How Culberson, Metro worked out a truce
Culberson’s trust rebuilt by intense on-and-off talks
Months of on-andoff talks helped Metro leaders and U.S. Rep. John Culberson overcome years of distrust and division.
Houston’s buses don’t run at 2 a.m., but that’s when Metro and U.S. Rep. John Culberson began to see real movement toward a deal to improve area transit service.
“We got really intense one night and literally worked line-by-line,” Metropolitan Transit Authority chairman Gilbert Garcia said last week, explaining how months of on-and-off talks helped Metro leaders and Culberson overcome years of distrust and division.
“There was a point where the congressman said, ‘Gilbert, we’re there,’ ” Garcia recalled.
Culberson, a Republican, credited Garcia with breaking through a long history of distrust by acknowledging errors in previous Metro plans and focusing on areas where transit officials and suburban politicians could find agreement.
Last week, Garcia and Culberson inked a deal that puts aside the bitter fight over rail along Richmond Avenue. The agreement delays that issue until after voters get a chance to weigh in, which could be years from now, and instead identifies other projects Culberson can help the transit agency bring to fruition.
Both said they feel confident about this deal. In the past, Culberson and transit officials have spoken of cooperation, only to resume lobbing rhetorical
bombs at one another a few months later.
“It’s in writing,” Culberson said of the new agreement.
The deal, described by Garcia as Metro’s “grand bargain” with one of its staunchest critics, is hailed by both sides as a big win — a clear delineation of what each will do for the other.
The cessation of hostilities gives Houston a chance to secure federal funding for projects caught in the crossfire of Culberson’s refusal to open a door for a Richmond Avenue light rail project and Metro’s attempts to make the Richmond line the region’s next signature rail project.
“My position has not changed, and it has been the same from day one,” Culberson said. “I have always supported funding for other rail lines.”
Sticking point
Putting Richmond aside, according to the agreement, means Culberson will assist Metro in getting federal credit for the local dollars it spent on the Green Line, which opened Saturday, so available federal finds can be used to improve regional transit.
Culberson, with others in Congress, will help Metro secure federal support for a planned commuter rail line along U.S. 90A to Missouri City and additional money for bus replacement.
Richmond rail, commonly called the University Line, was always the sticking point. Since 2003, when voters approved a major light rail expansion around the area, Culberson has accused officials of “hiding the ball” to gain public support for an unaffordable rail system.
More important to his constituents in west Houston, Culberson said, Metro shifted the University Line from the voter-approved “Westpark corridor” to Richmond. The plan for light rail down the center of Richmond alarmed business owners along the street, who felt it would kill their restaurants and shops by limiting access.
“I will never forget that 2003 experience,” Culberson said.
Rail supporters and Metro’s leaders at the time said the ballot measure was designed to give planners latitude in where the line should go, and Richmond was the best place for it.
The new agreement does nothing to change the
positions of Culberson or the agency.
“I was hired by my constituents to protect their quality of life,” Culberson said.
To rail supporters, his rock-solid opposition made Culberson the heir to former U.S. Rep. Tom Delay, the powerful Sugar Land Republican who blocked federal funding for the Main Street Line and a monorail plan in the early 1990s.
Bridging the divide
Culberson lived up to the comparison, inserting language in the Federal Transit Administration spending plan barring Metro from receiving any money for light rail lines along Richmond or Post Oak. Though approved by voters to run along Post Oak, the Uptown area rail also faced local opposition and would have hastened demand for Richmond rail to connect it to the rest of the rail network.
Culberson and Metro remained at odds, observers of the squabble said, based on a lack of communication and trust. Intermediaries have urged the two sides to try to find common ground, a goal that finally was achieved last week.
“Frankly, the whole thing got started when Mike Toomey called me and said, ‘Why can’t you
work this out?’ ” Culberson said.
Toomey, an Austin lobbyist who has worked with Metro, was among a handful of people capable of bridging the divide.
“Both were willing and eager to resolve their differences,” Toomey said.
The breakthrough came when Culberson became convinced of Garcia’s ability to deal honestly and to frankly state what Metro wanted to accomplish. It was a time-consuming process, Toomey said.
“There were lots of swords drawn over the years,” he said. “You don’t just brush that aside.”
During the discussions, the relationship was sometimes strained. As the two sides neared a deal late last year, an express bus project along Post Oak exposed old disagreements.
“It stalled and went nowhere,” Garcia said.
Culberson said the bus project was a concern because it could be a precursor to rail.
“I became deeply concerned this was an end run,” Culberson said.
As they did with Richmond, Garcia and Culberson set the Post Oak bus project aside, revising their talks and eventually coming up with the agreement announced last week.
Softened stance
The deal doesn’t end the divide between Metro and Culberson over Richmond rail, but shelves it so they can work together on other initiatives.
Culberson softened his stance on funding, amending the language in the federal appropriations bill to allow Metro to receive federal funds for the Richmond project if voters approve a plan with details on the route and costs.
An election likely would be necessary in any case, officials admit, because Metro’s finances make it difficult to afford. The hundreds of millions of dollars Metro would need to come up with would require finding new sources or amending a 2012 referendum that changed the terms of its sales tax distributions. Either likely would require voter approval.
“The next Metro board, or the next, whenever that might be, when they think it is time they can take it to the voters,” Garcia said.
If voters want it after getting an accurate look at the project, Culberson said, he will support the Richmond line.
Culberson said the agreement gives him longterm confidence that property owners along Richmond will not be uprooted by a rail line.
Garcia, meanwhile, gets a powerful Washington ally capable of helping secure hundreds of millions of dollars for other projects.
“I want him as a partner with this region to get federal funding,” Garcia said.
Culberson defended his record of securing federal money, such as $7 million for bus service and $46 million for engineering studies related to the Green and Purple Lines that opened Saturday.
Metro officials and Culberson agree more investment is needed in suburban areas; the rail system almost exclusively serves areas inside Loop 610. Culberson said a project providing commuter rail to Missouri City via tracks along U.S. 90A should be the first priority.
Metro officials, along with U.S. Rep Al Green, the Houston Democrat who represents southwest areas of Harris County and portions of Fort Bend County, agree the $400 million commuter rail line is a priority.