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Residents urge council to prioritize drainage funding as city cuts deepen
Summary
Community groups and residents told the Houston City Council that recent budget cuts and a hiring freeze threaten drainage work and public-safety outcomes, urging increases to the local drainage program and ditch reestablishment funding.
Dozens of residents and community organizers urged the Houston City Council on May 13 to increase local drainage and ditch‑reestablishment funding and to lift a citywide hiring freeze they say is hampering flood‑mitigation work.
The calls came during the public‑comment period from organizers with neighborhood advocacy groups and residents who described repeated delays in routine drainage maintenance and warned that the city’s staffing reductions and contracting policies put neighborhoods at risk. "For years, we've been hearing from the city... that the city is broke," said Alice Liu of the Northeast Action Collective and West Street Recovery. "Overall, $200,000,000 in overall budget cuts."
The petitioners told council members that, even as budget cuts removed hundreds of positions, the city reached a multiyear settlement and approved an expensive contract for public safety. Stephanie Valdez, water justice…
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