Money can't buy love, happiness or concept of home

May 4, 2008

By RAD SALLEE, Houston Chronicle

Last week's story about the uncertainties endured by people who live in or near the route of the I-69/Trans-Texas Corridor prompted many messages of support.

But I wish there had been room in the story to quote Steve Huber, a University of Houston law professor who spoke at a January meeting in Bellville on the project.

Huber opposed the corridor plan without taking the position — adopted, for instance, by U.S. Rep. John Culberson toward rail on Richmond — that the people most directly affected deserve the most consideration when a route is chosen.

"My position carefully avoided the sort of approach you want to undertake," Huber wrote me after the meeting. "If something is going to be built that is for the public good, it has to go somewhere — and everyone involved is a NIMBY."

NIMBY, of course, stands for "not in my backyard."

"In my judgment, the project is a bad idea," Huber said. "The problem is the project, not its location."

"If a project has a public purpose, eminent domain is available if necessary," he said. And although compensation at fair market value is required by law, Huber recognized that it can't make up for some intangible losses.

"Money is not the measure of everything, and so payments to affected people often are an inadequate response," he wrote.

"Nor is payment for non-economic values a sensible approach, because it makes value subjective, and this approach is ripe for corruption."

All wise words. Thanks.

Changes higher up

There have been some changes on the Texas Transportation Commission, which oversees the Texas Department of Transportation.

Esperanza "Hope" Andrade, whom Gov. Rick Perry appointed to the five-member panel in 2003 and who became its interim chairwoman after chairman Ric Williamson died in December, is gone.

Andrade, whose term expired last year, was replaced by Deirdre Delisi, Perry's former chief of staff. Another new face is Bill Meadows, a Fort Worth insurance executive.

Delisi's biography on the TxDOT Web page says she has degrees from Duke and Stanford and experience in political campaigns as well as government.

Given the opposition to Perry's corridor plan, both in the field and in the Legislature, she'll need all those tools.

Evacuation exercise

You may have wondered about all those patrol cars lining the freeways Wednesday morning. Department of Public Safety troopers and TxDOT personnel from all over the Houston area, and as far away as San Antonio and Beaumont, were out in force.

It was an exercise in preparation for hurricane season, to find out how long it would take to "flush" traffic out of the inbound lanes and open them for contraflow traffic in a real evacuation.

Texas emergency management personnel are determined to avoid a repeat of the traffic jams that resulted in 2005 when Hurricane Rita was swooping down on the city.

As the troopers approached each inbound entrance ramp, TxDOT personnel stationed there flashed their lights to signal it "closed." Traffic was not affected, but in a real emergency, the inbound lanes would have been cleared for the coming exodus.

The mock closings included 71 ramps on Interstate 10 from San Antonio to Brookshire, 65 on U.S. 290 from Burton to Texas 6, and 139 on Interstate 45 from Ennis to Conroe.

TxDOT spokeswoman Karen Othon said nearly 600 TxDOT personnel took part, and she didn't know how many troopers.

The flushing started around 9 a.m. and was complete by noon. Let's hope it goes that smoothly when the real thing comes along.