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Seventh in a series of eight articles on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County. For the last two years, I’ve heard the same tirades in commissioners’ court – that rich neighborhood’s get all the flood-mitigation money while the poor neighborhoods get none. According to Commissioners Ellis and Garcia, that’s because higher home values in rich neighborhoods […]

The post Looking Through the Wrong End of the Drainpipe: The Politics of Misdirection appeared first on Reduce Flooding.

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June 26, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Watersheds with Low Voter Turnout Get Most Flood-Mitigation Funding

Sixth in a series of eight articles on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County In August of 2018, Harris County voters approved a historic flood bond of $2.5 billion. Afterwards, KTRK ABC13 created an interactive precinct-by-precinct voter turnout map for the referendum. Now, with spending data for flood mitigation projects in hand, we can see that, in general, but not in every […]

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June 25, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Racial Rhetoric Distracts from Focus on Real Solutions to Flooding Problems. Here is Why.

Fifth in a series of eight articles on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County On April 11, Russ Poppe, executive director of the Harris County Flood Control District, resigned after two years of hounding by Commissioners Rodney Ellis and Adrian Garcia over the distribution of flood-bond money. Ellis and Garcia kept pushing Poppe to accelerate flood-mitigation […]

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June 24, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Low-Income Watersheds Get Three Times More Flood-Mitigation Funding Per Square Mile

Fourth in a series of eight on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County Since 2019, Commissioners Ellis and Garcia have harped on the need for more “equity” in flood-mitigation funding. They and some residents in their precincts allege that all the money is going to high-income watersheds while minority, low-income watersheds get “none.” Ellis repeatedly complains […]

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June 23, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Six Low-Income Watersheds Receive More Funding than 15 Higher Income Watersheds Combined

Third of an eight-part series on flood-mitigation funding in Harris County Some people and their representatives in low-to-moderate-income (LMI) watersheds have complained that they get “no” flood-mitigation funding and that the money is all going to richer watersheds. Allegedly, that’s because home values are higher there and thus favor higher benefit/cost ratios (a sort of […]

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June 22, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Six Low-Income Watersheds Receive One Billion Dollars More than Six High-Income Watersheds

Second in a Series of Eight Articles on Flood-Mitigation Funding in Harris County If the charges of racial and income bias in flood-mitigation funding in Harris County were true, you would expect the poorest neighborhoods to get less funding than the most affluent. But the opposite is true. They get a billion dollars more Contrary to the “equity” […]

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June 21, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Surprise! Surprise! Halls, Greens Watersheds Get $422 Million of Flood-Mitigation Funding, Not “ZERO.”

First in an Eight-Part series on Flood-Mitigation Funding in Harris County Recently, many local leaders, citizens and media have claimed that two largely minority and low-to-moderate-income (LMI) Harris County watersheds – Halls and Greens Bayous – have gotten no flood-mitigation funding. The actual data shows the exact opposite of what many people have been told, i.e., that […]

The post Surprise! Surprise! Halls, Greens Watersheds Get $422 Million of Flood-Mitigation Funding, Not “ZERO.” appeared first on Reduce Flooding.

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June 20, 2021 Reduce Flooding

What’s Going On in Your Neighborhood?

Ever drive down a road, see someone clearing land, and wonder what was going in? Every wonder what the boundaries of your Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone (TIRZ) were? Do you know where the boundaries of your City, Council district, and the City’s Extra Territorial Jurisdiction (ETJ) are? Plat Tracker is Gateway to Understanding Developments Around […]

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June 17, 2021 Reduce Flooding

Why Harris County’s Northern Watersheds Are Different

Every once in a while you see something that distills the essence of a problem…and perhaps a solution. This map hit me between the eyes with the force of a 2×4. It shows the physical and political boundaries of every Harris County Watershed. Flood Control Out of Bounds Notice how three watersheds on the northern […]

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June 15, 2021 Reduce Flooding

GLO Letters to HUD, Green, Garcia Tell Another Side of Mitigation Funding Story

Two letters from Texas General Land Office (GLO) – one to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the other to US Representatives Al Green and Sylvia Garcia – explain the GLO’s awards in a recent competition for $1.1 billion in Harvey mitigation funding. GLO Commissioner George P. Bush sent the first […]

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