Larry Hester lost his sight years ago to a degenerative retinal disease, but he leads me into his comfortable North Raleigh home with barely a touch on chair back or table.

In this world there is only one place he knows better than this house.

It is the business his father started in 1968 when Hester was still in college -- and which Hester and his brother Reece took over when their dad retired.

It's the business the Hesters had to give up to make way for Triangle Transit Authority and plans for a commuter rail system.

Tire Supply, with its generic name and remarkable following, was located on W. Lane Street, right at the hub of what is supposed to become one of TTA's key downtown stations. The Hesters locked its doors the last time on Dec. 31.

One year later, the building is untouched, and the federal government is changing the definitions that determine whether TTA will qualify for the federal funding it needs to make this system go.

The Hesters read the headlines about TTA's murky future with concern.

They worry that if the federal funding dries up, so will the settlement for their building and land. An unnecessary fear, according to TTA's lawyer, Wib Gulley. The Hesters and TTA are entering mediation next month.

Still, the Hesters are also wondering, as many of us are, whether a rail system like this is really feasible. It is no small irony that Hester's comfortable life was built on tires for automobiles.

Hester recalls the day -- nearly seven years ago -- when then-Raleigh city councilman John Odom walked into Tire Supply to tell him his shop would be directly affected by a proposed rail system.

Hester recalls the first official letter from TTA, five years later. And he recalls, with a sad smile, his very first meeting with a TTA representative.

Sitting in his office at Tire Supply that day, Hester says he asked the man, "Do you really think this train thing is going to go through in Raleigh?"

"Absolutely," the TTA rep replied.

Hester thought a moment and in his quiet voice asked: "Do you know what my biggest fear in all this is? My biggest fear is that you're going to take my property and not use it."

"Oh, that'll never happen," the TTA rep assured Hester.

Hester, now retired at 57, shakes his head at the memory.

As Gulley points out, TTA offered to help the Hesters, like other business owners, relocate their shop.

But because he is blind, Hester's situation is a bit different. Having spent his entire adult life at Tire Supply, he knew every crack in the floor, every slant to the counter. His father's manual cash register was still in use; there was nary a computer in the place.

Even when he was completely blind, he could tell whether someone needed a new tire just by placing his hands on the tread. He knew his customers by name and by voice. He considered them friends.

At Tire Supply even more than in his own home, Hester was totally sure-footed. If only we could say the same for the future of commuter rail in the Triangle.