Creating political cover on the METRO Solutions switcheroo
On Friday, the Chronicle's Rad Sallee reported that some transit agencies obtained exemptions from federal cost-effectiveness rules that have hindered METRO's plans to build light rail.
Culberson, the only local congressman on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, said he would have strongly opposed any request by Metro for an exemption.
He called it "appalling and unthinkable that at a time of record national deficit and debt, any government entity would attempt to exempt itself from the cost-effectiveness requirement."
The Democratic representatives, many of whose constituents were dismayed at the switch to bus rapid transit, said Metro deserved an exemption and could have obtained one if Culberson and DeLay had wanted that to happen.
We have previously suggested that Reps. Culberson and DeLay are eventually going to be blamed for scuttling light rail in favor of buses for those communities that were promised light rail (and a 50% increase in bus service) and helped put the METRO light-rail referendum over the top, even though this revised plan seems entirely a creation of Mayor White and METRO and seems at least partly intended as a Galleria development project.
The comments from Democratic representatives would seem to confirm our view that the creation of political cover for the changes to METRO Solutions is well underway.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 08/07/05 09:05 AM | Houston Miscellany | Print | Comments (1)
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