Results tagged “johnculberson”

So it's been nearly two years since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans — and, according to the AP, about 5,500 heads of evacuee households in Houston are still unemployed. It's not that there aren't jobs available (city officials say there are 2 million job openings, 59,000 of which don't require a college education) or that the government isn't helping (the city has spent $1.9 million since the fall offering free résumé help, business clothing, job...

The Chronicle's Matt Stiles and KTRK's Miya Shay reported earlier this week on the "courtesy" program that allows certain local elected officials to park free at Houston's airports, noting that more than 100 city officials, state legislators and members of Congress have racked up around $100,000 in free parking under the perk. Officials have been offered the free parking since the 1980s; it's intended for use during official business, but some of the instances were...

Good morning, Houston. Good news for anyone who loves to travel and have a spare $200,000 laying around: You can now buy tickets to space, with the journey set for 2009 on Richard Branson's space plane. More than 100 tickets have already been sold, and Houston travel agents Tara Hyland and Diane Vest are two of the only "Accredited Space Agents" offering them in the U.S. And yes, the tickets are $200K each. Anyone?...

That's right -- not one, but two town hall meetings this evening, folks. TSU or John Culberson. Pick your poison:

There's some news today on Metro's plan to expand its rapid-transit system: Two members of Congress from Houston have said they'll push for federal funding for more light rail, not the bus rapid transit lines Metro proposed for the northside, East End, southeast side and Uptown. The announcement from U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both Democrats, came at a Metro board meeting yesterday where the agency OK'd negotiating with a team headed...

And so we have some final-ish alignment options for Metro's University light rail line: All of them would begin at MetroRail's Wheeler Station on Main Street and head west along Richmond Avenue for some distance, and all would avoid Afton Oaks, which has been a loudly squeaking wheel in the planning process. But that's pretty much where the similarities end: • The first proposal would turn south on Montrose Boulevard, then west on an elevated...

Post-election, there's a potentially interesting situation shaping up on the transportation funding subcommittee of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee. That's the group, remember, that OKs federal transit funds — it's the one U.S. Rep. John Culberson sits on, and it is his membership in that subcommittee that allowed Culberson to deal a strong blow to Richmond light rail plans this summer. But here's what may be interesting: With Democratic control of the House, newly elected...

Houstonist stayed up half the night glued to our television just to bring you the latest election results, locally, state-wide, and nationally. Let's look at how things went down yesterday. Locally: Much to the mayor's delight, propositions A-H all passed. This means good things for Houston's libraries, parks, police force, airports, etc. Mayor White is keeping the city moving, literally and figuratively. The Chronicle offers complete election results, but we're going to look at a...

Not surprisingly, U.S. Rep. John Culberson's announcement last week that he won't support a proposal to run a light rail line down Richmond Avenue has sent Metro into something of a tailspin: The agency has now pushed the date it expects to recommend an alignment for the University Line back a few weeks while it conducts cost and ridership estimates for a variety of routes that would take the line from the Third Ward...

The eastbound lanes of the Katy Freeway were closed this afternoon at the West Loop after a truck hit an overpass and lost its load An HISD proposal to close Kashmere High School next summer if the school doesn't improve its performance is drawing fire from the community Metro said it won't discount a Richmond Avenue light rail alignment even though U.S. Rep. John Culberson asked the agency to do so yesterday A former Magnolia...

U.S. Rep John Culberson won't support running the University light rail line down Richmond Avenue, he announced this morning at a news conference under a tent near James Coney Island at Richmond and Shepherd. It's an announcement that's long been expected by some, though Culberson said earlier this month he was keeping an open mind. Today, he said his decision was based on "overwhelming opposition" to building a light rail line on Richmond:

Metro officials went to Washington yesterday to talk up their plans for the University light rail line to U.S. Rep. John Culberson — and though they said the meeting didn't result in much of anything, there's talk that Culberson's opposition to the proposed line could mean it won't get built.

It looks like the irritation over unemployed hurricane evacuees is growing among local officials: Earlier this year, Mayor Bill White said Katrina evacuees were welcome to say in Houston as long as they found jobs, and this weekend, U.S. Rep. John Culberson told reporters said he wants "deadbeat" evacuees to get out of town. "Time has long since passed for the able-bodied people from Louisiana to either find a job, return to somewhere in Louisiana or become Houstonians," Culberson said. "You have to make an effort not to have a job in Houston."

Metro took a step forward in planning its next four rail (or rail-ish) lines yesterday, approving almost $40 million in contracts for design, preliminary engineering and environmental impact studies. The contracts cover the proposed University line — the one that may run along Richmond Avenue and may not — as well as the Uptown, Southeast, North and Harrisburg lines. The University line will be a full-fledged rail line from the start, while the other four will start as bus rapid transit lines and may be converted to rail at some point in the future if ridership warrants, perhaps.

From Off the Kuff, Metro will hold four public meetings this week on its proposed University light rail line. In case you've forgotten (or have been out of commission after getting hit my a MetroRail train), Metro has suggested building the line, which will connect UH and the Galleria area, mostly along Richmond Avenue. Some Richmond homeowners and businesspeople are objecting to that proposal — loudly — and say Metro should build the line along Westpark instead. The meetings give residents a chance to weigh in on either proposal. All meetings start at 6:30 p.m.:

Federal authorities announced yesterday that Houston will get $40 million in FEMA reimbursement for housing Katrina evacuees, bringing the total Houston has received to $183 million. The city has issued more than 35,000 housing vouchers to 90,000 evacuees; the $40 million will cover housing expenses through March 31.