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Metro rail blurs line between city and campus

(David Delgado // The Daily Cougar)

(Hendrick Rosemond // The Daily Cougar)

Construction of the Southeast Line of the Metro light rail along UH property sparked a dispute between the University and the Metropolitan Transit Authority that was recently settled.

The placement of the rail in close proximity to various UH properties was a major part in the disagreement, which shed light on a big problem the University will be facing while trying to beef up their Tier One credentials: real estate.

Once the rail is completed, scheduled for 2014, it will undoubtedly give way to a completely new form of transportation for students, commuters and residents. The problem with this ambitious project is that the construction is taking place on a sliver of land, which will cause an increase in traffic flow along the area. Although UH has vastly expanded the quality and sheer size of their on-campus facilities, nothing but a bottleneck effect can come out of the rail’s location.

As with most UH construction, the southeast line is a double-edged sword. On one side, the line gives students access to a variety of nightlife and social scenery in the city while also providing commuters with an alternative way to get to classes. On the other side, urbanization brings an array of problems regarding safety and public image.

There’s no question that UH is a very urban campus, but it has maintained a fairly spruced-up look. The rail has already changed the scenery of once less-utilized areas of campus for commuters. The elephant in the room is that the Third Ward has going through a rapid gentrification period for the past couple of years. Several businesses and houses have been torn down in the surrounding neighborhood because of the METRORail.

So while the rail is drawing a line between what is UH and residual Third Ward zoning, they’re making UH its own urban center for population flow and losing the small amount of surrounding land they had in the first place. The rail is opening a Pandora’s box that will give UH’s public-representative staff headaches in the years to come.

The introduction of the Southeast Line will allow people who are not UH students, to access buildings such as the residence halls and the childcare center. UH’s access was never exclusive, but its parking and ease of access was highly regulated.

After 2014, UH will no longer have any semblance of a neighborhood environment, which judging by the businesses that were weeded out and those that consequentially took their place, seemed to be the city’s plan the entire time. UH must decide if it wants to be a metropolitan campus or not, because the once-seamless transition between campus and the tree-filled neighborhoods outside is starting to disappear.

Nick Bell is a media production senior and may be reached at [email protected].

7 Comments

  • Totally disagree with the premise of this article.

    So a “sliver of land” is a big deal? It’s somewhat obvious during construction there’ll be some traffic and road rerouting. In fact, METRO is even expanding and resurfacing roads to ensure there won’t be that much disruption to those that will continue to drive.

    The UH property has and will always be established from the rest of 3rd ward. There’s already 8 bus routes that go on or next to UH property and I guess the rail makes a difference to you?

    What’s this about urbanization? This is a fairly urban campus; we’re located 2 miles outside a downtown of America’s 4th largest city. I presume you mean density. Safety? Maybe drivers should pay attention like they always should? If you’re accusing transit riders of being criminal punks, you should take a sociology or urban planning class and realize you don’t know what you’re talking about (bad guys don’t usually have a “runaway bus” or evade the cops in a government-owned vehicle with cameras…). I think UH’s image would improve with greater accessibility for Houstonians and all students, faculty and staff. Did METRORail destroy Rice’s public image?

  • I also fail to see this “rapid gentrification” you’re talking about. Scott St. is still full of a lot of undesirable businesses and places. The Chevron station still seems shady. The BK and Wendy’s are still shabby with no evening dine-in hours, amongst other things. Only a handful of townhome projects perched at the end of 3rd ward, far away from UH, have been built. It’s going to take a major developer to rebuild the entire strip because the area still contains a bad feeling.

    Again, UH is already accessible to anybody that comes. It’s not a big secret that a lot of TSU students enter our campus every day and use our facilities. Again, I doubt you’ve ever ridden or even noticed there were 8 METRO routes that hit the campus. I’ll also be honest that UH’s campus is mostly ugly, and not this “fairly spruced-up” thing you’re trying to say. The shrubbery is dismal, there’s a lack of good shade trees, and even trees that have lacked shade value have been taken down. Not much in the way of florals, and there are a lot of weed-choked areas. Only the artsy, Calhoun Lofts, architecture side has somewhat appreciative landscaping.

    This whole “neighborhood” feeling is a joke. It’s a very open campus for a very long time.

    • There are weed-choked areas because grounds staff numbers were drastically cut, some right before their Christmas bonuses, in 2010. Something like over 50%. It means that there’s a lot less time to devote to clearing out weed-infested bushes.

      Trees are a whole other story. So much paperwork is required to plant a single tree that it’s almost not worth the effort. There were plans to plant pecan trees around campus in 2009, to feed the starving squirrels in the summer, that never came to fruition. The administration obviously really likes large grassy areas that require tons of water and die off because of the poorly constructed sprinkler patterns (most evident during the drought of 2011).

      • Yeah, I’m not saying that our groundskeepers are lazy, it’d just be nice to have decent landscaping with the money we pay for school. I’m not saying everything has to be fancy or perfect, but shade trees would be useful and prettier, despite the “costs”. Given how dispersed the buildings are, I think people can study/work better without sweating bullets throughout the year if there were more shade cover as people walked and it’d also serve as beautification. Well worth it, as Rice and other campuses seem to think.

        • Well said. I always wondered why UH has just one loquat tree, by Moody towers, whereas Rice has many more (for edible refreshment twice a year).

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