1/30/26 – A four-million dollar earmark secured by U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw for widening the Walnut Lane Bridge in Kingwood saved the entire $44 Million Kingwood Diversion Ditch Project from being killed by the Democratic members of Harris County Commissioners Court. Crenshaw requested the funding in 2023. Congress awarded it in 2024. Then in 2025, […]
1/29/26 – An investigation by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) found the Texas General Land Office (GLO) did not discriminate against minorities or low-to-moderate income Texans in the distribution of Hurricane Harvey Flood Mitigation Funds. The investigation reviewed more than 80,000 pages of documents. Two Houston groups – the Northeast Action […]
1/28/26 – People living near the Kingwood Diversion Ditch and the Woodridge Village/Taylor Gully area have been asking what happened to their flood-mitigation projects. Good news: Both are moving forward. Here’s some historical context, where the projects currently stand, and what comes next. Kingwood Diversion Ditch The Kingwood Diversion Ditch splits off Bens Branch between […]
1/27/26 – Are you having trouble researching the flood risk of a home? Yours or perhaps one you are considering buying? Worried that your flood risk may have increased over time? If so, the Houston Chronicle wants to hear from you. The Chronicle is conducting a brief survey about flood risk. Investigative reporter Yilun Cheng […]
1/26/26 – Progressives are wrong to critique local leaders for working across the political aisle on flooding: an Op-ed about partisanship originally published in the Houston Chronicle Opinion Section. For eight years, I have hosted the website ReduceFlooding.com, which focuses on the need to reduce flooding in Houston. Pretty straightforward. This also means I spend […]
1/25/26 – One in every five Texans lives in a floodplain, according to the first Texas State Flood Plan. We have the second highest number of repetitive loss properties in the country, according to the Insurance Journal. And 30 states have populations smaller than the number of people living in Texas floodplains. The number of […]
1/22/26 – Despite the City of Houston appealing my FOIA request for Romerica’s drainage impact analysis to the Texas Attorney General, this morning the City emailed both the analysis and a new general plan for Romerica’s proposed floodplain development to another Kingwood resident, Chris Bloch. Bloch shared his copies with me and they raise many […]
1/21/26 – EB-5 visas are a special type of visa designed to attract foreign investment in American infrastructure projects and create American jobs. They put foreigners with approximately a million dollars to invest at the front of the immigration line. I asked ChatGPT, “What happens if you get an EB-5 visa, but then the project […]
1/20/26 at 3:30 PM – Consideration of a plat variance for a swamp development scheduled for a vote by the Houston Planning Commission on 1/22/26 has been delayed until at least 2/5. Houston City Council member Fred Flickinger requested the deferral at 12:25 PM today. Shortly after 3PM, I received confirmation from both Dustin Hodges, […]
1/19/26 – On Thursday, January 22, 2026, at 2:30 PM the Houston Planning Commission may consider approval of a proposed half-billion development in swampland. Specifically, Roman Arrow LLC (AKA Romerica), the developer, has requested plat approval with a variance for a new subdivision between Kingwood Lakes and the Barrington. Draft Agenda Item 89 lists the […]