Texas has water-hole mentality
Re: “Texas may face shortage of water — Expert: Conservation needed as state grows,” Sunday business story.
Congratulations and hats off to Sarah Schlessinger, CEO of Texas Water Foundation, for pointing out the huge elephant in the Texas room, which has been ignored for too long — the rapidly developing water shortage crisis in Texas.
The failure by the businesses relocating to Texas to understand the looming water shortage calamity also adds to the problem. Most of Texas has been a semi-arid desert, as we were reminded of by the Dust Bowl, but Texas still suffers from a water hole mentality.
Current weak attempts at recycling brackish water and desalination plants may be too little too late, as the projected water demand for Texas water is predicted to exceed the supply. Also considering that conservation is a four-letter word to our no-regulations, laissez-faire state leaders, Texas may indeed be doomed.
Tony Torres, Garland
The California connection
Water can be big business for Texans unless you live in a growing area north of New Braunfels in Comal County. If that is the case, then it is big business for Californians.
Canyon Lake provides water to much of the area, and the water service to the area is provided by a California public-traded company named San Jose Water under the NYSE ticker symbol SJW. Its main source of revenue comes from the San Jose Water system.
Also, I like the way they trick Texans into thinking it’s a good old Texas Canyon Lake Water Service Co., but in reality it is a for-profit company making money from Texas water and benefiting the pockets of Wall Street and San Jose, Calif., executives as more and more Californians move to the area provided by SJWC from Canyon Lake to New Braunfels. Well-played.
Lee Golden, McKinney
Do new homes have water plan?
The water shortage mentioned in this story is what will impact thousands of new homes and apartments being built in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The story was mainly focused on business developments, but I think housing will have the bigger need for water. What are the cities/counties/water districts doing with developers to create a growth plan to match current and future water supply?
Doug Caldwell, Plano
Housing constraints hurt economy
Re: “Stop marginalizing renters — We need to support more multifamily projects for good of growing region,” by Dallas Cothrum, Sunday Opinion.
Housing deregulation is perhaps our country’s lowest hanging fruit to increasing economic growth and unlocking opportunities for millions. In a 2019 economics paper by Tai Hsieh and Enrico Moretti, the authors found that housing constraints in just a few of America’s highest productivity cities have caused aggregate growth to be more than a third lower than what it could have been. Is opposition to apartments worth being substantially poorer?
There is room for consensus on this issue across the political spectrum. More multifamily housing would allow more opportunities for lower-income families, minorities and immigrants with little credit history. It would also enhance property rights (by allowing people to do what they want with their land) and remove government roadblocks that harm economic growth and productivity.
Given this, what excuse do people have for supporting not-in-my-backyard policies?
Austin McGarland, McKinney
Money for jail, but not housing
Re: “Staying in homeless camps is not an option — City needs compassion but also enforcement for everyone’s health and safety,” Cara Mendelsohn, Tuesday Opinion.
There is a problem with homelessness, and it is something that neither side wants to deal with. We can spend millions to jail them, but very little to find them affordable housing.
Ronald L. Wharton, Lewisville
Empty malls perfect for seniors
Re: “Improve senior housing — North Texas must add more communities for growing population of older adults,” Monday editorial.
As large shopping malls continue to close along with the anchor stores that supported them, the problem of where seniors will live is easily solved. All of the services are already in place (electric, plumbing, elevators and escalators) as well as large open all-weather spaces. And parking is never a problem.
Bruce Cooper, Yonkers, N.Y.
Do we want to be Houston?
Re: “Brothel house stuns neighbors — Short-term rental concern grows,” by Sharon Grigsby, Sunday Metro column.
Grigsby’s column clearly underscores homeowners’ concerns about allowing short-term rental businesses to operate in residential neighborhoods. Homeowners’ property rights are clearly recognized in our current zoning codes that have prohibited commercial businesses in residential zoning since 1929.
Zoning has made Dallas a great city. Short-term rental businesses have no property rights in residential zoning. If this zoning is not upheld, this puts us on a path to become Houston, where there is no zoning.
Norma Minnis, East Dallas
Remember our astronauts
Lest we forget, every year at this time, I take a few moments to recall those brave astronauts who perished in America’s space program:
1. Apollo 1, Jan. 27, 1967 — Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee.
2. Challenger, Jan. 28, 1986 — Dick Scobee, Michael Smith, Judith Resnik, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, Ronald McNair and Christa McAuliffe, the teacher in space.
3. Columbia, Feb. 1, 2003 — Rick Husband, William McCool, Kalpana Chawla, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Israeli Ilan Ramon.
May they rest in peace.
Edgar Manton, Heath
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here.