Rule change could boost light rail plans

Joel Kotkin agreed that Houston’s transit plans could benefit from the new rules because of the city’s dispersed activity centers. He was skeptical, however, of the underlying justification for the policy change. “Livability is sort of somebody’s made-up word,” he said. “Who decides what’s livable? Is it drawn up by some bureaucrat living in Washington, or some academic? It’s sort of a preposterous idea, to tell you the truth.”