didn’t really mean that, and anyway it wasn’t binding!”
Citizens: “Yes it did, and it was!”
Metro: “No, no, no, you just don’t understand the law. And if you disagree, we’ve got millions more to spend on lawyers than you do. So we’re right, right? Of course we are!”
Metro spokesman George Smalley said the five companies agreed to hire 49 subcontractors, with each company exceeding Metro’s goal of 35 percent participation by small and disadvantaged businesses based on contract dollars. Omega is classified as a disadvantaged business, he said.
I wonder how many of those subcontractors were advised on how to get City/Metro business by Ms. Alvarado?
Prediction: Mayor White will continue to back Alvarado to the hilt and a few bones will get thrown to the Fifth Ward, as he will need the black and Hispanic votes to offset massive voter defections down the central-west corridor caused by Metro.
April 14th, 2006 at 1:04 pm
This is where I rubber-stamp the post with “METRO already runs a bus down Westpark called the 9 that is never full, runs on the least frequent schedule of any route, and doesn’t run on Sunday.”
April 14th, 2006 at 1:58 pm
Of course. Nobody wants the rail to run down Westpark because of demand or need! They want it to run down Westpark because then it’s not destroying their businesses, property values, or quality of life on Richmond. Which, if the people who supposedly would stand to benefit the most from the convenience of public transport on their front doorstep don’t want it, that should alert everyone as to how bad an idea it is.
Personally, I’d support just about any route, as long as they got the damn thing off ground level. But elevated is supposedly noisy. While that’s true for freeways, I think more could be done to quiet trains.
April 18th, 2006 at 6:39 am
Tearing up Richmond will be a disaster. Probably a good place for a rail line as any, but it will be a disaster.
Of course, something like a monorail or elevated train would seem to make a lot more sense (and work during the frequent flooding, and not get into wrecks with cars constantly). But that’s just me.