By Travis McGee
My condolences for any lives lost and my sympathy for the entire city of Houston for enduring another nightmare. Just one month into the hurricane Season and Houston has experienced two major storms thus far, Derecho and Beryl. However, the preparation for past and present storms remains the same even though the categories of the storms may change the preparation or should I say the lack of remains the same. Houston has had 2 major tests in less than 2 months and have flunked both of them pretty bad. I’m not saying we can stop God’s Work, but I am saying we can prepare for it. Are we really Houston Strong or should Houston infrastructures and Hurricane preparation be stronger from past and present experiences?
The preparation has to be proactive 365/24/7 before, aft er, and during hurricane season even though hurricane season is from son is from June to November (6 months the preparation has to be year around. The people of Houston are resilient, but they really don’t have much choice. We The People are strong and Houston is just very fortunate that the people are finally starting to question the preparation of our local government and main electricity provider CenterPoint. If Center-Point provides electricity for 2.6 million in the Houston area and over 2 million were without lights, that’s a horrible stat considering Houston is the energy capital of the world but can’t keep its own lights on. As a matter of fact, Houston is ranked #2 behind Los Angeles for being the least prepared city in the U.S. I’m sure if you ask any Houstonian, they’d say they’d rather be comfortable at their own home with AC, water and ice being produced by the utilities they pay for monthly. Rain, sleet snow or Hurricane, they still have to pay bills and taxes.
Houston hasn’t been a “Clutch City” since the 1994-95 Houston Rockets you know when they had the “DREAM” winning back-to-back championships but, since then we have been experiencing storms before the storms that has been absolute night-mares mainly due to lack of preparation on all levels of our government and CenterPoint. When we say “Houston Strong” are we referring to the survival mode people are forced to be in every time it floods or It is hurricane season since both happen every year. Or are we referring to the mental, physical, psychological, financial and long-term effects it has on We the People? The only things that have been consistent are the Ice and Water Free for All’s, but this can’t be the compromise for days or weeks without electricity and some-times not even access to your home. Houston is not strong; Houston is fed up. Turn Around Don’t Drown can’t be the only plan for pre-storm prep and water and ice free for all’s can’t be the only plan for post storm prep. Th e plan has to be a proactive plan that includes the infrastructures, drainage, tree cut-ting, unclogging drains, escape routes, cooling centers, and etc. however all tax funded facilities should be cooling centers/safe havens for the people of City of Houston and Harris County.
Houston is still trying to increase its density through housing with ordinances like Chapter 42 which decreases the minimum lot size to build on, this allows developers to build multiple structures on one lot. The more concrete, the more water searching for places to go and the newer construction the more strain on the already prehistoric infrastructure whether drainage or energy. Our city has to prepare for hurricane season the same way it prepares for events coming to our city whether it’s the Superbowl, World Series, the World Cup, All Stars, or even local events like the rodeo.
Most damage since Hurricane Ike was caused by fallen trees so why are we still planting them vs. cutting and maintaining the ones we already have. Keep in mind Beyrl was considered a CAT 1 depending on who you ask, so if the preparation don’t get better anything over a CAT 1, we should expect to be without power for a month or longer. Where are all these infrastructure dollars we were hearing about during election time or the “Rebuild Houston” aka Drainage Fee monies we voted on 14 years ago that were supposed to be used specifically for infrastructure and drainage only.
The Energy Capital of the world should be “Houston Strong” by now with all the tests we have had thus far, but in order to be “Houston Strong, the preparation can’t be “Consistently Weak.” The Public Utility Commission and Texas legislators oversees ERCOT and ERCOT oversees CenterPoint, however the city does have original jurisdiction over rates, operations, and services.
The PUC can override the CITY’S decisions related to the operations of CenterPoint, but the CITY needs to give them something to think about or something to override. In order for Houston to be an EXTRAordinary City They have to do EXTRA to give We the People a peace of mind. IF everybody does something, everything will get done.
