Protesters removed by police after causing chaos at Wednesday’s Houston City Council meeting say the budget doesn’t do enough to improve drainage.
HOUSTON — Groups calling for more money to address frequent flooding in Houston neighborhoods say the fight over drainage projects is not over.
On Wednesday, the Houston City Council approved the Whitmire administration’s $7B budget for the upcoming fiscal year.
It accounts for a lawsuit settlement the city reached with plaintiffs who said the city misallocated funds intended for drainage projects for several years. The settlement allows the city to pay the amount owed in phases over several years as opposed to a lump sum which could have deepened a projected budget deficit.
Advocacy groups and protesters removed by police after disrupting the meeting because they say the budget doesn’t do enough to improve drainage.
That’s a concern for residents like Anita Guevara of the East Houston area.
“It looked like a river,” Guevara told KHOU 11, describing what the street in front of her home looked like after a rain storm passed through last Friday
She said she hopes city funding for drainage projects makes its way to her street.
“They haven’t gotten to this street and this is one of the worst,” Guevara said. “We don’t have no inlets here, nothing.”
A few blocks away, a relatively new drainage project is in place and highlights the potential impact such infrastructure can have. The Northeast Action Collective hopes the city moves quickly to work on following the passage of the new budget.
“Immediately prioritize investment in open ditches and just streets like this that have no actual drainage,” Kourtney Revels of Northeast Action Collective told KHOU 11.
Revels said the group has concerns over staffing cuts to Houston Public Works and the impact it could have on implementing drainage projects. On top of that, the group plans to continue pursuing accountability through greater accessibility of information with city departments like HPW.
“We want to see transparency on how those things are going to be implemented,” Revels said.
After City Council voted 14-3 to approve the Whitmire administration’s proposed budget, HPW director Randy Macchi told KHOU 11 that the new funds for the department will help its goals to address streets and drainage.
“The additional money that’s come through for us, not just as a result of the settlement, but as the way that we’ve budgeted and allocated those resources means that we’re going to get more accomplished than we’ve ever done before,” Macchi said.
Macchi emphasized the drainage settlement bolsters funding for projects over several years and will help the city catch up with years of neglect.
“Buckle up,” Macchi said when asked of his message to Houston residents concerned with drainage. “There’s a lot of work to be done.”