Chairman David Wolff Gives Snapshot of METRO

Mary Sit — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:10:00 GMT

METRO Chairman David Wolff told Houston's movers and shakers it was time to restore METRO's full funding - and if that were to happen, the agency could double the amount of work it was doing.

He made those remarks as the guest speaker at the Greater Houston Partnership's luncheon on Nov. 5 at the Hilton Post Oak.

METRO has started construction on three of five light-rail lines - the East End, the North Corridor and the Southeast. It's all part of the ambitious METRO Solutions plan to bring regional transit to the Gulf Coast area. The rail component of the METRO Solutions plan will cost more than $2.5 billion with half of that funded by the federal government and the other half by METRO.

Back when METRO was created in 1979, voters agreed to raise the sales tax by one-cent to fund METRO. "Along the line, one-quarter of this sales tax was diverted from METRO, taken from METRO, diverted to the city and the county and the multi-cities for building of roads. I do not feel this was proper," said Wolff.

"This money was voted by people of this area for transit. And I think that one of the things that we have to work on with the mayor and the county commissioner's court is restoring to METRO this full one-cent sales tax," he continued.

Wolff also offered a snapshot of METRO's current state of affairs: rock solid financials, public and Congressional support for building light-rail lines, new Park & Ride services, and inclusion in President Obama's FY 2010 budget for new-start transit projects (two of the five transit projects were METRO's).

The chairman also gave a glimpse of what lies ahead for METRO - the economic opportunities that come with building light-rail lines and the tools the agency needs to build a first-class regional transit system in the Gulf Coast area.

Click here to watch a video of his presentation.

view it here on our Web site.

Notable speakers include Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and Congressman Gene Green, Congressman Al Green, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee and Mayor Bill White.

METRO Chairman David Wolff emcees the event - and tells what we need to do if we're going to build a transit system as extensive as the light-rail system in Dallas.

Plus, you'll get to see a life-size model of our new CAF train.

Write On METRO : David Wolff

Chairman David Wolff Gives Snapshot of METRO