Big Jolly Politics

politics in Harris County and Texas

Fort Bend County homeowners are protesting outside the wrong building

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You can skip a few paragraphs ahead if you’ve watched the TV news accounts and read the blogs & online newspapers covering Fort Bend County homeowner frustration with arbitrary increases in home values and skyrocketing property tax bills.

Aaron Layman has been doing yeoman’s work covering what he characterizes as a “rigged system” favoring commercial property owners over at the Fort Bend CAD and a process that steamrolls homeowners. Oh boy is he spot on.

Most recently Andrea Watkins at Fox 26 included video of Fort Bend County homeowners protesting outside the office of the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District.

I’m here to tell everyone they are protesting outside the wrong building.

The City of Sugar Land fought hard to keep the papers hidden from public view but documents recently obtained from the City revealed opposing increases in the homestead exemption for Fort Bend County homeowners was a 2015 Legislative Priority of the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council.

Greed

(used in accordance with Creative Commons license)

Within the board meeting agendas and board meeting minutes provided in accordance with a letter ruling from the Open Records Division of the Texas Attorney General’s Office was a Draft Agenda of the Greater Fort Bend County Economic Development Council Legislative Priorities heading into the start of the 84th Legislative session.

GFBEDC 2015 Legislative Priorities

Section VI titled Tax Reform contains the damning priority (emphasis mine):

“Oppose increase in the Homestead Exemption or any other proposal that shifts burden to businesses”

So here’s a word for all the homeowners who showed up outside the Fort Bend County Appraisal District office to protest the arbitrary increases in your market & assessed values resulting in YUGE tax increases.

You’re protesting outside the wrong offices!!

Exit question: which Fort Bend County elected officials sit on the board of the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council?

City of Sugar Land changes course, posts notice to comply with open meetings act

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In an update to a story BJP first reported on May 29, 2016 titled “Are Fort Bend officials meeting in violation of the Texas open meetings act? the City of Sugar Land posted a public notice of a third-party hosted meeting in order to be compliant with the requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act and subsequent opinions of the Office of the Texas Attorney General.

The third-party hosted meeting was scheduled by the Fort Bend County Mayor and Council Member Association and according to the public notice posted on the City of Sugar Land website, the focus of the June 23, 2016 meeting was the 2017 Legislative Agenda & Proposed Revenue caps.

The posted notice also read that the City of Sugar Land has no control or knowledge of the specific legislative topics to be discussed:

“The City of Sugar Land has no control or knowledge of the specific legislative topics that may be discussed, however it is reasonable to anticipate that there may be a broad range of municipal issues and topics discussed to include but not limited to revenues and tax rate.”

Documents obtained through open records requests revealed the Fort Bend County Mayor and Council Member Association met on eight occasions in 2015 and the City of Sugar Land hosted the June 25, 2015 meeting of the FBCMCMA at Constellation Field 06 – Fort Bend County Mayors Council As…5th – Constellation Field_Redacted.pdf

A review of the 2015 posted public notices on the City of Sugar Land website show the City of Sugar Land did not post a notice of its hosting the June 25, 2015 meeting at Constellation Field.Sugar Land, TX – Official Website – Fiscal Year 2015 Archives

 

Safety, Liability Issues Surface During City of Sugarland Public Meeting

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Yvonne Larsen
Yvonne Larsen

A public meeting on the City of Sugar Land Pedestrian and Bicycle  Master Plan was held Monday April 15th at Sugar Land City Hall. Approximately 100 people attended the meeting, expressing important public safety concerns for consideration.

Pat Walsh, Director of Transportation & Long Range Planning-City of Sugarland, in partnership with Jim Carillo of Halff Associates Austin office, walked the meeting attendees through a 48 page presentation (found here) addressing the benefits of walking & cycling, the goals of the Master Plan, the existing & proposed hike & bike facilities and the projected plan costs associated with each facility.

Examples of proposed facilities, as explained in the presentation are:

  • Sidepath’s which would run adjacent to current roadways with adequate parkway width,
  • Shared-use paths in drainage, utility or greenbelt corridors,
  • Bike lanes with low vehicular traffic counts and lower speed limits,
  • Buffered bike lanes with sufficient pavement widths
  • Shared-lane markings for streets without sufficient pavement width of buffered lanes, and
  • Sidewalks

During the public comment period of the meeting, residents expressed, and rightly so, concerns focused on shared-lane markings adjacent to on-street parked automobiles, neighborhoods where schools also serve as polling locations combined with parents dropping off/ picking up children, and buffered bike lanes sharing the road with vehicular traffic, all legitimate concerns about the propensity for increased accidents.

Meeting attendees also learned that completion of the Master Plan requires the acquisition of now privately-held property and requires  legislation be passed to address CenterPoint Energy’s liability concerns. Sure enough, HB 404 appears to do exactly that.

My question is,  if legislation can be passed to mitigate CenterPoint Energy’s liability concerns, is YOUR homeowners association working with YOUR elected official to mitigate the liability issues of expanded hike & bike trails through YOUR neighborhood or subdivision?