Houston : The Sinking City

Houston is affected greatly, influenced by, and is shaped by the 5 crucial themes of geography. Not only that, Houston thrives by and grows by the major themes of geography. All the important themes of geography; Location, Places, Human/Environment Interactions, Movement, and Regions, effect and make Houston as a city of it is today. It is because of these themes that make Houston one of the most positive locations to live in.

A poem written by South Carolina pastor, Jeremy Rutledge has given readers a lot to think about. The poem was composed after the great Hurricane Harvey tragedy in Houston. In his poem Rutledge mentions the word pray many times but the meaning of it goes way beyond that. When praying for something it is important to know the aspects and struggles of it, and that is exactly what Rutledge is doing in this poem, stating all the things that make Houston unique, diverse, and capable to rise from it all.

There are many areas in Tampa that will be unfortunately underwater. As we saw with the heavy rains in late 2015, the most vital areas such as Westshore Ave, South Tampa, Bayshore Ave, and even Downtown had major flooding causing delays in traffic and safety anxieties. While the flooding only lasted a few days, the event brought attention to the Tampa’s faulty infrastructure and drainage systems. An alarming thought is how Tampa will be able to protect itself from a storm or the rising sea levels if the drainage systems are inadequate. The Tampa Bay area is due for a natural disaster any day now; the coastal area is highly vulnerable. According to Sara Kerr, “One place that we have to look carefully at is Tampa where there is a huge concentration at risk from a storm surge, but there hasn’t been an event for 150 years and so the city is fairly complacent about its risk” (2015). A possible catastrophe can pose as an environmental challenge in Tampa Bay as the highly populous areas will not be able to withstand rising sea levels that will occur.

If you ask a Houstonian about the music scene around town, you would get a pretty bleak answer. Many people seem to believe it starts and ends with Beyoncé. It is especially considered “nonexistent” in comparison to another city in Texas, Austin. Austin has this huge reputation of having a phenomenal music scene and it is even billed as “The Live Music Capital of the World.” Yes, Austin has great local bands and many avid music fans but so does Houston. Even though it’s not extremely renowned, Houston has one of the most influential and diverse music scenes in the country.

Table 1. above shows the nature events that have happened in Houston, TX. For the most part Houston has encountered a lot of floods. These floods have been caused by heavy rain, thunderstorms and hurricanes around the area. They all have impacted the city of Houston and have been recorded along with many other events to have caused a lot of damage.

Marcus Hiles coordinator of Western Rim Property Services really assumes that the immense people of Texas legitimacy more for the money they spend ashore. Houston is a prime instance of a deteriorating

He says Houston should have green roofs so that not only water gets absorbed but has many benefits like, improved air quality and it helps our drinking water safe by not allowing chemicals into it. The author could’ve included the example about Hurricane Harvey instead of Hurricane Katrina which happened long before and did not take place in Houston, and the article was written after Harvey and was in Houston Chronicle, so it would’ve been more persuasive to the residents in Houston. I would’ve talked about how elevation also plays a significant role in flood. If the buildings, shops, gas stations, and houses are built on lower elevation then during hurricanes the city will flood which will cause the shops and houses to destroy causing damages in the city. Although Houston doesn’t have zoning, it doesn’t affect whether the land will get flooded or not because the government would just tell us how to use the land, not how to build it because that is all up to the owner and he decides how to do everything from deciding the elevation to finishing the product, and fulfills basic requirements by the city like square footage, parking minimum and

The Third Ward of Houston Texas is a historic district known mainly for two things being rich in African American history and its exceedingly high crime rates. While this part of town has always been a solid representation of African American culture when desegregation occurred all families that could afford to quickly moved to the wealthy parts of the city leaving the district nearly abandoned. Naturally following the abandonment of the district most businesses followed leaving low income residents with little to no job opportunities. A popular phenomenon that has arose recently in urban cities such as these (due to its raving success in cities such as Chicago) is gentrification. Gentrification is the renovation of these high crime low income areas in the hopes of creating a better neighborhood. However, one of the unforeseen side effects of gentrification is the displacement of the low income residents who can no longer afford to live in this nicer neighborhood. Gentrification specifically in Houston Texas is a tool that is may seem valuable however it often disrupts lives, displaces families, and destroys cultures.

Many communities are suffering due to coastal erosion. One example is the village of Cocodrie, LA in Terrebonne Parish. This village’s small population and its 220 residential and commercial buildings are surrounded by marshes. In Cocodrie, there is no barrier against hurricanes. Local marinas play host to recreational and commercial fishing, and The Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium is located in Cocodrie. This facility of around 100,000 square ft houses laboratories, classrooms, and a research center. Infrastructure that will be affected by coastal erosion includes paved highway, dirt roads, a bridge, water supply systems, and natural gas lines. By 2050, Cocodrie will be surrounded by open water as the marshlands around the village give way to rising sea levels. Another community affected by this issue is Yscloskey, LA in St. Bernard Parish. The most important part of the economy here is fishing, and highways link the parish to New Orleans fishing communities. The Yscloskey area lies outside of the protective levees and is quite vulnerable to storms. Though losses in Yscloskey are not predicted to be as great as those in Cocodrie, a 16 percent loss by 2050 leaves the infrastructure of Yscloskey even more vulnerable (Coast 2050, 1998, p. 64-66). Local residents in these areas are watching the land disappear along with the beachfronts and Cyprus swamps that were on that land (Marshall, 2014).

Hous·to·ni·an, a native resident of Houston, Texas. This term is popular in more states than Texas. There’s a saying that “Everything is bigger and better in Texas. Houston is the fourth largest city in America behind Nevada and ahead of New Mexico. Now that is big. People that are born in Texas are natives, and therefore Houstonian. There are several races that call Houston home like Hispanics, Asians, Blacks and Europeans. There is also a refugee population in Houston from places like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Somalia. However, any person that lives in the culture and experiences the culture to the extent that they consider themselves native can also be called a Houstonian. Houstonian is not a term. Houstonian is a way of life, a culture, and an identity.

According to Houston Chronicle, Turner reduced flooding by asking City Council to grant $10 million towards quick drainage fixes. Mayor Turner’s staff put together 60 quick-fix projects which fulfilled to reduce flooding in neighborhoods. Although Turner was aware that the fix will not eliminate flooding, he plans to improve drainage in time.

Ground water is a very important part of our fresh water supply and yet, it’s depleting at a faster rate than what can be replenished. According to Kally Worm “Groundwater is the second largest reserve of freshwater on earth. It also makes up 40% of the freshwater used in the U.S. alone.” This ground water is usually found in what is called an aquifer. An aquifer is found towards the lower layers of the soil. The problem with these aquifers it that their recharge rate is slow making it non- renewable. These water supplies being non- re We are overusing these water supplies. When ground water is used to a level of where it can’t recover, it affects the ground. Sinkholes can be formed when there is a aquifer that has water being drawn from it, but not letting it get back to par. Other problems can also occur is too much ground water is pumped out near coasts. This creates what’s called salt water intrusion. Salt water intrusion is when the ocean water mixes with the fresh ground water. This increases the salinity of the water making

New Orleans was built on a marsh. The city was inundated by water during Hurricane Katrina in 2005, causing a tremendous loss of human lives and costing the economy billions of dollars in damage. Since the storm, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has built a system of lift stations and levees to control the flow of water around the city. This has created what is best described as a bathtub surrounded by water. To further elaborate, New Orleans is the bath tub, while Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi River surround the city. Over the years keeping water from entering the city has become more difficult because the city continues to sink lower below sea level. Subsidence of marshy soils lowers the ground elevation in and around the City of New Orleans. The gradual caving in or sinking of land is known as subsidence.

There are many individuals in Houston living in destitution. I went and served nourishment to less blessed individuals downtown, and it influenced me to acknowledge that I am so fortunate to have the things and the life I do. Neediness impacts many individuals living in and around Houston. There is neediness on account of changes in the economy and also instructive holes. In the event that things don't change, at that point, Houston will see a lessening in instruction and a decline in gifted laborers. To end destitution, we can discover openings for work, ensure every tyke gets an equivalent possibility in school, and cooperate to help hostile to neediness

In this group project, we discuss two cities – Houston and Dallas about their own background, which we called story and the comparison between them as well. Firstly, this paper will describe the Houston city’s history and background, by using the timeline, it is easy to consider the economy, politic, education and transportation for each of the city chronology. In this way, we can finally discuss the characteristic and opportunity for each of these two cities; thus, give them various suitable solutions for the future plan, which we called blue print, to help the city expansion.