mrfootball Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 If they get this done in Atlanta, I would like to see a similar effort here. Harris County is too big and unwieldy to manage properly. Add to that, Houston's oppressive ETJ laws that prohibit communities from incorporating in order to address these needs:http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070123/ap_on_...s/atlanta_split Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 Oh please. Without the burbs need Houston just like Houston needs the burbs. Without Houston, there would be no beautiful Northwest Harris County. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrfootball Posted January 24, 2007 Author Share Posted January 24, 2007 (edited) This has to do with all of the underserved areas of Harris County, including Katy, Kingwood, Clear Lake, etc.I think you're missing the point, it doesn't matter if one wouldn't exist without the other, what matters in Houston standing in the way of people's right to self-govern and better manage their community needs and Harris County's inability to properly manage the needs of the one million+ who live in unincorporated areas.If one would like to address issues such as zoning, signage, rampant roughshod development etc, we are helpless. We certainly pay more than our fair share in taxes through a property tax scheme that was found unconstitutional, yet to be remedied. I think people are getting to the point where they would like to see more of a return on their investment. More accountability from lawmakers and more accessibility.One way or another, something needs to be done, whether the city loosens up its ETJ rules, or the County splits into smaller more manageable governments.Harris County doesn't offer that. I think it would like to, but it simply is too large and unwieldy for a local gov't, just as Fulton County, GA. Edited January 24, 2007 by mrfootball Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bachanon Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 yes, DECENTRALIZATION! good idea, not only for county governments, but maybe also for enormous school districts and police precincts. it seems that the larger a government entity gets, the less return you get for your investment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmancuso Posted January 24, 2007 Share Posted January 24, 2007 there is more to this than economics. read the article. same reason why towns like katy don't want buses or commuter rail. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rantanamo Posted January 25, 2007 Share Posted January 25, 2007 Suburban communities always want to seperate themselves from the city from which they were born, but never realize the consequences to the metro as a whole that take decades to reverse. People think that their community will remain as is forever, not realize the chain of events they've set in motion that basically gurantee a newer better suburb a little further out every decade. If you think its best that these suburban areas secede, look no further than your Texas brother to the north and how each new hot suburb sucks the life out of its older neighbor. And your services are NOT better than what you get from the big city who has a tax base that smaller, mostly suburban residential areas can only dream of. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Great Hizzy! Posted January 26, 2007 Share Posted January 26, 2007 Very well said, Rantanamo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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