The River Oaks Examiner reports that the City of Houston has, for the tenth time, rejected plans from the Ashby high-rise developers:
Plans for the Ashby high-rise were rejected for the 10th time Tuesday with the city saying its own traffic evaluation now shows the projects impact would push the Bissonnet Street at Shepherd Drive intersection to nearly an “F” level.
[snip]
The rejected plans were submitted April 7, making the three months until they were returned to the developers unusually long.
Developer Matthew Morgan had said Friday the length of time that passed was “somewhat unorthodox” and that Buckhead partners would resubmit plans prior a receiving decision from the Public Works Department.
It’s interesting that this development has effectively been put on hold by the city’s traffic bureaucrats because Level of Service (LOS) allegedly declines to F for one intersection, yet the city’s traffic bureaucrats remain mute on unbelievable METRO traffic estimates that lane closures, turn restrictions, interlining, and signal issues will have NO impact on downtown traffic mobility (see Coming soon to downtown: A train-traffic-pedestrian-infrastructure adventure only METRO could love).
Unfortunately, this is what can happen when what should be a technocratic bureaucracy begins to serve political interests instead of the public interest. It’s not a good precedent that has been set by the White Administration.
BLOGVERSATION: Swamplot.
