https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-AA1qz9mB
They need to do something like this with parking lots in Houston. They are just death in the summer.
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This is never going to happen because nobody is going to want to pay for this especially if it’s via property taxes. We are Texas after all, not California. People live here because of the low taxes.
You also have the problem that most Houston suburbs tend to be very conservative (and Christian), and those conservatives tend to not take climate change very serious (or are just outright ignoring it because it’s an inconvenience they don’t want to deal with)
Houston has a major problem it’s going to have to deal with in the next 2-4 decades. If Houston continues to incentivize sprawl, then the climate (heat + heat waves) will get worse. The scary part is that suburbia populations are growing in Houston, and many of those moving to suburbs are minorities/immigrants, which is going to cause school district flight if housing values decline as a result (which again, is making climate change worse)
Suburban infrastructure is funded by urban cores. Suburbs cannot afford to fund their own infrastructure, and it’s largely why Houston is near bankrupt. Suburbs are not environmentally or financially sustainable
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First of all, that article is talking about Philadelphia and not California. Second, never say never.
Look at Houston, the continued improvement of our bike trails and such has been a project that started in the 80s under Mayor Whitmire (former sister-in-law of the current Mayor). This includes bike lanes through downtown so you should be able to bike across the city.
The City’s and County parks in Houston have also had a lot of much more green and other changes. Look at what they are doing with Herman Park, Memorial Park and the Arboretum. Of course not all of those funds are taxpayer funds, but still you haven’t seen anyone complaining or saying no about this. People see the value in enhancing our city when it comes to our parks. Heck, I remember when Discovery Green was just a parking lot (interestingly part of what is now Discovery Green was a parking lot owned by Hakeem Olajuwon). The Jamail skatepark, the skatepark over off Chimney Rock (I forget the park name right now), all that stuff cost money and taxes, people like those enhancements. I almost forgot the botanical gardens or whatever it is called on the east end.
Now let’s talk schools, where does the money come from to make major capital improvements to schools? Bonds. Yes bond elections, which are rarely controversial. People routinely vote yes on those even though there can be a tax impact.
Then the article also mentions a private foundation that was involved in those projects. A public-private partnership that improves schools is hardly something that gets push back. Especially as it would most likely be only one component of a bigger project.
People want these things, if it so happens they come up with projects that also fight climate change, no one is going to be mad about that.
Now let’s talk the suburbs. They are much more likely to spend money on their school facilities, especially if all of the sudden the inner city schools are nicer than theirs. I mean heck, look at the high school football stadium in Allen, Tx.
Now think about this, if these type of improvements also can help with flood control, that’s another thing people in Houston want. That could even help if there are federal grants involved,
I’m not suggesting that we start ripping up playgrounds tomorrow, but this is something that could be very beneficial to the city, and may not be needed as much in some of the more rural areas of the state.
Heck, ,if you have seen the presentation of what is being considered for the UH campus for Centennial, you have a lot of climate thought going in there (native plants and such).
These issues aren’t as distasteful to the red state as you think they are.
It is a lot different than the arguments you are making on controlling sprawl or even “white flight” you’re suggesting which hasn’t affected suburbs around here. They are getting more diverse and the demand, schools, and neighborhoods keeps the property values high. Could that change in the next couple decades. Sure. But there’s no guarantee it will. As long as I can remember many Houston suburbs on the southwest side had immigrant communities, be it Asian or Indian or whatever. Even still should that white flight happen… Where will they go? Back to the city? Further out to our decaying rural areas?
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Anyways my real point in posting the article was, hey this is pretty cool. I can see value here and boy could we use a strategy like that for parking lots because it is just death going from my car into the grocery store sometimes.
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Philly (and where the school in the article is located), similar to the inner loop in Houston, is blue. Also, further into the article, it mentions LA approved a similar plan costing $1 Billion and some change issued through bonds (which are paid by taxes), which is where I got California in my note
Suburbs are red. Woodlands, Katy, Sugarland, Cypress, are overwhelmingly red.
I didn’t want to use the term white flight after editing, but white flight has already happened between the Belway and Loop. They all went to the outer suburbs such as ones listed above, and yes, suburbs are racial segregated economically and socially in Houston.
That being said, I hope your optimism rings true in that people in those suburbs would be willing to agree to a property tax increase to greenify their schools, but the problem is that would essentially require them to accept that climate change is a serious issue.
This then goes back to square one, suburbs are a large reason that climate change is happening, suburbs are concrete slabs that are not dense enough to financially support themselves without the help of the inner core (including wealthier subs like Woodlands). I understand that people move to suburbs for better schools, but sprawl and racial economics are very much intertwined.
Houston’s suburbs are heavily dependent on fossil fuel subsidies to both construct and maintain. Without them, property taxes are going to increase because neither the they or the inner core will be able to afford maintenance in a transition away from fossil fuels (energy costs go up for renewable energy given its lack of density compared to fossil fuels)
As far as where people will move? I predict that gentrification will continue happening inside the loop, and then areas between the loop and beltway will get gentrified as well. For example, the Aldine/Dyresdale (east of Hardy Toll) area inside the beltway is the last area in Houston that has any real large scale green space. I hope that they preserve that area instead of replacing them with cheap housing.
You may not have visited the suburbs too recently then.
Take my own upper middle
class suburb, Cinco Ranch II near Fulshear, as an example.
Not sure about religion per se, but racially and ethnically, it’s quite diverse.
On my street alone, there are three Hispanic households, three Asian households (South Asian), one African-American household, and one multi-racial household (White and Asian, that’s my own).
The rest of the subdivision is the same. The house right behind ours is a Chinese-American household, and our rear neighbor next to them is another South Asian household.
And I’m guessing that there is a significant number of non-Christians, given the crowds I see at the South Asian households on Hindu holy days!
Politically, the Dems have been winning regularly in suburban Fort Bend County in recent years. My Democrat brother by another Mother Surendran Pattel got elected as a Dem to district judge there.
People of all races and religions want to live in Katy ISD for the public schools there.
And the politics there aren’t as reliably conservative as in the past!
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I have had the same experience in Sienna. It’s very diverse. My street is too long to do a complete census, but on my section (which is about 1/3 of the street) are 5 black families, 1 Indian family, 1 Hispanic family, 2 mixed race families, and 4 white families.
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Yeah, the stereotype of the suburbs being overwhelmingly white is pretty outdated at this point. Urban cores are increasingly expensive and lack housing (at any price point) that’s suitable for families of more than about 3 or 4.
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Plus, most parents, regardless of race, religion, or politics would rather send their kids to Katy ISD than Houston ISD schools.
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Yep. Better schools and lower costs of houses are what brought me to Sienna 18 years ago.
Here’s the thing.
What you say is true in many cities, ESPECIALLY Cleveland.
That metro area is literally “white flight” personified. It’s really bad, when you look at the numbers.
The city limits there are 46.6% Black, highest of any major city in Ohio, but its adjoining suburbs like Parma (93% White and only 2% Black), Strongsville (92% White, 1.9% Black), Chagrin Falls (98% White), and Rocky River (95.5% White, 1% Black) are textbook cases of “White flight.”
Houston suburbs are a bit different though.
Much more diverse. One great thing about Houston is that both its city limits AND its suburbs are HIGHLY diverse; a model which the rest of America should follow.
HISD has some very good schools; the various magnet programs are some of the better schools in the country, and I’d have no issue sending my theoretical kid there. The big issue is that they also have some of the worst.
I don’t think acknowledging climate change is a prerequisite for adding greenery to schools. “This school gets real freaking hot and your kids would be more comfortable if we added shade” seems like it would be a persuasive argument in its own right.
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Hmmm……
I don’t have kids, but if I did, I’d be reluctant to send them to any HISD schools other than Lamar, Bellaire, or Westside.
OTOH, Katy Jordan, our local neighborhood high school, would be a FINE place to send one’s kids; better than any in HISD, I’d surmise.
Check out the school’s demographics:
Quote: ·White 37% ·Hispanic 25% ·Asian 23% ·Black 8% ·Two or More Races 4% ·Native American 0% ·Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0% (as of 2022) [8]
VERY diverse!
What suburbs are between the beltway and the loop?
The city of Houston is a concrete slab as well.
Which subsidies are those? And how is that unique to suburbs?
Yes that is exactly what I was saying but shorter. 
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Just move out of Houston and problem solved lol
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I would assume you would add HSPVA to that list.
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Maybe if they were artistically inclined.
Also CVHS, DeBakey, and HAIS, among others.
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Not sure if those schools would have the sports or extracurricular activities that I’d prefer my hypothetical kids have access to.
As Katy ISD’s newest HS, Jordan, by contrast, has all the bells and whistles!
I didn’t know 20 year olds were the nothing can be done crowd. Maybe you have to live more life to see change does actually happen
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I’ll just leave this here…
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