Castillo said the idea for Resilient H came to him in the very hot summer of 2023, before he was elected. After block-walking across the district as a candidate, he saw firsthand the toll that extreme heat and a lack of tree canopy were taking on residents.<\/p>\n
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The panelists at the meeting were Randy Macchi, director of Houston Public Works; Elizabeth Brock, METRO chair; Clint Pasche, from Greater Houston Partnership and Dr. Ruth Turley, from the Kinder Institute. The panel was moderated by Kris Larson, president and CEO of Central Houston Inc. (Photo courtesy of Mario Castillo’s Office)<\/p>\n
\u201cIn neighborhoods where you had a tree canopy and shade, it was a little more comfortable to walk the streets, and in neighborhoods where you didn’t, not only are you feeling that heat come up from the ground, but you’re seeing the homes exposed, thinking about what is it costing to cool those homes in the summer,\u201d Castillo said.<\/p>\n
The extreme heat kept residents indoors, Castillo said, and people couldn\u2019t walk their dogs or go to the park. Then the derecho and Hurricane Beryl struck, wiping out what few trees the area had. Houston faces frequent extreme weather\u2014storms, floods, freezes, and heat\u2014and while major city projects like the North Canal<\/a> and Lake Houston<\/a> improvements are underway, there\u2019s still a gap in neighborhood-level resilience, which Castillo hopes to address through community-focused efforts.<\/p>\n The first goal is to plant 500 trees in Northside, an area especially vulnerable to heat.<\/p>\n \u201cWe’re not talking five-gallon trees — although they’re good, we’ll take them — but we’re talking 15-gallon trees, that are more durable, that will make an impact quicker,\u201d Castillo said. \u201cTrees that will make people sign up and say, \u2018I want that tree in my yard\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n Inspired by Medellin, Colombia<\/strong><\/p>\n Castillo credited Medell\u00edn, Colombia, for inspiring the initiative. The South American city transformed its neighborhoods through a network of green corridors that helped lower average temperatures by 2\u00b0C and improve quality of life.<\/p>\n In July, Castillo led a delegation that included Russell Etherton, Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, Rebecca Reyna, Cassie Hoeprich, and Jacque Gonzalez-Garcia on a 3-day visit to Medell\u00edn.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have transformed that city,\u201d said Castillo. \u201cThey, like Houston, faced a lot of days of extreme heat, and so they took one of their biggest contributors to this heat, their corridors and highways with no shade, no tree cover, no vegetation, and they made an effort to green those, to cool them.\u201d<\/p>\n The Medellin group: Left to right, Russell\u00a0Etherton, Holly Maria Flynn Vilaseca, Rebecca Reyna, Mario Castillo, Cassie Hoeprich, Jacque Gonzalez-Garcia'(Photo courtesy of Mario Castillo’s Office)<\/p>\n Drawing from that model, Resilient H seeks to create \u201ccool corridors\u201d in Houston \u2014 shaded streets that reduce heat island effects, improve air quality, and foster community well-being.<\/p>\n A four-part strategy for resilience<\/strong><\/p>\n The initiative will focus on four key areas:<\/p>\n \u201cDowntown Houston+ is already doing this right over here on Main Street for their Promenade Project<\/a>,\u201d said Castillo. \u201cThey are actively constructing a cool corridor, and not only is it going to look amazing, but it’s going to have a real impact. The goal of a 20 degree-decrease in surface temperature, a three to five degree-decrease in average ambient temperature.\u201d<\/p>\n The first \u201ccool corridor\u201d project outside of Downtown is planned along Cavalcade Street, in partnership with local stakeholders and the management district.<\/p>\n Castillo closed the meeting by underscoring the need for local participation. \u201cResilience starts with our neighborhoods,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re working together to lower energy costs, reduce health risks, and build stronger, more sustainable communities for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n With Resilient H, District H aims to model how grassroots action, thoughtful planning, and shared responsibility can help Houston thrive in the face of a changing climate.<\/p>\n The first Northside Resiliency Event will be held on Nov. 15 at Moody Park, 3725 Fulton St., beginning at 9 a.m. The event will include free 15-gallon trees and 50-gallon rain barrels, along with home weatherization and pipe-wrapping assistance for winter. Residents can register at houstontx.gov\/council\/h\/resilienth<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Houston Council Member Mario Castillo has launched Resilient H, a new community-driven initiative designed to make District H…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":356069,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5130],"tags":[718,4345,358,3187],"class_list":{"0":"post-356068","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-tx"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115493941028493105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=356068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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