I visited Houston once, and I remember being struck by how the riot of signage and absence of land use conventions like setbacks showed a clear contempt for “regulations”. I had no idea that the contempt extended to on outright rejection of modern storm water management practices. I suppose if you asked the Houston Chamber of Commerce why it was so important allow impervious cover everywhere, they’d have some good reasons like…”Jobs” or “Freedom”.
Read it here: And notice how rich people always manage to restrict “freedom” enough so that their areas aren’t free market shitholes.
We do value our freedom here in Texas. As I write from soggy Central Texas, the cable news is showing people floating down Buffalo Bayou on their principles, proud residents of the largest city in these United States that did not grow in accordance with zoning ordinances.
The feeling there was that persons who own real estate should be free to develop it as they wish. Houston, also known as the Bayou City, is a great location because of its access to international shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. It is not a great location for building, though, because of all its impervious cover. If water could easily sink into the ground, there would be less of it ripping down Houston’s rivers that just a week ago were overcrowded streets.
In less-free cities, the jackbooted thugs in the zoning department impose limits on the amount of impervious cover in a development. Some of the limits can be finessed by lining parking lots with bricks turned sideways, so grass can be planted in the holes.
