It's a no-refusal weekend too

Amateur's night no more: With free AAA tipsy tows & free METRO rides, there's noexcuse to drive drunk on New Year's Eve

METRO bus and rail rides are also free from 6 p.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. Sunday.
Don't drive home drunk! Get a free tow from AAA this weekend instead.

Your mom wasn't lying to you: New Year's Eve is one of the most dangerous nights of the year to be on the road.

A 2007 study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that the number of fatal accidents climbs more than 50 percent on the last night of the year compared to other nights. That's why the Houston Police are instituting another no-refusal weekend to curb drunk driving over the holiday.

But this year you don't have to worry about how to balance your celebrations with being safe. AAA is offering their Tipsy Tow service for free to all drivers — not just members — from 6 p.m. on Dec. 30 through 6 a.m. on Jan. 1.

Keep in mind this is a free tow and not a cab or a service call: AAA will not take impaired drivers to any location besides a home or a hotel.

For a free tow and ride home, the AAA number to call is 1-800-222-4357. Ask for a "tipsy tow" and an emergency roadside services truck will come to your location and take you and your car anywhere within 10 miles for free. Tows can be over 10 miles as well but the user will have to pay the excess mileage charges.

Keep in mind this is a free tow and not a cab or a service call: AAA says that they will not take impaired drivers to any location besides a home or a hotel in which they are a guest — that means no trying to get to another bar, bro. Changing tires, delivering gasoline or transporting more than a single person will constitute a normal tow service with a standard rate.

If you don't want to haul your car around, there's another way to get home for free on Saturday night. Houston's METRO service is offering free bus and rail rides from 6 p.m. on Saturday until 6 a.m. Sunday morning, and rail rides are free all day Sunday courtesy of Reliant Energy, just like they are for every Texans home game. (The Texans host the Titans at noon on Sunday.)

Looking for an even easier solution? Lots of the parties at bars or restaurants around town include a discounted rate at a nearby hotel, so you can go hard all night and crash without worrying about transport. The Capitol at St. Germain has a deal with the Magnolia, for example, and hotel events like those at the Hyatt and La Torretta include rooms packages.

And of course you can always be responsible the same way people are every other weekend of the year: By designating a sober driver or calling for a cab.

After all, you'd hate to start 2012 with anything worse than a hangover.

unspecified

good for the soul

Houston blooms as No. 3 best city for urban gardening in the U.S.

Photo by Jonathan Kemper on Unsplash

Let's get gardening, Houston

Folks in the Bayou City have plenty of reasons to develop a green thumb: Houston has harvested new acclaim as the No. 3 best city in America for urban gardening in 2026.

Lawnstarter's annual report, "2026’s Best Cities for Urban Gardening," compared 500 U.S. cities based on their respective public access to community gardens, climate, the prevalence of nurseries and gardening supply stores, and the number of regional gardening clubs and online groups.

Atlanta topped the list as the No. 1 best U.S. city, followed by Miami (No. 2); St. Louis (No. 4); and Jacksonville, Florida (No. 5).

For the uninitiated, urban gardening is the practice of growing plants or food in densely populated areas. Local examples include Blackwood Skyfarm, which is the largest rooftop farm in Texas, or Urban Harvest's 160 affiliate gardens – but backyards, apartment balconies, and vacant lots could also fit the bill. Additionally, the Houston Parks and Recreation Department has an Urban Garden Program where residents can volunteer to help locate sections of local parks to turn into community gardens.

Houston was No. 1 nationally in the "supplies" rank, and Lawnstarter said the city is home to 253 landscaping equipment shops – the most in the U.S. – and the second-highest number of gardening stores (276) and nurseries (132). The city also earned a respectable No. 6 rank for its "support and interest" of urban gardening, meaning many residents are searching terms like "community gardens," "vertical gardening," and others.

Here's how the city fared in the remaining three categories:

No. 115 – Public access
No. 157 – Climate
No. 390 – Private access (based on average yard size for starting an at-home garden)

Cathy Walker, president of the American Community Gardening Association, offered some tips for first-time gardeners to help get their hands in the soil: choose only a few easy growing plants to start; learn which growing zone you're in to determine the plants that will thrive in your area; watch how much sunlight your garden space gets daily; and prioritize keeping soil healthy with compost and mulch.

Ecoregions are also helpful for understanding what plants will thrive. Whereas zones are about temperature, ecoregions are much more detailed groups. Planters can learn about their ecoregion and get personalized growing tips from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation in its new native planting app, Wild Thumb.

Starting your own garden can also have a financial benefit, the report suggested. However, up-front costs can get high in gardening, so gardeners might have to stick to it for a few seasons to see savings.

"With grocery prices projected to rise by 3.1 percent in 2026, there’s never been a better time to grow your own food," the report's author wrote. "Estimates show that growing a 600-square-foot plot for fruits and vegetables can save you around $600 in a single season."

The top 10 best cities for urban gardening in 2026 are:

No. 1 – Atlanta
No. 2 – Miami
No. 3 – Houston
No. 4 – St. Louis
No. 5 – Jacksonville, Florida
No. 6 – Orlando
No. 7 – Cincinnati
No. 8 – Fort Meyers, Florida
No. 9 – Tampa
No. 10 – Austin

urban gardening gardening houston