One University Line meeting down, two to go

It looks like Metro might not have won critics of the proposed University light rail line's Richmond Avenue alignment over last night at the first of three public meetings on the project: KTRK and the Chronicle report that the people who oppose having the rail on Richmond still oppose it, even with a "compromise" unveiled this week that would switch the line from Richmond to Westpark at Greenway Plaza. "None of this is any different from the meetings that we had a year ago," Richmond business owner Daphne Scarbrough told KTRK. "All of it's the same."

At the meeting, Metro officials addressed concerns about property condemnation, tree destruction and street narrowing if the line is run along Richmond. Metro President and CEO David Wolff said the tracks would run alongside the median west of Shepherd Drive, sparing the trees, and the current three traffic lanes in each direction would still be there, though they'd be narrower. (He didn't specify what would happen east of Shepherd.) Thirty-five of 42 left-turn locations would remain open and Metro would have to condemn eight properties and take 80 pieces of land 8 feet wide or less, Wolff said. The key word to Wolff, it seems, is compromise: "Are there compromises in the real world? Yes, there are compromises. Is it a perfect world? No," Wolff said. "Are we doing the best we can? I think we are."

(For the record, KTRK did interview one guy who likes the Richmond idea: "It's critical for Houston to be a world-class city in the future, to have a transit system equipped for the needs of our inner Loop citizens," Jason Hose said. As we know, you can move mountains with the words "world class.")

Two other public meetings on the University Line are set for 5 p.m. Monday at the Third Ward Multi-Service Center, 3611 Ennis, and 5 p.m. Tuesday at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, 5501 South Main. Metro said it hopes to recommend a University Line alignment early next month, with a construction start targeted for June 2008.