Perspectives

Disaster preparedness takes more than an infographic

Helping our most vulnerable neighbors weather the toughest storms requires hard work and commitment before, during and after crises strike.

A road trip to find the next big Texan metropolis

Texas’ “Big 4” metro areas—Dallas, Houston, Austin and San Antonio—have all exploded with growth. Will a fifth emerge?

The Law Harrington center is a small solution to a big problem. We’re going to need a lot more like it.

Sometimes good things are worth the wait. Sometimes big dreams can be shared. Sometimes reality is better than what you imagined. The new Law Harrington Senior Living Center, which marks its grand opening today, is a small solution to a big problem, but a big idea beautifully executed.

Concentrated poverty in schools is redlining’s legacy. Undoing it should be ours.

As the school year ends, the relief is palpable. Let’s acknowledge what we went through during the pandemic. Many of us are feeling burnt out, but this is not the time to stop paying attention. Now is the moment to think big about the future of education.

Is Houston underrated as a bike city?

The city has eight months of ideal cycling weather each year and has taken some sizable steps in building out its bike infrastructure in the past decade. But is anyone outside of Houston paying attention?

Maternal deaths are public health and health equity problems. They’re also preventable.

The maternal mortality rate in the U.S. is rising, and Black women have the highest risk. Extending access to postpartum health care would prevent deaths.

Triumph of the Triangle: How Texas can hold onto its urban economic powerhouse

In 1966, a lawyer named Herb Kelleher met one of his clients, a pilot and investment banker named Rollin King, for a drink in a San Antonio hotel bar. Both were entrepreneurs looking for new opportunities, and they discussed starting an airline to serve an in-state. The legend is that King drew a triangle on a cocktail napkin, showing how the new airline would connect the major markets in Texas. 

The Texas Triangle: A rising megaregion unlike all others

The Texas Triangle—the urban megaregion consisting of the Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin metropolitan areas—stands out as a distinctive model among America’s large urban megaregions.

Black community, the moment to value ourselves is now

“One callous white police officer convicted does not signal the demise of anti-Blackness. Her talons are embedded deeply in this nation’s flesh. It is like putting a $100 down payment on a $100 million house. It is progress, but you might want to hold off on scheduling the housewarming party.”

COVID-19 devastated public transit, and underscored how indispensable it is

Ridership and revenues plummeted during the pandemic, but transit service remained essential for many frontline workers. After the pandemic, it’s important that the lessons learned are used to create better, more equitable transit networks.

Pandemic POV: I got back on the bus this week — and it was fine

A longtime public transit rider describes what it was like to use Metro again for the first time in more than a year.

How bikes paved the way for car dependency in America

And why there needs to be more investment in bicycle infrastructure in Houston and other cities.

Coming out of the pandemic, how can cities counter 2020’s sharp rise in homicides?

Among 34 large cities studied, homicide rates increased almost 30% last year, compared to 2019. Reasons for the shocking spike relate in large part to the pandemic and its societal impacts, but the killing of George Floyd may have been a contributing factor as well. Evidence-based approaches and committed elected officials will be key to reducing violent crime in American cities going forward.

America needs more police — just a different kind

In the 10 months since the killing of George Floyd, has policing in America changed at all? We need to rethink what it means to protect and serve the well-being of citizens.

Why it’s time to worry about soaring home prices in America

As the housing demand continues to outpace supply, prices have risen to levels not seen since 2008. While industry analysts don’t see the current boom going bust like the one leading up to the Great Recession, they are nonetheless concerned. One fear is the market could put homeownership out of reach for a generation of Americans and be bad for everyone in the long run.