The Anglosphere should simply strip local governments of authority over land use. They have abused the power too long, to too devastating of effect, and it should be removed.

Alief is declining. Westchase, Midwest and Eldridge/West Oaks continues to experience growth. A good thing. Briarmeadow was listed as one of the hottest neighborhoods according to HAR in 2022. Yet housing costs + stagnant wages attribute to population loss in Alief.

Double it again

Moving the ordinance out of the CIP process is a good thing - we can now make it stronger. Thank you to Julian Ramirez for getting us this far. We will get it over the finish line. Stop TxDOT I-45 Strong Towns Houston Air Alliance Houston LINK Houston

There are no principled justifications for parking minimums anywhere.

“The Sun Belt is subject to the same antidevelopment forces as the coasts; it just took longer to trigger them. [They] have portrayed themselves as pro-growth metros. In reality, their land-use laws aren’t so different from those in blue-state cities.” theatlantic.com/economy/archiv…

In short, the Sun Belt is not as different from the Northeast or CA as it imagines itself to be 🤷‍♂️

they should set a movie in Houston but pretend the entire thing looks like this in the same way Spiderverse pretends Brooklyn is covered in skyscrapers

"Houston: The Great Unzoned City" Narrated by: M. Nolan Gray 🥑

Really can’t be understated how absolutely insane it is that Metro went through all the rigor of public meetings, deliberation, and project plans, a referendum with massive support and the city can just choose not to follow through

This is horrific. Even for a city where car violence is the norm.

Interesting that Houston can't allow safer road design because it might slow drivers, but Houston also can shut down a street downtown that we know will slow drivers. A little consistency would be nice.

In addition: - Eliminate any height restrictions - Eliminate any unit size caps (ADUs, courtyards, etc) - Eliminate any unit caps - Reform deed restrictions These policies drive suburban sprawl in Houston (and across the USA) by making dense urbanism illegal to construct.

I'm kind of shocked there has not been a more robust media discourse about the recent Glaeser/Gyourko paper about the end of American sprawl. So, a quick thread in the hopes everyone engages this rather earth-shaking news. TL;DR: It's over. Suburban sprawl lost. We all lost.

The experience of congestion pricing and parking reform is really funny. 1. Experts tell legislators to do a thing for decades. 2. Legislators do nothing. 3. A movement forms behind expert consensus. 4. Everyone predicts a backlash. 5. It's an enormous success.

If you want to understand how modern American cities became hostile to human life, don’t start with the political conspiracies; look at the way city planners and road engineers calculate success. 🧵