Houston Rain Event: Memorial Day (2015)

Memorial Day Rain Event, Houston Texas (2015)

(Houston) On my daughter’s 14^th birthday, May 25, 2015 she celebrated by shopping, seeing a movie at the River Oaks Theatre, and eating dinner w/ her best buddy Elizabeth. My son attended another birthday party in Fort Bend County on Monday night, and we waited for him to return home around 10p.m., just as the storms intensified.

Finally, our team congregated all under one roof; while many weren’t so lucky. The storms were fierce, the lightning struck often, and the thunder shook the house. The Rockets hung on to win Game 4 of the Western Conf. finals; however thousands of cars were stranded in downtown while the waters rose up and out of Houston’s bayous.

Our family huddled high in our tree house; Hampton watching the wx-radar on his iPad and Eliza squealing every time the lightning illuminated the room. She loves a good storm the way some people love horror stories! Towards midnight the waters rose all over the city. Over 10-inches of rain fell in west Houston, and the Braes Bayou watershed that meanders through the Medical Center peaked higher than two other major rain events: Hurricane Ike (2008) and Tropical Storm Allison, 15-years ago.

Buffalo Bayou Flood Stage

This major storm raged, but our little family unit watched it from the safety of the Master bedroom. Rain fell in sheets and the street outside our house turned into a river, carrying away the trash receptacles waiting for tomorrow’s pickup. Daddy bravely retrieved them from the intersection a block away; but he returned soaked and scared at the power of the rising water.

Just one mile away, Buffalo Bayou rose up an over the banks trapping many in their cars. We lost power for a while, but sitting together in the dark wasn’t so bad since we had the togetherness to keep us courageous. We talked about the way the bayou rose quickly at our old house in Linkwood, and we remembered fondly the night Eliza came into the world, 14-years ago.

We are a close family and we know deep in our hearts that we can survive anything together; this proved itself to be true many times over the years. God’s power is immense, but we also see his love in our union. We woke to a flooded city, HISD cancelled school, and Daddy didn’t go into work until afternoon. Hamp was still asleep; but he rested peacefully. We don’t know when the flood waters will recede, but we know how tightly we held to each other on this historic night.

Downtown Dry





Taking Potshots at Potholes

Taking Potshots at Potholes:

Public Stewardship & Public Enemy #1

An immediate gratification, “rock-star” culture says, “you can have it all;” so why can’t the City of Houston have sexy parks, bridges, trails, foliage, bayou views, separate paths for bikers and runners; as well as smooth streets without potholes?

 

Citizen drivers weave around on decaying streets, further burdening them as they try to live their stressful lives. A smooth ride is interrupted by a sudden jolt, unexpected and jarring. Pressure builds, heightened by the inconvenience and pain of traffic in Houston: too many people going in the same direction at the same time. I believe that minimally, our government owes us good roads, just as it says it owes its citizens equal justice under law. Don't you agree?

As my car’s under-carriage rattles over concrete crevasses, dodging massive cracks in our pavement the size of the San Andreas Fault; there’s no avoiding the havoc wreaked by this civic catastrophe. If you’ve ever survived the gauntlet of Houston’s potholes in almost any neighborhood, look at the vehicle in front of you as the road tries to eat it alive; most of our automobiles weren’t made for this kind of abuse. Watch the violent shaking and jostling  of the car’s suspension in front of you; if you see natural mechanical reactions then let me know: it looks horrible to me.

Blogging about this problem is my humble attempt to echo satirist Paddy Chayefsky’s famous line spoken by the outrageous Howard Beale in Network (1976). Don't view my effort as caricature; indeed, my hopes are that at least one local elected official, even the Honorable Mayor, would read this and know that there are thousands of honest, taxpaying citizens of this city that are thinking the same irate thoughts but don’t have the time, voice, or platform to yell out from their car windows:

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!"

(MGM, 1976)

Buffalo Bayou Park stretches over 10 miles from Shepherd to the central business district with a wide variety of public recreational areas on both sides of the bayou. Multiple years and millions have produced a gem for all Houstonians. I’m not anti-park or anti-public recreation; this new area along the bayou is Houston’s answer to Central Park. Having exercised in this area, it's clear it is a wonderful addition to our public life; however, I also drive hundreds of miles all over Houston’s lousy streets, bouncing from one canyon to another in the regular roadways of our city. To which person do we cater? The commuter or the tri-athlete; the delivery truck or the strolling mommy? If the solution is not unlimited taxation; civic priorities must constantly be weighed like a personal budget: wants versus needs?

 

Buffalo Bayou Park Under Construction

I’m not complaining that there are as many construction cranes and concrete trucks barreling along Houston’s roads as any city in the country. There is inconvenience in “progress;” just as the drought and roots of our massive live oaks buckle the ground underneath the road beds.

 

This blog-post is heavy on advocacy and light on blame; potholes surpassed mosquitoes as public enemy #1 in the bayou city—the solution is not complicated: spray for pests and patch the holes in every neighborhood. If NASA can put spaceships into orbit, our elected representatives can fix the plague of potholes. One district, one street at a time!

 

This chastisement of public stewardship finds root in the recent wasting of city funds on non-performing investments like red-light cameras (Civil settlement, $12MM), or Astrodome maintenance ($1MM/annually). One repaired hole costs $20, so I'd trade a dark Astrodome for 50,000 less potholes, wouldn't you? And this pothole-burden isn’t an isolated situation; there are other city's municipal budgets shrouded in debt, or floundering in mismanagement whose streets engulf drivers too. On the other hand, this city is booming; there’s no reason all our gasoline taxes can’t fix the crumbling roads. It's a management problem Houston; but where is the political will to fix it? Is anyone listening?

 

(Ever heard the joke; Q: How many City of Houston workers does it take to fill a pothole? A: 9!)

 

Government at the local level is about as basic as it gets in politics! This isn’t about Super-PACs, Hilary Rodham-Clinton, or Meet the Press. CNBC’s Rev. Al Sharpton won’t stoop so low as to talk about potholes, because they don’t involve race. Nevertheless, this political message carries immediate impact: the same way my car shakes with a boom; unexpectedly careening over a gaping chasm of concrete. If Houston is a first-class, global city; it should act like it.

Mayors famously lose their elected offices for not clearing snow or rescuing stranded citizens in a hurricane? The key component of a city government is their Budget: it’s the city’s business plan. Whether to spend important budget dollars on one project over another (especially when they're both good) provides circumstances in city government critical to quality of life in the town. Even in a city as large as Houston, tough choices can cost elected officials their jobs. Now is this sort of time. I’m urging our city government to drive around the streets and realize the embarrassing condition of the roads: pocked and pitted, gaping gashes, ribbons running like giant fissures; streets grey and cratered like the Moon's surface. While running along our largest bayou is a newly constructed, pristine fitness path:

Trail under the Waugh Bridge

Unlike Howard Beale, I’m not trying to get you to do anything. No class-action lawsuit, no riots, don’t call your favorite talk show on AM Radio, don’t even write your Congressman. I wouldn’t know what to say to a Congressman anyway. They answer your letters with canned forms, computer-generated rhetoric, anyway?! If you feel led; communicate however you feel comfortable. If you hear me, forward someone a link to my blog. I’m speaking for you right now by saying, "I'm mad as hell about these terrible Houston roads ruining my nice car!” 

Scenes from the Pothole Playhouse: 

(Screaming)
(Citizen): “I'm not going to take this horse-pookey anymore; our city has enough money to fix the potholes; if it would just use the political capital to do so;” he adds, "I'll be the chairman of the Pothole Task Force."

(Pointing accusingly)
(Second citizen): “For once, do something practical with our money; not just what gets the fancy attention, like a pretty new Park!” “Jeez, dude. Do your job, or let someone else try…” "It's not that darn complicated."

 

 Op-ed©2014—Mark H. Pillsbury (Houston, Texas)

Follow more on Twitter® (@markpills) 

[Serious Legal Disclaimer:  thoughts expressed here are my own, and do not represent the political opinions of any group, organization, or corporation with which I associate. The first amendment and the rules of the blogosphere protect all the free speech exercised herein. This doesn't represent a political cause or party, nor does it endorse a particular candidate. If an elected official feels offense or shame over the subject matter of this post, their response is out of my control, and they need to take a long look in the mirror.]

All pictures are ©2014—Mark H. Pillsbury (Houston, Texas) #nofilter

 

-30-