The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 4, 1973 Page: 3 of 12
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Mass transit for Houston ...?
(Continued from'Page 1)
♦
hoods feel they will be short-
changed (although three HAIi-
TA directors are small town
residents, one is black, and one
is named Quinones). The Com-
mittee on Mass Transportation
(50 members) feels HARTA
would be an oppressive tool of
the Environmental Protection
Agency. The American Auto-
mobile Association thinks the
money would be better spent on
highways, since driving is "a
cherished American freedom."
There are also practical prob-
lems. Since the railroad lobby-
ists succeeded in putting their
tracks off limits, HARTA will
have to spend many millions of
dollars to put in new ones. The
major expense is not construc-
tion, but buying the right-of-
ways. This could be solved by
putting elevated tracks above
the present ones, but such
tracks have been banished as
eyesores in other cities.
If, however, the legislature
amends its bill, or the railroads
become reasonable (which seems
unlikely), using the existing
rails could save a good deal of
money. Each track is equivalent
to 11 freeway lanes of traffic.
Since few lines (outside the
harbor areas) carry more than
30 trains a day, commuters and
the railroads could use the same
track. They have in the past.
Privately owned electric pass-
enger cars (called inter-urban
lines) were common in the US
some years ago. The Pacific
Electric Red Cross operated in
Los Angeles until they went
bankrupt in 19(51. A similar sys-
tem operated between Houston
and Galveston (along what is
now the Gulf Freeway) until
World War II. Amtrack, of
course, still carries passengers
on railway lines (at a loss).
Another problem is getting
people to ride mass transit. In
spite of the fact that bus fare
is considerably less than down-
town parking costs, people pre-
fer to take the car. Only 20%
of the bus riders have cars
available. Bus traffic downtown
has actually decreased since
1953. Even those who support
mass transit generally want
only their neighbors to ride it,
so the freeways will be less
crowded. One can expect, how-
ever, that rising gasoline costs
will eventually force many onto
the bus.
The Tax
As with most complex, hard-
to-understand problems, the
public tends to inflate one issue
into the entire, question. Thus
the vehicle emissions tax has
come to symbolize the entire
mass transit issue. Everyone is
for mass transit, but no one
can agree who should pay for
it.
Some have called the tax un-
constitutional. (As the Thresher
went to press*, Texas Attorney
General John Mitchell ruled
otherwise). Houston Comptrol-
ler Castillo has called the
emissions tax a "phoney"--
"it; will tax the engine size,
not emissions." (So how are
you going to measure the in-
dividual emissions ol: a million
automobiles over a year?)
Mayoral candidate* Hadfield
and Fein consider it "regres-
sive." < Presumably, the alter-
j .{jve sales tax would be more
progressive.)
The fact is no one wants to
pay a tax at all, not even an $8
one. There is some feeling that
$8 is only the camel's nose, and
that HARTA would soon end
up taxing us to death.
There is a mite of logic in
this theory. The Vorhees plan
is expected to total $1.45 billion,
yet the emissions tax will only
bring in $10 million a year. So
will we have to wait 150 years
before HARTA has saved
enough pennies to put us on the
road? Not quite; HARTA has
a godfather. The Federal Urban
Mass Transit Administration
will put up $4 for every dollar
HARTA raises. So the $1.45
billion dollar project will run a
mere $290 million. Even so,
HARTA's $10 million/year is
going to be spread a little thin.
In about five years, they will
have to ask the legislature to
let them increase taxes for
further developm ent.
Outlook
Eight dollars a year (2'.a
cents a day} is not very mucn
to ask for a sophisticated mass
transit system. Evert - . the
Today hare fairly ade-
quate trar.- /station. On Oc-
tober 6, we "vV... vote on a tran-
sit proposal. By lfc'P-l, when the
county will have a population of
J.7 million, things will probably
be a lot worse.
steve jackson
State schools urged to double fees
Graduate advisors
An influential business
has recommended that public
universities double tuition
charges so that more financial
aid can be made available for
students in proportion to their
need. The proposal also called
for greater public assistance to
private universities.
S i m i 1 a r recommendations
have been made by the Car-
negie Commission and the Col-
lege Entrance Examination
Board. Although the primary
goal is massive increases in stu-
dent aid, a secondary effect
would be to halt the widening
Off-campus
Greaser party
set for Friday
By AMAZON
REMINDER: Friday night in
the RMC there will be a Rock
and Roll Revival, from 8 till
lam. Free beer, wine and coke.
As the sign says, "Come as you
were!" Music by KTRU, gnome
work by the RPC and Off-Cam-
pus Committee.
If you want to make $1.70
an hour by working in elec-
tion central on November 6,
contact the President of your
respective college. You will be
biking back and forth from
Jones /Brown to Herman Brown,
delivering election results which
will in turn be relayed to the
media. You are guaranteed at
leasit FOUR hours work.
Paper-Person needed to de-
liver copies of the Thresher
to Herman Brown and Science
Buildings on Friday mornings;
no pay, but immense personal
satisfaction. Please see Amazon
who will gladly give up her
paper route so she can make
it on time to Porno 400a.
gap between costs of public
and private schools.
Under the four-year program,
tuition would be increased to
the point where it would equal
half the cost of instruction.
Currently, students pay about
one-fifth the costs of instruc-
tion at public schools. Average
tuition (based on 19G9-70)
would increase form $413 to
$996 at a state university.
Low-income, students w o u 1 d
be eligible for grants, but stu-
dents from families with in-
come greater than $12,000
would pay full costs. A large
part of the new funds would
be used for loans.
Sterling M. McMurrin, dean
of the. graduate school at the
University of Utah, former US
Commissioner of Education,
and director of the study, has
criticized the tuition increase
proposal, saying, "I believe it is
going to possibly create a situa-
tion where some middle-income
people might not be able to af-
ford a college education."
(Continued from Page 1)
which many Rice students could
have benefited from had they
ben aware of its existence. The
deadline for application under
this program was only a .few-
days after Rice began its fa11
term. If we had known who was
considering medical school, we
could have sent this informa-
tion out during the summer to
those concerned."
A similar agreement with
Columbia Law School was so
badly publicized that only one
of two available positions was
filled. Any junior interested in
this program for 1974 should
call Dr. Awapara immediately,
as the deadline is approaching.
There will be a meeting this
evening, Oct. 4, at 7 pm in
Sewall 301, for all pre-meds or
potential pre-meds. Application
procedures and other aspects of
medical school entry will be
discussed.
Other information, advising,
and academic counseling will be
available. Officers from pro-
fessional schools will visit Rice,
and notices will be sent out to
those, concerned via the pre-
1) rofe s si < > n al off i c < ■.
Up In The Air: KTRU gets listener response
by LINDA STEPHENS
Take one professional disc
jockey, several informed and
versatile experts on almost any-
thing, and a listening audience
with itchy dial fingers, and
you've got KTRU's newest
edifying addition to the Hous-
ton air waves.
Conceived as "more than just
a talk show," "Up In The Air"
tries to offer an alternative to
the usual radio programming,
says host Greg Rinehart. Pre-
sented each Wednesday from 7
to 10pm, the show is some-
thing new in KTRU's varied
schedule. Future segments will
discuss filmmaking, the Ma-
haraji Ji movement (possibly)
and "for sure," says Rinehart,
"a Halloween show talking
about all the interest in witch-
craft."
The format of the show is
flexible enough to allow it to
go in any direction. Listeners
call in to ask questions, chal-
lenge the guest, and expound
their own ideas. "The way that
the show goes depends a great
deal on the input from the
listeners," Rinehart notes.
Automobile expert Walter
Granger elicited a number of
calls, as did Marion Hicks, Di-
rector of Rice Food Services.
Telephone response varies with
the topic, says Rinehart, who
added that sometimes callers
want to talk to each other. In
that case, a consultation call is
hooked up between the show
and one or more callers.
Topics for programs in the
last five weeks have included
the economy, sociology, fear of
crime, mass transit, and auto-
mobiles. Next week's guest is a
representative from the Liberty
Lobby. Rinehart, who origi-
nated the idea for the show,
plans most of the segments,
with suggestions from the
KTRU staff and producer Lucy
Rinehart. An ex-KTRU station
manager, Greg graduated last
year and is now an all-night
disc jockey at KAUM radio.
"It's not your typical public
affairs show," he said, adding
that he plans about a week in
advance with his guests. "It can
be whatever the listeners want
it to be, because it doesn't
bother anyone if we get off the
subject. As long as people are
batting ideas around, that's
what counts.
Guests each week are usually
willing to follow the direction
that a caller takes, Rinehart
said, and have solidified the in-
formal, ad hoc nature of the
program. "It's a chance to
loosen up and jar everyone out
of their restrictive patterns of
thought."
"1 know that after being
challenged all day by profes-
sors, it may not be terribly
appealing to be challenged
again, but it is kind of relax-
ing. You get a chance to talk
to someone who knows hisi
stuff, and express your opi-
nion, too, about something you
may have pushed aside for clas-
ses."
^|©1^ Why do you drink,
Gort? Uou oughta smoke
pot! Pot's riot addictive f
Alcohol is! Pot's not
harmful 1 Alcohol shortens
your liPe-span!
Pot deters violence!
Pot reduces aggressiveness!
But alcoholf.alcohol is
responsible Pora third
oPall murder vict...
He was right about
the violence...
wrong about the
life-span bit. ^
"vX—-I /
©117/ UiicCvuCWfct
the rice thresher, oetober I, 197.'J—page .1
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Jackson, Steve. The Rice Thresher (Houston, Tex.), Vol. 61, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, October 4, 1973, newspaper, October 4, 1973; Houston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth245172/m1/3/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Rice University Woodson Research Center.