(Note: I have asked a variety of people to submit an essay to me to be posted during the month of December, to be called "Looking Forward to 2008". This entry was written by Jay Crossley.)

Perhaps 2008 is the year that Houston begins to lose its pimples.

We are in a comparatively good position to address the future because we are such a young city. More than forty percent of our expected 2035 population will be born or will move here between now and then, and more than 50% of the built environment in 2035 will be built over that same time. We have options for laying out our fixed transit system and doing the final touches on our roadway system that other urban areas simply do not have because their built environment is already too laid out.

The METRO board voted in 2007 to build our 2012 transit system to reach the four largest employment centers in the City Region as well as our biggest colleges and universities. This is a strategy not pursued in Dallas, Los Angeles, Portland or any other major US city investing in light rail systems at this time. Our existing Main Street Line is the most efficient light rail line in the country in terms of boardings per mile of track, at 45,000 boardings per day on 7.5 miles of track. To some extent, this is a silly thing to say, considering Boston's light rail system has 200,000 boardings a day and Toronto's has 322,000. Yet we have a better start than any city in recent history, and the next five lines promise to be just as smart an investment.

If we prove successful in spreading this efficiency across a 32-mile system, we will set the bar for future transit development in growing urban regions. This will be just the beginning of building the most efficient regional transit system in the country, a crucial element in our goal to reach a state of sustainable prosperity for the entire region.

In 2008, when METRO begins the process of construction, there will be two key opportunities for Houston to shine that we cannot afford to pass up. The first is that METRO, the City of Houston, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), and many other entities need to make the effort not only to mitigate the negative effects of construction but also lay the groundwork for 30 years of quality economic and community development around our urban transit system. Secondly, the codes that dictate the urban form of the City of Houston must be rewritten to provide a reasonable framework for the development of a city that will support a high quality of life for a large human population far beyond the next 30 years.

Everyone knows full well that business owners are worried, remembering torn up streets and closures in the wake of the construction of the Main Street Line. Those that wish to blame METRO for all of the problems associated with completely rebuilding the utility and street infrastructure of much of Downtown seem fairly unrealistic predictors of what we should expect during construction of the next 5 lines. METRO, along with the City and various other groups, did miss an opportunity for people-positive public policy. We can overcome this shortfall the second time around.

The METRO Board of Directors, the vast majority of whom were not sitting on that board at the time of the construction of the Main Street Line, have already committed considerable resources to having employees of the transit agency working full time in the communities that will be affected, getting to know businesses, understanding local heritage and culture, and using these contacts to guide METRO's work.

METRO has apparently made offers of relocation assistance to those businesses that will be removed through eminent domain. Property owners will be fairly compensated for these takings. We must insist on no less. At the same time, METRO must avoid any inkling of improper valuations like that surrounding the sale of a city street to a private developer in the Village this year.

METRO is headed in the right direction with the opening of neighborhood storefronts for business owners and residents to voice their concerns and get answers about the coming light rail lines. Let's hope they keep their minds wide open over the next several years in thinking of ways to better mitigate interruptions as well as ensure that transit is a positive element in the community.

Fair treatment for existing businesses and residents, as well as community and economic development, will require a tremendous wave of work from actors outside of METRO and the City of Houston. LISC, the Tax Increment Refinancing Zones, Neighborhood Centers, and others should now be considering economic development strategies, including community land trusts, business development and financial assistance, and even incentives for community-positive dense development around the light rail stations.

Neighborhood groups should fully understand what is coming and should mobilize their residents to participate in the development of streetscape standards and the investment in community resources such as pocket parks and community gardens. The City of Houston alone is expected to grow by perhaps 1 million new residents by 2035, a 50% increase. Each neighborhood should plan to shoulder its share of the growth. We cannot simply allow wealthy neighborhoods to push the growth to less wealthy ones.

The TIRZs should be making substantial investments in the commons to improve walkability and accessibility, and to add green enhancements. One of the most promising measures that the TIRZs could take would be to build shared parking facilities to decouple development decisions from the daunting challenge of building Houston style parking.

The City of Houston itself should plan for a dense urban zone to complement this major infrastructure investment, beginning with an additional investment in walkability. Each of the coming 52 rapid transit stations should be surrounded by at least a half-mile fabric of walkability. The City should commit to rebuilding all damaged sidewalks and filling in all holes in walking infrastructure within these areas in conjunction with the unveiling of new transit service in 2012, starting with the Main Street Line.

This effort should extend throughout the City, for the dual purpose of treating citizens across the city fairly and understanding the effect of walkability investments independent of transit investments. In conjunction with H-GAC's livable centers program and TIRZs and neighborhood groups, the city should completely retrofit dense regions with good mixes of residents, jobs, and errands, with ADA compliant, pleasant, green, walkable sidewalks.

The extent to which METRO, the City, and these other organizations can fairly work with the business community and neighborhoods to bring about a livable urban environment will affect the future quality of life for millions.

The single greatest catalyst for change outside of METRO's development of the transit system itself will come from the Urban Corridors project undertaken by the City of Houston and funded by METRO. This effort should bind the transit system to the surrounding communities and will determine the pleasantness and utility of the future urban fabric of the region.

Current city and county policies pervert the marketplace heavily towards suburban development in greenfields and a wasteful separation of uses, which greatly increases our dependence on auto travel. The City should first remove disincentives for positive urban growth and then develop new standards with community input that will allow balanced thriving neighborhoods all over town. The benefits of urban living should be accessible to Houstonians of all income levels. Survey after survey shows that huge amounts of Houstonians wish they lived closer to jobs, shopping, schools, and other people, but the current market, shaped by city policy, does not allow them this choice.

The code can, should, and will change. Houston can revolutionize urban governance by dedicating all city departments to the adoption of the Citizens' Vision developed by Blueprint Houston.

To provide a true free market in 21st Century Houston region, I hope we will see the beginning of a real comprehensive plan for the City of Houston based on citizen values in 2008. City Council instructed the Planning Commission in the Summer of 2006 to develop a plan for how to undertake a comprehensive plan for the city, as called for in Houston city code. The Commission instead has decided to pursue something that they are referring to as a General plan, but which seems to be simply an automobile mobility study, a drainage study, and a neighborhood preservation study.

This will not address the major concerns of Houstonians, which have repeatedly been shown to include the following at the top:

Preservation of Green space
More walkability and access to jobs and retail closer to residences
Respect for the flood plains
Better air quality

The city can and must address its rampant unsustainability and can only do this by adopting the vision of its citizens and putting the ample, ready, and massive machinery of urban governance into gear to provide a major reduction in vehicle miles traveled, clean air and water, affordable accessible housing for all, a fair and open marketplace, and a cleaner environment over the next ten years. If we do less, we are letting the world down as well as future Houstonians.

A good life requires not only the freedom to live it, but the active community in which to live it. Both Richmondrail.org and Afton Oaks have recently shown the capacity of Houstonians to organize to provide greater public input, broaden the civic debate, and make issues clear and infrastructure choices relevant to every citizen. Should 2008 turn out to be the year that Houston loses its pimples, then we should expect Houston in 2018 to house a thriving marketplace of ideas with many strong organizations working and advocating for a variety of opposing views on the direction of our public policy and the further growth of our region.

The City of Houston has a major role to play in our nation's attempt to address global climate change and Mayor White is already working hard for the city to accept this role. There are many things to do for many different actors, from harnessing the skill and ingenuity of our energy industry for innovation and efficiency to each of us making personal decisions that will decrease our carbon footprint. The successful implementation of our fixed transit system and the complementary development of many different dense urban cores with walkable, livable places is essential to fulfilling this responsibility.

The elections next year will change many things for the country and for the region as well. No matter what party wins Harris County, the winning candidates are going to be talking about green issues, development of livable town centers, tweaking government to allow access for all to the local and global economy, and improvements to our quality of life. And of course, some day, the Texas Legislature and Governor will wake up and realize that the majority of Texans are urban and that a green future for Texas is primarily contingent on our urban form. I don't imagine this will happen in 2008, or the 2009 legislative session, but stranger things have happened. If the Dynamos threepeat in 2008, I'll take that as a sign that we might just look forward to a green session in 2009.

Jay Blazek Crossley does program development and research at the Gulf Coast Institute, a nonprofit think tank whose mission is to improve the quality of life in the Houston region. He grew up in Montrose, is the son of Jody Blazek and David Crossley, and recently returned to Houston after ten years in Austin, where he earned both a B.A. in Liberal Arts and a Master in Public Affairs from the University of Texas.