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Environmental News Update 1/26/01 COALITION NOTES Director of Butterfly Center to Speak Nancy Grieg, Director of the Cockrell Butterfly Center of the Houston Museum of Natural Science, will present a program entitled "Ecology of Costa Rica" at the next meeting of the Outdoor Nature Club. The presentation will be Sunday, February 11 at 2:30 p.m. at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center, 4501 Woodway Drive. Dr. Grieg, who has been the director of the center since its opening in 1994 contributed to the book, The Butterflies of Costa Rica, by Philip J. DeVries. For more information, call Calvin Blakley at 281-358-5407. Stormy Dies Stormy, the famous bottlenose dolphin stranded in Port Aransas in 1998, died unexpectedly on Tuesday, January 16. After the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network rehabilitated Stormy, who was most likely separated from his mother during Tropical Storm Francis, he eventually moved to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. The cause of Story's death is undetermined. LOCAL Light Rail on Hold On January 18, in response to a plea from City Councilman Rob Todd and local rail opponents, District Judge Tony Lindsay temporarily blocked Metro's plans to lay light rail from downtown to Reliant Park. Rail opponents are calling for a referendum to decide whether the agency can use city right of way for its project. They contended that they needed only 500 valid signatures to force an election, which they have already submitted. City officials said the charter requires 20,000 signatures and rejected the petition. After Judge Lindsay announced her position, Metro filed a motion to block the judge from hearing the lawsuit. Metro officials claim that hearing the case would be a conflict of interest for Lindsey, whose husband, state Senator Jon Lindsay, has been an outspoken opponent of rail. City Councilman Rob Todd, the plaintiff in the suit against Metro, also once worked as Lindsay's law clerk. http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/805404 Lawsuit for Safer Bicycling Filed Dan Lundeen, a Houston bicycle and pedestrian safety enthusiast, filed a federal lawsuit on Friday, January 19, against the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (Metro) for safer bicycling conditions on Houston streets. The suit alleges that the exclusive bus and HOV lanes being built on Louisiana in Midtown will make the streets more dangerous for bicyclists to use. According to Lundeen, "The exclusion of cyclists from the bus lanes on the right side of the street, where they are supposed to ride, is not very smart. Under state law, this will mean bike riders would share a middle lane on a five-lane thoroughfare with cars coming off of a freeway. Other cities like Chicago, Philadelphia and Tucson routinely allow bikes to operate in their bus lanes because it is the safest place for them to ride. The bikes do not generally impede the buses because bikes and buses making stops travel at about the same average speed. The lawsuit asserts that, under TEA-21 enacted in 1998, Metro is not allowed to use federal funds to build roadway facilities like exclusive bus lanes that fail to consider the needs and safety of bicyclists. Also named in the lawsuit are the U.S. Department of Transportation and the City of Houston. For more information, contact Dan Lundeen at 713-652-2555. GREEN JOBS Manager, Project WILD - Council for Environmental Education The Council for Environmental Education seeks an experienced and highly motivated Project WILD Manager to oversee new and ongoing projects. A key function of the position will be to assist the Director of Project WILD in the implementation of Project WILD initiatives, including program evaluation, secondary education programs, urban and non-formal education programs, and service learning programs. For a more detailed job description, visit http://www.cechouston.org/jobs.html. ABOUT THIS PUBLICATION CEC Environmental News Update is a weekly publication by the Citizens' Environmental Coalition, a 501(c)3 dedicated to fostering dialogue, education and collaboration about environmental issues in the Houston-Gulf Coast Region. Visit the CEC online at www.cechouston.org. To subscribe or unsubscribe, or to suggest items for inclusion, send your request via e-mail to Sarah Doss at sarah@cechouston.org. |
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