Opinion

Use Ike to rebuild a sustainable Houston Hurricane gives us a tough opportunity: to invent a city that can withstand Mother Nature

What about life after Ike? Is it back to "business as usual," waiting for the next hurricane, hoping that it will strike somewhere else? Or do we regroup, and start organizing and planning, for a different kind of Houston, a city much more resilient to the forces of nature?

Urban experts agree that "sustainability" will define the great cities of the 21st century. Mother Nature has sent us a stern warning. In no uncertain terms, Ike, not really "the big one," is serving to redefine "sustainability" -- in local Houston terms the ability to stay in business after a major storm.

Houstonians have been tested, not just by the fury of Ike and its physical devastation, but as a civic community. We have united in a vast civic recovery effort, to reclaim our families, homes, streets, neighborhoods and lifelihoods. I have witnessed this -- neighbors teaming up to clean their streets, volunteers calling in and flocking to our crowded PODs. Our incredible human spirit has prevailed.

My experience in many aspects of this recovery tells me that we must start planning for "life after Ike." We may rush to patch roofs and shore up those utility poles to get back to normal, but a "Band-Aid" approach is not sufficient. Whis is not just a cleanup operation -- instead, we are challenged to retrofit, repair and rebuild parts of our city.

Wherever possible, this should be a local effort, not farmed out to big outside contractors. Rebuilding can be an economic shor in the arm to our local entrepreneurs, especially small and minority businesses. With perhaps billions in disaster assistance coming our way, a transformative vision of Houston as a sustainable coastal city can begin to take shape.

The first step is to fix our outmoded, poorly built, highly vulnerable grid of overhead utilities. This tangle of poles and wires, "litter on a stick," is as well a debilitating visual blight on our city.

The cost of a massive power outage, a shutdown of the nation's fourth largest city, is enormous — in human terms and in lost work time and productivity. Think about the huge financial losses from closed stores, schools and businesses; the expenses of restoring power to homes and businesses, and the cost of massive repairs and rebuilding.

And it could be worse: A direct CAT 4 hurricane hit on the Houston Ship Channel would likely uproot 800,000 jobs, shut down 25 percent of the nation's oil refining capacity and sap $130 billion from the Texas economy. Our image in the world economy is also at stake.

Yet with the same vision and fortitude that built the Houston Ship Channel we can become like Amsterdam — a city recognized for its bold actions to overcome its vulnerability to flooding and storms.

To ensure this future as a thriving coastal city, we must make three major investments — in flood control, more stringent building standards and in a "hurricane-ready" electrical power distribution network. Let me elaborate:

• Flood control — Recent restrictions on building in the floodplain and floodways must be followed by expanding our storage and conveyance capacity, with designated regional detention areas, more parks and green space, and expanded floodway corridors.

What about an innovative canal network, or a levee system such as Texas City has? Flooding requires a regional solution, based on intergovernmental agreements for common standards as part of a comprehensive storm water management plan.

• Betterbuilding codes — Our building codes should meet coastal area hurricane criteria, to withstand 130-150-mph winds and severe flooding. This means additional structural requirements for walls and roof assemblies, raising the minimum floor elevations in certain areas, the prohibition of flat gravel roofs that cause window damage and wind-resistant glass.

We have learned from Ike that emergency generators in key locations — clinics, schools, supermarkets, pharmacies and gasoline service stations — could expand significantly a functioning network of precertified distribution sites and emergency shelters.

It is impractical to send everyone out of town or to PODs. Generators at service stations and supermarkets, for example, would help with the availability of food, water and ice, and reduce gasoline shortages.

• Retrofitting the city's electrical infrastructure. Our electrical power distribution system, operated by CenterPoint Energy, needs to be modernized. In a very real sense, we are trying to run a modern, 21st century city with an outmoded 19th century infrastructure of overhead poles, transformers and wires. To modernize and protect our city, we need:

• Power lines placed underground in all new street construction and reconstruction projects.

• Antiquated power poles in poor condition replaced by new "structural" poles, relocated in ample rear lot and alley easements, ideal for above-ground utilities.

The city of Houston and CenterPoint Energy should begin a long-range ( 25- to 30-year) program to bury overhead power lines using dedicated sources of funding, such as tax-increment set asides and local/state/federal disaster recovery fund allocations.

Houston can follow the successful financial and regulatory models of other cities. We cannot afford not to secure our utility lines.

Ike is a wake-up call to retrofit our infrastructure, as part of a long-range urban plan for a truly "sustainable city."

Sound emergency management is not just about bailing out a leaking ship — it is about fixing the leaks in the first place. The time to plan is before the next big storm.

The city of Houston, Harris County, CenterPoint Energy, the Greater Houston Partnership, community representatives and our talented planners and engineers should craft a transformative vision for our future and move forward with a 21st century "sustainable Houston" agenda.

It will take creativity, innovation and "best practices."

A good place to start is to bury and secure our overhead utility lines — out of harm's way.

Brown, an architect and urban planner, is in his second term as an at-large member of Houston City Council. He can be e-mailed atpeter.brown@cityofhouston.net.