Harris County approves tough elevation rules for new construction in floodplains (Houston: sales, crime rates)

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

I may not agree with Turner on everything, but he is no clown.

No, he's not a clown. He's the best politician we've had for Mayor in some time

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

On this issue he is.

Turner doesn't rule by fiat. He doesn't rule at all. He has to convince the 15 or so City Council members to agree to his plan

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

Agree.

Disagree that the city is actually trying to improve on the status quo. . Protecting the SQ is where all the money is. At what point do we actually hold the city accountable for failure to act? Memorial Day, tax day, Harvey?

We've had this discussion already. There is little to nothing the City can do to stop flooding, despite your mewlings to the contrary. It's a regional issue.

Originally Posted by crone

Whatever the city or the county decide to do is 50 years too late. and cannot be done overnight. Can you imagine a new construction on an infill lot in the CoH with county regulations? It will be hard to sell 30 yo existing on grade houses when the new one is 8 elevated 8 feet.

IMO, the city needs to annex the whole unincorporated county. These overlapping jurisdictions are a waste of resources. The retirement pensions alone will kill both entities.

But my question is how are the builders going to raise the houses? My kid had a house in the Heights that was at least 6 feet above ground level, pier and beam. Bring things in and out was a real pita.

Good for them that the old folks would soon be unable to visit.

Those HVACs sitting 5 feet up on a platform look really strange.

If they fill in the whole subdivision with soil, or even just the footprint where will they get the soil?

That will cost a lot more that pier and beam. But if fill it is, where will all that displaced water go?

The City can't annex the entire county without approval from the annexees, which isn't going to happen

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

They need to abolish the city and let it be absorbed by the county. The city is about corruption. The county tries to govern responsibility but the city has too much control of the lucrative tax areas, including places where it provides zero services to homes surrounding big retail.

The County has few powers, and is weak. The City has far more self governing powers

[SpringBrancher]

[quote=WRM20;50330624

Turner doesn't rule by fiat. He doesn't rule at all. He has to convince the 15 or so City Council members to agree to his plan

We've had this discussion already. There is little to nothing the City can do to stop flooding, despite your mewlings to the contrary. It's a regional issue.

[/QUOTE]

Everyone who knows anything about Houston politics knows that we operate in a strong mayoral system which means that the mayor sets the agenda. Council can raise objections or vote no on something particularly egregious, but it's pretty well established by local political scientists that Houston has a strong mayoral system.

Now that you have demonstrated your incompetence, please go away.

There is a lot that can be done at city hall to reduce flooding. Following Emmet's start on permitting is the cheapest, easiest thing to do to get started. But, we keep dragging our feet. Similar proposals have been around since before Memorial Day.

[astrohip]

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

They need to abolish the city and let it be absorbed by the county. The city is about corruption. The county tries to govern responsibility but the city has too much control of the lucrative tax areas, including places where it provides zero services to homes surrounding big retail.

You already destroyed another thread (made it unreadable) by non-stop harping on the city, Turner, flooding, corruption, and how we (COH residents) are idiots because we don't instantly fix a problem that is decades old. And how we're idiots if we pay ANY attention to anything else but flooding until it's fixed. No money for ANYTHING until flooding is a distant memory. As if this is a zero-sum game.

Please don't fork up this thread too. Reasonable discussions are what make online forum fun to participate in. It makes you think, it makes you challenge (and defend) your assumptions. It can open your eyes to new ways of seeing things.

But your one-sided, non-stop harping on this single issue, and your continual vituperative attacks on Turner just drive away all intelligent discussion.

[Dopo]

SpringBrancher obsession with Turner is very annoying

[SpringBrancher]

Originally Posted by Dopo

SpringBrancher obsession with Turner is very annoying

Turner making horrible decisions is very annoying.

Very telling that the first impulse of folks on here is to defend rather than say "yes, Houston needs improved building codes."

[Mr. Clutch]

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

Turner making horrible decisions is very annoying.

Very telling that the first impulse of folks on here is to defend rather than say "yes, Houston needs improved building codes."

I think we've all expressed that Houston needs improved building codes, as well as better flood control infrastructure, and funding to pay for it all. We haven't pooh-poohed those sentiments.

What we are saying is that you're just going to be spitting into the wind if you think that nothing else should happen before flooding is fixed. Houston has other issues, crime, transportation, non-flood infrastructure, etc. and improving those things isn't going to stop just because you believe that flooding should take precedence over it all. It is another issue just like those, and its relative level of importance depends on where you sit. For you, since you flooded, its clearly the number one issue. For someone sitting in traffic 15 hours a week getting to and from work, its probably not their number one issue. For someone repeatedly having to spend money on tires and car service because of poor streets and potholes, its probably not their number one issue. For someone who is having to deal with continual crime, flooding probably isn't their number one issue either. Not everyone here floods and you need to understand that.

I appreciate that you've made your point about flooding clear, but you're not going to change anyone's mind with the idea that the rest of city business should grind to a halt until this issue (which has been an issue since Houston's founding) is fixed. It's not going to happen.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

Turner making horrible decisions is very annoying.

Very telling that the first impulse of folks on here is to defend rather than say "yes, Houston needs improved building codes."

How is this Turner's fault?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graph...=.a96070625325

Over many years, officials in Houston and Harris County have resisted calls for more stringent building codes. Proposals for large-scale flood-control projects envisioned in the wake of Hurricane Ike in 2008 stalled. City residents have voted three times not to enact a zoning code, most recently in 1993.

Rather than impose restrictions on what property owners can do with their land, Houston has attempted to engineer a solution to drainage. The region depends on a network of bayous — slow-moving streams that run east into Galveston Bay — and concrete channels as the main drainage system. Streets and detention ponds are designed to carry and hold the overflow.

“Houston is the Wild West of development, so any mention of regulation creates a hostile reaction from people who see that as an infringement on property rights and a deterrent to economic growth,” said Sam Brody, director of the Center for Texas Beaches and Shores at Texas A&M University. “The stormwater system has never been designed for anything much stronger than a heavy afternoon thunderstorm.”

[SpringBrancher]

Guys, fix all the other issues. I'm just saying Turner has done very little on flooding. In my view, that makes him a failed mayor.

Btw, all those people stuck in traffic coming in are mostly from outside the city. I get that most of the liberal commentators here don't actually live in Houston so your only interest in our policies is purely partisan and that is why you defend, defend, defend, without actually looking at the real record. I vote for D's and R's, but not as a blind partisan.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by SpringBrancher

Guys, fix all the other issues. I'm just saying Turner has done very little on flooding. In my view, that makes him a failed mayor.

Sure, because it's so easy to fix a 6 million people city that was planned incorrectly

[SpringBrancher]

Originally Posted by Dopo

Sure, because it's so easy to fix a 6 million people city that was planned incorrectly

If you don't live in Houston then your opinion is not relevant.