Walkable Places and Transit-Oriented Development Ordinances put Houston on path toward equity and resiliency
The City of Houston recently passed the Walkable Places and Transit-Oriented Development Ordinances to improve walking, rolling, safety, and transit access in Houston's neighborhoods. The initiatives, led by the Planning and Development Department, have been in the works for three years with Third Ward, Near Northside, and Midtown designated as pilot areas. We at [...]
LINK Houston Takes on System Change
A key aspect of changing the system is shifting how decisions are made and to do that we must change who gets a seat at the table. We at LINK Houston are proud to serve as a voting member on the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC), which evaluates billions of dollars in [...]
LINK Houston’s Statement Regarding the July 26 TPC Vote on NHHIP MOU
LINK Houston is deeply disappointed with today’s outcome at the H-GAC TPC meeting. As stated in our remarks, any working group with a directive to develop an MOU regarding the NHHIP should mainly include representatives from the five agencies who will sign such an agreement and should not include an overwhelming majority of members [...]
Transportation Policy Council Must Hold TxDOT Accountable on IH-45 Vote on June 26
On June 26, the Houston-Galveston Area Council's (H-GAC) Transportation Policy Council (TPC) will vote on the 2021-2024 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). The TIP is " a fiscally constrained financial plan of transportation projects approved to receive federal funding over the next four-years " and includes funding for Segment 3 of the North Houston Highway Improvement Project [...]
Advocating for Change: LINK Houston Takes on the System
Through community engagement and data analysis, we at LINK Houston will continue connecting the dots for residents and decisionmakers to understand the relationship between transportation and every issue. Our Most Dangerous Intersections Study shows the disproportionate impact of deadly crashes on Black people walking and biking . We’ve successfully advocated for the City of Houston to address the [...]
Why Our Work Matters
We at LINK Houston are committed to advocating for racial equity and justice across one system that affects all of our lives: transportation. As we grapple with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and fight against the abject violence that has claimed the life of native Houstonian George Floyd and so many other Black lives, [...]
LINK Houston in the News
These tools — and policy changes — may help Houston address housing affordability
For years, Houston has been touted as one of the nation’s most affordable major metropolitan areas. But it’s now facing a decreasing supply of affordable housing. To effectively address the affordability crisis in Houston, local decision-makers and individuals must consider the combined costs [...]
Here’s where affordable housing and sustainable transportation co-exist in Houston
To better understand the affordability crisis in Houston, LINK Houston and Rice University’s Kinder Institute for Urban Research teamed up to explore where affordable housing and high-quality, affordable transportation overlap in the city. [Read more.] Luis Guajardo and John Park Kinder Institute for [...]
Broad Alliance Tells White House: Transit Workers Need Better Protection From COVID-19
Dozens of unions, business groups, economic justice organizations, and local transit advocates from across the nation wrote yesterday to Vice President Mike Pence and Dr. Deborah Birx, coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, demanding better federal coordination to provide personal protective [...]
Why is it so hard to say yes to walkability in Houston? [Essay]
A few weeks ago, I was walking in Midtown toward Montrose near Spur 527 when I saw a woman on a ladder hanging a sign on a fence. Her name’s Gwyneth Williams. She lives there on Westheimer. The sign warns that the city [...]
Long-term government projects must wait until public can comment [Opinion]
On March 27, during regional COVID-19 stay-at-home orders, the Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council held its regular meeting by telephone to discuss adjustments to highway project budgets and protocols. This powerful group of elected officials and bureaucrats from eight counties controls billions [...]
Climate change summit teaches students what’s at stake
V. P. Wright raised her voice and gesticulated, her tight blonde curls bouncing under a black fedora as she explained how environmental disasters like the Flint, Michigan, water crisis have disproportionately impacted marginalized communities. Speaking to a group of students and environmental activists [...]