Growth and Development in Texas Counties

I was reading through a couple opinion-based articles of the Austin American Statesman, and one commentary really grabbed my attention. It is written by Valinda Bolton, who is a State Representative out of Travis County. The title of her article is “Bolton: Texas counties should control their own destinies”. Recently, Bolton has been paying attention to the rain that has done some damage to our county. The main example that Bolton uses is the impact that Hamilton Pool took from the recent weather. She hates to see this beloved Travis County asset be destroyed.
She believes this is just an example of an overall problem that faces Texas counties. Texas county governments just don't have the tools they need to manage growth and development. The county governments are very busy with other issues that they cannot deal with every little thing. Bolton believes counties that experience high growth should be granted land use authority.
To express her point, Bolton filed a bill that would grant counties more power on land use. This bill would have given counties with a population greater than 500,000 the tools to manage water and land use. That bill died off early before it could really be taken into consideration.
Bolton travelled around her district to get the people’s opinions. She found that many people feel helpless in managing their water and land. The people look to their commissioner for help, but they don’t receive anything.
Her point of this article is that she believes that it is time for the legislature to accept the idea of local control in our counties. If anything, those counties that have the most growth should be able to exercise local control. She believes counties should be able to control their own destinies, and she is ready to fight and have this legislation passed.
I believe Valinda Bolton’s point of local control is exactly what counties like this one needs. I have seen a lot of our local habitat become destroyed from there be nothing done to help or prevent it. I have not been affected by this first-hand, but I really feel that our local people should be able to control what goes on with water and land use. Local commissioners have so much to do in big counties that they don’t have time to focus on small things. This causes many projects to be forgotten or left out. Local people should be given the power to manage on their own. Bolton brought up a subject that is forgotten in the legislature, and she is very right on her opinion.
I link to this article can be viewed at:
Local Control in Texas Counties