Much of the effort is focusing on completing big construction projects. Workers are doing 16-hour shifts to build the city’s largest hotel, the Hilton Americas-Houston; the transit authority reported that it will be “challenging” to get all the cars it needs for a light-rail line that will go from downtown to Reliant Stadium; much of the road construction on 120 city blocks should have been done in June. (All projects will be completed, say city officials.) A citywide face-lift is also underway. Years of urban sprawl and numerous road-construction projects have left Houston, well, ugly. So the city is spending $3 million on landscaping. It will plant 21,000 trees along major highways and rye grass, which turns green in winter, in vacant lots. Cool-weather plants like pansies and cyclamens will spruce up medians. This talk is good news for the expansion Texans–gardening may distract people from the gridiron.
