Re: Grapevine Rail

*EDIT*
From Waxahachie Council Member Joe Gallo:

Jonathan,

I would be all for it, but the light rail issue is bigger than any one councilmember.
In fact, it’s bigger than any one city.
As far as I know, there are no immediate plans to “make a push for it.
Paul Stevens can give you a better idea of what the probability of light rail ever coming to Waxahachie and what the important issues and problems are.

-Joe Gallo

*END EDIT*

From the Waxahachie City Manager, Paul Stevens, regarding rail in Waxahachie:

Jonathan,

As you probably know, we did participate in the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) Regional Rail Study and we are shown as essentially the end of the line for the southernmost point of the Metroplex that would have passenger rail. State Representative Fred Hill did try and get legislation through this session that would allow cities to exceed their sales tax cap if it went toward a transit system. I don’t believe it passed.
We do keep up with any movement that works towards regional rail and will continue to do so. We will attend the Transportation Summit in August and I am sure regional rail and what steps to take next will be discussed.

Thanks,
Paul

In addition, Paul informs me that Waxahachie has a ½ cent dedicated to the Sports Complex and the Civic Center and another ½ cent for property tax relief. Grapevine likely just had a ½ cent prior to the rail tax.

Something else I’d like to see

Something else I’d like to see in Waxahachie and other areas of Ellis County – free/cheap municipal wi-fi.
Cities like Dallas are putting free wi-fi in parks and libraries, Philadelphia is putting it everywhere.
The city of Waxahachie should be able to put free wi-fi in countless public areas, like parks, the downtown historic district and others.
Until then I guess we’ll have to keep paying for it at our house and using Chick-Fil-A’s wi-fi.

Read more

Growth, growth, growth

The numbers are in from NCTCOG and according to their estimates, Ellis County’s population has grown 4.37% over the last year. That’s 6,050 people in 12 months, or roughly 16 new people moving in to the county every day. That’s a little lower than other figures I’ve heard recently. Some have suggested there are 22 new people moving in to the county every day.
Either way, that’s some rapid growth. Red Oak tops the list with 16.13% growth, despite everyone hating on their police department for alleged traffic ticket quotas.
Folks in Ferris, Italy, Ovilla and Palmer can rest assured though. They’ve apparently brought in no additional folks to their quaint towns.

Read the full report for the North Texas Region.

Grapevine Rail

The city of Grapevine is getting new passenger rail service. It should be in place by 2012.
Voters passed a three-eighths of a cent increase in the sales tax to approve building a new extension of the old Cotton Belt line that will connect Grapevine with DFW Airport, and later the DART Rail System, Colleyville, North Richland Hills and the Fort Worth Stockyards.
It will also pass by Haltom City, Richland Hills and Southlake.
With proposed extensions, the southernmost stop would be near Texas Christian University at Berry Street in Fort Worth, with other stops in the Medical District, downtown and near Interstate 35W north of 28th Street.
This was a smart move by Grapevine as they didn’t wait for the Texas Lege to get anything done this session – good thinking because I don’t think anything did get done this session.
The Legislatures were expected to consider removing the 8.5 cent sales tax cap for cities wanting to increase their sales tax for public transportation infrastructure, like passenger rail.
But now Grapevine is ahead of the curve and the new rail service is sure to bring even more economic development to the area.
Startlegram writer OK Carter had an analyst/overview of the decision by Grapevine in Sunday’s paper.
I’d love to see a rail line extended into Waxahachie.
The NCTCOG has proposed a rail line that would extend to downtown Waxahachie, make a stop at 287 and 77, another stop in Red Oak, and a final stop in Lancaster before arriving at Union Station, connecting passengers to the rest of the DART and TRE lines.
I know Laurie and I would surely take advantage of the system if it was in place here.
The COG estimates the cost would be $266.66 million.
In Grapevine, the county tossed in $25 million to the rail and the COG is expected to throw in $60 million.
If Waxahachie could get a similar deal, (unlikely since the county just passed a $53.8 million bond issue for facilities) the remaining $181 million could be divided by all three cities bringing the cost to around $61 million each.
It’s going to take some serious sales tax revenue increases and/or a property tax increase to see that kind of money raised. But if the people want it, they can make it happen.
Just gotta remember to shop Waxahachie and start bugging the city council members about it.
With a downtown station and a station at 287 and 77 you can just imagine the growth Waxahachie could see. That 4.67% that COG is talking about could really rise quickly.
If I remember correctly, DART has said in the past that in every area where they’ve built a light rail station, they’ve seen an average of $3.3 million invested into new commercial and residential improvements.
That’s a lot of money that could come to downtown Waxahachie and add some needed retail, eateries as well as upstairs living spaces, such as lofts.

Read the latest COG report.

Register to vote

Today is the last day to register to vote if you plan on voting in the May 12 election.
Here in Ellis County we have several elections taking place. The city of Waxahachie will have a city council election, the school board will have a board election and the county is looking at a $53.8 million bond issue for the construction of new facilities.
And don’t forget the statewide referendum for seniors.

Bully on the Bench

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The Dallas Observer has an interesting article on Ellis County 40th District Judge Gene Knize.
It’s partially focused on a request for recusal of the judge by Dallas Attorney David Finn, the rest focuses on accusations of the judge being biased towards attorneys and accuses the WDL of being biased towards the judge as well.
I covered the recusal hearing while I was with the WDL.
Interesting case.
Read the story online.