Mismanaged Annexation

[The Great Hizzy!]

I was doing a Google search on Houston's blighted 'hoods and came across this old Chronicle article that I obviously missed. It really explains a lot and underlines why people who are anti-Lee Brown are so anti-Lee Brown.

That said, this has more to do with a long history of poorly conceived annexation and expansion as well as a lack of priority with regards to bringing even the most impoverished neighborhoods to standard.

The link:

Hasty Annexation

[The Great Hizzy!]

And I at least feel better that someone at City Hall put together a plan to address this. I'd always been working under the assumption that City Hall was essentially clueless or indifferent towards the situation. From the article:

In the past 20 years, as the pace of annexations slowed, city officials turned their attention to improving conditions in long-neglected neighborhoods. Through the Neighborhoods To Standard program begun by former Mayor Bob Lanier and continued under Mayor Lee Brown, for example, the city has spent almost $100 million resurfacing nearly 2,000 miles of streets and has replaced or upgraded more than 31,000 streetlights at a cost of $2.5 million.

Neighborhoods To Standard brings such improvements as street resurfacing, ditch regrading and streetlight replacement to a dozen or so targeted neighborhoods each year. Throughout the rest of the city, however, the Brown administration often is unable to keep up with routine maintenance needs.

I'm hoping that Mayor White will rekindle this as his next or close to next project.

[GovernorAggie]

Exactly--Settegast could use all the help it can get.

On the same note, Harris County should be ashamed of itself for the conditions in some of its jurisdictions. How can you brag about being the 3rd most populous county in America with areas that are so substandard?

[kzseattle]

Exactly--Settegast could use all the help it can get.

On the same note, Harris County should be ashamed of itself for the conditions in some of its jurisdictions.  How can you brag about being the 3rd most populous county in America with areas that are so substandard?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

An old article on rapid annexation:

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/evergreen.mpl/.../tx/gulf/683502

[The Great Hizzy!]

Mr. Snooty Firefighting Professional...

j/k