South East Community Advisory Board Meeting

On Thursday January 20 I participated in the first Community Advisory Board Meeting of the new year.  The turn out was amazing with representatives from the construction crews, municipal and federal government and numerous neighborhoods from the surrounding community.  The meeting focused on the following updates:

• Metro received 50 million in December, total budget for FY 2011 is 345 million.

• Metro revised it's station naming policy to allow for more community involvement.  We were all provided with hard copies of the new guidelines. Will provide a separate blog post of the new guidelines.

• Section 3A-  45 @Scott  Utilities work has begun.  (they are boring a hole across to the other side of 45 under the existing road)

• Section 2A-  Will be done this month restoring the sidewalks and surrounding area.  AT&T will be moving in to splice the wires there together.

• Section 2B-  Still in redesign.

To see a map of the different segments and where they are, click on the map tab at the top of the page.

I presented a small update on where UH was with the videos.  We have a script and have filmed a couple shots for the first video.  Being that there were a lot more people in attendance for this meeting, I mentioned that I would like to have feedback from the community about safety and what their concerns were.  A few of the construction site managers at the meeting mentioned that the barrels aren't enough all the time and were excited about talking with me further about their safety concerns as construction workers.
Promoting Local Businesses
Metro is working with the local businesses to promote these businesses while the light rail is being constructed.  When the rail is done many of these shops and restaurants will hopefully benefit from the new rail line.  However, until then access to their businesses is a little more difficult given the construction.  Metro and other community leaders have encouraged everyone to do what they can to support these businesses during the construction phase and beyond.   As such, I would like to urge the University of Houston and it's students to support these local businesses while the construction is going on.
LINK to South East Line Business Directory

Chris Ramsey