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CEC ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS UPDATE 10/03/03 - HOUSTON CEC NOTES Tickets for the 2003 Synergy
Awards are on sale now. The
price is $50 per COALITION NOTES AUDUBON DOCENT GUILD TRAINING SESSION The Audubon Docent
Guild, the teaching wing of the Houston Audubon Society BBP PRESENTS WALKING TOUR OF ALLEN’S LANDING Explore the Greater Allen's Landing area in downtown
Houston's historic BIONEERS COME TO HOUSTON The primary focus of these ‘Biological pioneers’ is
on solutions informed by LOCAL City votes to fund Spur 527 mitigation plan; plan does not address environmental
impacts Houston City Council Wednesday passed a $2 million dollar plan to fund street projects on Richmond Avenue and West Alabama as part of plan to handle commuter traffic that will be diverted on to the two streets while Spur 527 undergoes construction. The measure passed despite testimony Tuesday from angry neighborhood residents who say the city's plan falls short. “ Who is going to claim responsibility for this when it becomes a complete disaster?” resident Diane Beigal asked city council members. “Alabama and Richmond are not vacant runways on which we can put thousands of cars-they are vital neighborhood streets.” But it’s not just residents who say the plan fails to address environmental concerns. The plan calls for $1.7 million to install twelve contra-flow signals along Richmond and West Alabama to divert roughly 4,000 cars a day into downtown in the morning and back out again in the afternoon. Another $360,00 will be used to install traffic surveillance cameras along Richmond Avenue. Though the measure passed with only two votes against, most council members agreed the city could not mitigate congestion resulting from the spur closure. The city’s own analysis through the department of public works determined the plan was inadequate. Federal regulators agreed. Still, council member and chair of the quality of life committee, Anise Parker, said the city made the best decision it could while being handcuffed by the Texas Department of Transportation. “Literally the state of Texas has sort of said ready or not here we come and if you want to mitigate its entirely up to you,” she said. “Our fear is that if we don’t do it, it will be just that much worse.” Parker said council had to “scramble” to fund the so-called mitigation. But the city missed a chance to fund the project through federal dollars when the Federal Transit Authority took $3 million off the table when regulators determined the plan did not mitigate congestion or resulting air pollution. Neighborhood resident Craig Bohn is a member of the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition, a group currently seeking a temporary injunction against TXDOT. Bohn said he was disappointed by the city’s response to resident‚s concerns. “What I heard was city council asking us for suggestions. I believe in a representative government. City council is there to find solutions for us. If the West Alabama Quality of Life Coalition is looking at a lawsuit against TXDOT for not following federal guidelines on environmental studies, why isn’t the city of Houston looking at such a lawsuit instead of just a civic organization?” While all involve agree the plan will not protect the neighborhood from health and environmental impacts only two council members, Michael Berry and Ada Edwards voted against funding it. Berry accused the city of passing the buck. “I think that the neighborhood deserves the best plan they can get and not just some schlock plan just to have a plan passed,” he said. “Look, if the mayor can’t go to TXDOT…to our state leadership, and say ‘We are asking you as a city to hold off busting up yet another street,’ if the city can’t accomplish that, the city can’t do anything.” The other dissenter, Edwards called her vote against the mitigation plan symbolic. Edwards said she sympathized with council members who approved funding but she accused Berry of grandstanding on the issue. “I think Michael Berry is a day late and a dollar short,” she said. “He’s big buds with Perry, why didn’t he call him? Perry's not going to return my call.” Edwards questioned why Berr did not become involved in the WALQ battle while the state legislature was still in session. “It’s good to talk this stuff when there‚s nobody up there.” While Edwards agreed with residents calling for the city to join the fight to stop TXDOT’s spur construction project, she said that council lacked the political will to do so. She said construction projects like Spur 527 and the Katy freeway expansion were part of a “political power-grab” occurring at the state level. “ I don’t call it a conspiracy, it’s a very well thought out, organized plan and we have more people at city hall that are in alliance with that plan than they are with the constituents of Houston, Texas,” Edwards said. “In my opinion, they are collaborators because they had the opportunity to influence what happened (in Austin) and they didn’t.” Running out of options at City Hall, WALQ is now ready to take their fight to a federal court. The group’s attorney Jim Blackburn said it was unlikely the suit against TXDOT and the Federal highway Authority would be amended to include the city of Houston. Though disappointed by Wednesday’s vote Blackburn, said he blamed the state and federal agencies for not providing the city with enough information to make a better decision. “What the city’s saying is ‘We know this isn’t going to work. We know its not going to work, so we’re doing the best we can‚’” he said. “This is one of the biggest messes I’ve seen in a long time.” The city has not yet set a date to begin the street project. They have until January to get ready for the thousands of commuters. TXDOT will begin Spur construction after January to accommodate the Super Bowl. KCC amends lawsuit to charge TXDOT concealed loop construction Attorneys suing to stop construction on the Katy Freeway found documents they say could be the smoking gun in their lawsuit. At a town hall meeting of about 200, lawyer for the Katy Corridor Coalition Jim Blackburn presented administrative records from the Texas Department of Transportation that detail construction contract for loop 610 as part of the Katy Freeway project. Loop construction and possible related impacts were not included in publicly disclosed documents or considered during environmental analysis. The 610 contract calls for construction that would elevate the loop as much as 20 feet. Blackburn said that residents in the nearby Lafayette neighborhood who raised concerns about noise pollution were dismissed. But the recently discovered documents reveal an increase e of six to eight decibels. “This is the government lying, telling the people ‘go away, there’s no problem,’” he said. “I never thought I would see anything like it.” Blackburn said TXDOT violated federal law by issuing a categorical exclusion, a document that can only be authorized when there is no impact to park land. However , TXDOT records include a plan to extend the I-10 feeder road and acquiring right away in Memorial Park. The loss of parkland and noise pollution were not part of environmental analysis even though construction plans for Loop 610 had been in the works since June of 2001. The documents detailing the plan were eventually unearthed by attorneys who had issued subpoenas. They realized the connection between the Loop and I-10 when they discovered both projects listed under the same contract number. Blackburn said the state agency’s deliberate concealment of 610 construction plans could work in KCC’s favor. If federal judge John Hoyt determines TXDOT violated the law, he has the authority to halt the project. Blackburn said will file an amendment Monday to include allegations the agency lied. “Ultimately, what we’re fighting for is the chance to get this project done right,” Blackburn said. “The Katy freeway truly is the frontier for transportation in this region.”
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 David Gresham at david@cechouston.org. |
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