This is a personal account of a recent meeting (held on April 15, 2005) where we asked some of the entities involved now in the Grand Parkway project, specifically in Segment F-2, to sit down together and give us the "straight scoop". You will see, though disappointingly, that they are incapable of the truth and very good at obfuscation.
At the January 25th Harris County Commissioners Court, several residents of the Spring area were in attendance asking the court to delay approval of $2.5 million dollars for a study of F-2 to be completed by Kellogg, Brown and Root, Inc. at the request of the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
After calmly and succinctly pleading their case before the Commissioners, the group from Spring was pretty much ridiculed by the court for even daring to come before them and ask for such a thing. Then, the Court swiftly moved to approve the massive expenditure of funds for a project most of them knew little about. Our own Commissioner Jerry Eversole did not even know of the map (as seen in this Northampton Neighbor newsletter) circulating through the Spring area that had been brought forth by our own Senator Jon Lindsay as the only alignment (Alignment E, the route that is less than 1000 from Klein Oak High School) that would be studied by the Harris County Toll Road Authority.
When the meeting was over, Judge Eckels commented to the writer from the Houston Chronicle that he would be more than happy to meet with the Spring residents to discuss this project at any time. Jerry Eversoles comment to reporters was that anytime someone had a concern about something happening in the Spring area, that they should feel free to come on down to Commissioners Court (in downtown Houston during the weekday and discuss it within the 3-minute limit).
Residents from Spring tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to contact both Judge Eckels and Mike Strech (Director of HCTRA) who had previously both made public statements that would meet with citizens to discuss this project anytime. State Representative Debbie Riddles office also tried (in vain) to get a meeting with the officials from TxDOT and HCTRA together so that her constituents could stay abreast of the situation.
On April 6th, residents living in the proposed path of Alignment E began receiving letters from Land Tech Consultants, which said that Land Tech had been hired to do surveys for acquisition of right-of-way and design by HCTRA (copies of those can also be found in this months Northampton Neighbor newsletter). People were confused as to what was going on here.
In desperation and disgust, I send an e-mail to Rose Hernandez, who is Judge Robert Eckels aide asking about these letters and pleading for a meeting. She called and said she was unaware of any letters. When I told her what they said, she said that was a mistake. Not that the letters went out, but that they said that Land Tech had been hired to do the work by HCTRA. She claimed that the Grand Parkway project was still a TxDOT-only project, even though when Patricia Friese was interviewed after the Commissioners Court meeting in January, she had said that HCTRA had been asked to take over the project from TxDOT because TxDOT was running out of both time and money. Rose claimed that she had told Mike Strech twice to take care of you people and was surprised that he had not done so. I told her that we did not want to be told after the fact what HCTRA/TxDOT/GPA had decided to do; we wanted a seat at the table. Unbelievably, Rose said she would set up a meeting right away and make sure all our questions got answered, and that Mike would be there to do so. She told me to invite whomever I wanted and they would hold the meeting whenever, wherever.
After I had started to make some calls, Rose called and said that I should be honored that Art Storey would be there. Art is the Director of Infrastructure for Harris County. Strange, but I didnt feel honored. When I told Rose that I wanted to hold the meeting at the Northampton MUD building so that those invited could come out to the area of town some of them have only seen from aerial maps, she balked and said Art would only meet with us downtown or at the HCTRA office near Rankin. I reluctantly agreed and went ahead and sent the following e-mail out:
You have been cordially invited to attend a meeting this Friday (04/15/05) at 9:30 A.M. at the offices of the Harris County Toll Road Authority located at 330 Meadowfern in Houston to discuss the Grand Parkway project in Spring, Tx. We appreciate the efforts of all the elected officials and their staff and the appointed ones and their staff to try to answer any and all questions relating to this project. Therefore, it is further advised and encouraged that those of you that do have questions to ask of these officials, please feel free to prepare your list now and to have those questions all answered at the meeting this Friday morning.
Robin Sterry (Asst. Director Grand Parkway Assoc.)
Karen Othon (TxDOT Houston office)
Gary Trietsch (TxDOT Houston office)
Art Storey (Exec. Director of HCTRA)
Mike Strech (Director of HCTRA)
Rose Hernandez (Judge Robert Eckels office)
Joanye Henderson (Comm. Jerry Eversoles office)
Tom Ricker (Asst. Superintendent of KISD)
Debbie Riddle (State Rep. District 150)
Johanna Phillips (State Rep. Debbie Riddles office)
Eron Linn (U.S. Rep. Judge Ted Poes office)
Sherri Meicher (U.S. Rep. Michael McCauls office)
Stephanie Dehondt (U.S. Rep. Michael McCauls office)
Jim Blackburn (Blackburn & Carter lawfirm)
Dale Cordray (Blackburn & Carter lawfirm)
David Mifflin (United to Save Our Spring)
Tommy McCurdy (United to Save Our Spring)
Yvonne Tallent (United to Save Our Spring
Noble Windsor (United to Save Our Spring)
Skip Warren (United to Save Our Spring)
Bob & Reta Kelly (United to Save Our Spring)
Kim Canon Jackson (Houston Chronicle - This Week)
Anne Linehan (www.bloghouston.net)
Lelda Will (Lelda Will Properties)
(Not everyone will be able to make it, but these are the ones who have been invited and have expressed a desire to attend this meeting. We want to express our sincere gratitude to Rose Hernandez of Judge Eckels office for making this meeting possible.)
The next morning, Rose called me and said that Art and Mike wouldnt meet with all those people, especially that lawyer, and told me I had to either cancel the meeting and re-schedule at some other time, which I figured would never happen, or to cut my list down to four, because according to Rose, Arts office is just really small. When I told her that I had at my disposal a conference room in the Greenspoint area that would easily hold 150 persons available at the same time Art had specified, not more than 2 blocks from there, she said Art refused to meet anywhere but in his office.
The day of the meeting arrived, and heres who signed in that day:
Mike Strech (HCTRA)
Gabe Johnson (TxDOT-standing in for Gary Trietsch, who had according to Rose, called up Art and berated him for even holding such a meeting, telling Art that its not a HCTRA project YET!)
Rose Hernandez (standing in for the ever-busy and elusive Judge Eckels who probably had an important meeting to attend as he is the Chairman of the Board for the Alliance for I-69 group pushing for the NAFTA Highway)
Mike Denny (from Eversoles office, who was not invited by me to attend)
Eron Linn (from U.S. Congressman Judge Ted Poes office)
Tom Ricker (Klein ISD-Facilities and Transportation Asst. Superintendent)
Tom McCurdy (UTSOS)
Jim Blackburn (Blackburn & Carter, hired by UTSOS)
Kim Jackson (Houston Chronicle This Week)
Debbie Riddle (State Representative District 150)
Johanna Phillips (State Rep. Debbie Riddles office)
Art Storey (Harris County Infrastructure)
Matt Brannen (Brown & Gay Engineers, who was not invited and never spoke, but whose name is on the map included in this Northampton Neighbor)
Skip Warren (Bridgestone MUD)
Dan Lauck (KHOU TV, didnt invite, but glad that he was there)
Perhaps you are keen enough to notice that Robin Sterrys name is absent from the sign-in list. Robin had promised me twice that she would be there. Of course, Robin had also just dropped the bombshell news that she was quitting at the end of April to move to Seattle in a non-transportation related job endeavor. I definitely had wanted her there because I felt that with nothing left to lose, she would have been the most candid and open. She had been interviewed the day prior to our meeting and had reportedly told the person filming the story for KHOU that there was no map, and there was no longer any preferred or recommended alignment. Was it a coincidence that after this information was shared with Rose, that Robin no-showed for the meeting? Who knows, but calls were placed to her office and cell phone numbers and they have yet to be returned.
When everyone had signed in, we were led to a spacious and well-appointed conference room that could have easily held on the people on my list that I was forced to call and un-invite, but even more than that. The smug look I thought I saw on Roses face told me that I just been had, but I actually was about to even more disappointed as the morning progressed. Later, I would understand that the reason the meeting had to be at HCTRA offices was so that Art Storey could choose to answer questions from certain individuals and ignore completely others in the room.
The meeting began with just one simple question by our State Rep. Debbie Riddle, What is the truth? and off we went down the rabbit-hole after Art. Art said, that there is a myth that HCTRA has unfettered rein over the Grand Parkway project. That these people are our constituents, too. That the toll-road is just a financing mechanism and that this toll-road is not much different than a highway. He went on to say that the Grand Parkway is a proposed TxDOT facility, and that TxDOT has not given away the project, and that the Grand Parkway Association is an organ of TxDOT. He says that TxDOT has approached HCTRA because we have some money in the bank to capitalize, and that we have the ability to be a financial partner. He says that HCTRA was asked by TxDOT, Would you like the right of first-refusal, (if TxDOT runs out of time and money to do the project)? He says that, according to TxDOT, TxDOT has their own turnpike authority and can build the Grand Parkway themselves, if they want, but if we choose not to (because were out of time and money) would you like to be our partner? Art says that the answer from HCTRA is maybe, depends on how much we have to build and how much we have to spend. Art told us that the easy deals are over, TxDOT has said that all new projects must be tolled projects, as bonds are being paid for, that TxDOT has a share in it with HCTRA. Art says that Commissioners Court has given us permission to find out what it is, how big it is, do we really want to spend the money on it. Art says that we have read HCTRAs notes and we will make a decision based on will it make us money if we make the decision to build the Grand Parkway.
Gabe Johnson then spoke up and said, This is a TxDOT project, PERIOD! He says, it has to go through public process just like any TxDOT project. Gabe shared with us that he had met with Jim Blackburn and that TxDOT is updating the DEIS and will hold a Supplemental DEIS early next year. Gabe acknowledged that yes, HCTRA is talking with us on how to best address congestion. Then Gabe said something very interesting. He said that last year was THE BEST YEAR EVER FOR TxDOT because (with the passage of H.B. 3588) in terms of legislation, TxDOT now has a bunch of new tools never before available to them, such as advance acquisitions.
Skip Warren asked Gabe if the Grand Parkway Association could be built with private funds? Gabe told Skip that HCTRA has the right of first refusal, and if HCTRA backed out, that they would go through that process.
Jim Blackburn says HCTRA is only studying Alignment E, and this process would inevitably bring bias towards TxDOT picking Alignment E. Jim said that this does not follow the requirement to study all alternatives and asked why are they only studying Alignment E? Mike Strech spoke up and said that schematic preparation is all weve done, were just studying right-of-way. Notice Mike did not answer the question of bias, though. Art Storey then said, Jim is right, it does give more bias towards Alignment E. Then Gabe Johnson added, Of course, if anyone in the community has some studies to offer us (along with the cash required to do those studies), then we will surely look at them. At this time, I had my hand up to speak, but Mr. Storey refused to acknowledge me and took others questions instead. I wanted to suggest to Art that if HCTRA truly wanted to remove any perception of bias towards any particular route, why didnt they just do schematics on ALL the alternative alignments, including those that the Grand Parkway might be studying up in the Montgomery County area.
Our State Representive Debbie Riddle recalled that she had been told that if HCTRA takes over the project, that they would not have to hold public hearings at all. She asked if this were true. Art balked, and Mike Strech said, It is and its not and then mumbled something about if its not a TxDOT project that HCTRA doesnt have the authority to take over Segment F-2. Gabe Johnson added, They cannot construct this without any public process. However, what he didnt say was that if HCTRA were to build it, they do not have to follow the stricter federally mandated environmental guidelines that TxDOT does. Debbie mentioned that she had met with Senator Lindsay and when she told him that her constituents were not happy with his stance on the Grand Parkway project, he told her that HCTRA could in fact go forward with the project on their own. Art and Gabe nervously looked at each other and mumbled something about how perhaps Senator Lindsay was misinformed, and that may have been the way things were done when he first got into office, but thats not the way its done now. Riddle finally get them to admit that is TxDOT relinquishes the project, that HCTRA can, in fact, pick up the project to do on their own. Moments later though, Gabe told us that the reason Alignment E was being studied, was because after those two public hearings took place, another meeting took place (Senator Lindsay met privately with developers in the area to try to reach a consensus on where THEY thought the route should go. But NO CONSENSUS was reached, according to witnesses present at the meeting where Lindsay had trotted a crudely drawn and vague map outlining three different versions of Alignment E) where a consensus had been reached as to the alignment (these are Gabes words) and that was the route that had received almost $3 million dollars from Commissioners Court for HCTRA to study. Skip Warren promptly corrected Gabe, who acknowledged that he didnt know for sure what happened, he was just basing his story on what Lindsay had told had happened at Lindsays secret meeting that day.
Eron Linn then shared with us that he had met recently with Gary Trietsch and had asked Gary why HCTRA was even involved? Gary had told him that HCTRA was involved because TxDOT had had a minute order ruling that every new project must have a toll-revenue component. Gabe mentioned that the Minute Order in question happened during Laneys term as TTC Chair. Art said that they bought a seat at the table with that Minute Order because TxDOT does not have the money for Mobility Studies. Eron needed to go to another function, and just as he was leaving, State Rep. Riddle asked him where Congressman Poe stand on the Grand Parkway issue. Eron says that the Congressman stands with the residents of Spring who are opposed to the Grand Parkway project. Rose leaned back in her chair to catch Erons hand for a quick squeeze and whisper, See you next week, which made me immediately wonder about the validity of Erons statement. Rep. Riddle later reconfirmed with Congressman Poe, personally, that Poe backs the F-2 constituents in their opposition to the Grand Parkway.
Tom McCurdy, who at the Commissioners Court meeting in January had been treated with disdain and disrespect by Jerry Eversole for even daring to ask the Commissioner to delay the vote, then asked everyone assembled there, At what point do you look at a plan and say there are too many subdivisions, too many people living there; that its just too difficult to try to snake a route through and just decide not to proceed any further? Gabe and Art again nervously laughed and Art said that Toms question was the Question of the day, and that hed let Art answer that one. Art responded with a comment about there is a process through NEPA to address all impacts. Good try, but no cigar, Gabe. When Tom asked about the possibility of the Grand Parkway becoming I-69, Gabe told him that, I-69 will be about 30 miles west of the Grand Parkway. Art nodded in agreement at that.
Jim Blackburn then pointed out that Gabe was describing a TxDOT process, and if TxDOT pulls out, could HCTRA go ahead and build the Grand Parkway? Gabe glanced over at Art and cautiously said that he couldnt speak for HCTRA. Jim then asked what I considered to be a most excellent question which was Could we get an agreement that if TxDOT de-designates the Grand Parkway (also known as State Highway 99), that we get HCTRA to agree not to build Segment F-2 of the Grand Parkway? Gabe mumbled something about what we are presenting today is facts, huh? At that, Art got up from his chair, smiling as he headed towards the door and saying, Well, this has been about as much fun as I can stand, and walked out.
If you are at all concerned about what youve read here today, please feel free to contact anyone and everyone you can think of to voice your concerns to.
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