This sounds rather problematic:
So you think you know where Houston’s city limits are? Or at least what they are? You may be wrong.
Under a 1999 law, Texas cities may perform voluntary “limited purpose annexations” by contracting to provide specific services to utility districts in return for a share of their property taxes. An unexpected result has been confusion for mapmakers and public safety officials.
A motorist wrote to Move It, saying that after her car broke down on the Katy Freeway, 911 dispatchers debated whether Houston police and Harris County sheriff’s deputies should respond. Following up on that, Fred Windisch, chief of Ponderosa Volunteer Fire Department in north Harris County, wrote recently to say it could cost a life.
[snip]
Houston Police Capt. Lori Bender, who administers the city’s Safe Clear freeway towing program, was surprised to learn that motorists on the Katy Freeway pass through three “city limits” on leaving or entering Houston.
Rad Sallee is writing some nice Move It! columns. And just for fun, here is what appears to be Lucas Wall’s first transportation story for the Boston Globe.
