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DeLay halts light-rail plan for Houston

Associated Press
Wednesday, May 10, 2000

HOUSTON -- U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay is putting the brakes on a $300 million project to build a light-rail system in Houston.

On Monday during a meeting of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, DeLay, R-Sugar Land, added language to the 2001 transportation bill prohibiting money "for planning, design or construction of a light rail system in Houston."

Plans call for the Main Street light-rail line to extend 7.5 miles from downtown to the Astrodome.

During a news conference Tuesday in Washington, DeLay said Metropolitan Transit Authority officials have been "singing the praises of a light-rail system on Main Street, but that area is not congested."

"I'm not sure where these officials live, but my constituents spend more than an hour in traffic jams every day. How would investing enormous amounts of their tax dollars in a light rail for Main Street help them? I believe Houstonians deserve all the information on this huge investment."

Metro officials are looking for $109 million in federal funds to help pay for the project.

DeLay said Metro needs to do three things before light rail goes anywhere: conduct a regional congestion study to identify Houston's transportation problems; develop a comprehensive regional mobility plan that provides solutions to current problems; and hold a referendum on the decision to build the Main Street line.

"Without an informed debate, this project is not going forward," DeLay said.

Metro officials say they have already done exhaustive studies on Houston-area transportation problems and have tried repeatedly to address DeLay's concerns about the Main Street line.

"I guess I'm really at a loss as to know how to proceed from here," said Metro board Chairman Robert Miller.

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May 9, 2000, 9:12PM

Officials rail against DeLay's transit stand
By GREG McDONALD
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

WASHINGTON -- House Majority Whip Tom DeLay denounced the Metropolitan Transit Authority's handling of the Main Street light rail line project Tuesday and declared that "without an informed debate, this project is not going forward."

The Sugar Land Republican moved Monday to kill all federal funding for a light rail system in Houston by writing language into the 2001 transportation bill that would prevent taxpayer dollars from being used on the project.

At a news conference Tuesday explaining his action, DeLay said Houston-area voters must be allowed to vote on the Main Street line before he'll allow Metro officials to transfer up to $65 million from other transit programs to the rail project.

"I admit that I'm not a big supporter of rail," DeLay said. "But it's up to the people ... of Houston to decide whether they want rail. ... And I'm not going to let a small group of people shove it down their throats."

DeLay criticized Metro officials for trying to "slip" the project through by first portraying it as a single line revitalization and congestion-relieving project reaching from downtown Houston to the Astrodome, and then later expanding the proposal to include the possibility of other lines that would extend to the suburbs.

"I feel like I've been told one thing, and then I find out something different. And, frankly, I'm tired of it," said DeLay, the third-highest ranking House Republican.

He accused Metro officials of "hiding behind" an opinion by the county attorney that it would be illegal to hold a vote on the Main Street line because no public debt is being taken on to finance it. But DeLay insisted that Metro officials could seek approval for a referendum through the state Legislature if they weren't afraid of losing on the issue.

DeLay laid out his concerns in a meeting later in the day with Metro board Chairman Robert Miller. DeLay aides described the meeting as "cordial," but said there was no agreement reached that would allow Metro to proceed with its light rail plans and satisfy DeLay's demand that Houston-area residents be involved in the process. Miller could not be reached for comment after the meeting and other Metro
board members declined to speak until after meeting with Miller in Houston today.

But Houston City Councilman Carroll G. Robinson, who chairs the council's transportation, infrastructure and technology committee, called DeLay's move "partisan politics" and said he should "stop playing this cat-and-mouse game with Houston's future."

Responding to DeLay's objection that Metro had failed to do a thorough analysis of the plan, Robinson exclaimed, "Here's the proof!" -- and thumped down a thick pile of transit studies on the rostrum.

Councilman Gabriel Vasquez said DeLay's demand for a vote on the eventual spokelike system nvisioned by rail advocates "puts the cart before the horse."

He said studies of each potential route would be necessary first, to decide which are needed most and should be done first.

At his news conference, DeLay called the project an "economic development" scheme designed to enhance "the image of Houston" rather than deal seriously with traffic congestion problems in the metropolitan area.

"Decisions like this ought to be decided by the voters, not through bureaucratic infighting," DeLay said. "What has been lacking with this process is a full and open discussion of the transportation needs and costs associated with this project. Metro needs to explain to people not only what exactly it is they'll be getting on Main Street but also what they'll have to give up elsewhere to get it."

DeLay's move to block federal funding drew harsh criticism from Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, who was furious that another member of Congress, much less a fellow Texan, would use his power to deny funding support for a project that she says will benefit her downtown district.

She called the Main Street rail line a "legitimate" undertaking that meets "a legitimate need in our community." She said it would provide an economic boost to the Main Street corridor and add to Metro efforts to provide congestion relief to downtown and outlying areas.

"I will not tolerate, no matter whether he is in the leadership or not, some Texas congressperson blocking federal funds coming into the 18th District. I've never heard of such a thing." Jackson Lee said. "And I would hope that my colleagues -- Democrats and Republicans -- would stand up against it too, because that means that nothing is sacred when you work hard for your constituency.

"I'm going to continue to fight this ... and I'd like Tom DeLay to explain to me why he would want a project that has been vetted and reviewed on all ends to be halted."

Jackson Lee also dismissed DeLay's call for a vote on the Main Street line, noting that Houstonians have voted on several occasions both in support and against rail transportation. There's no need for a vote, she said, because there are no plans to issue bonds to pay for the project.

"I don't know where he's been," she said, "but this has been moving along with hearings and debate. ... If there was great opposition, we would have already heard about it."

DeLay is the only Houston-area congressman on the Appropriations Committee, and has considerable power in influencing what money is set aside for Metro transit projects. Members can challenge him on funding issues, but they are unlikely to prevail in a House fight with the third- highest ranking Republican leader, who has some control over what bills are brought to the floor for a vote.

In order to prevent federal funds from being used on the Main Street line, DeLay's blocking language will have to be included in the final transportation funding bill for next year that will be hammered out in conference with the Senate.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, could possibly prevent the language from inclusion in the Senate version of the bill. But in the past she has not challenged her fellow Republicans' positions on issues related to the Houston area.

In a statement released Tuesday, Hutchison said: "I've always supported the decision of the local community. If they support rail, I'll get the money for them. If they support buses, I'll get the money for that."

Chronicle reporter Rad Sallee in Houston contributed to this story.

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May 9, 2000, 9:54PM

DeLay view nothing new
10 years ago, congressman killed monorail proposal
By RAD SALLEE
Copyright 2000 Houston Chronicle

U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay's move Monday to kill $65 million in federal funding for Metro's planned light rail line on Main Street was foreshadowed nearly a decade ago.

In October 1991, the Sugar Land Republican helped administer the coup de grace to Metro's hopes for a $30 million federal appropriation for a $1.2 billion monorail project to link downtown with the Galleria and the Texas Medical Center.

Then as now, DeLay argued that the $1.2 billion, 23.4-mile plan was too costly, lacked public support and would do little to relieve traffic congestion or air pollution.

Then as now, DeLay wanted a referendum on the issue. Then as now, rail supporters, including Mayor Kathy Whitmire, said the public had already voted its approval.

And then as now, DeLay said he wanted Metro to build a "consensus," while rail supporters said they didn't know exactly what that meant.

At the time, consensus was clearly lacking.

Whitmire was about to be unseated by her former Metro chairman, Bob Lanier, who had DeLay's ear and was riding into office on an anti-rail platform.

On Monday, DeLay moved to kill all federal funding for the Main Street line after Metro officials failed to persuade him that the project was necessary. He said Metro has not answered several specific questions about the project's cost and popularity with voters.

Lanier has not spoken publicly about DeLay's current decision, although Metro President Shirley DeLibero and others sought his help Monday.

Lanier had reportedly persuaded DeLay not to kill the Main Street rail project, so long as it was subject to a referendum and limited to a single, relatively inexpensive line that could spur economic development in the Main Street corridor and serve as a civic showpiece and visitor attraction, which is almost exactly what the county has planned.

A source close to those negotiations said DeLay became uncomfortable after a county attorney's opinion that a referendum on the specific Main Street line would be illegal.

Remarks by Metro officials that the line could serve as the core of a larger rail system reportedly hardened his opposition.

Metro Chairman Robert Miller delivered a detailed response Monday to address DeLay's stated concerns, but DeLay refused to meet with him before the vote of the subcommittee he chairs to halt federal funding for the project.

Miller met with DeLay Tuesday after the vote and will brief the rest of the Metro board about the rail issue in a special meeting today.

Metro officials refused public comment until after that session.

Although the hoped-for transfer of $65 million to the rail plan appears dead, Metro has several options for pursuing the project, an agency source said.

These include paying the entire cost out of Metro's own funds and seeking permission in the next legislative session to hold a vote.

While DeLay is correct that no referendum has been held on the Main Street line, Miller's hand-delivered response said that last summer, the transit agency planned such a vote, but was stymied by County Attorney Mike Fleming's legal opinion that such a vote only could be held if the project involved tax-funded bonds, which it did not.

Metro officials have repeatedly said any future rail extension would require bonded debt and thus a referendum of voters in the Metro service area.

To date there have been four elections touching on the rail issue.

• In August 1978, voters approved the creation of the transit agency and its 1-cent dedicated sales tax.

The ballot did not mention rail, but supporters were talking about it.

One report said the agency intended to pursue a three-stage
program of improving bus service, building transitways for
express buses and eventually converting the elevated lanes
for rail use.

• In a June 1983 referendum, voters overwhelmingly rejected
  Metro rail plans.
• In January 1988, voters approved by 60 percent a plan
  calling for a light rail "system connector," general mobility
  improvements, a new bus fleet and completion of the
  transitway system.
• In November 1991, Lanier defeated Whitmire in a mayor's
  race that effectively killed the monorail plan. Some, including
  Lanier, viewed the vote as a repudiation of rail transit by
  Houston voters.

In response to DeLay's requests for cost-benefit analysis
and consensus-building, Miller presented the agency's
yearlong Major Investment Study of the Main Street route,
plus public comment and input from "stakeholders" along the
route.

As to assessing mobility needs throughout the region, Miller
cited a series of studies and plans by the Greater Houston
Partnership, the City of Houston, Harris County, the Texas
Department of Transportation, and the Houston-Galveston
Area Council, made up of local governments throughout the
Houston area.

The staff of the latter group produces an ongoing
Metropolitan Transportation Plan based on input from HGAC
members.