Inside Today: Solid Waste Management Department November 2025 Holiday Collection Schedule Page 2
Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston Saturday, November 22, 2025 • Vol. 70 • No. 47
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INSIDE.
Voter-approved dollars kickstart flood control overhaul By STEPHANIE SHIRLEY The Leader News Contributor The Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD) oversees one of the largest and most complex flood management systems in the nation—1,700 square miles of bayous, channels, detention basins, and open-space buyout lots that all stand between residents and rising water. With millions in new funding approved by voters last year, the district has spent 2024 tackling long-overdue re-
pairs and clearing a backlog of maintenance that’s been building for decades. New Funding Brings LongAwaited Maintenance Boost Last November, Harris County voters approved a measure that would increase property taxes to generate over $1 million dollars in funding for the express purpose of maintaining and strengthening the county’s flood control infrastructure, including bayous, tributaries, detention basins and reservoirs. On average the property tax
increase raised taxes on homestead-exempted properties an average of $43 per year. HCFCD doesn’t take that responsibility lightly. The district says it has a duty to be a good steward of taxpayer dollars and to be transparent about how those funds are put to work. To that end, HCFCD held two virtual town halls recently, led by Chief External Affairs Officer Emily Woodell, alongside Chief Infrastructure and Operations See FLOOD P. 2
Photo courtesy of HCFCD
The 2024 funding increase has allowed the district to make significant progress in the area of flood control.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Thanksgiving in Houston: Parades, centerpiece classes, family fun, and more By JUHI VARMA The Leader News Contributor
HAR local data by zip code: Consistent sales and easing prices signal a more balanced market in October
From lively parades to hands-on floral workshops, Houston is serving up a feast of Thanksgiving events for every taste. Whether you’re looking to burn calories at a Turkey Trot, create the perfect centerpiece for your table, enjoy stand-up comedy with pie, or bring the kids to festive family activities, there’s something to make your holiday weekend memorable. Here’s a roundup of the city’s mustsee Thanksgiving happenings.
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Gather & Bloom: Thanksgiving Centerpiece Class By Spring Flower Market
Black Friday Alternative: Buy Nothing Day Barter Fair scheduled for Nov. 28
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Houston Junior Forum’s Legacy of Learning Continues: Scholarships reach next generation
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Coming to a Table Near you: Holiday feasts, buffets, and festive sips
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Photo courtesy of Team Catapult
Team Catapult runners train at Memorial Park, where visually impaired athletes and volunteer runners hit the trails together year-round.
Blind marathoner finds strength, community with Team Catapult
By CHARLIE HARDWICK The Leader News Contributor On a Wednesday night or Saturday morning one may encounter, with some curiosity, a group of runners in Memorial Park on the loop trail, tethered together in pairs, weaving in and out of the normal trail traffic. So who are these paired athletes and what’s with the tether? They are some of Houston’s finest visually impaired athletes who are tethered to sighted guides in a year-round training regimen for the country’s best marathons. They are supported by a non-profit group called Team Catapult, and one of their star athletes is Heights resident and Brazilian-born Weber Augusto Amaral.
From Brazil to America
Originally from the small town of
Photo courtesy of Team Catapult
Amaral crosses the finish line at the New York City Marathon with his Team Catapult guides, who serve as his eyes on race day.
Cornélio Procópio, state of Paraná, in southern Brazil, Amaral was diagnosed at 5 years old with a condition called pars planitis. His early years growing up were occupied by numerous surgeries helping to improve his vision slightly. Amaral remembers his childhood as more or less normal throughout his education, but had some ups and downs because of declining vision. Amazingly, Amaral was able to obtain a drivers license at the age of 18. He took some time to live in Spain for a year before coming back to Brazil to graduate from university with a degree in computer science. After gaining employment with a German-based global engineering firm, he transitioned to Houston in 2015. “Although my vision was not great at the time, I could still drive and function
WHERE: Nov. 23, from 1-4 p.m. WHEN: Beans & Brews Coffee House, 5200 Farm to Market 2920 DETAILS: Create your own fall centerpieces at this Thanksgiving flower class, learn step by step, and take home your holiday-ready design. Expert instructors will guide you through the process step by step, so no experience is necessary. Bring your creativity and get ready to bloom with us! COST: $119 TICKETS: eventbrite.com
Great Gobbler Fest – Children’s Museum of Houston
WHEN: Monday–Sunday, Nov. 24–30 WHERE: 1500 Binz St, Houston, TX 77004 DETAILS: Celebrate Thanksgiving with a week-long series of festive activities for families: Monday, Nov. 24 – Turkey Jam: See THANKSGIVING P. 3
See MARATHONER P. 3
TV Pilot: In Houston’s ‘Hoopztown,’ the past dribbles into the present By JUHI VARMA The Leader News Contributor
Revels Houston announces 2025 production of “The Christmas Revels”
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A new TV pilot revisits 1990s Houston through the eyes of a woman coach, exploring race, gender, and belonging in a changing city Hoopztown, a TV pilot read live Nov. 8 as part of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival, has been nearly a decade in the making. Created by Fleurette S. Fernando—associate dean and director of the Arts Leadership program at the University of Houston—the story follows Maya Hernandez, a former athlete returning to coach a girls’ basketball team
while caring for her cancer-stricken mother. The setting, the fictional “Buffalo Bayou High,” is unmistakably Houston: sprawling, diverse, messy, and full of contradictions. Fernando began writing the story after watching her own daughter play basketball in junior high and high school. “It was so empowering for her,” she said. “And I was amazed that there were so few stories about this kind of experience for young girls on television. I truly believe the experience strongly contributed to her success. I would love if this story and the ideas in it could inspire more girls to participate in sports.”
Her daughter earned a full ride college scholarship for track and field and is now in law school. Through Hoopztown, Fernando wanted to explore what happens when women and girls find power in physicality—in being “in their bodies and appreciating what they can do, not just how they look.”
A different kind of Houston story
The story is set in 1996, the same year the Women’s National Basketball Association was Courtesy photo founded, and a few years before the Houston Comets made his- The producers of Hoopztown are pictured with the logo See HOOPZTOWN P. 2
created by Houston’s renowned muralist and multimedia artist GONZO247.
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