Metro officials are hitting the PR trail, as they attempt to defend Mayor White’s new $2 billion expansion proposal, a plan that differs dramatically from the Metro Solutions plan voters approved in 2003.
Today’s Chronicle says Metro CEO Frank Wilson will fly to Washington, D.C. next week to apprise local members of congress of the new plan — a plan that isn’t sitting well with some Houstonians.
And a “townhall” meeting is planned for today:
Meanwhile, some of those members [of congress] will have a “town hall” meeting today to gather public comment and seek answers about Metro’s proposal to temporarily substitute buses on fixed guideways for light rail in four future transit corridors.
Metropolitan Transit Authority spokesman Ken Connaughton said the agency will try to have at least two board members and some senior staff at the meeting.
U.S. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee and Al Green, both Houston Democrats, were organizing the meeting Friday.
“Many local stakeholders feel,” a release by Jackson Lee said, “that the plan presented substantially differs from that which was the subject of the referendum” in November 2003 that approved light rail.
If Ken Connaughton is smart, he’ll do more than “try” to have Metro representation at Rep. Jackson Lee’s meeting.
