5 Kingwood sidewalks will be improved beginning this summer

Houston will begin repairing or replacing five sidewalks along Kingwood Drive this summer as part of the city’s Safe Sidewalk Program. The five projects will be completed consecutively and cost more than $395,000 in total. Read more here.

Humble could receive up to $1.9 million after 2016 floods

Humble could receive between $1.5 million and $1.9 million in federal funds to reimburse the city for flood damages and mitigation projects that stem from April and May 2016, according to Harris County officials. The city will be allowed to apply for the 2016 Community Development Block Grant this fall, according to Christy Lambert, assistant director for Harris County Community Services. Humble held a public meeting May 31 regarding local improvement projects. The federal funds could be used to improve structures that were damaged by the floods, such as traffic lights, infrastructure and roads, drainage issues, city assets and future mitigation projects.

Diversity rises as demographics shift in Houston

As the Greater Houston area’s ethnic makeup changes, so have residents’ attitudes toward diversity and the relationships among different groups. The 2017 Kinder Houston Area Survey, produced by Rice University’s Kinder Institute of Urban Research, found that as the white population declined nationwide, growth in Houston since the 1980s came not from whites but from influxes of African Americans and Latinos. Read more here.

$105 million Astrodome project moves forward

A $105 million project to transform the Houston Astrodome into an events venue is moving forward after one Houston-area lawmaker’s attempt to force Harris County to get voter approval fell through. Sen. John Whitmire, R-Houston, filed Senate Bill 884—dubbed the “Harris County Taxpayer Protection Act”—in March. The bill would have required the county to obtain voter approval for any improvement or redevelopment to the Astrodome costing $10 million or more. Although SB 884 passed out of the Texas Senate, it got stuck in the Texas House of Representatives, where it ultimately died when the session ended May 29.