The Highland Village
Parent's Group (HVPG)
Update April 1, 2008
Hello Everyone,
We would like to update you on the legal proceedings regarding the FM 2499
section 4 expansion. As you know, the Highland Village Parents Group (HVPG)
filed a lawsuit on December 10 to protect our community from the negative impact
of expanding this four lane highway (to eventually become six lanes) directly
through two residential neighborhoods and abutting two others.
The lawsuit contains solid evidence that numerous laws were not followed in the
approval process including those regarding noise, air quality, and park lands.
Numerous briefs have been filed by attorneys for HVPG and the Defendants
(Federal Highway Administration and TXDOT).
We have attached the original complaint. Following is a list of the most
significant court filings that have occurred to this point (numbered
chronologically). They represent the normal back-and-forth in a case like ours.
The Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss is something we expected.
1. Federal Highway Administration’s Motion to Dismiss
2. State of Texas’s Response in Support of the FHWA’s Motion to Dismiss
3. Our Response to the Motion to Dismiss
4. State’s Answer to the Original Complaint
5. Our Sur-Reply
6. State’s Response to Our Sur-Reply
7. Scheduling Order
As you can see, there has been a significant amount of work done. Should you
wish to review these briefs, please contact us and we will e-mail you the files.
They are all public documents. There is a lot to read and if you do not have
time to review all the documents, rest assured that we believe we will prevail.
We are at a point now where we must ask for financial contributions to keep our
legal team funded. We have one of the best Environmental legal teams available
and they have already donated a significant amount of time as pro bono work
because they believe in our cause.
We would like to ask every family, if able, to contribute at least $100 directly
to our law firm. We would be grateful for any contributions over $100, and would
certainly appreciate any contribution you can make even if it is less than $100.
The HVPG has a Board of 11 members who have funded the project so far, and have
worked long hours to get us to this point.
Please make checks payable to Blackburn & Carter and mail to the following
address:
Blackburn & Carter
4709 Austin Street
Houston, TX 77004
http://www.blackburncarter.com/index.html
You must reference "Highland Village Parents Group" on your check. Please inform
us of your contribution so that we can make sure it is properly credited to the
Fund.
The Texas Department of Transportation has surveyed the Right-of Way but has not
begun the actual construction. The main reason for their inaction is our
lawsuit. However, they can legally begin at any time. Therefore, now, more than
ever, we really need your help to preserve the safety and quality of life we
currently enjoy in Highland Village.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Regards,
HVPG
hvparentsgroup@gmail.com
Lawsuit
12-10-07.pdf
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The Lancet Study:
Study: Living near highways harms children
Proximity to busy roads found to impair kids' lung development
11:38 PM CST on Thursday, January 25, 2007
From Wire Reports
LOS ANGELES - Children living near busy highways have significant
impairments in the development of their lungs that can lead to respiratory
problems for the rest of their lives, University of Southern California
researchers have found in the largest and longest study of its kind.
Children who grew up in homes within 1,500 feet of a freeway or busy roadway
had an average 7 percent less lung strength than children living farther
away, said Dr. James Gauderman, lead author of the study published Thursday
in the British medical journal Lancet. Lung strength is measured by the
amount and force of air expelled.
The 13-year study of more than 3,600 children in 12 Southern California
communities found that the damage from living near a freeway is about the
same as that from living in communities with the highest pollution levels.
"If you live in a high pollution area, and live near a busy road, you get a
doubling" of the damage, said Dr. Gauderman, an epidemiologist at USC's Keck
School of Medicine. "Someone suffering a pollution-related deficit in lung
function as a child will probably have less than healthy lungs all of his or
her life."
The greatest damage appears to be in the small airways of the lung, damage
that is normally associated with the fine particulate matter emitted by
automobiles.
"This tells me that I wouldn't want to be raising my children near a
significant source of fine-particle air pollution," said economist C. Arden
Pope of Brigham Young University, an expert on air pollution and health who
was not involved in the study. "I, myself, would want to be living in areas
where the exposure is lower."
The study was funded by the California Air Resources Board; the National
Institute of Environmental Health Sciences; the Environmental Protection
Agency; the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute; and the Hastings
Foundation.
There has been a growing body of research about the effects of air pollution
on the lungs and cardiovascular system, but most have focused on short-term
effects, linking pollution episodes to heart attacks, asthma attacks,
hospitalization and so forth.
What is unique about this study is the large number of children involved and
the length of time they were studied.
Dr. Gauderman and his colleagues recruited groups of fourth-grade students,
average age 10, in 1993 and 1996. Their schools were scattered from San Luis
Obispo to San Diego counties.
The team collected extensive information about each child's home,
socioeconomic status and other relevant facts.
Once each year, the team visited the schools and measured the children's
lungs, assessing both how much air could be expelled in one breath and how
quickly it could be expelled.
These cohorts of children "are truly an important resource because the study
has been going on so long," said epidemiologist Dr. Jonathan Samet of Johns
Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health, who also did not
take part in the study. The size and scope of the study make it very
difficult to replicate, he said.
Results from the study reported in 2004 indicated that children in the
communities with the highest average levels of pollution suffered the
greatest long-term impairment of lung function.
In the new study, Dr. Gauderman and his colleagues found that, by their 18th
birthday, children who lived within 500 yards of a freeway had a 3 percent
deficit in the amount of air they could exhale and a 7 percent deficit in
the rate at which it could be exhaled compared with children who lived at
least 1,500 yards from a freeway. The effect was independent of the overall
pollution in their community. The most severe impairment was observed in
children living near freeways in the communities with the highest average
pollution.
"Even if you are in a relatively low regional pollution area, living near a
road produces" lung problems, Dr. Gauderman said.
About a third of the children moved during the course of the study, but
stayed in the same community. Lung impairment was smaller among those who
moved farther from the freeways.
The results were also independent of the children's initial health and
whether they were smokers. "This suggests that all children, not just
susceptible subgroups, are potentially affected by traffic exposure," Dr.
Gauderman said.
All the researchers conceded that there is little that can be done to
mitigate the effects of the traffic pollution now.
But when local governments are planning new schools and new housing
developments, Dr. Gauderman said, "this should be taken into account."
The Los Angeles Times and Riverside Press-Enterprise contributed to this
report.
