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Originally Posted by Nite
As not just bike illustrates in this video, Houston seems to be one of the most desolate and hostile cities in North America to its population. And instead of trying to improve things they are going to bulldoze neighborhoods.
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This is because Houston has large unincorporated areas. If unincorporated Houston was a city it'd be one of the top 6 largest cities in America. There is very little planning done in the ETJ outside of master planned communities (which do have sidewalks everywhere like typical suburbia). I will say I was last in Houston in January and there were a lot more sidewalks constructed. Looks like 2021 was a year of mass sidewalk construction in Houston. Areas like the SW got some new double-wide sidewalks too, which is needed in that dense area. Of course, SSP doesn't talk about the transit improvements Houston has done.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JManc
That's true but planning and implementation of mass transit here takes far far longer. In the timeframe it takes to rebuild a freeway, a rail extension is still in the proposal phase. There is strong resistance to transit outside the city (mostly on state level) and NIMBYism within the city which makes expansion extremely difficult. In the meantime, people still have to get to and from work. No one is saying it's ideal but it is was it is until the politics change.
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Of course historically this is because of John Culberson and his delays on rail expansion in Houston. This guy literally blocked federal funding for rail to Houston, despite citizens voting for it, and those funds were then sent to DFW for their DART expansion (which grew thanks to the new funds from Houston). Culberson has since been voted out back in 2016 I believe.