It is with deep sadness that the Hiram Clarke Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority acknowledges the passing of Houston City Council Member Larry Vincent Green, who died on March 6, 2018, at the age of 52.
Council Member Green was not simply a supporter of TIRZ 25. He was its architect. Without his determination, his advocacy and his refusal to accept the status quo, the Hiram Clarke Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority would not exist.
A son of this community
Larry Green grew up right here — in the Hiram Clarke neighborhood. He attended Hobby Elementary, Dowling Middle School and James Madison Senior High School before earning a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Houston and a J.D. from Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University.
When Houston’s redistricting process created the new District K in 2011, Green became its first-ever council member — and he immediately set to work addressing the infrastructure neglect that had defined southwest Houston for decades.
He understood the problem from the inside. He had watched the roads deteriorate, the sidewalks crumble, and the commercial development that could have transformed this area bypass it entirely for Pearland, Sugar Land and other suburban communities to the south. He knew that waiting for the city to prioritize this community within its broader capital improvement schedule could mean waiting 20 or 30 more years.
So he built something that wouldn’t wait.
The TIRZ 25 Legacy
Council Member Green championed the creation of TIRZ 25 through every phase — from the initial planning conversations to the passage of Ordinance No. 2013-708 on August 7, 2013, which officially designated the zone. He worked alongside Fort Bend County Commissioner Grady Prestage to secure the interlocal agreement that allows TIRZ 25 to collect tax increment across two counties — a cross-jurisdictional collaboration that was essential to the zone’s viability.
He saw the zone through the confirmation of its board of directors in October 2013, the approval of its first operating budget in March 2015 and the formal creation of the Redevelopment Authority itself in May 2015.
He understood that creating a reinvestment zone was only the beginning.
The zone needed an independent corporate body — the Redevelopment Authority — with the legal authority to issue bonds, manage contracts and deliver projects. He ensured that the body was built with public governance at its core: an appointed board, open meetings and published financials.
He partnered with the 5 Corners Improvement District and TIRZ 9 to establish the tri-party collaboration that has since produced coordinated investments across southwest Houston — including the District Gateway Improvement Project along the US 90A corridor.
During his tenure, Council Member Green brought close to $2 billion in economic development projects to District K — including a new HPD substation, a senior citizen center in Fort Bend Houston, a Federally Qualified Health Center and the expansion of TIRZ 9.
He also championed southwest Houston’s public art movement, sponsoring 31 Mini Mural traffic signal cabinets in District K — making this community ground zero for what has since grown into a citywide program with more than 400 installations across Houston.
What he built will outlast all of us
The Hiram Clarke Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority operates today because of Larry Green. The TIRZ 25 Project Plan — with more than $150 million in planned reinvestments spanning roads, sidewalks, drainage, parks, cultural facilities and economic development through 2042 — exists because he fought for it.
Every sidewalk that gets poured, every blighted property that gets cleared, every intersection that gets safer and every trail that gets extended in this zone traces back to the institutional framework he put in place.
The board of directors, staff and community partners of HCFBRA are committed to honoring his vision by continuing the work — with the same transparency, collaboration and accountability he demanded from day one.
To the Green Family
On behalf of the entire Hiram Clarke Fort Bend Redevelopment Authority — our board, our staff and the community we serve — we extend our deepest condolences to Council Member Green’s family, friends and loved ones. His impact on this community is permanent. His legacy is built into the very structure of how southwest Houston will grow and thrive for the next quarter century and beyond.
Rest in power, Council Member Green.