Trail News
Happy Holidays & Save Our Forest Update
The signs are beginning to appear in our neighborhood. Please see the Buffalo Bayou Detention page on the Briar Forest Super Neighborhood website to learn why our area forests are in danger.
City of Houston Public Works & Engineering (PWE) and Harris County are seeking to deforest our area as part of their storm water management plans. Deforestation is not necessary. The plans as we understand them (nothing is official yet) will gut much of the trails. There are viable alternatives.
Some homes in the Briar Forest Super Neighborhood did flood during the April 28, 2009 storm. The storm was measured as a 1 percent (100 year) rain event. Saying the source of the damage was high water in the bayou and we need to dig out and widen the bayou is far too simplistic. The reasons are more complex and the source of the problems can be corrected by proper allocation of government resources.
The bayou’s capacity to accept storm water from the City of Houston storm water system in our area was eliminated and the water backed up into our streets, Ashford Lake, county drainage ditches, and our homes. However, the bayou’s capacity was not taken away by our 1 percent event; the capacity was reduced by flood waters from Fort Bend County.
Harris County, the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of Houston must gain control of the flood waters from Fort Bend County by building a regional detention basin west of Highway 6 and south of the Barker Reservoir. Read about this in the material found on the Buffalo Bayou Detention page.
Join GHORBA, along with the residents and trail users, by signing the petition and contacting all of the “decision makers” listed in the “What you can do” section of the PWE – Who, What and Why document. Make your opinion known now and speak up loudly. If we do not apply enough pressure now, our forests will become a giant detention basin for Fort Bend County development.
Harris County and PWE closed-door meetings need to end and the Charting Buffalo study maps should no longer be hidden from public view. This is your community and you have a right to know what is taking place and a right to be heard. The un-elected bureaucrats are in the driver’s seat and we need to shove them into the passenger seat or out the door.
Two of our elected representatives (CM Pennington and Com. Radack) have joined with us, but we need more voices downtown.
Please read the Buffalo Bayou Detention page, learn what is taking place, know the alternatives and contact all the people listed in the PWE document. Tell them you will not accept excuses. Tell them you expect them to pursue the alternatives. Tell them to take charge of the bureaucrats.
We need help and it is imperative each of you show up for the public hearing to be held in January 2012. The hearing itself has not been scheduled. Unfortunately, it appears the actuals proposals (we have been told there will be a number of options presented for public comment) will not be available until the day of the hearing. Please feel free to e-mail me with questions, comments, or concerns at president@ghorba.org
Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah,
Bill Rustam—President of GHORBA
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