This is ambitious.
Mayor Sylvester Turner
After local leaders stood on the banks of Brays Bayou to celebrate a creative agreement that is expected to speed up work on a long-delayed effort to lessen the risk of flooding in southwest Houston, some angry Meyerland-area flood victims peppered them with questions.
The press conference was called to tout a plan under which the city of Houston would borrow $46 million from the state, give the cash to the county to speed up work on Project Brays, then be reimbursed later with federal dollars.
City officials hope to repeat that process for two other bayous – White Oak and Hunting- ultimately forwarding the county about $130 million.
For more background on this effort, click here. For more information on another recent flooding initiative Mayor Sylvester Turner and his “flood czar,” Steve Costello, announced, click here.
And for more information about Project Brays, visit this county Flood Control District page.
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Turner — who, like flood control officials — was mobbed by residents after he stepped down from the podium, answered questions for several minutes before departing.
“There’s no question that there are frustrations and I understand the frustrations,” the mayor said. “Nobody wants their homes flooded once, four times or seven times. And that’s why the city, in an unprecedented move, took the lead and borrowed the $43 million. Now we have certainty that this project will be completed.”
Harris County Flood Control District Director Russ Poppe said his agency expects to complete channel widening through Meyerland to Fondren in the next two years. The city loan, which will be used chiefly for downstream bridge replacements, is important, he said, because bridges that are too low can create significant backups, heightening the flooding risk for those upstream.
The Mayor’s press release is here, and as you can see there are statements from multiple other elected officials, at different levels of government. The plan, which has received preliminary approval from Council, is a bit convoluted, but it’s also an example of Mayor Turner leveraging his experience in the Legislature to forge complex agreements. Homeowners who have been badly harmed by recent floods had some understandable questions about how all this will affect them, not all of which are addressed by this plan. Still, I think we can all agree that bayou improvements are a key component in flood mitigation, and streamlining the process to make it happen more quickly will help. It would be nice if we could come to a similar consensus about preserving flood plains and wetlands, but one step at a time. The Press has more.
Reading the Houston Press article, I noticed that there is not unanimous sentiment among flood victims that bayou improvement is the key factor. The Chronicle last week ran a guest op-ed from Save Buffalo Bayou disputing that bayou widening is a good approach. Finally I have to wonder who in the Trump administration is going to look benevolently upon a city/county that voted for his opponent and cooperate with this scheme.
“Finally I have to wonder who in the Trump administration is going to look benevolently upon a city/county that voted for his opponent and cooperate with this scheme.”
So will that finally be the thing that makes TX GOP members of Congress push back? Most of them will have to answer to the voters in 2 years, and there are going to be some very angry constituents if flood mitigation projects get deliberately stalled.