Some good news from the inbox:
Gene Locke
As part of an agreement approved by Houston City Council today, Harris County Precinct 1 will pay for additional street improvements worth millions of dollars within the Houston city limits by year’s end. This is a continuation of an arrangement Mayor Sylvester Turner and outgoing Commissioner Gene Locke negotiated earlier in the year. A total of $45 million of projects are planned.
“Houstonians are more concerned about seeing results than they are about which governmental entity is paying for them,” said Mayor Turner. “This is government working together to meet the needs of our shared constituents. It is city/county cooperation at its best.”
Harris County has already started work on about seven miles of City streets, including work around NRG Stadium in anticipation of Super Bowl 51. City Council’s vote today clears the way for another five plus miles of City streets to be totally reconstructed or overlaid with asphalt by Harris County in the next four months.
The following City street segments were included in today’s council action:
- Amboy/Wayne from Liberty Road to Quitman
- Carr Street from Mills to Quitman
- Hiram Clarke Rd. from Beltway 8 to W. Fuqua
- Lee Street from Semmes to Jensen
- Noble Street from Jensen to Semmes
- Ruth Street from Scott Street to dead-end
- Scott Street from Elgin to Old Spanish Trail
- Semmes Street from Lorraine to Campbell
- Sumpter Street from Semmes to Jensen
- Waco/Hirsch from I-10 to Clinton Drive
Council’s previous action included:
- Ardmore from Holcombe to Holly Hall
- Bellfort from SH 288 to MLK Blvd.
- Buffalo Speed Way from W. Fuqua to Anderson Road
- Crosstimbers from IH 45 to Shepherd Drive
- El Rio from IH 610 to Holly Hall
- Holly Hall from Fannin to SH 288
- Homestead Road from Laura Koppe to Parker
- Knight Road from IH 610 to Fannin
- McNee from South Main to Kirby
- Yellowstone from SH 288 to Scott
In order to facilitate this agreement, the City must temporarily transfer these streets to the Harris County Road Log. Once the work is finished, the streets will be transferred back to the City’s jurisdiction for ongoing maintenance.
Here’s the Chron story on this. The second list contains the streets around NRG Stadium. This is the fulfillment of a promise Commissioner Locke made a few months ago, and kudos to him for it. I hope we see more of this from Commissioner Ellis next year and afterward.
This is a good approach and I hope Precincts 2, 3 and 4 will eventually participate. They all have significant overlap with the City of Houston.
Just more proof that houston city council has no idea what it’s doing.
Instead of asking city homeowners of a $200k home to pay an extra $12.27, due to repealing the revenue cap.
Harris county taxpayers are on the hook for $45 million to fix city roads.
Joe, you are the clueless one here. Council can’t repeal the revenue cap without a charter election, and I doubt repeal would get a favorable vote from the population at large.
Property owners in the City of Houston pay county taxes at the same rate as the property owners who live outside the city limits. It is about time those of us who live on the City got some benefits from our county taxes.
Ross,
I’m aware that city residents must vote on the revenue cap.
No other US or Texas city has a revenue cap. 4 republican states and 2 democratic states have voted down revenue caps (TABOR) in state wide referendums
Maybe houston city council and city voters are ignorant on basic public finance?
Joe, if you are aware that citizens have to vote to repeal the revenue cap, why are you giving Council a hard time for not doing something they cannot do under the law? And you haven’t explained why you think having the County pay for road work inside the city is a bad deal, even though city residents have been getting screwed by the County for decades.
How else would the city vote on the revenue cap?