By Travis McGee
Here in Houston, Tx you would think drainage would be priority #1 other than crime however, on January 7,2026 some may consider the 9-7 vote to rob Peter to pay Paul to be a crime. This vote will take $30,000,000.00 from stormwater/ drainage to demo at least 350 abandoned/ dangerous buildings, or crack houses citywide, however most if not all of those buildings had drainage issues before they became blight in our communities.
We not saying we don’t won’t the buildings torn down, we just don’t want the city to use drainage money to do it. Just like the rest of Houston it’s a very good chance those buildings experienced previous flooding and drainage issues in or around their neighborhoods/ communities due to various Flooding and storm events when they were occupied and not blighted.
The flooding, drainage, and infrastructure is so bad that in 2010 voters voted for a blank check aka” Rebuild Houston” which was said to be a dedicated drainage fund just as the Stormwater fund was said to be a dedicated fund to only be used for drainage, however Rebuild Houston was used for everything, but drainage.
We were told that it would be a Lock Box, but evidently too many people had the combination and keys to the Box that never stayed locked. Eventually Rebuild Houston aka Drainage Utility Fee ordinance was supposed to collect hundreds of millions annually and invest just as much or more back in to our drainage, infrastructure, and streets, however it ended up in court for doing the complete opposite. It paid more city debt than it invested in any drainage. How can a city that has seen some of the
worst Floods and storms in America’s history not make drainage priority and invest more money in drainage and infrastructure. Houston has 3,300 miles of storm sewer, 6,000 miles of streets, 2,800 miles of roadside ditches, and 22 bayous making up 2,500 miles.
Now that’s a lot of drainage not to be priority considering we will flood due to just a simple rain event vs a natural disaster event. We also know that illegal dumping is a problem, however not enforcing illegal dumping to the fullest extent of the law is an even bigger problem. The city staying behind on heavy trash pickup contributes to illegal dumping, but saying that dangerous buildings attract illegal dumping and tearing the building down improves drainage is farfetched.
We not Redlined due buildings, but we are Redlined due to FLOODING. Insurance premiums are either raised or the insured dropped all together and coincidently your property taxes aren’t concerned by how many blighted buildings in your area either.
If the decisions like this have to be made, they should be made by the taxpayers because at the end of the day when, not if the next Flood come, they will have to be HOUSTON STRONG after being told to call 311 and turn around don’t drown.
