In an initiative that excludes the Harris County Judge, work is proceeding to help revitalize flood control initiatives, one of the most positive aspects of a strengthening coalition between two Democrats and one Republican on county Commissioners' Court.
Following Hurricane Harvey, when there was widespread support for flood control measures after massive devastation, then-County Judge Edward Emmett helped pass a $2.5 billion bond issue aimed at doing a lot of flood work, which was then added to federal government money to match, for a total of about $5 billion worth of flood relief work.
But then work seemed to slack off and after County Judge Emmett was voted out of office, contractors seemed to drift away and the county was in danger of losing federal funding grants because it was late in delivering work, according to Baker Institute Fellow at Rice University Bill King.
"And as of today, seven years later, we've done maybe a-billion-and-a-half dollars of work, as a general assessment.
"But Republican Tom Ramsey got together with Democrats Leslie Briones and Adrian Garcia and they came up with a plan to finish out the work and they adopted it," King says, and now we just have to see how they move forward, but "it's one of the most consequential things that have happened in some time" at Commissioners Court.
It made things worse that for about six months the Harris County Flood Control District didn't have a director, King adds, but "they needed some adults to stand up and Ramsey, Briones and Garcia did that," and he says the hope now is that flood control projects get back on track.