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.

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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.