Pandemic pivot: My favorite street is closed to cars — but open to people
URBAN EDGE : October 7, 2020
Main Street in Ventura, California, which has been closed to cars and opened to restaurants and other businesses affected by the coronavirus, is my favorite street. This essay is both a discussion of what makes a great street and a personal reminiscence about what this particular street means to me.
We’ll overcome COVID-19, but can we overcome 400 years of wrongs?
URBAN EDGE : September 22, 2020
There has been a lot of discussion and speculation about the future of cities and how they will change following the pandemic. What will that future look like for Black Americans, who have been abused, exploited, ground down and lied to in the past? As we move into the future, what will change? And what will stay the same?
Update: Evictions cost Harris County over $240 million a year — that was before COVID-19
URBAN EDGE : September 16, 2020
Researchers at the Kinder Institute estimated the annual cost of evictions to Harris County, where more people are evicted each year than anywhere in the U.S., with the exception of New York. The increasing costs of evictions eat up funding that could go toward improving the county’s public health, transportation, public safety and education infrastructure.
Libraries are crucial to disaster recovery, but the coronavirus is keeping them closed
URBAN EDGE : August 20, 2020
In many places, the public library often functions as a community center — a free and shared space that provides crucial social infrastructure for neighborhoods. That’s especially true when a disaster such as Hurricane Harvey hits. But what happens when a crisis like COVID-19 keeps libraries closed for five months and counting.
A summer fellowship is the bridge to AmeriCorps service in Fifth Ward
URBAN EDGE : August 17, 2020
The Kinder Institute’s Community Bridges program provides Rice University students an opportunity to both study and work to address urban inequality in Houston. Here’s Susanna Yau’s story of how working with the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation changed her life.
Traffic dropped 66%, but it came back and the coronavirus followed
URBAN EDGE : July 27, 2020
Traffic levels fell dramatically throughout the Houston metro area as people were ordered to stay at home and businesses were closed to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 — and it worked. But, as the economy was reopened and people returned to work, restaurants, bars, beaches and more, traffic levels and infection rates increased.