West Lane Place Civic Association

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Oct 27, 2005

Peter Popkin

According to Pam Holm, the Quiet
Zone should be in place and in
force by the end of December,
2005. The City of Houston was
the first city in the USA to
apply with a complete package
for approval of a specific QZ.
The City has awarded a construction
contract to a local contractor
who should begin the
installation of the necessary
improvements by the time you
read this article. After the
work is complete, an inspection
will be made by the FRA,
UPRR, and cities of Houston,
Bellaire, and West University
to certify
compliance with federal rules.
As always with a high profile
project of this sort, the red
tape involved has lengthened
the time-line for
implementation. It will soon
be in effect and we will enjoy
the relative peace and quiet.

Note that the city had suspended
the Recycling Program to speed
up the heavy trash pickup after
Hurricane Rita. They should have
begun again as of mid October or
so the 311 city operator advises.
At the same time, a Houston
Chronicle article reported that
the city is struggling with the
Recycling Program due to poor
participation of many neighborhoods.
The WLP Board encourages everyone
to recycle paper and plastic items.
It is easy to do and benefits the
city in many ways.

Also, the 82 Metro buses using
Mid Lane for the past month or so
were detouring around the construction
at Loop 610 and Westheimer. Now that
the construction is nearly complete,
the busses have resumed their
Westheimer route.

Lastly, the Rail on Richmond
issue is heating up significantly.
Metro is quickly finding out that
residents and business owners
along Richmond are not going to
let them build a rail line without
serious protest. There have
been several town hall style
meetings where Metro officials have
been grilled at length about where
this University Line will be located.
It seems that Metro is planning to
use Richmond from downtown to the
Galleria like Sherman took Atlanta
during the Civil War. Opposition is
rapidly forming and will make the
next several months most interesting.
Your Board, in concert with Lynn Park
and Afton Oaks, is working to find
an acceptable alternate route at
the Weslayan to Loop 610 segment.
I will keep you informed as the
planning, protesting and negotiating
proceed.