COUNCILWOMAN TIFFANY THOMAS INCREASES HOUSTON DISASTER RELIEF FUNDS TO $100 MILLION
- Michael Thervil
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Written by Michael Thervil
[Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas] Yesterday, a press release was made public by Houston City Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas (District F) regarding the “CDBG-DR24 Historic Amendment Vote”, a vote that brought an increase from $50 million to $100 million dollars to help aid in “housing allocation, generators, debris removal and public safety in the event of natural disaster for Houston residents”. With the passing of the CDBG-DR24 Amendment, this would allow for Houston residents who tend to get hit hard by hurricanes and flooding to have some sort of respite when disasters like these occur.
According to Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas, both she and Mayor Whitmire “had to unlock horns” in order to increase the disaster funding from its original mark of $50 million to $100 million. The reason why Mayor Whitmire was reluctant to approve the increase is currently unknown. But the good thing for Houston residents is that they do have someone fighting for them in the city government and that person of the hour is Tiffany Thomas.
According to the official press release, Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas stated the following:
“That's what public service is supposed to be – deliberate, at times difficult, and always rooted in delivering solutions for the people we serve. As C.O. Gradford once reminded me, public service should be hard. Because when done right, it forces us to confront complexity and still choose what’s right.”
In the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, many Houston residents reported being tired of “being strong” and losing everything and having to rebuild every time a natural disaster like a hurricane hit which always results in flooding. With that a growing number of Houstonians expressed that they were considering leaving Houston for more favorable areas within and external to Texas. In light of that, the obtained press release from Councilwoman Tiffany Thomas stated that:
“The acceptance of my amendment and the increased investment will help us strengthen our city’s resiliency network, improve local recovery, emergency response, and – just as important – preserve our housing inventory so Houstonians can recover with dignity."
OUR POSITION AT VEDA WORLD NEWS
Although this is most definitely a win for the residents of Houston, our question is how and when will the root cause be addressed when it comes to resolving the perpetual problem of flooding in Houston? Of course, no one has control over the naturally occurring environment conditions such as hurricanes, but what all cities have is greater control over its infrastructure. This is not a District F problem nor is it the sole problem of any specific district within Houston. This is a City of Houston problem. Outside of flooding, there are also issues with its energy infrastructure which is being addressed, but is still a slow work in progress.
The good news is that the City of Houston is doing something when it comes to tackling these issues and it has made progress in terms of spending more to either modify or update the city’s infrastructure to handle these issues when they come along. But tackling, updating, spending or not, Houston still has a way to go. Stay strong Houston.