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Saturday, November 29, 2014 • Vol. 61 • No. 4

Need For Speed? About Us

Garden Oaks vote against sidewalks, for narrow streets in drainage survey

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File photo Garden Oaks Civic Club representative Mark Klein speaks to local residents regarding the survey for the Shepherd Forest-Garden Oaks Storm Water Drainage Project during a meeting in October.

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By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com

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Contributed photos The Texas Central Railroad seeks to connect Houston and Dallas via high-speed rail with technology borrowed from Japanese designs. Among some of the proposed routes is one which follows right-of-ways in existing railways that run through Leader-area neighborhoods - something that has residents concerned about property values, safety and noise.

How the proposed bullet train from Houston to Dallas has some residents on edge By Jonathan Garris jgarris@theleadernews.com While the prospect of traveling from Houston to Dallas in under 90 minutes is an exciting for many travelers, residents who may have homes in The Leader area along the proposed Texas Central Railway are voicing plenty of apprehension about the project and its potential affect on their community. TCR President Robert Eckels and David Hagy, Executive Director of Community Outreach, met with concerned residents during a Central NW Super Neighborhood Council meeting Nov. 19 at the Candlelight Community Center. Both representatives and council president Mark Klein said the meeting was done on short notice, and was held by TCR representatives as an ice breaker for many in the community who may have only recently heard of the project. The Texas Central Railway aims to connect Houston to Dallas via high-speed train in under 90 minutes. The 240-mile project would utilize the N700-I Bullet total system, the international version of the Tokaido Shinkansen system currently in operation in Japan between Houston could be seeing a train like the N700-I Bullet total Tokyo and Osaka. The train will be capable of travel of system making it’s way through downtown in the coming 205 mph, and tickets would be priced in competition to years. the airline industry, Eckels said. Eckels said the project may have flown under the “Faster than a speeding bullet� Eckels said TCR will be focusing on building its track radar for some residents, and parts of the media, due using existing right of ways to deter acquiring private to the nature of his company. “[TCR] is different from other railway projects around property as much as possible. The railway itself would the US,� Eckels said. “Fundamentally, we are a private be completely grade separated and would be elevated company. We’re not looking for operating subsidies and in urban areas like downtown Houston and its surrounding communities. we’re not looking for grants.� Noise also wouldn’t be a problem, Eckels said. In The Leader area, one of the proposed routes would “It’s about as noisey as an F-250 pickup truck driving utilize the existing right of way in the BNSF railway running near W. 34th Street. The tracks would run from down Mangum Road,� Eckels said. The trains would run every 30 minutes out of both west to east, with the route turning south near the HarDallas and Houston seven days a week, Eckels said, dy Corridor and traveling into downtown Houston. The organization is working with the Federal Railroad and the trains would slow while traveling through Administration and the Texas Department of Transpor- dense urban areas. When some residents voiced contation for its Environmental Impact Statement. Eckels cerns about safety, particularly derailment, he cited the and Hagy emphasized that the public comment period safety record of the current trains in Japan which the system is based on and said in over 50 years of opis ongoing and the process is still early on. However, that emphasis still couldn’t shake the doubt erations there have been no injuries or fatalities due to train accidents. from some residents. See Train P. 2A

Residents of Garden Oaks have voted overall in favor of having a narrow street with no sidewalk for the design of the Shepherd Forest-Garden Oaks Storm Water Drainage Project, according to the results of a neighborhood survey collected earlier this month. Garden Oaks Civic Club President Sheila Briones said the results weren’t too surprising, with similar responses submitted from residents living on Alba and Golf Streets who would be most affected by the drainage project. According to previous reports, the improvement project originally proposed widening both Alba and Golf to 27 feet, adding curbs, gutters, five foot sidewalks on both sides of the street and widening the total streetscape to 41 feet. Over the past several months, GOCC officials have worked with representatives from Houston City Council Member Ellen Cohen’s Office and the Public Works and Engineering Department to help determine possible options in redesigning the roads that would better fit the desire of the community. Cohen’s office first requested the community survey several months ago. According to the group’s website, nearly 400 surveys were returned, showing overall preference for the “no sidewalk� option totaling 64 percent versus See Drainage P. 4A

TxDOT: No lane closures on US-290 for holidays With an increase of travelers anticipated during the Thanksgiving holiday, there are no scheduled lane closures from 5 a.m., Wednesday, November 26 through 5 a.m., Monday, December 1. The US 290 Program Offices will be closed in observance of Thanksgiving on November 27 and 28.

Doubts still lingering over cat mutilations “I won’t tell you it cannot happen, because things

By Kim Hogstrom For The Leader Chris Glaser, Manager of Animal Control for the city of Houston, is well acquainted with the presence of coyotes around The Leader communities. “Coyotes are native to the area,� Glaser said. “As long as they’re fed, they’ll continue to roam into yards. People must keep their cats inside. A loose cat is a free lunch to a coyote.� Still, some residents in the Heights, Timbergrove Manor, and Lazybrook are not thoroughly convinced that the many mutilated cats found in the area are the result of animal predation by coyotes. Timbergrove resident Jennifer Estopinal has been tracking area feline mutilations since 2008. She maintains details on 25 different incidences to date and even launched a Facebook page called “Justice for Murdered Cats in Heights,�

to encourage community awareness. Estopinal attended the Timbergrove Manor Civic Club meeting on Nov. 11. Sgt. Gary Bender of the Houston Jennifer Estopinal. Police Department Animal Cruelty Division spoke that evening and announced that all the evidence HPD has collected regarding mutilated cats, indicate animal predation. “HPD has determined animal attacks are the sole cause of all the dead cats, because they’ve found no solid evidence of human involvement,� Estopinal said. “However, there have been some really odd things; things such as two and three

dead cats laid together, another with a shaved belly, another hung, and other things.� Estinopal said many of the owners she has spoken with wouldn’t file a police report, and said many of them explained they “didn’t expect HPD would care.� “Others have expressed fear of retaliation,� Estinopal said. “They feared they had been targeted.� One family found their cat mutilated in late 2008 but opted instead to contact the Oak Forest Veterinary Hospital to determine the cause of death. Dr. Hallie Ray Moore then performed a necropsy on the family pet. “It appeared that his ribs had been cut with something sharp such as garden shears,� Moore said. “All of his intestine were still present. He also had a deep wound on his head, right between his ears. In my view, these were not injuries consistent with an animal attack. He was

only 18 months old. It was awful.� Moore filed a report with HPD, but she claims officials never came and picked the animal up. “We even received a case number,� Moore said. “We finally returned his ashes to the grieving owners.� After searching for the case number, Officer Devin Farrell with HPD’s Animal Cruelty Division confirmed that there was no resolution to the case. “Nobody followed up on it,� Farrell said. “I’ll continue watching this situation,� added Estopinal. “If there is human involvement, and I believe there has been in some cases, eventually a clue will be captured on someone’s surveillance video or someone will turn someone in.� To report unusual feline fatalities, call HPD Animal Cruelty Division at 713-3083100.

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