Shepherd Dr. And Durham Dr. Reconstruction

[samagon]

19 hours ago, JLWM8609 said:

Hmm. At this rate, he might be first one term mayor since Neal Pickett.

depends on whether SJL runs again.

hooray for having to pick the least worst candidate. 

[JLWM8609]

21 minutes ago, samagon said:

depends on whether SJL runs again.

hooray for having to pick the least worst candidate. 

That's why we need to get Chris Hollins back in the running. If he hadn't dropped out, I believe he and Whitmire would've gone to a runoff and left SJL in the dust. 

[hbg.50]

9 hours ago, JLWM8609 said:

That's why we need to get Chris Hollins back in the running. If he hadn't dropped out, I believe he and Whitmire would've gone to a runoff and left SJL in the dust. 

That would NEVER have happened.  SJL has too many people in her pockets in Houston.  That’s precisely why Hollins dropped out when she entered the race.

Now maybe if he does well these next three years and SJL keeps her nose out of the race Hollins might have a prayer, but a lot can happen between now and then.

[004n063]

11 hours ago, __nevii said:

Did Whitmire run on anti-urbanism/road diets? Reviewing past articles, media coverage during the election, I did not see any indication that he would be this hostile to urbanism: mostly just focused on firefighters, even talked about traffic safety and whatever.

I'm just perplexed at what is going on. I did not vote for him, but I expected him to be more like Turner's pragmatism.

I was worried because he had made negative comments about Washington Ave getting 8-foot sidewalks when Deer Park doesn't have 3-foot sidewalks. But even I didn't expect him to be this much of a steamroller. 

[Some one]

Yeah, can we work on recalling this guy? It's one thing to halt projects before they break ground but to actively halt projects in the work and undo finished projects is another. It seems like he's hellbent on sending Houston back to the 20th century.

Edited April 28 by Some one

[texan]

4 hours ago, Some one said:

Yeah, can we work on recalling this guy? It's one thing to halt projects before they break ground but to actively halt projects in the work and undo finished projects is another. It seems like he's hellbent on sending Houston back to the 20th century.

I'll even go a bit further. There should be no ability for the mayor to change projects that have already been designed using public input. The USDOT's website states of public input: "Transportation practitioners have the power and obligation to incorporate the voices of their communities in transportation decision-making." Ignoring public input and changing a project after public input has been considered is a failure to fulfill that obligation. If he believes there was a flaw in the public input process, then you redo the public process. You don't filter out the voices you don't want to hear and only listen to the ones you do. He certainly should not be able to use the permitting office to hold projects that he doesn't like hostage. The purpose of permits are to ensure structures are built according to building codes and applicable laws, not to use as a political force to impose one's will. It's an unethical overreach of power that is somehow legal.

https://www.transportation.gov/public-involvement

[__nevii]

6 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I was worried because he had made negative comments about Washington Ave getting 8-foot sidewalks when Deer Park doesn't have 3-foot sidewalks. But even I didn't expect him to be this much of a steamroller. 

At the time the comment was made, the framing looked as if he was concerned about the inequity of some places having sidewalks and others lacking in them.

But after all that's been happening, no. It looks to me that it was a fake virtue signal all along. Especially considering that there are numerous methods to resolve the disparity that he could be looking at now (say, sidewalk bonds).

[__nevii]

14 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I was worried because he had made negative comments about Washington Ave getting 8-foot sidewalks when Deer Park doesn't have 3-foot sidewalks. But even I didn't expect him to be this much of a steamroller. 

Oh, and I also saw this:

https://x.com/mightylzrdking/status/1784430691398091104

Edited April 29 by __nevii

[Triton]

On 4/27/2024 at 5:59 PM, CREguy13 said:

This would be a terrible miscalculation. The value of the first completed section will be a tremendous opportunity for any pad sites that front or are within a few blocks of shepherd/durham. The success of making these streets pedestrian/bike friendly could catalyze other inner-city neighborhoods that fit a similar profile to be more walkable.  How is keeping Shepherd Durham a miniature highway of cars going 50+ mph safe for Houstonians and good for the city? You're already seeing people walk on the few completed sections. There will be huge opposition to this. There are enough residents with influence in the Heights, hopefully they get LOUD.  

You're exactly right. Shepherd and Durham have been falling apart for decades, infrastructure wise. This is a huge investment into the area. The broken sidewalks and gravel were ok when it was lined with used-car lots but now that area is upgrading and it's time that the roads upgrade as well. Doing a simple repave isn't good enough. This project wasn't even controversial at all.... 

[hbg.50]

None of the mayor's actions make sense unless he is reprioritizing the city’s budget.

If you look at the two big projects he's stopped they are both TIRZ-driven. My sense is this mayor is anti-TIRZ.  Maybe he views them as inequitable?

It would be nice if we had an inquisitive press that would actually ASK questions instead of just reporting decisions that have been made.   I would like to know the rationale behind the decisions. 

[__nevii]

4 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

None of the mayor's actions make sense unless he is reprioritizing the city’s budget.

If you look at the two big projects he's stopped they are both TIRZ-driven. My sense is this mayor is anti-TIRZ.  Maybe he views them as inequitable?

Perhaps, though this particular project was federally funded.
 

Quote

It would be nice if we had an inquisitive press that would actually ASK questions instead of just reporting decisions that have been made.   I would like to know the rationale behind the decisions. 

Then we'll get another round of terrorist excuses (just as with Houston Ave.)

[hbg.50]

31 minutes ago, __nevii said:

Perhaps, though this particular project was federally funded.

No.  It had federal funding dollars but was not entirely federally funded. 

[004n063]

9 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

If you look at the two big projects he's stopped they are both TIRZ-driven. My sense is this mayor is anti-TIRZ.  Maybe he views them as inequitable?

I do think he is anti-TIRZ, and I do think he views them as inequitable. And in a simplistic sense, they are. 

The problem with that view is that it ignores the fact that they are wealth-generating engines for the city in addition to their local communities. And given the geographic scope and longstanding traditions of antiurban land use even in denser areas of the city, the whole "no sidewalk improvements on Washington until all the streets in Deer Park have sidewalks" line of thinking is absurd on its face. There is no resiliant future for Houston that isn't nodal.

[TXK]

12 minutes ago, 004n063 said:

The problem with that view is that it ignores the fact that they are wealth-generating engines for the city in addition to their local communities. And given the geographic scope and longstanding traditions of antiurban land use even in denser areas of the city, the whole "no sidewalk improvements on Washington until all the streets in Deer Park have sidewalks" line of thinking is absurd on its face. There is no resiliant future for Houston that isn't nodal.

Dollar for dollar, the potential economic activity generated from an infrastructure project surely must be significantly higher in denser areas where you have so many more businesses and residents, right? It feels like low hanging fruit to improve connectivity in the busiest areas so that in the long term you're set up for healthy businesses and communities, but it really feels like there's no coherent long term vision for the city from the mayor's office.

[__nevii]

5 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

No.  It had federal funding dollars but was not entirely federally funded. 

Regardless, we still have yet another display of "transparency" and "fiscal responsibility" from Whitmire. Sabatoging the very things that overcome "Houston is broke."

[Ross]

2 hours ago, 004n063 said:

I do think he is anti-TIRZ, and I do think he views them as inequitable. And in a simplistic sense, they are. 

The problem with that view is that it ignores the fact that they are wealth-generating engines for the city in addition to their local communities. And given the geographic scope and longstanding traditions of antiurban land use even in denser areas of the city, the whole "no sidewalk improvements on Washington until all the streets in Deer Park have sidewalks" line of thinking is absurd on its face. There is no resiliant future for Houston that isn't nodal.

Did Whitmire actually say Deer Park? Deer park is not in Houston, it's a completely separate city.

[hbg.50]

1 hour ago, Ross said:

Did Whitmire actually say Deer Park? Deer park is not in Houston, it's a completely separate city.

No.  Pretty sure he said Denver Harbor.

[004n063]

7 hours ago, Ross said:

Did Whitmire actually say Deer Park? Deer park is not in Houston, it's a completely separate city.

 

5 hours ago, hbg.50 said:

No.  Pretty sure he said Denver Harbor.

My bad. Gist stands, though. Unless his plan is to actually install ADA-minimum sidewalks absolutely everywhere, it's just phony virtue signaling.

[004n063]

9 hours ago, TXK said:

Dollar for dollar, the potential economic activity generated from an infrastructure project surely must be significantly higher in denser areas where you have so many more businesses and residents, right? It feels like low hanging fruit to improve connectivity in the busiest areas so that in the long term you're set up for healthy businesses and communities, but it really feels like there's no coherent long term vision for the city from the mayor's office.

Yes. And the TIRZ system incentivizes districts to create economically productive urban cores. 

[s3mh]

Crank up your emails to Whitmire and councilmembers.  I think it is pretty clear now that some of the old guard from city hall and Houston's real estate development community see Whitmire as an opportunity to pull back from Houston's movement towards new urbanism and return to the days of wider roads and bigger parking lots as Houston's future.  The fact that Marlene Gafrick is Whitmire's senior advisor for planning is very telling.  Whitmire gave Carol Haddock the boot and now has Richard Smith as public works director.  He also forced out Richard Fields, the city's chief transportation planner who was a big supporter of projects like 11th St. and Shepherd.  

Houston has come a long way but has a long way to go.  This city cannot go back to the days of nearsighted development that prioritizes cars.  Houston is getting too dense for carcentric development.  Projects like 11th St. and Shep are now a necessity if the city is going to continue to densify.  

 

 

 

[s3mh]

Whitmire was just on NPR talking about Vision Zero.  He has no clue.  We really screwed up getting this guy as our mayor.

He claims that the opposition to his reworking of mobility projects comes from "special interests", engineering firms and people who used to work in city hall.  Blames the TIRZ leaders for bad mobility projects because they live in River Oaks and not in the communities that are affected.  Claims that TxDOT built a flyover for Shep at W. Little York in order to make Shep a relief street for I-45 traffic (flyover was to keep traffic on Shep from backing up onto I-45).  So, we cannot restrict traffic flow.  Residents of the Heights just have to take one for the team.  Unfortunately, the host did not ask Whitmire how keeping one segment with 4 lanes will help traffic flow when the other segment already has lanes reduced to three lanes.  Adding a merge in the middle of Shep will make traffic worse than keeping it at 3 lanes the entire way.  When asked about losing federal funding, Whitmire compared it to building Trump's wall.  He would rather do it right and lose federal funds than do it wrong.  Not sure how wider sidewalks equate with Trump's wall.  Tried to claim that he is for mobility because he is working on a HAWK signal for Westcott and Memorial.  But sees no need for 10 ft sidewalks and said 6 foot sidewalks were "doing it by the book".  Also went on about Denver Harbor needing sidewalks, implying that inner loop TIRZs are hogging mobility funds and claimed that he has some big sidewalk initiative that will be announced at a future date.

In sum, Whitmire hates the TIRZs.  It also appears that a small group of noisy residents have captured him and convinced him that he needs to fight back against the big pedestrian and bicycle special interests.  

I have heard that a lot of CMs are upset that he is risking federal funds on Shep and moving backwards on mobility projects.  

I haven't really paid much attention to Whitmire since he did his Quitmire move years back.  He is definitely going to be a "my way or the highway--with extra lanes" mayor.  I think the feeling among the big donors in city of Houston politics is that the city is shifting away from the progressive turn it took when Obama's races swept in Democrats and anti-Trump midterms swapped out centrist Dems for more progressive Dems.  No coincidence that Annise Parker is talking about running for Lina Hidalgo's seat (I would assume that she would only run if Hidalgo does not seek re-election, but who knows).  

[hbg.50]

4 minutes ago, s3mh said:

Whitmire hates the TIRZs. 

This is what I suspected.

10 minutes ago, s3mh said:

I have heard that a lot of CMs are upset that he is risking federal funds on Shep

Actually, this accusation may be overblown:

Because the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC) allocated the $40 million in federal funding for the second phase of the Durham-Shepherd project, i sign off on any design changes. But changing the project, even at such a late stage, won't necessarily jeopardize the funding, according to Craig Raborn, th of the H-GAC's Transportation Policy Council. He said the funding source in question is flexible and that the council typically will "try to do everything we c work with project leaders and ensure their initiatives can be completed.

12 minutes ago, s3mh said:

No coincidence that Annise Parker is talking about running for Lina Hidalgo's seat (I would assume that she would only run if Hidalgo does not seek re-election, but who knows).  

Numerous outlets have already reported that Parker would run regardless of what Hidalgo does.

[Amlaham]

Has there been any push back from TIRZ/ representatives in the Heights for his decision? Leaving out this middle piece of Shepherd/ Durham is going to make the Heights area feel less cohesive. He's coming off very hard headed in his decision that affects hundreds and thousands of people, its infuriating! 

[JClark54]

If you value a project, it behooves you to attend your local SN meeting. Whitmire has stated many times that he finds value in the super neighborhoods, the traditional conduits through which resident concerns are relayed to their respective council members and the city. Many of them stream on Zoom or similar, too. For mine, you can sign in online. One of the Heights-area SNs posted that only two people showed up at a recent meeting despite huge social media traction on the projects being impacted. 

His new DoN boss has requested for SNs track attendees via sign-in sheets and put out surveys, etc., which was a prominent feature of the Parker era but fell off under Turner. It's a way to capture actual resident input, versus a select few, he claims.

The new DoN group claims SNs that don't comply with existing rules may be deactivated. Noncompliance was supposed to trigger deactivation under Turner -- the rules never officially changed -- but enforcement was minimal or non-existent. One SN in a major area of Houston took advantage and held its meeting midday during the work week, when many folks are working and can't realistically attend. 

 

Edited May 2 by JClark54

[Houston19514]

For those interested in what the Mayor actually said:  https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/shows/houston-matters/2024/05/02/485119/transportation-projects-in-limbo-may-2-2024/

[hbg.50]

2 hours ago, Amlaham said:

Has there been any push back from TIRZ/ representatives in the Heights for his decision? Leaving out this middle piece of Shepherd/ Durham is going to make the Heights area feel less cohesive. He's coming off very hard headed in his decision that affects hundreds and thousands of people, its infuriating! 

TIRZ can't do anything because the city controls permitting.   The TIRZ was told to go back to the drawing board and redesign their project.   The city gave them conditions (no lane reductions and 6 ft sidewalks).  The ball is in their court to come back with a new plan. 

I think the anti-Whitmire camp needs a new strategy.  Calling the mayor names is not going to work.  I would also consider replacing Joe Cotrufo because he is not very effective with this administration. 

[Some one]

53 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

For those interested in what the Mayor actually said:  https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/shows/houston-matters/2024/05/02/485119/transportation-projects-in-limbo-may-2-2024/

Summary of the interview.

[Houston19514]

Again, I suggest everyone listen to the interview.  Maybe even with an open mind.

[Some one]

I do agree with what you said, and I understand some of the points he makes. But I still don't think it justifies his actions in canceling and undoing projects in the work.

[s3mh]

18 minutes ago, Houston19514 said:

Again, I suggest everyone listen to the interview.  Maybe even with an open mind.

What did he say during his interview that I got wrong?  And more importantly, what did he say in his interview that justifies sending a completely approved and funded project back to the drawing board, possibly jeopardizing federal funding and causes unnecessary delays.  The Shep corridor will be three lanes from Memorial to I-10 and from 15th to 610.  How is carving a 1.3 mile segment for four lanes out of 3.5 miles going to help traffic?  And giving up on the pedestrian improvements right smack in the middle of the corridor basically wastes all the money spent improving the bookends as you lose connectivity.  This is just a flex by the mayor to show the libs who is who.  This right out of the play book of the likes of Rep. Culberson and Gov. Abbott who just can't stand it when a local government wants to do something other than build more lanes.