A meeting Metro held last Wednesday to update residents about the East End light rail line drew about 200 people. They responded with a generous helping of feedback, most of it courteous but critical.

The largely Hispanic community voted strongly for the project in 2003, but that support appears to have cooled for several reasons. Metro's problem is that there isn't much it can do now except weather the storm.

In upgrading to light rail from Bus Rapid Transit, Metro lost permission to cross freight rail tracks at 65th Street, cutting the line a half-mile short of its intended destination.

Short of leaving it there, the only alternatives are to go over or under the tracks. Metro plans to go over. The structure would be 2,000 feet long and cost an estimated $34 million, which would be shared with the city, two railroads and, maybe, others.

An underpass would be less intrusive but would provide no better access to adjacent business and would cost more, needing pumps, drainage and storage for runoff, Metro says.

The compromise

Some people want to keep the cars at street level and build a bridge for the light rail only, but Metro is unlikely to shoulder the whole cost. With lanes for cars the other parties will contribute, and residents no longer will have to wait for trains to pass.

Street-level car lanes on Harrisburg would do a U-turn at the tracks while elevated car lanes would pass overhead. That would let freight trains park there without blocking street traffic, and trains no longer would sound their horns at the crossing.

The U-turns would preserve access to business, but at some loss of convenience and, probably, customers.

It's a compromise. Does anybody have a better idea?

Contentious parking spot

The other bitter pill for East Enders is a Metro Service and Inspection Facility where up to 39 light rail cars would be prepared nightly for the next day's work.

The site near the west end of the planned overpass is several blocks long and fronts on Texas Avenue, a block off Harrisburg, the area's main drag. Metro says the building would be clean, attractive, quiet and all but invisible from Harrisburg. It also would create jobs and training for neighborhood residents, the agency says.

The vehicles would roll in after midnight and out around dawn. Residents fear the noise and vibration, and business leaders say the facility will block the path of hoped-for residential development.

But Metro already has bought the property, which was sandwiched between two freight lines and occupied by a pipe storage yard.

The owner said he had no prospects of developing the site.

After most of the audience had gone, there were shouted questions about the accuracy of property appraisals as Metro acquires rights of way for the rail line.

For whatever reason — gasoline prices, development spilling over from downtown or the prospect of light rail — East End properties have risen sharply in value since 2004. That's nice, but it also raises the stakes.

Many residents have more to lose now and clearly are worried about what may come.

Riding with the stars

George Foreman is a great pitchman and seems like a nice guy, but with transit use climbing in pace with gas prices, why did the Metropolitan Transit Authority launch a celebrity ad campaign on TV?

The "I Ride" spots feature the two-time heavyweight champion and grill pitchman urging Metro riders to "help knock out Houston traffic."

The campaign also includes spots with Houston Astros outfielder Carlos Lee and fashion designer Chloe Dao. In Dao's commercial, a MetroRail platform fills with runway models as a voiceover coos, "Your destination, your inspiration."

Metro spokesman George Smalley said it was coincidental that fuel prices were taking off when the ads were launched in May. He also said the idea was not primarily to put bottoms in seats.

The larger aims, he said, were to improve Metro's image and change the way Houstonians look at riding transit.

Changing its image

In many U.S. cities and more foreign ones, transit is integrated into most people's daily lives, Smalley said. But in Houston, the image of a transit rider is either a suburban commuter or someone who doesn't have a car.

"When I walk down the street to catch the bus, my neighbors sometimes will ask me, 'Do you need a ride?' 'Did your car break down?' " Smalley said.

He said the three stars donated their services and the ads were made mostly in-house by Metro staff. But the airtime cost $630,000 out of Metro's $760,000 advertising budget for fiscal 2008, which ends Sept. 30.

To gauge their effect, Metro had an opinion survey done before the campaign began in May and will follow up with another now that it's over, Smalley said.

The three stars did not return calls to say whether they really do ride Metro, as the name of the campaign suggests, although none makes that claim in the commercials.

Another ad campaign — possibly featuring more of Houston's icons in sports, entertainment or politics — probably will be launched next year, Smalley said. That one probably will have a "how to ride" theme.

"People know where the train is going to go, but a lot of potential riders are confused about bus routes," Smalley said.

traffic@chron.com

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