Commentary: METRO Board Regular Meeting 29 January 2015

I caught a cold yesterday, which I thought was going into a fever.  Because of this, I did not attend METRO's Regular monthly Board meeting today, much to my chagrin as I had put myself on the docket to make public comments.

The Agenda for this meeting may be found here.  As always, METRO's meeting videos, including that for this meeting may be found at http://www.ridemetro.org/AboutUs/BoardVideoStreaming.aspx

01:00 Board Chairman Gilbert Garcia changes the order of the agenda and sends the meeting into Executive Session with hopes it would not be as long as the session at the special Board meeting earlier this month.

35:10 Chairman Garcia brings the meeting out of Executive Session and right into...

Public Comments

35:31 Mark Hogue hates the route-renumbering, which is currently a part of System Reimagining.  His angst over Reimagining's doing-away with the current 53 Briar Forest Ltd. has caused him to become fully opposed to Reimagining altogether.

He believes the agency should keep everything as-is and create new routes.  Of course, due to constraints of budget and common sense, I say this is impossible.

36:00 Oho!!  Gilbert Garcia says to Mark he will be pleased at what comes out at the 11 February Special Board Meeting.  A lot of things have been 'scaled back'.

37:00 Mark Smith should be officially styled the poet laurete of METRO, bringing the Board to laughter.  LOL

He says Reimagining is 'quicker and simpler' for METRO, but not necessarily for the rider.  He absolutely does not care for this project.

45:47 Guillermo DeLaRosa (sp??) is opposed to the proposed fare hike on METROLift, saying it would be better to optimize present resources: shorter trips, better itinerary logistics, etc.  METRO is looking at ways of bettter handling geography, etc.

50:54 Andy Skabowski talks about 'lost trips' or 'no-shows' in METROLift: when the driver gets to a destination and no-one is there and the procedures followed in such an instance.

54:50 Noah Ramirez of the Living Hope Wheelchair Association and his association strongly opposes the METROLift fare-hike (which will still be reasonable, but which is set to rise dramatically).

Ramirez talks about bad trip logistics as well.

1:05:09 Christof publicly complements METROLift's demand-response staff on the work they do in scheduling - a mammoth task.

1:06:00 Victor Sanchez & Sylvia Chicas voice the same themes as Mr. Ramirez and Mr. DeLaRosa.  They come bringing recommendations on how things can get better.

Mr. Sanchez hates the fare increase.  He talks about his own financial situation and asks the Board what they would do in his shoes.

Ugh.  METRO is in the horrible place of not being able to sustain durable long-term METROLift service without passing more of that cost onto the ridership.  Believe me when I tell you, the last thing METRO wants to do is to raise the METROLift fare, which it has not done since 1991.

Ms. Chicas is a good interpreter.  She can handle large chunks of speech at a time - good on her.

1:12:37 "We're going to have a lot more dialogue on this issue.", says Garcia about METROLift.

1:13:05 And here is where I was going to speak - alas for taking sick the night before the meeting!

1:13:16 Dominic brings up the issue of problems with the union Local 260 trust fund.  He suggests Board Members, CEO/President Tom Lambert, and other METRO staffers go out on periodic trips with Bus Operators as they go about their days driving their routes from the time the driver gets their bus and inspects it through when the operator finishes for the day.

Consent Agenda

1:17:29 Board Member Burt Ballanfant is all for Item No. 10, loves the artist concept for the Harrisburg Overpass, and is concerned over anxiety over increased traffic in the Lindale area due to the extended Red Line to Northline Mall.

Committee Reports

Board Member Jim Robinson explains METRO is already looking at how sales tax receipts fared in the oil busts of the mid-1980s and ca. 1993.

Uptown

1:32:50 Amen, Burt!!  The West Loop is a dead-zone for mass-transit.  We must have dedicated right-of way.

1:36:00 Preach it, Jim!  Headway is everything.

1:38:45 Truth, Christof.

1:41:05 Whoops!  Burt accidently cuts Lisa off at the pass...  lolz

1:52:00 I guess the jist of this discussion is: who regarding the Uptown BRT project is going to pay for what and when and how?

1:55:00 We need to be able to use the Q-Card on the Uptown BRT.  How will this system fit into METRO's plans a half-century from now?  Very well, I think!

Lots of stuff to work through...

2:04:00 I would say, Board Member Jefferson, that if we don't get those things, Uptown BRT might as well not happen.

2:07:00 Lordy me, such vagaries!!  I say build right-of-way such that rail can be built later on, but such that we can put BRT down now, but according to the now-former Texas Attorney-General, the 2003 referendum is the 2003 referendum.

My question to any who can answer it is why has rail not already been built along Loop 610 in the eleven years since the 2003 referendum?  John Culberson might have some answers to that.

2:22:30 Omg...  Government at work...  Our METRO Board cannot go forward with its part of Uptown until it deals with how to deal with the referendum.

2:28:55 Are you meaning to tell the Board there is not an extra $25 million lying around somewhere in the luxurious area that is Uptown?  It seems to me that sum is quite paltry, and if Uptown cannot come up with that money in some other way than TXDot or whoever, then perhaps it really doesn't want it to go forward?

Chairman Garcia waxes that this will be a great project.  If this goes through with all the bells and whistles, it will be a boon for Houston.  If it ever gets built...

3:03:00 The Board gives the agency authorization to move forward with contract negotiations for the construction of the Harrisburg Overpass.

3:15:00 Chairman Garcia adjourns the meeting.

The biggest news item from this meeting?

System Reimagining vote at a Special Board Meeting on 11 February!!