Houston parks lack more than just land

Houston’s parks department is struggling to meet city maintenance requirements, according to a study by parks consultant Leon Younger. Houston’s park problems are not new. Previous studies have shown that Houston ranks near the bottom nationally in park space and funding per capita. The Younger study indicates that Houston might not be able to maintain what little park space it does have. The study measured Houston Parks and Recreation Department management against other systems based on park maintenance, work orders, urban forestry, capital asset management and revenue development. It found that the department suffers from "severe lack of funding and maintenance personnel."

According to the study, more than 100 maintenance positions have been lost over the past five years because of fiscal constraint. This in part has led to a situation in which park employees are busy "putting out fires" rather than completing preventative maintenance.

Glenda Barrett, executive director of the Park People, a local nonprofit that helped fund the study, said this study proves the department is under-funded.

"They do not have enough money to maintain the parks, much less acquire new land," she said. "This shows parks have not been a priority of the city. It is time to stop pointing fingers and time to start improving our park situation.”
-Gulf Coast Institute

City’s drainage fee dead in the water

Realizing he did not have the votes on City Council, Mayor Lee Brown admitted defeat and had the final part of his 15-year, $1.2 billion flood management plan referred back to his administration, a move that essentially killed the entire program.

This included the a hotly disputed drainage fee that was expected to produce about $41 million a year for flood-control work, but which sparked an outcry from residents and conservative council members who called it an illegal tax. The fee, averaging about $2 per month for homeowners but much more for larger properties, was to apply to churches and public schools, as well as residences, businesses and government buildings.

Opponents of the fee rejoiced that the long fight had ended.

"The mayor's drainage plan is DOA," Councilman Bruce Tatro said. "It's over. We can declare victory."

Now someone has to come up with an alternative.

With Brown's administration in its final weeks, Houston will be left with no money for ditch mowing and storm sewer cleaning, in addition to the delay of $75 million in neighborhood street reconstruction work and $250 million in drainage projects, city officials say.

Brown has warned that residents could be hit with a 15 percent increase in water and sewer rates because the council did nothing to provide a funding source.

"The ultimate decision will not be made by this administration," he said.

The administration made clear earlier this year that implementation of the city's five-year Capital Improvement Plan, which includes most of the drainage and street work, depended upon approval of the drainage fee and a refinancing of the water and sewer system's debt. The council approved the CIP and, later, the drainage fee.

Without the fee, the options left open include raising water/sewer rates, or putting bond money in escrow.

To those who opposed the drainage fee, refinancing debt in the water and sewer system remains the most popular option. Brown projected that refinancing would generate about $50 million annually.

Burlington shareholders want answers about rainforest operations

Shareholders for Houston-based Burlington National Resources voted on a resolution last week demanding the company clearly define its policy toward indigenous communities in the Amazon rain forest where the local company is exploring for oil.

Four tribes, roughly 500,000 people, inhabit the remote jungle areas in Ecuador and Peru known by the company as oil blocks 23 and 24. The presidents of the Shuar, Zapara, Shiwiar and Kichwa nations have demanded that Burlington cease operations on their land, citing environmental devastation and human rights violations. Last March, presidents of the four tribes traveled to Houston to confront Burlington officials at their Galleria headquarters and call attention to the fact that the tribes opposed exploration. The company reported to media and shareholders that they had received consent from indigenous communities. While the resisters were blocked by security guards from communicating with company officials, this week’s action by shareholders may be enough to get executives’ attention.

A shareholder’s representative said they hope adopting the resolution will be the first step toward ensuring Burlington officials receive the consent of indigenous communities and limit environmental impacts of exploring and drilling.

Houston seeks federal grant for cleanup of area brownfields

The city of Houston in December submited an application to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for $2 million in grant funding to cleanup area brownfields. Brownfields are parcels of land that are too contaminated to build on, but not contaminated enough to qualify for federal Superfund status.

The EPA grant money would establish a revolving fund for the city to provide loans to clean and redevelop contaminated sites. In the mayor’s office of brownfields redevelopment, federal liason David Reels said Houston currently pays out of limited operating fees to cleanup contaminated cites owned by the city. The problem, he said, is cleaning up privately owned sites that are abandoned once contamination is identified.

Last year, Houston was turned down by EPA, according to Reels, because the city failed to demonstrate community involvement in the redevelopment process. This year the city held three community meetings, which it advertised in the Houston Chronicle.

Reels said a stronger application in 2003 still faces competition with other cities for 70 million dollars in federal aid available nationwide, with hundreds of cities applying for the grant.

Houston has identified more than 1,000 acres throughout the city that qualify as brownfields. More information about Houston brownfields can be found at: <http://www.cityofhouston.gov>.

State official to propose tightening of industrial emissions rule

Responding to pressure from the federal government, the state's top environmental regulator is proposing to tighten Texas' policy on the periodic industrial emissions that account for millions of pounds of excess pollution in the Houston area each year.

Texas Commission on Environmental Quality commissioners voted on a draft rule that removes the long-standing exemption for pollution emitted during maintenance, startups, shutdowns and accidents at industrial plants.

If industry doesn't prove that these events were unavoidable, along with other criteria, the proposed regulation would either require the emissions to be permitted or be considered a violation. These violations carry no monetary penalities, but will be added to a company's overall compliance record and considered when looking at the frequency of upsets at a facility.

The change rewrites a regulation first drafted in 1979, and settles a dispute between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state over what exactly constitutes an exemption.

Previously, any industry that successfully defended an emissions event was not required to seek a permit and would not be in violation of air pollution limits even if exceeded. The EPA viewed this policy as an automatic skirting of the law.

Last year, 7,520 emission events occurred in the state, 60 percent of which were upsets, or unplanned bursts of pollution. Nearly 30 percent of all the events occurred in the Houston region, releasing 36.7 millions of pounds of pollution in a region struggling to meet the federal ozone standard by 2007.
-Houston Chronicle