City inches toward removing Houston Avenue medians

Catch up fast: Houston Public Works announced late Friday that it would begin the process of removing the medians between Center Street and Memorial Drive this week.

• They were installed by city crews in December in an effort to make it easier for people on foot to cross the street.
• Critics include Lutheran church Trinity Downtown and Houston's police and fire unions, who say the work has burdened drivers, including first responders.

The intrigue: District H Councilmember Mario Castillo, whose predecessor Karla Cisneros initiated the installation of the medians, asked the mayor to wait at least a week before removing the medians.

• He told a group of supporters Sunday that the mayor's office denied his request to postpone the removal process.
• "A one-week pause will give us that and allow the information to come out, understand it and maybe see if we can figure out a compromise that's not tearing [out] this whole thing," Castillo said.

State of play: Houston Public Works has placed traffic cones around portions of the project directly adjacent to Trinity Downtown.

• As of Tuesday, the medians remained intact.

What we're watching: The timeline for the medians' removal is unclear.