Entries by admin

Crenshaw Secures Funding for 10 Lake Houston Area Projects

Congressman Dan Crenshaw has helped secure Federal funding that supports 10 Lake Houston Area projects. Crenshaw submitted requests for the earmarks in 2023. After review by several different congressional committees, some of the earmark requests were modified and some sailed through for the full amounts. The table below shows requested and approved amounts. Project Originally […]

New Entergy Power Poles Finally Arrive On Northpark

I got a tip last night that new Entergy power poles finally arrived. Today, I photographed the long-awaited equipment. The poles are not up yet. Nothing is connected to them. Most are just lying in the dirt. In the quest to build an all-weather evacuation route for 78,000 Kingwood residents, readers may remember that the […]

City Mobilizing for More West Fork Dredging

Mobilization for the next phase of San Jacinto West Fork dredging is underway. The City of Houston and its contractor DRC (a subsidiary of Callan Marine) are already staging equipment in two places on the West Fork. The program, funded by FEMA, will remove an estimated 800,000 cubic yards of silt and sediment between the […]

Wildly Divergent Colony Ridge Population Estimates Pose Planning Problems

Colony Ridge, the controversial Latino development in Liberty county, has grown at least 50% larger than Manhattan in about a decade. How many people live there? No one knows for sure. Colony Ridge population estimates vary widely. And that has ominous implications for planners. Most of Colony Ridge falls within Census tract 7003.02. The Census […]

Northpark Expansion Update, Still No Sign of Entergy

In the last three weeks, the Northpark expansion project has made slow, but steady progress, despite the fact that Entergy still has not moved any power poles or its transformer. For the moment, contractors seem to be working around the absentee utility issues, which have lingered for four years. The bulk of activity has focused […]

A Visual Testament to the Wonders of Wetlands

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wetlands provide free floodwater storage that helps retain runoff and reduce flooding. Wetlands also reduce erosion and improve water quality. Last, but not least, they also provide habitat for hundreds of species. One of my hobbies has long been bird photography. Few other cities in America offer the […]

Most Effective Forms of Flood Mitigation

In the continuing quest for understanding, today I googled “What are the most effective forms of flood mitigation?” The query returned 284 million results, including the one following. A&M Study of Buffalo Bayou Found Stormwater Storage Most Effective One interesting study co-authored by a Texas A&M professor, Samuel Brody, was titled, “How effective are drainage […]

Easy Way to Reduce Water Usage, Costs, Subsidence and Flood Risk

The Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Service, working with local government organizations, has developed a free, customized program that might help you reduce water usage, costs, subsidence and flood risk. It’s called the WaterMyYard program. A large percentage of the water used in urban areas goes to watering lawns. On average, the EPA estimates 30-60% of […]

Houston’s Resilience and Climate Action Report Card

Houston’s Resilience and Climate Action report card for 2023 shows how much progress has been made in the last three years. In 2020, three years after Hurricane Harvey, the City of Houston completed a comprehensive, and wide-ranging resilience plan. The latest report card also updates on the City’s Resilience efforts as well as its Climate […]

GLO Reviewing HUD Applications for Harris County Projects Totaling Half Billion Dollars

The Texas General Land Office (GLO) is currently conducting a final review on more than $498 million in grant applications from Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) and Harris County Community Services Department (CSD). That’s out of a total allocation of $1,072,033,863 allocated to Harris County. And that means projects for almost half the Harvey […]