HOUSTON -- Louis C. Ray has seen progress first hand. She was part of the integration of her Washington Terrace neighborhood nearly 60 years ago, but she said the progress that METRO is planning to make down Wheeler Street makes her nervous.

"We want to maintain our neighborhood, plus we don't want to be displaced. We don't want our livelihood affected," Ray said.

Last week, Wheeler Street was chosen as part of the eastern leg of the new METRORail University Line.

Some residents, including Ray, said they fear they will lose their homes to eminent domain once the light rail system is built.

Those concerns moved U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee to call a town hall meeting to share information and to allow stakeholders to voice their problems.

"You have to get the community to understand. We could have done better, frankly," Jackson Lee said. "I think we'll hear about that, but what i'm here to do is to solve problems."

METRO officials said that even though the project is moving forward and the alignment has been selected, lessening the impact on residents is a priority.

By moving one transit center one block west on Dowling Street, they have been able to reduce the number of impacted properties from 35 down to 17.

"We've reduced the number of impacted properties to a minimum here and we will continue to work with the community to see if we can minimize it even more," METRO spokeswoman Sandra Aponte Salazar said.

Jackson Lee said the rail will be cause hardship for some, but it is an investment in the community.

"We expect to recruit at least 2,000 at-risk or unemployed adults to work on this project," said Jackson Lee. "(It is) a $2 billion plus project that is going to generate huge amount of dollars for small minority and women-owned businesses."

While they had a chance to speak out, residents like Ray said they fear they will not have much influence.

"They're going to do what they're going to do, but we want them to know that we object," said Ray.

METRO officials said Wheeler Street was chosen for the eastern leg of the University Line because it could best serve the Texas Southern University faculty, students and staff.