Permanent University Fund

A) I really have no understanding how what you said has any bearing on what I said. I never talked about their projections in any way. But here are solid numbers Ridership Reports | METRO Houston TX

B) Metrorail had a total of 1.55 million riders in the month of September(which includes nfl season fyi). That is less than 400k riders a week. In July of 2016, the CTA (Chicago’s metro) had over 21 million riders…please explain to me exactly what i had wrong again?

I didn’t compare to nyc for obvious reasons. Just remember, we’re set to pass Chicago as the third largest city by 2020…yet our ridership numbers are pathetic in comparison. Like i said they could have done MUCH more with that money.

Public works, ie water/wastewater, projects can be found here:

https://bidsets.publicworks.houstontx.gov/

Wait. What’re we talking about again? :smile:

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There are a lot more than 3 major public universities. If you mean tier 1 universities you left off Texas Tech.

Ideally it should be ut, Texas S&M, UH, and tech. Those are the major state schools and the ones who should’ve been in the big 12 at its inception. It’s absolutely BS that ut wants to do and if they are mismanaging taxpayer monies then they should be stipped of that responsibility. Total garbage move by ut.

On a side note it seems to me that tech mooches off of our efforts. Anytime we make waves in the state, or if this comes to fruition, they always seem to tag along. I don’t get it.

Yeah, and we don’t have as many miles of rail or as many lines. Theirs makes it out to the airport as well, ours don’t yet. Mostly because people like you keep fighting when METRO tries to build more rail.

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The rail system needs to extend further. For example, I live near a closed park and ride on 290 near 610. The property just sits there. But TONS of people would use rail if they converted it to a rail station.

You clearly didn’t read what i wrote… reread my post then tell me that…i CLEARLY said they could have put a rail that serviced katy, katy mills, energy corridor, highway 6, beltway 8, memorial mall, memorial park, and downtown, with the same or less (because they were already going to do construction on i10) amount of money and serviced millions more people. But you clearly didn’t read that. Forcing the public transportation to go from a stadium, to the no social life area of downtown, was a political move… so you saying im paying the rail at every stop, is purposefully ignoring what i said earlier and a non sequiter like telling me I’m wrong about the “projections” when i never mentioned them. Again i10 rail, 45 rail, etc, would make axial ammar as opposed to the waste of money they decided to do to appease urban northern sensibilities and try to win the Olympics (seriously the rail to nrg?). Houston is different from northern cities, our system doesn’t have to be identical to theirs…

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That was the point i made already. Put it along a freeway, or in place of the HOV lane with stops along major points on the way and the use will skyrocket.

You clearly don’t understand ridership or have reading comprehension. You compared absolute numbers for very two different sized systems. Then said one didn’t have good ridership.
You also don’t know the history of why the line is where it is. It had to do with politicians keeping METRO from getting federal funding for mass transit the way every other city can do METRO had to pay for the entire line themselves. With that restriction they picked a spot they could afford to do that was high traffic to prove it would work. Then proceeding to far outdo everyone’s predictions for ridership.

Yeah…I’m the one without reading comprehension…

Yes, that is what I wrote earlier. I do not have the time to find the information/paperwork pertaining to a possible water/sewer project for the ut-Houston. On occasion it takes years for any types of development. A project as big as ut-Houston would surely generate a ton of permits. Every permit has to be approved.In case if you have heard of possible hearing for such construction that is also documented.

Tech’s in a precarious position because they don’t have the resources to launch an attack against UT/A&M in the State. They want the same things as us, but they have less alumni/influence and they just haven’t progressed as fast as us. Could be that they are mainly an agricultural school in a state with a bigger agricultural school (most states only have one). Lately, they seem to be taking more risks by trying to build a veterinary school (which they are getting a ton of pushback from A&M on) and looking into getting a med school (they may already have one). Basically, they’re in the same position with A&M that we are with UT. They could be a valuable ally to us, but they continue to try to cozy up to UT thinking that they’ll get help from them in the future.

If any bill gets pushed to try and make the PUF “fair,” we’ll need support from the other public school systems (UNT, Tx State) which means including them in the distribution. More than likely, if it somehow works; it will probably be a tiered payout system that rewards performance; question will be what those benchmarks will be. The only worrisome thing if this comes to fruition is whether the state cuts off the other funds and we end up losing money on the deal.

The PUF should be open to every public School not only to the three or four major Universities.
There is an obvious question that comes to mind. How is the PUF money accounted for/spent? A true independent audit needs to oversee it. This is not about politics left or right but it is time to find out how these funds are really spent. It would make every institution responsible for their own spending.

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Before its expansion, Houston’s light rail had the second highest ridership per mile in the country. That’s far from a “political move”.

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*Moved this here, since it was a great thread about the system at large not just Football.

For crying out out loud or screaming or whatever…there are 46 Cougars in Austin who work at the TX legislature…can someone tell me what the hell are they doing?

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Very good point.

Some PUF info:

Bonus pushes pay to $2.4 million for UT’s lands CEO
http://www.statesman.com/news/state--regional-govt--politics/bonus-pushes-pay-million-for-lands-ceo/SBgr90qcIYFksVqOB1rw7N/

However, the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives, Stephanie Bond Huie, received a $30,000 “administrative supplement” for taking on an additional role as “project champion” for McRaven’s “quantum leaps,” a set of nine goals that include establishing a campus in Houston and developing a systemwide alliance of specialists in national security matters.

We aren’t the only ones having problems with a bigger brother:

Beilue: Is A&M looking after itself or after West Texas?

In 2014, UT earned $430 million, and A&M took in $215 million from PUF.

You could sooner back up a truck to Fort Knox and drive away with gold bricks than get a dime out of the PUF if Austin or College Station isn’t your mailing address.

Higher ed is tilted in this state like no other. That’s one reason, but not all, only three schools — Texas, A&M and Rice — are among the prestigious 65-school Association of American Universities. California has nine. It takes money, and not a thumbprint on the face from big brother.

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