We want to provide you with an important update on our ongoing efforts to Save the Montrose Live Oaks.

MONTROSE TIRZ MEETING TONIGHT -  There will be a TIRZ board meeting this Monday, August 19th at 6:30pm at the Havens Center at St Stephen's Episcopal Church (1827 W Alabama) and we strongly encourage you to attend. You can join either in person or via Zoom by registering at https://tinyurl.com/3j7ah3np  

Your continued presence is vital in showing that our community remains deeply invested in protecting these trees.

However, it’s important to note that we are currently in a holding pattern. We’re waiting for the TIRZ board to meet with the City of Houston to agree on design changes that will preserve our cherished trees while allowing the project to move forward. We’ve reached our goal of bringing attention to the problems with the current design.

We expect that once the City has completed its own drainage study, concluded its financial and legal audits of the TIRZ boards, and met with TIRZ 27 and their contractors to discuss design changes, the Montrose TIRZ will present a revised plan. This plan should preserve the trees while achieving the goals of ADA-compliant sidewalks, safe street crossings, new pavement, curbs, and improved drainage on Montrose Boulevard—all while using our tax dollars efficiently. We all know it is possible to meet these goals without removing all the trees on the sides of the street or damaging the root systems of the median trees.

BUT THE TREES STILL NEED YOU!   THE NEW BOARD MEMBERS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Given that four of the TIRZ board members are newly appointed, it IS necessary for us to communicate our opposition to the current plan and the broad support for a TREE-SAVING sidewalk design. The other side of this debate is ramping up their efforts in many ways and they show up in force at the TIRZ meetings.  We MUST counter their messaging and keep the momentum going in favor of saving the trees. 

If you can come to the meeting in person or via Zoom to help reiterate the key points of why the saving the trees is both necessary and feasible, then please come!  

If you can not make it to the meeting, then please send email AGAIN.  Even if you already did it before.  New board, new email needed! 

YES SUPPORTERS - THAT MEANS YOU HAVE ANOTHER EMAIL TO SEND (AGAIN).  SORRY, BUT THE TREES REALLY NEED YOU TO DO THIS.

Please send email TODAY to  info@montrosehtx.org with a copy to mayor@houstontx.gov and savemontroseliveoaks@gmail.com.   I'll list some talking points below or you can just re-send one of the emails you've sent before and say "I'm counting on the new TIRZ board to listen to the input we have been sending for the last 10 months and develop a new design that will preserve our much-needed mature trees." 

Thank you for your continued support and dedication. We hope to see many of you at the meeting tonight and to see ALL OF YOU emailing about your support for the trees. 

Sincerely,

Jonna Hitchcock 
Save Montrose Live Oaks

Talking points for emails

The current 100% Montrose Blvd design is bad for Montrose because it:

• destroys every tree on the sides of the street, setting back existent tree canopies 40-50 years
• greatly expands non-permeable concrete surfaces, adding to the urban heat island effect
• is overly expensive for two blocks, at $15 million, leaving far too much of the boulevard reliant on the uncertainty of grant money to fund urgent sidewalk replacement work
• will create a “shared path” that puts both cyclists and pedestrians at risk, as users with widely divergent speeds navigate around each other and across many cross-streets and commercial driveways
• is grossly over engineered, for negligible drainage benefits
• will reduce median width creating traffic hazards and impeding flow for emergency vehicles
• is likely to run Montrose Boulevard shops and restaurants out of business with years of construction and no funds to alleviate the financial impact
• will drive extra traffic to quiet side streets residents currently use for walking dogs, strollers, etc.

We want a new design which will:

1.  Widen the sidewalks to 6 feet instead of 10 feet 

Rebuild sidewalks to 6 feet, potentially narrowing to no less than 5 feet for certain trees. The project will still exceed ADA compliance while preserving nearly all existing oak trees on the west and east easements between West Dallas and West Clay.

2. Refrain from narrowing medians.  Maintaining the current lane width, median width and pedestrian realm will:

• avoid cutting into median tree-root systems and removing much of the trees’ large branches and canopies to allow tall vehicles to pass underneath
• provide a safer place to wait on the median for pedestrians crossing the street
• protect the needed turning width for larger vehicles and first responders
•  allow space for vehicles to yield to emergency vehicles

3. Build a safer crossing at West Clay (and other key cross streets):

• Install a pedestrian on-call flashing light / HAWK with a crosswalk on both sides of West Clay at Montrose Boulevard – as is used at many other pedestrian crossing locations in Houston – assuring safe passage for all cyclists, pedestrians, and wheelchair users.
• Employ crossing guards at this crossing for further safety during school zone hours, as is done at all other elementary schools in the area.

4. Continue to ensure ample cycling facilities in neighborhood:  

Montrose’s bike facilities have been transformed since Houston’s inaugural 2017 Bike Plan was adopted. A robust, intelligently designed bike network is happening now. That’s a worthy goal we support. 

The Montrose area now connects to 17 miles of recreational bike paths along Buffalo Bayou.  There are four north-south bikeways built or soon to be built within a few blocks of Montrose Boulevard:

• dedicated north-south on-street transport bikeways on Commonwealth and Waugh
• dedicated shared on-street bikeway on Woodhead
• on-street bikeway planned for Stanford. 

Going east-west, we have: 

• a dedicated on-street bikeway on West Dallas
• a shared on-street bikeway on Hawthorne
• a third proposed bikeway on Welch. 

The City’s Major Thoroughfare Freeway Plan (MTFP) states that multi-modal transportation does not mean putting every mode of transport on every block. Montrose Boulevard is not suited for expanded recreational nor transportation cycling, but neighboring streets are.  Let's build bike paths where they make better sense and don't require razing all the trees. 

5. Leverage public transit for commuting cyclists in Montrose:

• We propose, for commuters wishing to use the Montrose Boulevard corridor, free rides for cyclists and their bikes on the METRO buses on Montrose Boulevard to further promote multi-modal safe transportation, in partnership with METRO. 
• Pursue congestion mitigation funding to support free rides for bicyclists. This can be a first project under a new comprehensive bike transportation plan that incorporates Metro and encourages multi-modal transportation.  

Benefits of Adopting the Options above to Montrose Residents, Bicyclists, Pedestrians, & The Mobility-Impaired:

• Significant cost savings from avoiding full-blown road reconstruction, using less concrete, and leaving the lanes and medians as they are currently configured
• Preservation of the shade canopy & continued carbon sequestration
• Reduced urban heat-island effect from less concrete and more mature trees
• Expansion of multi-modal transit options
• Preservation of the unique character of Montrose Boulevard and our community
• Increased safety for residents, vehicles, cyclists and pedestrians and reduced crime.
• Preservation of habitat for wildlife and birds