A Petition to White House Environmental Justice Council, Houston City Council, and Metro Transit Authority of Harris County

We, the undersigned, are opposed to the construction of the overpass being planned by METRORapid for the University Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor on Lockwood Drive starting at McKinney Street and ending at Canal Street. We ask you do the following:

1.       Delay voting on the locally preferred alignment in order to evaluate alternatives that do not include an overpass in this area.

2.       Provide online availability to materials describing the alternatives so community members can review them in advance of public meetings.

3.       Extend the public comment period, and present the alternatives at public meetings that provide question and answer time and facilitate community discussion.

4.       Improve community outreach with communications that incorporate images and verbiage to depict the planned structures and planned property acquisitions clearly and accurately

5.       Ensure public meeting notices are effective and use multiple communication methods in English and Spanish including home visits, electronic communication, US mail, and television ads.

The proposed overpass would sever the existing and important connection of our neighborhood. And it is not uncommon for minority communities such as ours - 82% Hispanic compared with 45% average in the City of Houston - to be chosen for large infrastructure projects like this. Public meetings were announced with paper cards mailed to homes. They were in English only, failed to communicate the impact of the overpass to our community, and presented an image of BRT that misrepresents the structure being planned. Despite multiple requests by community members, materials presented at public meetings were not made available online until after all public meetings had been completed. As a result, most residents of our community are unaware of the overpass currently in planning.