in the United States without a rail system after the 1990 opening of the Blue Line in Los Angeles. After issuing an RFP in July 1990, METRO received five proposals for the design and development of the fixed guideway system. In March 1991, METRO approved a plan to develop a monorail system similar to the one operating at Walt Disney World in Orlando at an estimated cost of $1.27 billion, operating along the extended Southwest/Westpark corridor between the Houston Galleria and downtown Houston. The proposed monorail system would operate with an initial segment servicing western residential regions west of downtown to Beltway 8 (Sam Houston Tollway), with construction planned to start in 1993 and revenue service to begin by 1998. Future planned expansions included one leg that would connect downtown with the Texas Medical Center and Astrodome to the south, and another leg connecting downtown to Texas Southern University and the University of Houston. In 1991, U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay removed $65 million in federal funding for the rail line and after Lanier was elected mayor of Houston in 1992, defeating Whitmire, the plan was stopped. Lanier's election was seen as a second referendum on the monorail plan; the funding was diverted to road projects and police patrols instead. Main Street Line After these setbacks, Houston drew up a rail plan without federal subsidies and published it in 1997 as the Houston METRO 2020 Regional Transit Plan. The Houston city council approved the light rail project in November 2000 and set a January 25, 2001 date for a groundbreaking ceremony, but councilmember Rob Todd filed a lawsuit opposing construction, claiming the METRO organization was a "private business" and subject to Houston City Charter provisions requiring a public vote on business use of its streets; the ceremony was cancelled following a temporary restraining order, issued by Judge Tony Lindsay on January 18. Todd was joined as co-plaintiff by Allan Vogel, one of 1,100 residents who signed a petition seeking a public vote on the light rail plan. Judge Lindsay later recused herself from the case due to her personal ties to Todd and her husband's public opposition to METRO. She was succeeded by District Judge John P. Devine, who issued an injunction on February 2, halting work on the light rail project and holding up contract awards. A second lawsuit was filed by four property owners. The injunction issued by Judge