Despite occasional hurricanes and biblical rainfalls, there’s no place I’d rather live than the Lake Houston Area. Where else can you find all the amenities of Houston next to so much nature? Below are some of my favorite photos taken here over the years. And then there are the spectacular sunrises and sunsets. Dr. Charles […]
12/20/23 – Legal woes are mounting for Colony Ridge. Today, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) filed suit against the controversial Liberty County developer and the companies they own or control. The government filed a complaint against land development companies Colony Ridge Development, LLC and Colony Ridge BV, […]
A new study of “climate migration” by the First Street Foundation looks at how flood-risk information affects real-estate sales. It found that the availability of high-resolution data affects home buying, sometimes in surprising ways. The foundation’s mission is to make climate-risk data accessible, easy to understand and actionable for individuals, governments, and industry. It estimates […]
According to a December 15 press release by the Texas Water Development Board, Phase 1 of Houston’s new Northeast Water Purification Plant expansion is nearing completion. Phase 1 will supply 80 million gallons per day of treated surface water to the residents of Harris County, Fort Bend County and City of Houston. Two more phases […]
Inflation has reduced the 2018 Flood Bond’s purchasing power. The general rate of inflation during the last five years adds up to 20%. That could potentially eliminate one fifth of the projects in the flood bond. It’s a serious concern for the people whose mitigation projects have been put at the end of the line […]
For residents of flood-prone areas such as Northpark South, only the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) stands between a river and ruin. But ironically, efforts to staunch financial hemhorraging are making NFIP flood insurance unaffordable for many with low incomes. That creates an uncertain future for developments and people in or near floodplains. Moreover, Congress […]
The Texas Water Development Board is seeking public comment on its plan to allocate $375 million in funding from the State’s flood infrastructure fund for the 2024-25 state fiscal year. That prompted me to compare the TWDB and Harris County plans for ranking flood projects. The differences remind me of how the scoring systems favor […]
In the 2023 runoff election for Mayor of Houston, John Whitmire won by a landslide. Kingwood voted for Whitmire at much higher rates than the city as a whole. He won 91.4% of the votes in Kingwood – a 10.6 to 1 margin of victory over Sheila Jackson Lee, compared to 1.9 to 1 for […]
This is a week for good news and bad. Yesterday, we locked in another $50 million for the Lake Houston Gates Project. But one of the key people who helped us secure that funding is himself locked in a runoff election for City of Houston Mayor. And turnout so far has been abysmally low. Whitmire […]
Misleading statements. Broken promises. Redefining commonly accepted meanings of words. Math that doesn’t add up. Gobbledygook explanations. These practices have all become “business as usual” in Harris County Commissioners Court. And they come with a high price tag. Bait-and-Switch Bonds To get the 2022 Road and Parks Bond approved, County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Commissioner Adrian […]