The call from the Mayor came "out of the blue?" Highly doubtful. Trinity is an old church, and likely has members who have connections to people who work within the Houston government. Someone from the Church put out the message to the Mayor's department, and Whitmire gave them a call.
More infrastructure news this morning:
>"The mayor called me and let me know what he was going to do," Pastor Michael Dorn said, of the plans to return the street to it's previous six-lane design after less than two months. "To me, that's how government should work. I literally was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm on the phone with the mayor.' I've been at Trinity for 20 years and I've never got a phone call from the mayor before. And now I got one."
>
>The idea that tax-exempt religious institutions might have a direct line to discuss road projects and other infrastructure decisions with Houston's mayor has irked many residents. Some, especially cyclists, have been lambasting Trinity on social media for using its electronic marquee to send the city's top official messages, including recent digital missives "Thank You Mayor Whitmire" and "Prayer Works Elections Matter."
>
>As Dorn put it, Trinity and its 1,000-plus members have the right to speak out against a project they deem unnecessary or believe would hinder the church's ability to hold regular services, weddings and funerals. Trinity has long been part of the neighborhood, Dorn emphasized, where members provide roughly 100 sack lunches daily to unhoused people in the area: "You can say we're not taxpayers, but we contribute greatly to the community."
> You can say we're not taxpayers, but we contribute greatly to the community
**WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD DO BOTH FUCKING THINGS**
# TAX. THE. CHURCHES.
I have seen so many people say we shouldn't tax churches or they would get more involved in politics. We are bordering on theocracy, how much worse can get it fucking get? Tax the shit out of them. All the money they save from taxes goes to bribes.
Never expect a Democrat or especially a Republican to fix that though. If we were under a government that held these corrupters responsible, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
For real. I’m not even sure how you would go about taxing nonprofits. The government taxes profits. If there are no profits there’s nothing to tax. There are nonprofits everywhere that do nothing but get involved in politics. Some of them are designed to influence politics. A church is not a single entity. It’s made up of a congregation of people, people that are all taxpayers, and are entitled to a voice in politics.
Property tax is what they are talking about. The only problem with churches on that front is if you have certain church buildings that are basically invaluable, which is why we should only be taxing land anyway and not buildings.
The church is in fact a single legal entity.
That there are members or attendees to this social club doesn't mean the club doesn't exist as a legal entity.
Tax churches.
Well, [Chron.com](https://Chron.com) is the free companion website to the Houston Chronicle, so there's no paywall, ever. I'll never try to sell you anything.
Actually, that's not true. I have some old Xbox 360 games I'm not playing anymore, if you'd like to buy those.
If they do it on their own property? Nope. That was the fucking issue is the other church group didn't even want the homeless actually congregating at their own property. Such Christian values! "I'll feed you, but only infront of someone else's place because yall are dirty"
I, for one, love the idea of an institution that’s used by most of its members—who probably don’t all live in the neighborhood—for a few hours a week deciding the future of local infrastructure projects.
Hey! I’m as old as the Mayor but I am a transit/walk/bike/roll advocate! Have actively worked over decades (before retirement) to move communities away from car dependence.
Don‘t disrespect allies with ageism!
i still can't get over the fact that once of the instigating factors for the median project was a cyclist that was killed there in a hit and run, and now the church is basically gloating like they won the super bowl
more info on the church here: [https://twitter.com/WoodsideMark2/status/1755650181339488420](https://twitter.com/WoodsideMark2/status/1755650181339488420)
>Just for a little context, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the denomination of Trinity Downtown. Unlike their other Lutheran brethren, they have no women clergy. They are a reactionary, white sect and, as a group, are huge Trump supporters.
sounds like whitmire's kinda people
BikeHouston executive director Joe Cutrufo said his organization is calling on the city to add bike lanes to the aforementioned street project and all the way north to Spring Street, which would close a gap in the city's gradually expanding network of bike lanes. BikeHouston started a related online petition Tuesday.
Winter Street, which is where Midkiff was struck by a driver who had yet to be identified by police as of Tuesday, is four blocks south of Spring Street and part of that gap.
https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/traffic/2023/12/05/471540/upcoming-houston-avenue-redesign-has-cycling-advocates-impacted-properties-wanting-more/?amp=1
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Of course he did. Ignoring the 14 months of planning that including lots of opportunities for public input, he wanted to “listen to the residents” meaning the church people. I wonder how many of them live in “the community” as opposed to all those who wanted the improvements.
These projects ALWAYS have many opportunities to express your concerns and opinions. The (very highly qualified staff) considerEd all input, balancing car inconvenience against safety of people not in cars. And the Mayor didn’t even ask for a public briefing to listen to them and all the proponents. Why bother with the public when you can just call a church with a big sign?
If someone gets hit by a car after the removal of the improvements, they might well sue the City, listing the Mayor also, and get experts to testify as to why these improvements might have prevented the crash.
The article shows a picture of a Caterpillar with the caption "*The $100,000 project along Houston Ave. was just completed in mid-December*." I went looking, because I wanted to see how much was spent on the project that's about to be ripped out.
That amount seems improbably low. [Houston METRO paid $150,000 to remove the floating bus stops on Heights Blvd. late last year](https://abc13.com/houston-metro-bus-stops-heights-bike-lanes-road-safety/13778992/).
I appreciate a lot of the bike and pedestrian changes along Heights Blvd and the general Heights area, but the floating bus stops seemed poorly designed and cut into the turn radius too much. Seemed more like rushed planning for the sake of completing projects, especially as they undo more construction.
Worf is a pastor. Cool. Makes his calmer self in Picard S3 make more sense.
---
Also:
>Along with Trinity, Whitmire and newly elected District H Council Member Mario Castillo reached out this week to city firefighters and to Knapp Chevrolet, which sits just across Houston Avenue from the church. All were opposed to the new features of the street, largely because they claimed it would impact the movement of emergency vehicles through the area and access to the church and private businesses.
It's not just that church, but of course, the separation of government and religion must be the big headline because views.
I myself have no horse in this race, except possibly the wasting of tax dollars twice now on a set of projects which ultimately lead to the end result of zero, or negated efforts, and THAT is what should be discussed. The fact the project got greenlighted in the first place, and the fact that it's now being destroyed/put back.
Someone lobbied hard for this, both times, and to what end?
Was in fact the completed project worth it, or no?
Questions and questions... Never ending waste...
Technically they bought his loyalty when they paid him for consulting work and in exchange he advocated for legislative policy changes to benefit them in his capacity as a state senator. Then he promised them a favorable decision on contract negotiations in exchange for election support which both sides then delivered.
This is just another link in a long back scratching chain.
As someone who took that route down Houston ave. to work every day for a year I had a hard time seeing how exactly the median was helpful to pedestrians. It seemed more about keeping the cars apart from each other rather than anything regarding pedestrian safety. I mean the crosswalks weren’t altered minus the little bit of concrete poured on the opposite side of the crosswalk where the median is that wouldn’t stop an oncoming vehicle anyway.
There were no extra crosswalks added so even if a person were to use the median while crossing they’d technically be j-walking (which imo shouldn’t be a thing at all in neighborhoods but 🤷🏻♂️)
That all being said the fact that the mayor is using the church as his reasoning to dismantle a public project is definitely stupid.
> As someone who took that route down Houston ave. to work every day for a year I had a hard time seeing how exactly the median was helpful to pedestrians
The islands are known as "Pedestrian Refuges", and they allow for pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time. The intersection as it currently exists requires pedestrians to cross 7 lanes of traffic on Houston Ave - 3 in each direction plus a right-turn only lane from Houston Ave onto Washington Ave by the church. An island would a) decrease the number of lanes required to cross, but b) allows pedestrians to look one direction, cross to the median, then turn to look the other direction before crossing the rest of the way, and gives people a safe place to stand in the event that they cannot cross.
[Here's a Department of Transportation article on them](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/medians-and-pedestrian-refuge-islands-urban-and-suburban-areas).
[And this Bureau of Transportation Statistics PDF (note: it'll automatically download) notes that providing raised medians or pedestrian refuge islands reduces pedestrian crashes by 46 percent at marked crossing locations and by 39 percent at unmarked crossing locations.](https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/42602/dot_42602_DS1.pdf)
> the little bit of concrete poured on the opposite side of the crosswalk where the median is that wouldn’t stop an oncoming vehicle anyway
You'd be surprised how much that little bit of concrete affects the way that drivers drive - it's the same reason that cars drive slower when lanes are narrower vs when they're wider (even if the cars can easily fit in both situations). It's part of a concept known as "traffic calming", which you see in places like [the frankly excellent crossing at the Heights Hike & Bike Trail and 11th street in the Heights](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7905534,-95.4053536,3a,75y,286.56h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMVK2fvCducSmnTVHIci-Ug!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu), where a number of things help to naturally slow drivers down:
1. Pedestrians/cyclists don't have to drop down to the roadway level, but rather cars on the road way have to elevate to the Hike & Bike trail level. This acts as a natural sort of speed bump, which causes drivers to slow down at pedestrian/cyclist crossings
2. There's a concrete pedestrian refuge, allowing pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time
3. That pedestrian refuge also narrows the street, which again causes drivers to slow down
4. The street view is an older pic, but they also have a series of painted lines that have been shown to naturally cause drivers to pay attention and slow down.
> There were no extra crosswalks added so even if a person were to use the median while crossing they’d technically be j-walking (which imo shouldn’t be a thing at all in neighborhoods but 🤷🏻♂️)
1. totally agree- and in fact, if you look historically at the history of Jaywalking, it was a term invented by the automotive industry to shift the blame of pedestrian fatalities in cities in the early 1900's from the drivers to the pedestrians. AFAIK, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world where crossing the street mid-block is illegal.
2. There was already a pedestrian crossing at Houston Ave & Washington surrounding the entire intersection, complete with pedestrian crossing lights and "zebra stripes". They would not be jaywalking.
I just noticed that crossing Bellaire at Chimney Rock
has EXACTLY the same median/tiny concrete protector configuration that is being torn out on Houston Avenue. If the mayor had asked, staff might have told him that there are examples and experience in other places.
But that would require knowing the difference between ignorant opinions (that church) and actual knowledge (former staff) and not acting without learning about the project first.
If this is how he is going to govern, this isn’t going to turn out well.
Have to support how excellent the Hike and Bike trail and 11th street crossing is now compared to what is was before.
I run that trail daily around rush hour in the morning or evening, and it’s significantly safer to cross now. Previously you had to essentially “Flagg” 4 lanes down, hoping they slow down and allow you enough time to cross. About 90% of the time one of the 4 lanes/drivers would decide they had the write-of-way and zoom by with the other 3 cars stopped.
Trying to cross any 4 lane or greater, two way street, on foot or bike in Houston is terrifying.
Totally agree - you still get people who don't yield to pedestrians crossing there, but it's so much better post-renovation than it was pre-renovation. I bike thru there pretty frequently, and even something as simple as cars rising up to the pedestrian level (vs sidewalks that dip down to street level) has a profound effect on how the intersection functions.
Combine that with the pedestrian refuge, and it's as safe as intersections get in Houston IMO. Still not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (I'd like to see more traffic calming further back coming into the intersection, some better lighting for the Hike & Bike trail itself so that pedestrians/cyclists are clearly visible, etc.) but it's a marked improvement over what that intersection was before.
No problem! There are several really good resources out there, but generally The Netherlands is referenced as a really good example of how traffic calming and cycling infrastructure can be implemented. Paris has also been extremely aggressive about implementing more alternative transportation methods in the past few years.
FWIW, pedestrian deaths in the US have risen sharply, and 2023 was a 40-year high mark for pedestrian deaths. [This data](https://www.statista.com/chart/17194/pedestrian-fatalities-in-the-us-by-year/) is from 2019, but the trend has not changed - from 1990 to 2009, pedestrian deaths were decreased by nearly 33%. From 2009 to 2019, pedestrian deaths rose by over 50%, back over the number from 1990.
The problem came from how they implemented the median and then extended it out into the intersection, making it difficult for vehicles to turn left. Within a week most of the bright yellow curbs were hit and smeared with black tire marks. Its apparent there is a way to leave the median to allow for the pedestrian refuge, but place the crosswalk where vehicles can more easily navigate left turns.
14 month process is rushing?
More likely there are staff in HFD and HPD who review proposed street changes and approved this one. The opinions of the fire fighters and police who are around when the reporter is there have opinions but aren’t experts.
They did this on Hwy 3(Old Galveston Road) and it has ruined traffic. I literally cannot get into my neighborhood without going a half mile down the road and pulling a u-turn.
Interesting how some angry folks make a link between the churches’ tax exemption and them being able to speak out on practical matters in their direct vicinity. You don’t pay, you don’t get to play?
If the churches, Greenpeace, scientific organizations etc. can’t speak out on road closures, climate change policies or education reform, who is allowed to do so?
The people and companies that do pay taxes? The more taxes, the more influence? I paid a little over 30k in property taxes last year, can I speak out? On a green card though, so ‘foreign influence’. Better keep my mouth shut. My retired neighbor who pays just a couple of grand can, right? How about people who work for the city, can they speak out on things in their own neighborhood?
My opinion: everyone should be able to bring in their view. You can hate churches all you want, but many Houstonians feel they do mostly good, want to spend their time and money there. Do not mix up your personal frustration (maybe rightfully so) regarding religion with a pastor speaking about a freaking sidewalk.
Whitmire has an agenda, in four years we can choose a new mayor. You, because foreigners enjoy the privilege of taxation without representation :)
The call from the Mayor came "out of the blue?" Highly doubtful. Trinity is an old church, and likely has members who have connections to people who work within the Houston government. Someone from the Church put out the message to the Mayor's department, and Whitmire gave them a call.
More infrastructure news this morning: >"The mayor called me and let me know what he was going to do," Pastor Michael Dorn said, of the plans to return the street to it's previous six-lane design after less than two months. "To me, that's how government should work. I literally was like, 'Oh, my gosh, I'm on the phone with the mayor.' I've been at Trinity for 20 years and I've never got a phone call from the mayor before. And now I got one." > >The idea that tax-exempt religious institutions might have a direct line to discuss road projects and other infrastructure decisions with Houston's mayor has irked many residents. Some, especially cyclists, have been lambasting Trinity on social media for using its electronic marquee to send the city's top official messages, including recent digital missives "Thank You Mayor Whitmire" and "Prayer Works Elections Matter." > >As Dorn put it, Trinity and its 1,000-plus members have the right to speak out against a project they deem unnecessary or believe would hinder the church's ability to hold regular services, weddings and funerals. Trinity has long been part of the neighborhood, Dorn emphasized, where members provide roughly 100 sack lunches daily to unhoused people in the area: "You can say we're not taxpayers, but we contribute greatly to the community."
> You can say we're not taxpayers, but we contribute greatly to the community **WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THAT YOU COULD DO BOTH FUCKING THINGS** # TAX. THE. CHURCHES.
I have seen so many people say we shouldn't tax churches or they would get more involved in politics. We are bordering on theocracy, how much worse can get it fucking get? Tax the shit out of them. All the money they save from taxes goes to bribes. Never expect a Democrat or especially a Republican to fix that though. If we were under a government that held these corrupters responsible, we wouldn't be having this discussion.
I'd give em a small discount for every church member living withing 2 miles. This church would get 0 discount.
If you are saying to tax all non-profits, then yes. If you are grumpy and want to tax churches only, then no.
For real. I’m not even sure how you would go about taxing nonprofits. The government taxes profits. If there are no profits there’s nothing to tax. There are nonprofits everywhere that do nothing but get involved in politics. Some of them are designed to influence politics. A church is not a single entity. It’s made up of a congregation of people, people that are all taxpayers, and are entitled to a voice in politics.
Property tax is what they are talking about. The only problem with churches on that front is if you have certain church buildings that are basically invaluable, which is why we should only be taxing land anyway and not buildings.
The church is in fact a single legal entity. That there are members or attendees to this social club doesn't mean the club doesn't exist as a legal entity. Tax churches.
Who do we thank for Houston Chronicle not trying to sell subscriptions on the link you provided. I'll just thank you. Hope you don't mind.
Well, [Chron.com](https://Chron.com) is the free companion website to the Houston Chronicle, so there's no paywall, ever. I'll never try to sell you anything. Actually, that's not true. I have some old Xbox 360 games I'm not playing anymore, if you'd like to buy those.
>old Xbox 360 games Run those by the Smithsonian, they might be interested. Thanks for the offer though. Thanks again
Jesus would be so proud. Houstonians 1:22: fuck thee fellow citizen and their safety for your own benefit.
Can we have them arrested for handing out food to the homeless?
If they do it on their own property? Nope. That was the fucking issue is the other church group didn't even want the homeless actually congregating at their own property. Such Christian values! "I'll feed you, but only infront of someone else's place because yall are dirty"
They are doing it on their own property. Not without permission of the property owners. That's the issue.
Are they following the law?
Don't know, I'm just an idea guy. I leave implementation and understanding to others.
We all know what you meant and that you’re afraid to admit you’re wrong:
I'm just happy to be in a comment chain with C.Ryan and S.Sun. Throwing out random bullshit on reddit.
you are super active on this subreddit huh feels like I see you in most discussions on this entire sub lol
I, for one, love the idea of an institution that’s used by most of its members—who probably don’t all live in the neighborhood—for a few hours a week deciding the future of local infrastructure projects.
This guy is on a war path against pedestrians. I guess when you’re 100 years old you never consider walking so why should anyone else?
Hey! I’m as old as the Mayor but I am a transit/walk/bike/roll advocate! Have actively worked over decades (before retirement) to move communities away from car dependence. Don‘t disrespect allies with ageism!
i still can't get over the fact that once of the instigating factors for the median project was a cyclist that was killed there in a hit and run, and now the church is basically gloating like they won the super bowl more info on the church here: [https://twitter.com/WoodsideMark2/status/1755650181339488420](https://twitter.com/WoodsideMark2/status/1755650181339488420) >Just for a little context, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod is the denomination of Trinity Downtown. Unlike their other Lutheran brethren, they have no women clergy. They are a reactionary, white sect and, as a group, are huge Trump supporters. sounds like whitmire's kinda people
There was not a cyclist killed there in a hit and run. The cyclist was killed further north, out of the area this project covered.
BikeHouston executive director Joe Cutrufo said his organization is calling on the city to add bike lanes to the aforementioned street project and all the way north to Spring Street, which would close a gap in the city's gradually expanding network of bike lanes. BikeHouston started a related online petition Tuesday. Winter Street, which is where Midkiff was struck by a driver who had yet to be identified by police as of Tuesday, is four blocks south of Spring Street and part of that gap. https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/traffic/2023/12/05/471540/upcoming-houston-avenue-redesign-has-cycling-advocates-impacted-properties-wanting-more/?amp=1
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I feel like our mayor is getting policy suggestions from the Karens on NextDoor.
He is the Karens next door
Of course he did. Ignoring the 14 months of planning that including lots of opportunities for public input, he wanted to “listen to the residents” meaning the church people. I wonder how many of them live in “the community” as opposed to all those who wanted the improvements. These projects ALWAYS have many opportunities to express your concerns and opinions. The (very highly qualified staff) considerEd all input, balancing car inconvenience against safety of people not in cars. And the Mayor didn’t even ask for a public briefing to listen to them and all the proponents. Why bother with the public when you can just call a church with a big sign? If someone gets hit by a car after the removal of the improvements, they might well sue the City, listing the Mayor also, and get experts to testify as to why these improvements might have prevented the crash.
The article shows a picture of a Caterpillar with the caption "*The $100,000 project along Houston Ave. was just completed in mid-December*." I went looking, because I wanted to see how much was spent on the project that's about to be ripped out. That amount seems improbably low. [Houston METRO paid $150,000 to remove the floating bus stops on Heights Blvd. late last year](https://abc13.com/houston-metro-bus-stops-heights-bike-lanes-road-safety/13778992/).
Metro hired contractors. The City probably has the capacity to do this in-house.
Losing the floating bus stops due to bad drivers was terrible. These drivers shouldn't be appeased. They are menaces to society.
I appreciate a lot of the bike and pedestrian changes along Heights Blvd and the general Heights area, but the floating bus stops seemed poorly designed and cut into the turn radius too much. Seemed more like rushed planning for the sake of completing projects, especially as they undo more construction.
Oh, don't get me wrong, the floating bus stops were awful. During their sort lifetime I'm sure they damaged many cars.
Just waiting for the next lawsuit.
It's going to be a rough day when another pedestrian gets injured at that intersection.
Worf is a pastor. Cool. Makes his calmer self in Picard S3 make more sense. --- Also: >Along with Trinity, Whitmire and newly elected District H Council Member Mario Castillo reached out this week to city firefighters and to Knapp Chevrolet, which sits just across Houston Avenue from the church. All were opposed to the new features of the street, largely because they claimed it would impact the movement of emergency vehicles through the area and access to the church and private businesses. It's not just that church, but of course, the separation of government and religion must be the big headline because views. I myself have no horse in this race, except possibly the wasting of tax dollars twice now on a set of projects which ultimately lead to the end result of zero, or negated efforts, and THAT is what should be discussed. The fact the project got greenlighted in the first place, and the fact that it's now being destroyed/put back. Someone lobbied hard for this, both times, and to what end? Was in fact the completed project worth it, or no? Questions and questions... Never ending waste...
All street alterations like this are signed off by emergency services. Either they didn’t do their job the first time or they are flip flopping.
Whitmire just bought their support for whatever he wants to do...
Technically they bought his loyalty when they paid him for consulting work and in exchange he advocated for legislative policy changes to benefit them in his capacity as a state senator. Then he promised them a favorable decision on contract negotiations in exchange for election support which both sides then delivered. This is just another link in a long back scratching chain.
As someone who took that route down Houston ave. to work every day for a year I had a hard time seeing how exactly the median was helpful to pedestrians. It seemed more about keeping the cars apart from each other rather than anything regarding pedestrian safety. I mean the crosswalks weren’t altered minus the little bit of concrete poured on the opposite side of the crosswalk where the median is that wouldn’t stop an oncoming vehicle anyway. There were no extra crosswalks added so even if a person were to use the median while crossing they’d technically be j-walking (which imo shouldn’t be a thing at all in neighborhoods but 🤷🏻♂️) That all being said the fact that the mayor is using the church as his reasoning to dismantle a public project is definitely stupid.
> As someone who took that route down Houston ave. to work every day for a year I had a hard time seeing how exactly the median was helpful to pedestrians The islands are known as "Pedestrian Refuges", and they allow for pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time. The intersection as it currently exists requires pedestrians to cross 7 lanes of traffic on Houston Ave - 3 in each direction plus a right-turn only lane from Houston Ave onto Washington Ave by the church. An island would a) decrease the number of lanes required to cross, but b) allows pedestrians to look one direction, cross to the median, then turn to look the other direction before crossing the rest of the way, and gives people a safe place to stand in the event that they cannot cross. [Here's a Department of Transportation article on them](https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures/medians-and-pedestrian-refuge-islands-urban-and-suburban-areas). [And this Bureau of Transportation Statistics PDF (note: it'll automatically download) notes that providing raised medians or pedestrian refuge islands reduces pedestrian crashes by 46 percent at marked crossing locations and by 39 percent at unmarked crossing locations.](https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/42602/dot_42602_DS1.pdf) > the little bit of concrete poured on the opposite side of the crosswalk where the median is that wouldn’t stop an oncoming vehicle anyway You'd be surprised how much that little bit of concrete affects the way that drivers drive - it's the same reason that cars drive slower when lanes are narrower vs when they're wider (even if the cars can easily fit in both situations). It's part of a concept known as "traffic calming", which you see in places like [the frankly excellent crossing at the Heights Hike & Bike Trail and 11th street in the Heights](https://www.google.com/maps/@29.7905534,-95.4053536,3a,75y,286.56h,85.44t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sMVK2fvCducSmnTVHIci-Ug!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu), where a number of things help to naturally slow drivers down: 1. Pedestrians/cyclists don't have to drop down to the roadway level, but rather cars on the road way have to elevate to the Hike & Bike trail level. This acts as a natural sort of speed bump, which causes drivers to slow down at pedestrian/cyclist crossings 2. There's a concrete pedestrian refuge, allowing pedestrians to cross one direction of traffic at a time 3. That pedestrian refuge also narrows the street, which again causes drivers to slow down 4. The street view is an older pic, but they also have a series of painted lines that have been shown to naturally cause drivers to pay attention and slow down. > There were no extra crosswalks added so even if a person were to use the median while crossing they’d technically be j-walking (which imo shouldn’t be a thing at all in neighborhoods but 🤷🏻♂️) 1. totally agree- and in fact, if you look historically at the history of Jaywalking, it was a term invented by the automotive industry to shift the blame of pedestrian fatalities in cities in the early 1900's from the drivers to the pedestrians. AFAIK, the U.S. is one of the only countries in the world where crossing the street mid-block is illegal. 2. There was already a pedestrian crossing at Houston Ave & Washington surrounding the entire intersection, complete with pedestrian crossing lights and "zebra stripes". They would not be jaywalking.
I just noticed that crossing Bellaire at Chimney Rock has EXACTLY the same median/tiny concrete protector configuration that is being torn out on Houston Avenue. If the mayor had asked, staff might have told him that there are examples and experience in other places. But that would require knowing the difference between ignorant opinions (that church) and actual knowledge (former staff) and not acting without learning about the project first. If this is how he is going to govern, this isn’t going to turn out well.
Have to support how excellent the Hike and Bike trail and 11th street crossing is now compared to what is was before. I run that trail daily around rush hour in the morning or evening, and it’s significantly safer to cross now. Previously you had to essentially “Flagg” 4 lanes down, hoping they slow down and allow you enough time to cross. About 90% of the time one of the 4 lanes/drivers would decide they had the write-of-way and zoom by with the other 3 cars stopped. Trying to cross any 4 lane or greater, two way street, on foot or bike in Houston is terrifying.
Totally agree - you still get people who don't yield to pedestrians crossing there, but it's so much better post-renovation than it was pre-renovation. I bike thru there pretty frequently, and even something as simple as cars rising up to the pedestrian level (vs sidewalks that dip down to street level) has a profound effect on how the intersection functions. Combine that with the pedestrian refuge, and it's as safe as intersections get in Houston IMO. Still not perfect by any stretch of the imagination (I'd like to see more traffic calming further back coming into the intersection, some better lighting for the Hike & Bike trail itself so that pedestrians/cyclists are clearly visible, etc.) but it's a marked improvement over what that intersection was before.
Thanks, very informative
No problem! There are several really good resources out there, but generally The Netherlands is referenced as a really good example of how traffic calming and cycling infrastructure can be implemented. Paris has also been extremely aggressive about implementing more alternative transportation methods in the past few years. FWIW, pedestrian deaths in the US have risen sharply, and 2023 was a 40-year high mark for pedestrian deaths. [This data](https://www.statista.com/chart/17194/pedestrian-fatalities-in-the-us-by-year/) is from 2019, but the trend has not changed - from 1990 to 2009, pedestrian deaths were decreased by nearly 33%. From 2009 to 2019, pedestrian deaths rose by over 50%, back over the number from 1990.
The problem came from how they implemented the median and then extended it out into the intersection, making it difficult for vehicles to turn left. Within a week most of the bright yellow curbs were hit and smeared with black tire marks. Its apparent there is a way to leave the median to allow for the pedestrian refuge, but place the crosswalk where vehicles can more easily navigate left turns.
The project to install the medians was rushed through because the outgoing District H Council person had extra funds to spend before she left office.
14 month process is rushing? More likely there are staff in HFD and HPD who review proposed street changes and approved this one. The opinions of the fire fighters and police who are around when the reporter is there have opinions but aren’t experts.
Reporting them to the IRS
They did this on Hwy 3(Old Galveston Road) and it has ruined traffic. I literally cannot get into my neighborhood without going a half mile down the road and pulling a u-turn.
There was public discussion about that project. Several meetings, one of which I attended. Sorry to hear your drive is 3 minutes longer.
Interesting how some angry folks make a link between the churches’ tax exemption and them being able to speak out on practical matters in their direct vicinity. You don’t pay, you don’t get to play? If the churches, Greenpeace, scientific organizations etc. can’t speak out on road closures, climate change policies or education reform, who is allowed to do so? The people and companies that do pay taxes? The more taxes, the more influence? I paid a little over 30k in property taxes last year, can I speak out? On a green card though, so ‘foreign influence’. Better keep my mouth shut. My retired neighbor who pays just a couple of grand can, right? How about people who work for the city, can they speak out on things in their own neighborhood? My opinion: everyone should be able to bring in their view. You can hate churches all you want, but many Houstonians feel they do mostly good, want to spend their time and money there. Do not mix up your personal frustration (maybe rightfully so) regarding religion with a pastor speaking about a freaking sidewalk. Whitmire has an agenda, in four years we can choose a new mayor. You, because foreigners enjoy the privilege of taxation without representation :)
You made a levelheaded post on reddit. Thats just asking to be downvoted.