Recalibrating our thinking, Trump’s outreach, courting Amazon

Uncertain weather

Regarding “Fight flooding now! (Page A30, Sept. 10), the Chronicle’s editorial page has done the Houston region an enormous service in synthesizing the ideas of multiple experts and assembling a check list of actions that must be undertaken to prevent or mitigate future flooding . The editorial suggests a dozen fixes (such as buying the Westwood Golf Course, protecting renters and helping schools rebuild) that should be adopted. Local, state and federal levels should unite behind this common-sense plan and make it happen. We know what must be done, and we have the technical know-how to make it happen.

On the other hand, addressing the big picture ideas discussed on the Sept. 10 Outlook page (“Flood disasters call for big ideas,” Page A28) by Phil Bedient, Rebecca Elliott, Henk Ovink, Bill McKibben and Joel Katlin will undoubtedly be more difficult. These ideas challenge some long held beliefs and many underlying assumptions. Tackling such adaptive challenges will require a factbased investigation, understanding stakeholder interests and weighing the costs and benefits of each proposal before making these changes. It will also require that we develop a shared vision for the future for our city that ensures that we can continue on the path of unprecedented economic growth that has been the basis of our prosperity.

Accomplishing fundamental change is hard, but we’ve done it before in a variety of circumstances when the status quo became unacceptable. In the mid-1960s, for example, observing racial unrest across the American south, Houston leaders decided to abandon segregation and become an integrated city. That didn’t eliminate bigotry overnight, but the decision began an evolution in our civic mindset that helped create the dynamic, international, openhanded place that Houston has become. The world witnessed our best in the days following Hurricane Harvey’s onslaught — neighbor helping neighbor, volunteers dashing to evacuation centers or boating into flooded subdivisions without concern for race or ethnicity or political persuasion.

Facing a future with increasing weather uncertainty will once again require similar kinds of transformative community leadership to recalibrate our thinking about the way we live as Houstonians. Brett A. Perlman, CEO & president, Center for Houston’s Future