Public Works head dives in with swim lessons
Storm preparations include pool time, building benches
Wednesday’s event by the Bayou City Initiative was billed “Flood Resiliency and the State of City Infrastructure.” So, it was no surprise to see featured speaker Carol Haddock, head of Houston Public Works, get asked what the city department in charge of drainage and roads has done to prepare itself for the next storm.
Haddock started by saying the department had provided swimming lessons to its staff.
“I’m proud of that,” she said later.
There was more to the answer Haddock provided, including information on ditch clearing and updates to major projects before three successive years of deadly flooding and some projects still to come. Those details just came after the bit about teaching dump truck drivers how to swim.
“Why in the world would that be the first thing out of her mouth?” mayoral candidate Bill King said. “At first I thought it was a joke, but then it was clear she was serious. It was so bizarre.”
King, who often takes to Twitter, did just that, twice lambasting Haddock.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” he tweeted. “Would love to see who got the contact (sic) to conduct the swimming lessons.”
He questioned Thursday if that was the best way for the city to spend money and time when there are miles of ditches to clear and better pipes to install.
Haddock’s explanation takes more than 280 characters.
After the flooding related to Hurricane Harvey, public works staff were asked how the city’s response could be improved, something Haddock said typically is asked after any major event.
Because the department has big trucks, and big trucks can travel in water deeper than conventional cars and trucks, some public works workers are called into service as first responders — either driving police and fire workers into flooded areas or closing off roads.
Many told Haddock and other public works officials that they could not swim but that they wanted to help out in floods.
Haddock hooked up interested employees with a Saturday swim lesson at a city pool, taught by parks department instructors and firefighters. The lesson included basic swimming skills, how to secure a rope and proper use of objects to help someone in high water.
The public works employees did it on their day off, Haddock noted.
The swim lessons are not the only thing that, without context, sound odd for a city department to do in preparation for future flooding. Haddock also had staff build wooden benches. When the back of a dump truck is the best place to put elderly people evacuated from their flooded homes, they usually need a place to sit, she said.
Given a fuller explanation, King said he would have to hear more to decide if teaching 41 people to swim and wear life preservers was a good use of resources.
Meanwhile, Haddock got a lesson of her own about swim instruction and election-year politics.
“In the future, I will not start with that,” Haddock said. “I’ll start with the infrastructure.”