• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •MetroNext plan is well thought out to maximize available resources
from federal, state and local sources. Bonding approval is essential
if we are to meet the region’s future needs without raising taxes.
For taxpayers in West University and Bellaire, there’s another
compelling feature: Continuing the arrangement to return 25
percent of our Metro sales tax contributions back to our cities to
support our own mobility projects, such as street and drainage
improvements, traffic and street lights, sidewalks and trails.
I urge voters to vote FOR the bond referendum.
AGAINST
Cindy Siegel, Bellaire
Former Metro board member representing Multi-
Cities
Former mayor of Bellaire
As a former conservative member of the Metro
board, I agree with former Chairman Gilbert
Garcia in his opposition to the Metro Bond initiative.
Although there are parts of the plan that I support — like moving
the downtown Bellaire Transit Center further west and continuing
the general mobility payments back to the small cities for street
improvements — I have serious concerns about some of the other
parts of the bond referendum.
The lack of transparency, rail to Hobby and the possibility of a
Rapid Bus Transit lane down the middle of Gessner are all deal
breakers for me.
I urge voters…to go to the polls in November and vote against this
bond.
honey beekeepers and beehives anywhere
in West University Place. The city attorney
countered with an ordinance crafted after
a review of the experiences of other munic-ipalities
in dealing with the urban honey
beekeeper issue. The ordinance drafted
by the city attorney would allow urban
beehives but with a host of screening and
setback requirements.
Urban honey beekeeping is not new. The
trend started in the early 2000s, at a time
when bee populations were struggling
because of the use of pesticides. From New
York City to Austin, densely populated
cities answered with a new kind of balanced
rulemaking that both allowed and encour-aged
urban honey beekeeping.
Honey bees are responsible for a majority of
the pollination of our flowers and vegetable
gardens, but also for about 35 percent of the
food we eat. So the key is for the West Uni-versity
City Council to adopt an ordinance
that encourages urban beekeeping but also
protects surrounding property owners with
reasonable regulations like flyway barriers
and location restrictions. The city attorney’s
proposed ordinance would be a move in
that direction.
But do we really need a host of beekeeping
regulations? How much discussion and
study do we need to have about an issue
that has been almost completely problem
free? Maybe the neighbors should sit down
with a bottle of medium-quality chardonnay
and work this out on their own.
You’re cornered: Tickets
for EVERYONE parking on
sidewalks
It is against the law to park over the
sidewalk. There’s a reason: you can’t use
a sidewalk if a car is in the way. But West
University Place has an unusual problem
— for many years, homes on corner lots
were built with driveways that are not long
enough to park a car. The law has changed
so new homes now have to build a longer
driveway.
To accommodate these short driveways,
the city has not ticketed these corner lots
for parking over the sidewalk since 2001.
Indeed, in 2004, the city adopted an official
policy that said the law did not apply to
corner lots. Everyone knew, or should have
known, that a municipality cannot rewrite
the state law. But West U coasted along
with that policy until July 29 when we offi-cially
agreed with the determination of the
federal government that we would enforce
the strict language in the state law.
The issue evolved from a complaint in 2017
to the Disability Rights Section of the U.S.
Department of Justice by Brennan Reilly,
a former West U councilmember. Reilly
had attempted to stop the municipal police
practice of turning the other cheek with no
success. So he contacted the feds, and they
told the city what they already knew: You
can’t pick and choose, the law is the law.
Rather than fight the ruling, City Attorney
Alan Petrov responded to the Civil Right Di-vision
of the U.S. Department of Transpor-tation
on July 29 with a letter saying West
U would comply with the federal ruling.
So don’t park on the sidewalk or you will get
a ticket — even if you live on a corner lot.
West U, Bellaire Metro
leaders split on transit bond vote
Fry
Page 14 | THE ESSENTIALS
Siegel
For more than a
decade, Bellaire and
West University have
been well represented on
the board of the Metro
board, with three former
mayors — Burt Ballanfant
and Bob Fry of West University and Cindy Siegel of Bellaire having
held seats representing the so-called Multi-Cities.
With the agency asking voters to approve a $3.5 billion bond
measure on Nov. 5, we turned to Siegel, who left her seat on the
Metro board earlier this year to run for Congress, and Fry, who
succeeded her, for their opinions on how voters should cast their
ballots.
FOR
Bob Fry, West University Place
Current Metro board member representing Multi-
Cities
Former mayor of West U
Our region is projected to grow in population by
as much as 50 percent between now and 2040.
Anyone on our streets and highways today knows we are already
currently behind in addressing the area’s transportation needs,
let alone preparing for that much growth. Public transportation
is a major component in any attempt to address congestion. The