- Army Corps To Examine Harris County Flood Control Regulations [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Harvey Evacuees Moved from NRG Center to Former Macy’s Inside Greenspoint Mall [Fox 26]
- Harvey Survivors Now Have Until Oct. 10 To Move Out of Hotels [Houston Chronicle]
- New Maps Show How Contaminated Houston Surface Water Was After Harvey [Houston Chronicle]
- Testing the Soil and Sludge Near the Arkema Plant Explosion [abc13]
- EPA Has Recovered 517 Containers Filled with Unidentified, Potentially Hazardous Material from Texas Waterways [AP]
- Unofficial Dump Sites Pop Up in Richmond, Northwest Harris County [Houston Chronicle]
- Harvey Debris Removal Slowed by Waits at Landfills [The Texas Tribune]
- Harvey Raises Questions of Whether MUDs Are Sufficiently Transparent and Accountable [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Kingwood Homeowners File Lawsuit Against State Officials Over Harvey Flooding [Houston Public Media]
- Mercer Botanic Gardens Faces Massive Recovery After Harvey [Houston Chronicle]
- Inside the Flooded Wortham Theater Center [abc13]
- Buffalo Bayou Partnership: Harvey Shows Need for More Flood-Smart Green Spaces [Houston Public Media; previously on Swamplot]
- Why Hurricane Harvey Will Happen Again [Texas Monthly]
- Do Houston’s Development Policies Worsen the Severity of Flooding? [The Urban Edge]
- Opinion: Zoning Won’t Save Houston But Greener Rules Might [Houston Chronicle]
- Rice Architecture Prof Albert Pope: It’s Time To Vacate the 100-Year Floodplain [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Galveston Bay Oyster Population Decimated by Harvey [Houston Chronicle ($)]
- Heights Mercantile To Open 8 More Businesses by Mid-October, Including Houston’s First Warby Parker [HBJ]
- Reopening of Willowridge HS, Closed Before Harvey for Mold Issues, Pushed Back to January [abc13]
Photo of Conservatory, 1010 Prairie St.: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
The piece on vacating the 100-year flood plain shows an overhead view of what’s left of Arbor Oaks. I found this 2002 Chron article from when the buyout was happening there after Allison and other floods.
http://www.chron.com/news/article/Arbor-Oaks-residents-resigned-to-home-buyouts-2085632.php
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Looking at the map, I see that this neighborhood, like the intersection of Fry and Mason I commented on last week, is situated between two streams, in this case White Oak Bayou and Vogel Creek. Who builds these things? This location would actually be a great place to dig a detention pond, if they could get rid of the last 13 houses. Or be like China and the Three Gorges Dam and just do it.
I had no idea the MUDs were so feudalistic! Suddenly everything makes sense.
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This is probably why it is futile to attempt to lure Amazon’s HQ2 to Katy. I’ve noticed they’re not even bothering to try.
Katy has plenty going for it and does have an economic development body, but…what does it have to offer up to Amazon HQ2? A fulfillment center, sure, a Whole Foods, okay. A 50,000-person headquarters for a company specializing in logistics/tech/retail that specifically demands economic stability, transit, and access to a major international airport? No, leave that pitch for another community, maybe The Woodlands and the North Houston Assn.
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Yeah, but about MUDs, I don’t really understand the specific complaint as it relates to flood control in a 1000-year storm. Developers follow regs for design work and MUDs finance and maintain that. If the regs were inadequate (a totally valid complaint, although prescient only in hindsight) then that is an issue with the state legislature, county commissioners, or a city council and FEMA. Okay, sure, transparency is an issue (a given by virtue of the public’s general ignorance), but if you don’t think that ex parte and other unethical communication is an issue in traditional municipal politics then that’s just being naive. And municipalities are statutorily required to perform a broad array of services; having a MUD is more like getting your basic infrastructure a la carte and that works pretty well in most cases.
I drive by Greenspoint Mall daily and it’s quite unusual to see the “beehive of activity” at the former Macy’s from it’s recent use as a shelter. I haven’t seen that many cars outside the building since the early 80’s! Ironically, the “For Lease” sign still hangs prominently on the west wall.