Baytown Sun Article

Made it to the paper again! Thanks to Mark Fleming for the great article.

Link: http://baytownsun.com/communities/mont_belvieu/article_a94708d4-4978-11e2-a684-001a4bcf887a.html

City planner: road project on track

Posted: Wednesday, December 19, 2012 12:00 am

By Mark Fleming mark.fleming@baytownsun.com

With parts of Eagle Drive in Mont Belvieu starting to look more like the boulevard it will become, residents are continuing to ask how soon it will be finished.

Mont Belvieu City Planner Bill Cobabe said the project is on track for the road to be completed before school begins in the fall for the 2013-2014 school year, and possibly earlier in the summer.

Cobabe said the reason the earlier part of the construction seems to have moved slowly is that much of the project involved putting in underground drainage – work that is not as visible as new traffic lanes. In fact, he said, the drainage work represents two-thirds of the cost of the project.

Once Eagle Drive is completed, it will no longer be a narrow highway with ditches, but will be a wide boulevard with curbs, gutters and a grassy median.

The median, in fact, will be wide enough to add an additional lane in each direction if that is needed in decades to come.

The design of the new road is intended to help promote smooth flow of traffic, he said.

For one thing, he said, using a median rather than a continuous turn lane reduces the number of traffic conflict points, smoothing traffic flow.

Also, he said, the city has tried to encourage businesses to voluntarily close some of the driveways connecting to the road to further reduce conflict points and improve both safety and traffic flow. While only a few agreed, he said code changes will limit the number of new driveways intersecting Eagle Drive.

Also, he said, the planned extension of FM 1409, roughly parallel to Eagle Drive, will take some of the potential traffic off the road.

Another question Cobabe has been hearing a lot lately concerns the land being cleared at the intersection of Eagle Drive north of Interstate 10.

He said the owner of the property is clearing it and intends to sell it for development, but there are no plans – even tentative ones – at this time. Rumors have named a number of possible businesses that could locate there, but they are just rumors.

With the coming construction of a Walmart on the south side of the interstate at Highway 146, Cobabe said commercial development is clearly moving toward Mont Belvieu, but most developers are waiting for more home construction before committing to build.

Projects like the rebuilding of Eagle Drive, though, mean that the infrastructure will be able to accommodate development when it comes.

The rain came down and the floods came up...

When I was a child, I learned the song about the foolish man and the wise man. The foolish man built his house on sand, while the wise man built his house on a rock. In due course, the rains came, and the flood waters rose, and the house on the sandy foundation washed away, while the house on the rock stood strong.

This, of course, is a metaphor for being strong in the face of adversity. But there are also some interesting implications for our world.

I recently attended a conference at Texas A&M University at Galveston. There, people from various disciplines discussed how global climate change will affect natural disasters, including excessive rainfalls, drought, and rising sea levels. Whether or not you agree that the impacts of the industrial revolution are contributing to the cycles of warmer temperatures, the effect of this global climate change are real and have significant impact on those of us who live close to water and the attendant climate conditions.

Hurricane Sandy (or Super Storm Sandy, if you prefer) had a significant impact on the way people think about disaster mitigation. This is in part due to the sheer numbers of people affected by the storm. But it also sheds light on what planners can do to help their communities remain robust and resilient in the face of the unknown and unpredictable.

This morning, I heard this story:

http://www.npr.org/2012/12/10/166858481/sandy-forces-questions-about-waterfront-rebuilding

This fitted very well with things I'd heard on Thursday regarding the way we look at building in and around the flood plain. The flood plain is designated by the federal government at a "base flood elevation (BFE)" that shows where in an extreme event - such as a 100 year flood, or, better said, a storm which in any given year has a 1% chance of happening - will impact the ground. Property and houses built in this area will have 1 foot of coverage. It is thus a good idea to either not build in the 100 year flood plain, or to build in such a way that the impact of the water is mitigated. Since it's not really practical in our area to force people not to build in a flood plain, there are things we can do to make sure that the flood waters do not impact property/structures.

Among the things we discussed at the conference was the need to elevate structures out of the flood plain. There are two ways to do that - either build a small, elevated mound on which to construct, or to build one's house on piers above the ground. The first method seems to be more popular of late, because it is what the market seems to want. We build structures high enough that the water gets pushed off to either side and out to an extensive system of drainage channels which take the water to the natural drainage ways. This has a big impact on the natural systems, and although engineers try to mitigate the impact, it is unclear how that impact affects the overall ecosystem. The second method, of course, has a lesser impact on the natural drainage system, but for whatever reason it's less desirable. Interestingly, building on piers was the traditional mode of construction in the south for a long time. Building above grade helps with circulation, and using piers that are treated or made of concrete/steel reduces the potential for termites/mold/rot associated with being at ground level. This is the only acceptable mode of construction in many coastal areas, and could have a resurgence in more inland areas as well. Regardless of method, though, it was generally agreed that it is important to require that structures be built out of the flood plain - 18" to 24" higher than BFE.

It was also highlighted how important it is to build structures to be resilient to structural damage in high winds or flood waters. While we don't build on stone/bedrock like they did in the song I noted above, we pour strong foundations and/or use strong piers to make our structures sound and strong. They are built according to industry standards and are inspected for integrity and strength. We are in a hurricane prone area, and we should be assured that our homes and businesses are able to withstand the storms that come.

The effects of global climate change are yet to be fully realized. There will be impacts on all of us, and we should plan our communities now with both active and passive steps taken to provide resilience. This should come in social, environmental, and economic ways. These three legs of sustainability are not only good for our community in the short term, but provide a foundation for strength in perpetuity.

Eagle Drive (Update 5)

I've heard from several people that they're getting SICK AND TIRED of Eagle Drive.

I believe it. And I agree. It's been a long haul.

Just to give you a brief update on what's happened so far:

The aspect of the project that was the most expensive was the drainage work. Perhaps you've seen from time to time large concrete boxes in various stages of delivery/installation. That's just the part of the drainage that is right along the road. There has also been a lot of work done that you wouldn't necessarily notice unless you specifically went to look for it. This drainage had to be done first so that when the road work began the jobsite wouldn't be flooded out.

The road is 2 1/2 miles long. We are putting in four lanes of roadway along that entire length. Part of what makes it a little bit sticky is the number of driveways/intersections along the road that have to remain open for businesses/neighborhoods to gain access to their places. It's a scheduling thing, mostly, and as we get into the work on the north side of the CWA canal/City Park, it's only going to be more difficult. Please remember that these businesses are open and welcoming your business. It may be difficult to get in to them, but please do! They still need your business.

The phases along the north portion of the roadway will follow the same pattern as the southern portion. The roadway has been pushed to the west side of the road while construction takes place on the east side of the road. Once those lanes are all in and complete, the traffic will be shifted to the east lanes and then work will begin on the west side of the road.

Currently, most of the work is centered around the intersection of Eagle Drive and FM 565. There was some water and drainage work that was going on in the area, and as that winds up the actual road construction will begin.

There was a question regarding the number of crews out there on the construction sites. It may appear that there are fewer people out working now than there were before. In reality, there were several projects that were being completed simultaneously, including sewer installation, utility work, etc. The number of people working on the actual road project has remained and will continue to remain about the same.

There was also a question - and continues to be many questions - regarding what is going in on Eagle Drive near I-10. There is nothing currently in the works for this site. There is a driveway that leads to the west into the vacant parcel, but that's really just a place holder so we could indicate where the actual intersection would be. There is a traffic signal light there, and eventually the roadway will continue to the west. But for now, there is nothing specific planned for that site.

As always, I'm available to answer questions regarding the road, development in the City, or anything else you may be interested in. Please stop by City Hall, shoot me an email (bcobabe@montbelvieu.net), or give me a call at 281-576-2213 x 233 or my cell at 281-838-5799. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Man with the Plan

So, I'm a planner.

Seriously. I am a professional planner. I plan things - specifically, I plan the direction the city I live in and work for is going to go.

This means a couple of things. First off, it means that I have a vision for the community. This vision is informed by many different things, including by my professional education and training, by experiences both personally and gleaned from others, by state and federal laws, and by what has happened here in the past. The most important aspect of this vision, however, is input from the community I am supposed to represent. If my vision is just that of myself, in a dictatorial kind of way, imposed without thought or regard to the needs, wants, and desires of those I serve, not only is the vision inaccurate, but it is doomed to failure - like a plane without wings, it will never get off the ground. As it says in Proverbs, where there is no vision, the people perish.

The next most important thing, though, is communication. I have the opportunity to share what I have in my heart and in my mind with the community. The effectiveness of this communication is critical to the success of the plan - of any plan - in the way that an engine is vital to the propulsion of the plane. Just as with the wings, if there is no engine a plane will never achieve the heights it is intended to reach. Similarly, if I am unable to talk about what needs to be done, what the future can, may, and should look like in our community, there is no possibility of success. Effective communication requires me to actively seek out opportunities to share what I've learned from the experiences I've had. I look for people to learn from and to share the vision I've developed of the future in the hopes that people will buy in to what we are trying to build.

It is frustrating, then, when people do not share the vision. I have a unique talent and ability to look into the future and see what COULD be, rather than focus on what currently IS. I have often encountered great opposition from people - many of whom should really know better - who simply cannot see what potential there is and will not adjust their vision according to what could be. This happens for many reasons, all of which are certainly valid. But partially it is my fault for not communicating my vision more clearly, or in not being more inspiring. Because that's what the world needs is an inspiring, and inspired, leader. Someone who is able to get people to believe in themselves and in the possibilities that exist, rather than focus on the dreary and mundane.

How else can we succeed? What else are we working for? What do we want out of life, if not to live it better and more fully realized?

So, the work goes on. I continue to refine my technique and try to make myself more effective. I do not seek for my own benefit per se. I've never been one to seek the spotlight and want others to give me glory or praise. That comes of its own accord, when merited, or not at all. Either way, my performance is not affected by that.There is a job to be done, and the task remains mine. I embrace the challenge.

Rumor Mill

There has been a lot of speculation regarding the activity on Eagle Drive at I-10. If you have found your way here via a google search or from the City website, you're not alone. A lot of interest has been generated by the land clearing, but for now, that's all it is - the property owner is just clearing land. At this point, there is no  specific or even general plan regarding the development of this property. It is just land clearing.

To be clear, there is NO Kroger, HEB, CVS, Walgreen's, Bass Pro Shop, Cabela's, Academy, Starbucks, anything. There have been no plans submitted to the City for development of this parcel.

The owner of the parcel is looking to develop the property. He - and the City - have had conversations with many different folks, trying to generate interest in development in the City. We are still actively pursuing opportunities as they come available, and we are taking steps to help foster the business environment in the City (see previous posts about those steps). But, as I've noted in previous posts, there remain significant challenges to commercial development, and those challenges will take time to overcome.

In the mean time, please stay tuned! I love the interest that is being generated. If anyone has any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to call me (281) 576-2213 x 233, email (bcobabe@montbelvieu.net) or come by City Hall. I'm here almost all the time, and I'd love to help in any way I can.

Get out the vote!!!

I love this time of year.

I'm a bit of a political junkie, and I love the machinations of the political wrangling. I would never claim to be anything more than an interested observer, but I am interested. I've been trying to stay on top of the deluge of information that seems to flood the airways and through cyberspace... It's a lot. But it's also a lot of fun.

The following is a link that talks about how intricate and interesting the next forty-eight hours are going to be...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/11/02/us/politics/paths-to-the-white-house.html

Stay tuned! It's going to be a great ride. :)

How much is housing cost?

I recently came across this article:

http://www.interest.com/mortgage/news/homes-are-truly-affordable-in-only-about-half-of-major-cities/

(text follows):

Homes are truly affordable in only about half of major cities

by Reed Karaim on October 17, 2012

A median-income household can only afford a median-priced home in 14 of the nation’s 25 largest metropolitan areas

Atlanta, Detroit and Minneapolis-St. Paul are the most affordable cities, according to Interest.com’s first Home Affordability Study.

San Diego, New York and San Francisco are the least affordable.

With home prices down an average of 30% from their peak in 2006, and mortgage rates at record lows, there’s a lot of talk about how homes are more affordable now than they’ve been in decades.

In some places, that's true. But in many cities, it’s not.

Significant differences in median incomes, as well as critical costs such as property taxes and homeowners insurance, play a big role in determining whether the American dream of home ownership is truly within reach.

“Despite all of the talk about how homes are more affordable than they have been in decades, buying a home is still a big challenge for many American households,” says Mike Sante, managing editor of Interest.com.

“Dealing with rising expenses and stagnant wages is a struggle. Even after years of declining home prices and record-low mortgage rates, median-income households are unable to afford a median-priced home in nearly half of the metropolitan areas that we looked at.”

To get a clearer picture of how affordable housing really is, we created Interest.com’s Home Affordability Study. (Click here to see theresults for all 25 cities.)

We wanted to know whether it was possible for a family making the median household income for each city to buy the median-priced home.

We gathered city-specific data on everything from median home prices and incomes, average property taxes and homeowners insurance premiums, as well as consumer debt and mortgage rates, from the most reliable sources we could find.

Data from the U.S. Census Bureau, National Association of Realtors, National Association of Insurance Commissioners and Experian, one of the three major credit reporting agencies, all contributed to the analysis.

We then used two of Interest.com’s online calculators to determine how much a family earning the median income in each city could afford to spend on a house and how much a family would have to earn to afford that city’s median priced home.

To make the results easy to understand, each city received an:

Affordability Grade, with a "C" indicating that someone making the median income can afford the median-priced home.

Paycheck Power Rating, which is the percent the median income exceeds or falls short of the income required for a median-priced home.

Cities With the Most Affordable Housing

City                                        Affordability Grade         Paycheck Power Rating

Detroit                                  A                                             45.32%

Atlanta                                  A                                             40.00%

Minneapolis-St. Paul             A-                                            32.20%

Phoenix                                 B+                                           23.67%

St. Louis                               B+                                           23.49%

With all those factors taken into account, the Interest.com study reveals a far more complicated picture than the simple “housing is a bargain” view you’ll find in much of the media.

Atlanta, for example, sits atop our rankings largely by virtue of its relatively low home prices. Its median sales price of $103,200 is well below the average of $229,516 for the 25 largest cities.

“Atlanta has always been a deal as far as home prices go,” says Mitch Kaminer, who’s sold real estate there for 18 years and is currently president of the Atlanta Board of Realtors. “Labor is cheaper. Builders can build houses a lot cheaper than they can in other parts of the country.”

Highest Income Cities

City                                        Median Income

Washington, D.C.                   $86,680

San Francisco                        $71,975

Boston                                  $69,455

Baltimore                              $65,463

Seattle                                  $64,085

But Atlanta also benefits from having lower than average property taxes and insurance costs, along with a slightly above average median income.

All this means Atlanta earns an affordability grade of “A” and the best Paycheck Power Rating in the study. Its median income exceeds the income needed to buy a median-priced home by a whopping 40%.

Detroit is the other city to earn an “A,” but it represents a special, and especially sad, case.

The city’s score comes from its rock-bottom average home price of $60,200 — a number that reflects a vast supply of abandoned homes, as many as 90,000 by some estimates.

Minneapolis-St. Paul, which earns a grade of "A-" and a Paycheck Power Rating of 32%, illustrates how criteria other than the home price can make a big difference in how accessible housing is in different markets.

The Twin Cities' median home price is $70,000 more than Atlanta’s, but the region’s median household income of $63,352 is roughly 20% higher, too, which helps to compensate for the price disparity.

Lowest Home Prices

City                        Median Home Price

Detroit                    $60,200

Atlanta                    $103,200

St. Louis                 $131,700

Pittsburgh               $132,000

Tampa                    $144,300

“We have a pretty good local economy,” says David Arbit, research manager for the Minneapolis Area Association of Realtors, explaining the city’s affluence. “We’ve got relatively low unemployment and a lot of high-tech and finance jobs.”

Minneapolis also enjoys lower than average property taxes, which can make a surprising difference when it comes to home affordability.

Home prices are just a little higher and income just a little lower in Milwaukee than in Minneapolis. But the Wisconsin city’s property taxes are nearly 47% higher.

Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayer Alliance, says the higher tax rate reflects how local government has long been funded in the state. “Ninety to 95% of all revenues comes from the property tax,” Berry explains. “We have no local income tax and only a small local option sales tax.”

As a result, Milwaukee earns a surprisingly low affordability grade of D+.

Cities With the Least Affordable Housing

City                        Affordability Grade         Paycheck Power Rating

San Francisco        F                                              32.76%

New York             F                                              29.71%

San Diego              F                                              25.90%

Miami                    D-                                           12.59%

Los Angeles           D-                                           12.52%

San Diego, San Francisco and New York, which all earn grades of "F," illustrate the forces that have kept housing in some urban centers out of the reach of most Americans, despite one of the biggest real estate crashes in modern history.

All are on the coasts, naturally constrained by physical and political boundaries, and all are largely “built out,” meaning there is little room for expansion.

“We’re obviously a coastal city, and we’re a border city and, in addition, to the north of us is (Marine) Camp Pendleton,” explains Donna Sanfilippo, president of the San Diego Association of Realtors. “East is the only way we can expand. Because of the constraints of our geography, we’ve pretty much built on all of our land.”

Lowest Income Cities

City                        Median Income

Tampa                    $43,832

Miami                     $45,407

San Antonio            $48,699

Pittsburgh                $48,854

Detroit                    $48,968

The international nature of these cities also means they attract wealthy real estate investors from outside the country. San Diego is a popular retirement destination. These factors disconnect the local housing market from the local incomes.

“We’re seeing a lot of cash deals — 27% of all multiple listing service deals in our recent figures. Investors are coming back into the market. We’re seeing foreign investment,” says Sanfilippo. “Right now, we have the lowest amount of inventory on the market we’ve seen since 2009.”

San Francisco and New York both have household incomes above the national average, but the bigger paychecks aren’t enough to compensate for home prices that are among the highest in the country. San Francisco tops the list with an average price of $552,600.

Homeowners are also burdened with significantly steeper property taxes. New York’s taxes are more than three times the national average.

In contrast, Washington, D.C., has home prices comparable to New York’s, but the region’s greater prosperity — median household income is the highest in the nation — and reasonable property taxes allow the D.C. metro area to skate by with a gentleman’s "C+."

Highest Home Prices

City                                        Median Home Price

San Francisco                         $552,600

San Diego                               $379,100

New York                              $377,600

Washington, D.C.                   $367,000

Boston                                    $362,100

In all cases with these failing students, the Paycheck Power Rating is deeply in the red. In San Francisco, for example, the median income leaves you nearly 33% percent short of the paycheck you would need to be able to afford a median-priced home.

In San Diego, where average wages are lower, the Paycheck Power Rating is nearly as bad at 26%.

“A lot of San Diego jobs are service jobs, related to tourism, and those salaries are about $24,000 a year, and that obviously does not support home ownership,” acknowledges Sanfilippo.

That's exactly what the Center for Housing Policy has found in its studies.

"In many communities there is a fundamental disconnect between the income families have and the costs of buying a home," says Jeffrey Lubell, executive director of the Washington-based think tank.

"Falling house prices haven't solved the problem," Lubell says. "They've helped, but they haven't solved it."

Indeed, Lubell warns that with property values starting to rise around much of the country, "if you can't afford a home now, it's not going to get better. This is as good as it gets."

(Back to me)

This is interesting because we earn a C for housing (in the Houston area). We are relatively low on housing cost - as far as the actual housing price. But we are high on taxes and insurance (due to windstorm and flood insurance costs). 

As we look at questions like this, one may be led to question traditionally held assumptions about owning a home. Is it more advantageous to own a home? What are the specific short and long term benefits from owning a home? Is it better to invest one's money in a place where the return is higher? After all, what if the rates of housing value increases are not what they've been in the past?

But this is interesting also because they factored in not just housing values/costs, but the median incomes of the various cities. It's an interesting connection. How much house could you buy if you lived someplace like San Francisco or San Diego? It's EXPENSIVE to own a home in San Francisco (half a MILLION dollars for the median home!). I would not be able to live there. I am not sure I would be able to find an apartment I could afford...

Good questions. Interesting discussion.

Something to Think About

I've talked before on this blog about issues regarding poverty and race. I recently heard this story on NPR and I found it interesting:

http://www.npr.org/2012/09/27/161885219/aurora-colo-tries-to-capitalize-on-its-ethnic-riches

I don't know why some cities are more racially diverse than others. Before I moved to the South, I lived in an environment that was not very racially diverse. There were only a few black kids at my high school, some Asians, some Polynesians, and some Hispanics. But mostly, we were white, middle class folks. I was in the lower end of the middle class spectrum - we had food stamps and received assistance from our Church, we had secret Santa gifts given to our family, and we were happy and grateful. I still am. I am frequently overcome at the generosity of people. If my mother has had a frustration in her life, it is that she's never been blessed with access to the funds that she would like so that she could bless others.

But all of this homogeneity really serves to weaken our community. The first real experience I had with a racially diverse group was when I went to boot camp. Thrust into a world that was so very different from my own, I realized how ill-prepared and naive I was. Not only was I insensitive and arrogant, I was also ignorant. The learning curve was steep, though, and fortunately I was able to gain some friends quickly that helped me with their patience and their example. Their kindness and friendliness towards an incredibly naive seventeen-year-old kid from Utah was miraculous, really. And I'm grateful for that, too.

The military is a great mixing pot. Attracting folks from all over the country, putting them in places where they have to rely on each other - sometimes for their very lives - and where they have to live, eat, sleep, and work together, the military quickly makes everybody the same. Race has no bearing on a persons ability to perform, nor on the swift retribution that comes from making a mistake. Because later on, outside of training, mistakes can prove deadly. And everybody bleeds the same.

Military folks returning from WWII saw a world that was as unprepared as I was for racial diversity. Gone were the days of being at close, even combat, quarters with another of a different race. People returned to segregated communities, as separated as though there were a wall surrounding their respective neighborhoods. Some of the nefarious real estate and lending practices helped continue this trend, and people who had once looked at each other as brothers, comrades in arms, now no longer looked at each other at all.

But some came back changed by their experiences. And they taught their children that it was not right. Having served a country that seemed to ignore their problems, these men and women and their children fought the injustices that they faced. Schools became integrated. Buses carried people of all stripes, and all over the country, barriers to race were removed. Great, progressives strides were made because people stood up to claim what is theirs - a fair, just chance to succeed in a world that for so long had denied it to them because of the color of their skin.

What a ridiculous thing to judge someone for.

We are now looking at a world where race is less important. This is at once a good thing, and a bad thing. That race is considered at all carries both positives and negatives. The best thing is that people are learning to accept people of all backgrounds, of all races, of all cultures, languages, etc. We are learning from our past mistakes, and we are learning to reach out to all people regardless of the color of their skin. There continues to be racism, it is true. There are issues that still must be addressed and resolved. But progress is being made, and it is important.

On the other hand, race is important. It speaks to heritage, legacy, and past. It speaks of a feeling of community that held together in the darkest of times. Now that those times are over, and the world is getting lighter, it is important to learn from and celebrate the strength that can come from this heritage and legacy. Communities are strongest when they take from the vast sample of cultures, races, backgrounds, and even languages, and makes them it's own. As we learn to celebrate our differences and commonalities - the very things that make us so wonderfully powerful as a society - then we will know we have truly arrived.

It is a blessing to me to be able to serve the community of Mont Belvieu - a place I have come to love and consider my home. I only hope I am worthy of the task, and can bring honor to the community and the legacy that is here.

Water Foolish

I recently wrote a post about water needs in and around our area, and how regional water use affects our City. A link to that post is here ( http://montbelvieucityplanning.blogspot.com/2012/04/water-wise.html) if you're interested.

As a follow up to that post, and because I know that there's some interest in the area, I wanted to report on a meeting I attended last week. The meeting was called by Rusty Senac, one of our County Commissioners. In attendance were planners and officials representing Baytown, Mont Belvieu, Chambers County, and several local water related players. The discussion ranged from how to supply immediate needs for those folks who are experiencing poor water service, to how to continue to ensure quality and plentiful access to water for the next 50 to 100 years. These are not easy questions to answer.

The area is experiencing a huge influx of development. Baytown is growing eastwards into Chambers County and along I-10. The industrial expansion in the area is really picking up, with industrial and business parks mushrooming up all over, representing billions and billions of dollars worth of local improvements in industrial infrastructure growth. It really boggles the mind to think about the amount of money and things that are going on... Attendant with that, if not quite as dramatic, is the expansion of the residential side. We often look to industry as the main players in the area. This is true due to size and impact on the economy. Yet our residents have needs that are just as valid and serious, and these needs cannot be ignored and not planned for.

As noted in the previous blog post, we are set up pretty well as a City. We have good, deep wells that provide enough water for our City's needs for the foreseeable future. Past decisions have been wisely made to ensure that we would have this supply for years and generations to come.

But there are a number of things that affect our water supply. Even though we are on ground water (our water comes from several deep wells at various locations around the City), we are affected by upstream aquifer recharge (the joke was that we need to tell the folks in Dallas to flush twice, please) (which is not really funny, after all) and subsidence. So far we don't have much issue with either. The development between here and Dallas is minimal for the time being, so the uses for the water upstream of us will be low-impact agricultural uses. This is actually good for us, because that water percolates down into the water supply that we eventually draw from. Our area has a couple of aquifers from which to draw. The Chicot Aquifer tends to be more shallow, while the Evangeline Aquifer is deeper. Both have sufficient water to meet our needs, but this close to the coast, there is some salt/mineral intrusion from the sea that can give the water taste or other issues. The City takes our water from the deeper Evangeline Aquifer, while other local, smaller utility districts may take theirs from the Chicot.

Recharge rates are affected by, and in turn affect, runoff in the area. As the zones where water enters the ground becomes saturated, it enters streams and bayous and eventually slowly makes it's way to the ocean. The rate of replenishment for the aquifers in our area is about 6" per year, which means if we take more than that, we're looking at a subsidence issue, and eventually we could suck it all dry. For our City's public uses, however, studies have shown that we have a virtually unlimited supply of water.

That could change. As demands for surface water (water diverted from streams, bayous, etc) increase - and, make no mistake, they are increasing - the amount of water that  makes its way into the recharge zone for the aquifer will diminish. This is exceedingly difficult to quantify, and almost impossible to regulate. How can you force an entity who needs the water to allow water to remain in the ground so it can recharge the aquifer? Who controls the rain and evaporation rates? (Well, we know the answer to that one). But all of these difficult and random things must be accounted for. It's not for nothing that the Mayor of Atlanta encouraged his citizens to pray for rain several years ago whilst in the midst of the drought. That was a very serious thing. And, in his case, it seemed to have done the trick. Short term. (Keep praying, folks).

So, the upshot is that there is really plenty of water available for the current and immediate (20-50 years) needs of our growing community and industry. However, if we are not careful we will find ourselves behind the curve for planning for these resources and may find them reduced or too expensive to hold on to. Also of interest is the apparent desire of Baytown to expand the water treatment in the east part of their City (and in the western part of Chambers County) to help provide the needs for culinary water in our area. And this is a good thing.

So, as always, stay tuned. It is an interesting and dynamic time for our area! And these are issues that are important as we look to the future.

Grounded Figures

I recently came across this article:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/09/12/160996525/odd-things-happen-when-you-chop-up-cities-and-stack-them-sideways

I found it very interesting. When I was in grad school, we looked at cities at this scale and in this kind of context. This is called a figure-ground study, where you reduce everything to its most basic and simplistic elements - in this case, just streets and, well, not streets. This provides you with a stark contrast between what is otherwise relatively obscure.

You could also do the reverse with these images. I have chosen one image to highlight from the article. The original image looks like this:

The article then arranges the blocks thus created to show relative size, shape, and other interesting aspects of these teal colored blocks. The result (while not included here) is lovely and interesting. This image, though, is also lovely and interesting. It shows how the blocks relate to one another, how some spaces are informed and dictated by natural and man-made forms, including rivers and roadways. It also shows the organic nature of the way things developed in the city.

By way of contrast, I generated this image. This is exactly the same image as the one above, only the contrast this time has been given to the part of the city that is NOT blocks or other open areas. This shows the network of streets and highways, and also shows the large area in the center that is the river. The interconnection of the roads and the river are interesting, as is the organic nature of the highways - mainly developed in the 50s and 60s, which are both informed by the grid and also seem to disregard it completely. There is also a stark contrast in the rigid grid of Manhattan (with Broadway and 4th Avenue moving off at an odd angle and wanting to disrupt the grid's rigidity) and Brooklyn to the east, with it's obviously organically developed grid system - where there are several grids placed at odd angles to each other, forming convoluted intersections and other general fun. What is missing from this image are the bridges over the river - which you would not see in this kind of study because they are represented as the same color as the water way behind, but which would be interesting to note because of the way it pulls both sides of the image/city together.

I have written in the past about the need for people to impose their ideals on their lives and on their built environment. Le Corbusier wrote about the rational thinking person of antiquity who has moved in to a new area and begins to lay out streets at right angles to each other, which is at once aesthetically pleasing as well as practical and efficient. The above article seems to bear that out, for the most part.

But then you have places like Istanbul and Paris, where there are relatively few rigid right angles. Even Berlin, which is much more like New York than the others, still has a lot of sinewy curves and lines. These are places where people live and work and move around... They are not terribly efficient or right-angled, but they are still good cities.

My point is that we often get stuck in one particular model, and cannot think outside that model. It is good for us to occasionally step back and look at the big picture, as it were, and imagine what things COULD be like. We can also learn much from others and what they're doing. Different doesn't necessarily mean better, but it doesn't necessarily mean worse, either. The world is a wonderful variety of so many different things, different people with different ideas and ways of looking at things - shucks, even of living and building their cities.

Pipelines and Expansion

We hear a lot on the news about the terrible state of the economy. I guess we (in this area) decided to sit this one out...

I attended a meeting last Wednesday with some of the representatives and community stakeholders. It was regarding anticipated growth in the next 2-10 years. I found it very enlightening.

Several industry representatives gave presentations about what their plans are for growth over the next little while. Exxon, ConocoPhilips, Enterprise, and several others are looking to expand their stake in the petrochemical industry. All of this is focused on our area. It is anticipated that there will be an increase in the next couple of years (and lasting for 2-3 years) of over 20,000 jobs just in industry. The projections for support and ancillary jobs created by these efforts likewise shows dramatic increases in the job market. All of which is very good for the economy of the region.

This (it was explained to me) is due in large part to the relatively low price of natural gas. Plants are needed to separate out the various parts of the y-grade (what comes out of the ground) natural gas from the constituent and valuable parts. Of particular interest to me was the dehydrogenation processes that will be installed. This takes hydrogen out of some of the other gasses and makes them available for use in creating plastics. Yeah - I don't understand it much, but it's a very interesting process.

The (relatively) cheap and abundant natural gas is, in turn, being promoted and supplied by the relatively new technology of hydraulic fracturing (sometimes called fracking) of the rock where the y-grade natural gas is stored. This is the process where they drill a well - or use an existing well - get to an area where the gas is, and send hydraulic fracturing fluids down into the well at great pressure. This breaks up the rocks which trap the natural gas inside, freeing up vast quantities of natural gas for use in the industry. There is an extensive series of pipelines throughout North America which supplies this natural gas to plants in our area. What makes Mont Belvieu unique is the salt dome, where natural gas, propane, and other NGLs can be stored indefinitely and safely underground. Someone once told me that if all of the NGL stored in the Mont Belvieu salt dome was put in above ground containers, it would stretch from here to Los Angeles.

The pipelines bring in the raw, unseparated y-grade material. This gets processed through almost completely automatic facilities called fractionators (not to be confused with the fracking or fracturing mentioned above). Fractionation separates out the various gasses that make up the y-grade natural gas - butane, propane, octane, etc. All of this is very useful for heating homes, powering electric plants, and many other uses. But the expansion that is of particular interest to me is in the plastics area. We already have a couple of large plastics facilities in the area (Bayer and Exxon). There are currently proposed (or being looked at, anyway) expansion of the existing Exxon plastics plant in Mont Belvieu. The proximity to the storage units and all that is available at hand - including the extensive network of pipelines - is a huge attraction to future expansion in this area.

What that means for us is that we are looking to grow our tax base AND our residential base. People will come here to live and work. Their children will need to go to school. They will travel our roads and shop in our stores. They will leave an indelible mark - even if their jobs are temporary, they will leave a legacy of improvement and investment that will last for decades.

So stay tuned! This is a dramatic and interesting time, one in which we will certainly see some benefit as well as some difficulty.

(PS - for a very good series on NGLs and their importance to Mont Belvieu, please see the following:
http://www.rbnenergy.com/can-mont-belvieu-handle-the-ngl-supply-surge-part-I and related posts. I highly recommend it.)

Economic Development (II)

Not sure if you read this headline:

Council paves way for Walmart 

It comes from the following website:

http://baytownsun.com/communities/baytown/article_6d7be59a-e5af-11e1-bf51-0019bb2963f4.html

(It should be noted that this is the Baytown City Council, not the Mont Belvieu City Council. Just to be clear).

I know from previous blog posts and comments that this is something that we've anticipated - with some mixed feelings - for some time. Certainly it will cut down on the drive time to get to shopping - the current closest Walmart stores are either in Liberty or in Baytown. This one is literally right on our doorstep.

The impact of Walmart on the local economy is well documented. It will be interesting to see - over the next few years - if the pattern holds for this Walmart location as well. It will also be interesting to see what this does in other areas of our City as far as other retail growth.

Power to the people!

I recently read this article:

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/07/158275818/growing-pains-nations-balance-growth-power-needs 

I found it interesting for a number of reasons.

First, our power infrastructure is in pretty sad shape. This is important not only in third world countries where the costs can be prohibitive, but even in our country, where the size of the infrastructure alone is daunting. The cost of rehabilitating the lines, transformers, towers, etc is astronomical.

Interestingly, and by way of a little history, when commercial electricity became something people wanted in their homes, there were two competing ideas about how to do it. Thomas Edison - of light bulb fame - was a proponent of direct current. This had (has) a number of advantages, including a more localized approach to power generation and distribution (the generators had to be close to the end users, because the power could only efficiently be conducted about a mile or two). Alternating current - the ultimate winner in the war of currents - was promoted by Westinghouse and Tesla. Their scheme was the familiar far-flung power plants - located at places of easy access to coal, hydro-electric or geothermal sources, or just generally out of the way of development. Electricity generation on that scale is a messy thing, and no one wanted to be near it. That's not a problem for alternating current - it travels (somewhat) readily over long distances. In fact, the higher the voltage, the easier it is to transmit. So you see what we have now - the long series of pylons carrying electricity for miles and miles, marching off into the horizon. Good for companies - centralized operations means convenience and increased profit; but bad for the environment. More on that in a second.

Mont Belvieu is an energy-thirsty place. The industrial complex in our City uses a significant amount of power - particularly when based on population. Fractionators and storage facilities use electricity to power their activities. This is very good and very essential. But it places us at the nexus of the need to improve/maintain power infrastructure and the needs of a growing community.

The next interesting point is that if Edison had won out in the war of currents, our model and mindset regarding energy production and transmission would have been radically different. Alternating current power production is what led to the mercury poisoning of our streams and waterways, the acid rain in the north east, significant amounts of CO2 emissions, and sulfur and other particulates in the air. While relatively cheap, the costs of the environmental impacts of these facilities is incalculable.

It is interesting to consider, then, that if Edison had won we would have a system that is ideally suited for renewable energy production, transmission, and use. Alternating current is produced in plants that generate power specifically designed to send that power over long distances at high voltages (at voltages in excess of 700,000 volts). Direct current systems are not capable of producing that same kind of voltage, so the systems would have to stay small and local. This is ideal for renewable energy use - if not for large scale commercial production.

And therein lies the largest paradigm shift that needs to take place in the way we think about power generation. Looking to the future - where renewable energy is more practical and in greater/more wide spread use - it is conceivable that each community - each neighborhood, even - would have it's own array of windmills, photovoltaics, etc. that would generate energy needed in that area. These local power supply points would be much more resilient to natural disasters, less susceptible to outages, and would reduce the cost/need for infrastructure improvements. They would also mean that there would be less CO2 emissions and less pollution in the air/water supply. Further, we could take down the marching pylons of energy, returning our landscape vistas to what they once were.

In our City, the industrial work that is done is largely automated. The ground - at the surface - is generally open and bare. It is possible that this ground could be utilized for photovoltaic energy production that would be used on site. Then, in the event of a hurricane or other natural disaster, or even the rolling black outs we experienced in the recent past, the power supply necessary for the continued safety and operation of these industrial areas could continue unhampered.

Eagle Drive (Update 4)

So unless you've studiously avoided it, you've noticed that there are now only two lanes each direction on Eagle Drive SOUTH of the Canal. These two lanes are, of course, what will eventually be the east side, north bound lanes of traffic. You begin to get an idea of just what has been involved with all of this. It's at once fun to watch and a little frustrating as things progress. We're going to have to deal with delays as construction traffic moves in and out, and just regular folks trying to get to the post office or the school or their favorite shop. As we all move around on the roadway, it is good to remember to be patient. It's worth it.

The west side, south bound lanes are now under construction. The construction of these lanes should go quicker, as there will be less drainage work that needs to take place. Also, one of the things that kind of held up the construction of the north bound lanes was some sanitary sewer work that needed to take place before the road could be completed. Now that all that's done, the rest should be a breeze. The goal initially was to have all four lanes open before school starts. That is looking like it is going to be unfeasible at this point, but they are still working as quickly as they can to get these lanes open to traffic as soon as possible, so that the school traffic can be accommodated.

You will notice that the relative height of the road will be much lower, but that will be less noticeable once the entire roadway has been changed to the correct height. The roadway overall is much lower than the previous road. This is to facilitate drainage in the roadway in an extreme event (flooding will happen in the road, instead of in adjacent properties), as well as drainage channels out to nearby waterways (Cotton Bayou, mainly, but also some to Hackberry Gully). For those of us who have become accustomed to the relative flatness of our road interchanges, we may take some adjusting to get things so they seem OK. But in the mean time, it's interesting and fun, and certainly keeps you on your toes... :)

As always, if you have questions about what's going on, please feel free to stop by my office. I've had several people come in and talk about it, and it's always helpful for me and everyone to share information. Just remember - patience! We'll all get there.

Baytown Sun Article

In the paper again. Quality reporting from the Baytown Sun - as usual! :)

Oneok building to be first in MB built to new code

Posted: Wednesday, June 27, 2012 12:00 am

By ALBERT VILLEGAS photographer@baytownsun.com

MONT BELVIEU – The Highway 146 corridor, which runs through Mont Belvieu’s business and industrial districts, is one step closer to adopting a new look with a building that could change the look of the area in the future.

The proposed edifice – still in the planning stages – is the Oneok Hydrocarbon Southwest, LLC Administration Building, which if all goes as planned, will be located along Highway 146 near Maranatha Church, just north of FM 1942.

The building and what changes it can bring to the area’s future look went before the Mont Belvieu City Council Monday as a discussion item and appeared to have full support from city council members.

Although the wording on the meeting agenda was the building’s facade, Mont Belvieu City Planner Bill Cobabe said he feels it’s going to bring significant changes to this part of the city.

“There are a couple of things that this is doing,” he said. “First, it is raising the level of design quality on 146 so it’s pushing that up,” Cobabe said. “We haven’t seen that level of quality here (and) that is a direct benefit of having redone a zoning ordinance several years ago and pushing those architectural standards where they are now.”

The positive remarks made by city council members Monday were preceded by those from the Planning & Zoning Commission, which unanimously voted on the facade requirements.

Artwork of the building was presented by Kenneth R. Black, with PageSoutherlandPage, which also has another project along the city’s FM 1942 corridor.

“There’s so much excitement to this design and we have the opportunity to bring something innovative to 146,” Black said. “We’re bringing a level of quality to refineries and to industrial areas that we haven’t seen in the past. The challenge is how do we create something with eclectic uses and still have that industrial feel.”

Plans are to have a 13,500 square-foot building for a company that currently employs about 60 people, Black said.

The interior will have a lot of natural lighting from windows, curtain walls and sky lighting, Black said.

The exterior at this stage is 27 percent brick, 28 percent glass and 45 percent metal paneling. The back will have 20 percent brick, 7 percent glass and 73 percent metal paneling.

If the city council approves the final phase, Black said it would take another two-and-a-half months for design specs to be completed and bids to go out.

It would take a year and a half to complete the building.

Urban Concentration

I recently came across this article in the National Geographic. It deals with the ever-increasing number of folks who live - or who will live - in large cities over the next few decades. It is predicted that the percentage of people living in cities in 2050 will increase to 75% (it's around 50% now). This has a number of implications. But first, the article:

(begin quoted text)

Sustainable Earth: Cities

Rio+20 shows how our rapidly urbanizing world presents challenges and opportunities for sustainable development.

Andrew Curry

For National Geographic News

The world's concrete jungles don't have the best reputation when it comes to being environmentally friendly. Think "city," and most of us picture unappealing vistas: gridlocked cars, smoggy horizons, and landfills overflowing with urban debris.

Yet demographers say the majority of the world's population already lives in urban areas; by 2050, three-quarters of the people on Earth will live in cities. Most of the action toward urbanization is taking place in the developing world. Urban areas occupy just 2 percent of the Earth, but consume 60 to 80 percent of the world's energy and produce 75 percent of carbon emissions. (See the National Geographic magazine feature "City Solutions" from December 2011.)

Rethinking Cities

Does the trend towards urbanization spell disaster? Maybe not. Recent research suggests those numbers may be deceptive. In fact, the typical urban resident produces less CO2 than average for the country they live in. The average American is responsible for 23 tons of CO2 per year; the average Washingtonian, just 19.7—and New Yorkers generate only 7.1 tons apiece.

That's because cities offer opportunities for efficiency in a way sprawling suburbs and scattered rural areas simply can't. Small apartments are easier to heat and cool than suburban homes, dense cities make public transit an attractive option, and stacking offices makes them more efficient to manage. In other words, the "concrete jungle" is actually a lot greener than it looks.

At the upcoming United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), the debate over managing this urban transition will focus on how smart urban planning—from efficient and clean public transport to a realistic appraisal of how migration from the countryside to cities works—can make the most of these efficiencies.

China alone is undergoing one of the most dramatic demographic revolutions the world has ever seen. In the past 30 years, more than a quarter of the Asian giant's population has moved from farms and small villages in the countryside to booming cities like Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, and Wuhan. Over the next 20 years, 15 to 20 million people each year will flood into Chinese cities.

All those new city dwellers will need places to live and work, making China the world's biggest de facto urban planning laboratory. Experts estimate that more than 1,500 skyscrapers will be built in China every year for decades to come; dozens of Chinese cities will need mass transport systems built from scratch. To put that all in context, China must build the equivalent of one Chicago-sized city each year for the next two decades.

China's far from alone. With their booming populations, countries like India, Brazil, and Indonesia are at the forefront of the urban future.

Looking Ahead

The potential is tremendous, but that doesn't mean the future of the city will be smooth. Urban planners must overcome challenges like traffic congestion, a shortage of adequate housing, and declining infrastructure. While cities are more efficient, they also concentrate demand for resources such as power and water, making it vital for planners to look beyond the city limits.

And authoritarian, centrally planned city designs like China's—efficient, perhaps, but often far from democratic—may not be a model many countries want to emulate.

There's no doubt the world of the future will be urban. The challenge confronting us today is whether we can make that world an efficient and sustainable one.

(end quoted text. Retrieved from http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/sustainable-earth/cities/#)

This has implications for Mont Belvieu. On the outskirts of one of the world's largest cities, and in an America where urbanization already accounts for more than 80% of the population, we are facing a very dynamic time. Houston has already claimed several smaller communities to the west of downtown. People I know who have been in the area for decades claim there was a time when Katy was its own separate entity. Yet driving through the area now, you don't get a sense that Katy is any different from the rest of the sprawl that has enveloped it. The same could easily be said of Pasadena, of Sugarland, of Spring, and of many others. 

Interestingly, folks who live in Katy, and others, still prefer to identify themselves as being from those places. But other than a tax role, or a mailing address, what is it that makes Katy distinctive? Why is there still a place called Spring? And what is different about Pasadena from places like Texas City or Pearland?

Some places are lucky. Galveston is on an island, which separates it physically from surrounding communities. San Antonio has a great, storied history that will help define it forever. Small towns all over the country have downtown areas that shape the character of the community and provide places of collective memory and history.

Some places - and Mont Belvieu is one of them - are not so lucky. We have a good history here in the City, but it is not tied to a particular place - the historical parts of our City are literally being removed as industry expands in the older part of town. There is a collective history, but that exists largely within the memories of folks that have made the area their home - some of them for generations. As the physical reminders of that past are being eliminated, there is the real danger that this memory will be gone, too. And as this part of our history and memory are lost, we run the risk of being just another bedroom community on the outskirts of a larger, nondescript community that people more readily identify with.

So what to do?

First off, we need to make sure that we continue to have places where people can gather to share common experiences. This all adds to the perpetual memory and collective feeling of community. The new City Park is definitely a step in the right direction. This facility has already created a place for people to come and celebrate major life events, sporting events, and just an afternoon together with friends. All of these shared and common experiences help bolster the feeling of community and knit our families and friends together.

We must also insist on the highest quality of development. There are many areas of the City which have yet to be developed. As they come on line, it is imperative that we demand that these new developments fit in well with what we want the community to look like. This is beneficial for developers, too - communities that have quality development enjoy the increased patronage and buy-in from the local residents, which increases their spending at and interest in new developments.

Finally, we need to get out and participate in those things that will make us a part of the community. Lions and Pilot Club, Boy Scouts, Little League and Pop Warner - these are all great things to be a part of, and essential for the health of the community. But even more generally, people are benefited just by showing up for an event - movie night in the park, the Fourth of July celebration, Fall Fest, and many others. Our children learn that these are good things to do, and the legacy of togetherness and community is passed down from one generation to the next.

To Everything There is a Season

The season for politics is upon us. From local municipal elections, to state and federal run offs and elections, we are in the full swing of another political year. And it is exciting! There is so much going on, so much at stake, I think it behooves us all to get out there and get involved to the extent possible.

One of the things that I enjoy about this kind of season is the rhetoric. Most of it is pretty boring (things like, we need to change the failed policies of the past! we need to plan for the future and make sure we keep America on the right track! I will restore faith in government! My worthy opponent is a complete louse!) and meaningless, but often you can feel the texture and subcontext in their statements. They are more often than not making an emotional appeal, reaching for phrases that will appeal to emotion rather than logic, that evoke an emotional response, rather than inform. And in this, there is real mastery and cleverness.

This morning I heard this on the radio, and I was intrigued: (link - http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/05/09/152287372/partisan-psychology-why-are-people-partial-to-political-loyalties-over-facts)

Text follows:

Partisan Psychology: Why Do People Choose Political Loyalties Over Facts?

by Shankar Vedantam

When pollsters ask Republicans and Democrats whether the president can do anything about high gas prices, the answers reflect the usual partisan divisions in the country. About two-thirds of Republicans say the president can do something about high gas prices, and about two-thirds of Democrats say he can't.

But six years ago, with a Republican president in the White House, the numbers were reversed: Three-fourths of Democrats said President Bush could do something about high gas prices, while the majority of Republicans said gas prices were clearly outside the president's control.

The flipped perceptions on gas prices isn't an aberration, said Dartmouth College political scientist Brendan Nyhan. On a range of issues, partisans seem partial to their political loyalties over the facts. When those loyalties demand changing their views of the facts, he said, partisans seem willing to throw even consistency overboard.

Last time it was Republicans who were against a flip-flopping, out-of-touch elitist from Massachusetts, and now it's Democrats.

- Brendan Nyhan, political scientist, Dartmouth College

Nyhan cited the work of political commentator Jonathan Chait, who has drawn a contrast between the upcoming 2012 election between President Obama and the likely Republican nominee, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, and the 2004 election between President Bush and John Kerry, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts.

Nyhan also contrasted the outrage in 2004 among Democrats who felt that Bush was politicizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks for political gain, and the outrage today among Republicans who feel the Obama re-election campaign is exploiting the killing of Osama bin Laden.

"The whole political landscape has flipped," Nyhan said.

Along with Jason Reifler at Georgia State University, Nyhan said, he's exploring the possibility that partisans reject facts because they produce cognitive dissonance — the psychological experience of having to hold inconsistent ideas in one's head. When Democrats hear the argument that the president can do something about high gas prices, that produces dissonance because it clashes with the loyalties these voters feel toward Obama. The same thing happens when Republicans hear that Obama cannot be held responsible for high gas prices — the information challenges their dislike of the president.

Nyhan and Reifler hypothesized that partisans reject such information not because they're against the facts, but because it's painful. That notion suggested a possible solution: If partisans were made to feel better about themselves — if they received a little image and ego boost — could this help them more easily absorb the "blow" of information that threatens their pre-existing views?

Nyhan said that ongoing — and as yet, unpublished — research was showing the technique could be effective. The researchers had voters think of times in their lives when they had done something very positive and found that, fortified by this positive memory, voters were more willing to take in information that challenged their pre-existing views.

"One person talked about taking care of his elderly grandmother — something you wouldn't expect to have any influence on people's factual beliefs about politics," Nyhan said. "But that brings to mind these positive feelings about themselves, which we think will protect them or inoculate them from the threat that unwelcome ideas or unwelcome information might pose to their self-concept."

Shankar Vedantam is a correspondent for NPR's Science Desk.

(back to me)

So listen to me. You are a good person, whomever you are. You can do great things. You are a part of the greatest country in the world, part of the greatest experiment in politics the world has ever known. You are capable of changing the way things are done. Now, inform yourself, become powerful, and get out there and get to work. You'll feel better, and the world will be a better place.

In the ZONE!

As I noted a couple of months ago, I listen to the radio as I am out and about in the mornings, and occasionally something grabs my attention. Yesterday I heard this:

(quoted text follows)

by Nancy Marshall-Genzer

Marketplace Morning Report for Thursday, April 19, 2012

Jeremy Hobson: A report out today from the Brookings Institution offers a theory on how to improve education for poor kids -- change zoning laws.

For an explanation, here's Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer from our Wealth and Poverty Desk.

---

Nancy Marshall-Genzer: It’s a busy morning at the Bruce Monroe Elementary School in Washington. Third-grader Marcus King sits to one side of his classroom, by himself. His mother, Theresa King, meets me there to talk about her dreams for Marcus, who has special needs. First off, a move to a better school district.

Theresa King: I would go. No question. I would definitely go.

King moved to Washington less than a year ago from a Maryland suburb, where Marcus’s classes were small.

King: He needs that one-on-one. Not just someone standing there, saying take out a piece of paper, write your name -- because he doesn’t understand that.

When King lost her job in Maryland, she and Marcus moved into public housing in the city. It wasn’t available in the suburbs.

Jonathan Rothwell says that’s no accident. He wrote the Brookings report on zoning.

Jonathan Rothwell: In most metropolitan areas, it’s impossible to build affordable housing in affluent neighborhoods because of zoning laws.

Those laws don’t allow apartment buildings or townhouses. Rothwell says zoning laws should be changed to require construction of affordable housing so low-income students can go to the best schools.

But urban policy consultant Wendell Cox says ultimately...

Wendell Cox: The way to improve educational performance is by fixing the schools.

In every neighborhood. Rothwell says that’ll take years. It’s more practical to change zoning laws to give kids like Marcus King a better education, so they can scramble a little higher on the economic ladder.

In Washington, I’m Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

About the author

Nancy Marshall-Genzer is a senior reporter for Marketplace based in Washington, D.C. covering daily news.

(back to me)

We have an interesting zoning situation here in Mont Belvieu. There are only two of five zones in the City which do not allow for multi-family housing of some kind. This is good for several reasons. First, it allows us to build integrated neighborhoods, allowing people of all different stripes to live close to each other. Second, it allows people to move through their lives having different housing choices that give them opportunities to stay in the community, building a relationship with the people who live here as well as with the community itself. Also, it avoids the kinds of problems the article I've copied above notes. We have a very progressive and equitable system in our City. It is doubtful that we will need more than one high school in our community. But if we ever did, we should find that there are not the kinds of problems that they've experienced in other metro areas as they've developed, as far as education access is concerned. And that, all in all, is a very good thing.

Thoughts on Eagle Drive....

Not necessarily an update.

We are well into the early construction and it moves apace. Things are on schedule, which is good. I also think that people are gradually adjusting themselves to the construction mentality. The lanes have been shifted over, and with the exception of a couple of unfortunate gas leaks, which snarled traffic on a few occasions, we have had pretty good success with the roadway. Traffic service levels are not terrible, all things considered. They try to coordinate the concrete pours for the hours when school is in session, so the rush before and after is avoided. Seems to be working OK so far.

But next fall, the road in front of the schools will be very restricted. My mantra, whenever I have the bully pulpit, has been to put your child on a bus. There is not a neighborhood in the area that is not served by a bus. If even every other child were put on a bus, that would reduce the traffic on Eagle Drive in half - instantly. Please, please - put your child on a bus. If you live near a child, encourage the parents of that child to put the child on the bus. Check out the illustration below. It's informative...

Water Wise

I recently attended a conference where the speaker was talking about water in Texas. There were a couple of interesting things he mentioned that I found of particular interest. First, Texas has a very diverse water profile. In the east part of the state, annual rainfall is an average of 55" per year, while in the west the total is only 10. The presenter noted that this is about an inch of rain lost per 17 miles west you travel. The second point was that the number of inches lost per year to evaporation also widely varies. In the east, it is only at 45", while in the west it was closer to 100" lost per year. Thus, it makes more sense to build a reservoir in the east, where rainfall actually is greater than the amount evaporated in a year. But this is not where the water is needed. The need for water is most dire in places out west. It is true that a reservoir is not just filled with rainwater, but is strategically placed to gather water from several streams/sources to maximize the benefit and impact.

I am from an area of the world that is every bit as dry as the west part of Texas. When my ancestors arrived in the Great Basin, they immediately began diverting streams and spreading the water out across vast acres, bringing life to an extremely harsh environment. The oasis they created in the desert now supports two million people. It may be (appropriately) argued that the lifestyles they brought with them from their ancestral homes of Scotland and England and northern Europe may be unsustainable. But what they did to the environment they found, creating a place where people could live and thrive, is nothing short of miraculous.

Other areas of the west used (and continue to utilize) more dramatic and harmful techniques to get the water they need. Cities from Los Angeles to Las Vegas have begged, borrowed, and stolen water from regions near and far. All of the water that exists in the west has been spoken for and legal rights to the water are more precious than gold.

But what does this have to do with our little City? Don't we have plenty of water?

We do. We are blessed with an abundance of good, clean water. Our water sources in the City come from several wells located around the City. It is treated per government regulations and tested regularly to ensure quality. We have enough water for almost all anticipated growth our community may face. Further, our water rates are much less expensive than neighboring communities, meaning that we can use what we like/need for our domestic and commercial water needs without being overly burdened financially.

But that doesn't mean we should waste it. Our water is recharged through percolation and aquifer recharge. There is a careful balance between the amount of water that enters the ground and that which is removed. If the balance tips in one direction, the water will become depleted very rapidly. Our water is precious. The surface water in the area is largely spoken for - it heads mostly to Houston. As areas to the west become more thirsty, it may be that we end up selling some of our excess to help places like Austin and San Antonio stay hydrated. Again, this is OK, provided we are wise about how we shepherd our resources. Being a good steward of our water resource means little things like turning off the faucet while you shave or brush your teeth. Like watering gardens and turf areas at night. Like washing your car on the grass, where it can go back into the soil, rather than out into the bay. There are a host of little things that can be done. The following are a couple of interesting websites that will help if you have questions, both about the current drought and it's severity, and about what the State is doing to plan for the future.

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/2012/02/01/five-ways-to-find-water-for-a-thirsty-texas/

http://stateimpact.npr.org/texas/drought/

Because, really, the future starts now.