Shouldn't Metro staff be using public transportation?
The Chronicle has an amazing story this morning. Apparently the (financially strapped) city of Houston gave $100,000 to relocate a group of homeless people from under the Pierce Elevated, AND gave Metro permission to use that space for parking:
Last month, the city and Metro signed an agreement giving the transit agency permission to use two blocks of the space, from Fannin to Travis, for parking. In exchange, the transit agency agreed to install lighting, clean up litter, paint concrete columns and make other improvements to a six-block area between Caroline and Louisiana.
[snip]
Before it could fence off its new parking area, Metro had to find a humane way to remove the homeless encampment that had developed under the Pierce Elevated over the past year.
The Coalition for the Homeless of Houston/Harris County Inc. obtained $100,000 from the city and $90,000 from other donors to pay for rooms in motels or other facilities for a month. The coalition's president, Anthony Love, said the homeless people readily accepted the offer when outreach workers approached them Monday morning.
So, what happens after one month if the homeless people aren't rehabilitated?
Another question, apparently, is if this whole arrangement is even legal:
A lawsuit claims the agreement violates a 1968 contract between the city and the Texas Department of Transportation, which owns the property. The contract calls for the land under the freeway to be used for public parking.
Noel Cowart, the president of the condominium association at 2016 Main, said the metered spaces under the Pierce Elevated provide the only convenient parking for visitors or patrons of the building's retailers.
Metro's deal with the city is a "power grab" necessitated by the agency's failure to plan for adequate parking when it built its new headquarters building, Cowart said.
That would be Metro's new Lee P. Brown Administration building.
If it's true that the land under the Pierce is TXDoT property, then it appears Houston has developed quite a fondness for parceling out TXDoT land.
And then there's this:
Metro spokesman Ken Connaughton said the agency intends to use the Pierce Elevated space primarily for its fleet vehicles and senior staff. Most employees park in pay lots near the building, he said.
Senior staff will get spaces under the Pierce Elevated, but other employees must pay in other parking lots!
Which leads to a BIG question: why, oh why, aren't Metro's senior employees taking Metro transportation to work? Shouldn't they be setting an example? The fact that Metro's own senior staff (and other employees) don't use the buses, trolleys or light rail, pretty much says it all.
Posted by Anne Linehan @ 03/17/05 11:34 AM | Print |
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