- What’s on Harris County’s Flood Mitigation Wish List So Far, 2 Months Before the Bond Vote That Could Make It All Come True [Houston Chronicle ($); previously on Swamplot]
- 122-Room Hampton Inn & Suites Set To Rise at SH 6 and Hwy. 90 in Sugar Land [HBJ ($)]
- 349,050-SF Spec Industrial Building Dubbed Victory Commerce Center Under Construction on E. Pasadena Blvd. in Deer Park [HBJ ($)]
- Slowpokes To Open New Location in Kirby Grove on the North Side of Levy Park [Houston Chronicle; previously on Swamplot]
- International Smoke Plans Opening in CityCentre Next Month [Eater]
- Grub Burger Bar To Pick Up Where Jerry Built Home Grown Burgers Left Off in CityCentre Next Month [Culturemap]
- Trio of Fast Food Chains Begins Serving Buns Again Following Shared Dissatisfaction with Yeast They Need To Make Them [Culturemap]
- Houston-Based Electrical Contractor IES Residential Awarded Guinness World Record for Assembling Longest Chain of Extension Cables [Houston Chronicle]
Photo of railroad next to Cisneros Design Studio at 800 Sampson St.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
RE: Flood Control Project Proposal
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The list so far seems to be well-thought of from a logistical as well as political angle since they are spreading the wealth around the county. Projects can be added and deleted as public input continues up to the early voting window in August so there’s that, too.
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My largest objection is that if we bankroll $2,500,000,000 for these projects, what are we doing to prevent future development in the floodplain? The first rule of getting out of the proverbial hole is: Stop digging. The $2.5 billion is buying a lot of fill dirt so to speak but, if we’re still digging a hole, then this is all just going to be a waste.
trying to smuggle your kids to a foreign country illegally is a bad risky move anywhere in the world with consequences.
Really Houston needs to take an approach similar to what El Paso did with water usage. El Paso paid residents to pull out their grass lawns and put in xeriscaping. The program was so successful that it saved El Paso from going dry during the 2011 drought. Houston should start providing incentives for people to pull out concrete driveways and parking lots and replace them with permeable surfaces. Same approach towards pulling out St. Augustine grass and replacing it with deep rooted prairie grasses. Green roofs also make a big difference. Make every inch of Houston as spongy as possible to reduce the speed and quantity of runoff. Make all new development meet the highest standards of permeability and detention or pay an impact fee.
Why not use the $2.5 Billion to buy up the flooded properties in the 100 year flood plain and ban additional construction in those areas. Just think of all the great parkland we would have for our money. Most of the projects listed are useless as it will just encourage future stupid projects to be built. Stop the madness.
WR is right, and it looks like they plan on buying a lot of property already, but that property needs to be dedicated as land that will never be developed, either reverted back to wetlands, or turned into park land, or whatever, but never to be developed again.
The problem with buyouts and banning new construction being the focus of a flood prevention plan is that you’re spending the bond money, putting yourself on the hook for bond payments, and shrinking your tax base. Targeted buyouts and channel widening (and the sorts of improvements they’re thinking about) lets you remove some of the “hardest to prevent from flooding” structures while doing less damage to your tax base
@Juancarlos31 …. as others have frequently pointed out on here you don’t actually decrease the tax base, it just moves to a different location. In fact, the newer housing that is built to replace those torn down typically raises the tax base because, after all, the old stuff flooded all the time.
juancarlos,
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presumably, the people who would be bought out still have jobs in Houston, and would still need to live in/around Houston.
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the solution is higher density. 3 townhomes can easily replace a single family lot. The problem is that’s really hard in HOA governed areas. but then, there are lots of empty lands inside the city that can/should be developed.