December 7, 2009 ; For Immediate Release

The political arm of Houstonians for Responsible Growth, HRG-PAC, today announced the group's political endorsements in a number of City Council run-off races.

Houstonians for Responsible Growth PAC 2009 Council Endorsements Announced

September 24, 2009 ; For Immediate Release

The political arm of Houstonians for Responsible Growth, HRG-PAC, today announced the group's political endorsements in a number of City Council races. The group has already endorsed both Annise Parker and Gene Locke in the mayor’s race.

Houston—September 17, 2009 for Immediate Release

Houstonians for Responsible Growth PAC Endorses Two Mayoral Candidates

The widely supported Mixed Use/TOD Ordinance is set to move forward this week at COH City Council. There was a slight delay in the process when it was brought to the attention that Chapter 15 of the Public Works and Engineering Design manual might have a conflict with the newly proposed ordinance. Fortunately the COH Planning Department and PWE were able to include some new language ensuring that the goals of the Mixed Use/TOD ordinance would prevail in a conflict between the design manual and the ordinance.

Last week, HRG along with Councilwoman Toni Lawrence met with the City of Houston (COH) Public Works and Engineering department to discuss issues related to Chapter 15 of the COH Design Manual. Chapter 15 is the solution the COH has implemented as a “technical” interpretation of Section 40-86 in lieu of an ordinance to address the situation of possible friction between high density development in relation to a residential neighborhood.

This past Friday, June 19th 2009, Governor Perry took action to veto SB 2169, which would have commissioned a Smart Growth working group to begin working on creating a Smart Growth policy for Texas. The bill was sponsored by local Houston legislators Sen. Rodney Ellis and Rep. Carol Alvarado. With our current national housing crisis being linked to Smart Growth policies throughout the US, it was a necessary decision for Gov. Perry to Veto this proposed piece of legislation.

1. COH needs to create alternative financing mechanisms (TIRZ, Management Districts, improve developer participation agreements, etc…) to help cover cost of public infrastructure within corridors.
a. This would incentivize cohesive development and replacement of infrastructure in areas of high growth.
b. Creates a greater amount of local control which allows the property owners in the area to be more responsive to their areas needs.

I was invited to address the City of Houston's City Council Sustainable Growth Committee today by Council Member Brown to make comments on the upcoming Urban Corridors ordinance which is set to be heard by Council in July.

I found this comment on a local Houston Blog from David Crossley (Houston Tomorrow) about HRG and his misrepresentation of our position on a variety of issues. This is a prime example of what types of tactics are being used by our opponents in this fight.

Link to Blog: http://neohouston.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/land-use-morals/#comment-109
“The Urban Corridors recommendation that the Houstonians for Responsible Growth (HRG) cabal is fighting is simply intended to legalize and promote urbanity around the existing and future rail stations.

HRG,

Below is a link to a great article that was published in the recent Great Houston Partnership newsletter, highlighting HRG's recently held Public Land Use Forum. Please share this with those who were not able to attend. Let's keep educating Houston on the advantages of our market driven system of planning!

http://www.houston.org/atwork/200804/ashoustongrows.asp

Joshua Sanders
Executive Director, Houstonians for Responsible Growth