METRO Watch: Main Street rail line built for downtown businesses

Houston Chronicle: Why no monorail: For city's transit riders, two rails better than none

When Metro, during Mayor Lee Brown's administration, wanted to build a rail line in the Main Street corridor, the transit agency had to foot the entire bill with local money.

The cost constraints dictated that the modest line run at the same level as traffic. A spokesman for Metro said a cost analysis was never done for monorail because monorail was unanimously rejected by the property owners and institutions along the Main Street corridor.

It would appear METRO's mission statement gets it backwards. Their job is to provide economic growth for select downtown businesses at the expense of those of us who live and own businesses in the suburbs.