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We posed this question to you last year: is it possible to live in Houston without a car? Some Houstonians would characterize such an idea as pure folly. There’s too much of Houston that isn’t walkable, too much that’s too far away from public transportation to make life in Houston manageable without a car.
But others use every tool in their arsenal to lead a car-free life here, from public transportation to car-sharing services like Zipcar, and the growth of ride-sharing services like Uber.
Those Houstonians who do live here without a car, in large measure, rely on technology to ease their ability to get around. On this edition of Houston Matters, we learn just how high tech Houston is — or isn’t — for car-less residents. We talk with Sara Smith, State Director of the Texas Public Interest Research Group about what TexPIRG has learned from a study ranking U.S. cities on the technology available to help car-free residents navigate their city. (NOTE: Houston is not No. 1 on the list, but it’s higher than you think. And another Texas city is No. 1, and it’s exactly who you think).
Also this hour: An annual report from the National Registry of Exonerations reveals a record number of exonerations in the U.S. last year — 125 of them, in fact. That’s nearly a 40 percent increase over 2012 and 2013. Plus 33 of those exonerations came in drug cases in Harris County. Houston Matters’ Maggie Martin talks with Samuel Gross, a law professor from the University of Michigan and editor of the National Registry of Exonerations, about how and why this may have occurred.
Then: We welcome your questions about allergies — seasonal allergies, food allergies, asthma, eczema, and more. Dr. Dat Tran, Assistant Professor of Allergy and Immunology at UTHealth Medical School will join us to field your queries. Dr. Tran is also an allergy and immunology specialist at Children's Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Plus: Houston Public Media’s Catherine Lu chats with Houston area poet Melissa Studdard. Recently, Studdard read some of her work as a part of the Public Poetry series at the Houston Public Library. Studdard is also a novelist who teaches at Lone Star College-Tomball. Her debut poetry collection is called I Ate the Cosmos for Breakfast.
