houston prop 1 "renew houston"

Not really sure where I stand on the program, but the anti-prop-1 site you listed reeks of fear-mongering (just my opinion).

 

Based purely on the websites, the anti-1 folk look like idiots.

 

Don't know about where I stand, but I'm always skeptical of open ended "fees and taxes" that will be calculated after the law is passed.

 

Per the "for" site this will be communicated via the mayor before the vote.

 

"communicated"

I find my lack of faith disturbing...

 

i don't know any houstonians who are being 'choked' by taxes. any group who uses such language seems full of **** in my eyes.

 

I'm pretty well informed on this. I work in the Engeneering community. It's a flat rate hike to your water and sewer bill that will be allocated to drainage and street improvements. It's not a percentage of your bill but rather a flat fee added to the bill (like $5 bucks...don't quote me).

I don't live in the City Limits so I can't vote on it. I would vote YES though. Our storm sewers and streets were designed and built over 30 years ago in most cases and while some have been improved, most have outlived their lifespan. Furthermore, the storm sewers themselves were under designed because they didn't have the data we do now.

The reason for adding on to the water & sewer tax is because the collecting mechanism is already in place and so it makes it more efficient to collect using that bill. Adding another 'branch' just sucks from the funds.

Also, many confuse Harris County Flood Control's fees and their jurisdiction and assume they own and maintain the City's drainage system. Dead wrong.

Although I'm in the Engineering field, I have no business interest in this Prop. Flooding in Houston sucks. We live on flat land and the more we build the more we need to mitigate the impact. This Prop is just one of many measures to do so. It just so happens that it's the City of Houston's proposed means of funding it.

 

I've been out of the city for a few months, but did something happen to the drainage system in Houston since I've been gone?

A couple of things:

Pay-as-you-go until **** hits the fan. Then what? Debt finance?

Property owners pay basically tells me that areas with severe drainage issues will see renters up the anty on their tennants when improvement or maintenance is performed.

So I guess this is a finance issue. So what's wrong with the books?

Conclusion: tax increase.

 

Does Harris County have drainage districts?

 

Harris County Flood Control is it's own entity, while Harris County Engineering Department is seperate. Anything inside the City of Houston limits falls under the City of Houston's maintenance responsibility.

The fee would be seen in the Water & Sewer bill that you'd recieve from the City of Houston. If you rented, I'm sure it would be passed on. That's business. It's been represented to me that it's a flat fee.

If you don't live in the City you can't vote and it doesn't affect you other than the fact that the area would be staying status quo because there is no funding for drainage improvements inside the City right now.

This is not the only measure that is being persued or implemented for this area's drainage problems. It's just the City's proposed measure. All of the surrounding counties participate in a multitude of drainage improvements.

The issues are simply:
1.) We don't want our coastline to erode
2.) We want our wetlands to remain and the wildlife habitat to remain
3.) We don't want trash flowing to the Gulf
4.) We don't want excess flooding

Believe me the cost of all of this is passed along to developers and usually back down to the consumer. **** rolls down hill (as does water ).

 

I'm blown away when basic city services...like water drainage...gets pushback. The "we're against it, because we're against everything" crowd strikes again.

 

So when do I vote against this? Will the ballot say "Proposition 1" vote yes or no or will they have some convoluted bs surrounding it?

 

I don't understand why we need a NEW means to charge citizens. Who's gonna pay to manage this new sytem which I presume they'll need to send paper statements. We already pay property tax so just increase the rate if needed. I don't like the idea of building a drainage slush fund where they charge you on based on some odd formula if you have a curb. It's just weird.

I vote no.

 

Did someone say ... "renew"?

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Watch the first two video's about Proposition 1. They are actually informative and well made. See if you can catch a certain subliminal message in the second one. I don't want to give it away just yet but if I give any clues then yall will guess it. I want to see if my theory is correct and if you guys think the creators of the video did it on purpose and whether or not it will help out their cause. :grin: