Uptown costs skyrocketing
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Houston City Council needs to say NO now
In 2012, Uptown said it would cost $30 million to buy the right of way necessary to tear up and widen Post Oak for dedicated bus lanes. Houston City Council approved the project.
Houston City Council members should look at the proposed 2016 Uptown TIRZ budget they are voting on Wednesday.
Buried in the paperwork is the cost for right of way acquisition, now at $51 MILLION. That is a 70% INCREASE in the cost for the real estate, and it is likely to go much higher.
“It is time for Uptown to tell the truth about the numbers,” says Jim Scarborough of the Uptown Business and Property Owners Association. “City council members were lied too and need to wake up and stop this nonsense.”
Mayor Parker is asking for council members to approve a budget for Uptown when Uptown refuses to disclose the details of their few completed real estate deals. Uptown won’t even tell the public who has been willing to sell land. Council members don’t know how much per square foot Uptown is even paying, the status of the real estate deals, and how much Uptown Board Members with financial interests on the street will benefit from the deal. If that is transparency, then we are all in trouble.
It is becoming increasingly clear this is a smelly real estate deal, and not really about transit and helping people get to work quicker. In 2013, City Council was promised Uptown would build huge transit centers. The proposed Bellaire Uptown Center will hold at least 700 cars. Now that plan has been scaled back to 100 cars, and Metro says that will cut suburban commuter bus trips to Uptown by half. Really? Get the picture now.
What is most outrageous is that City Council may rubber stamp this insane spending before the Texas Attorney General rules on whether Metro can even be part of this project.
Over the next 48 hours, City Council members should read what they are asked to vote for and ask themselves a question. Is this the best use of taxpayers’ money in a town with so many pressing needs?
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