Below is information you will find important about our neighborhood. The items include: a proposed amendment to Chapter 42, the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (HSLECJ), a lost dog (taken to a shelter), creation of the Super Neighborhood 22 Lost and Found Facebook page by one of our very own residents, initiative for improvements to Cleveland Park, a 311 App and membership in the Magnolia Grove Civic Club.
The one item that needs attention today is the Chapter 42 Amendment. It is long so it’s at the bottom on this note.
High School:
HISD continues with plans to move the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (HSLECJ), despite requests from the community not to do so. Please plan to attend this short meeting and get information and voice your opinion.
From Jane Cahill-West:On Thursday evening, January 31st, from 7:00-8:00 p.m., HISD will hold a public meeting regarding plans to move the High School for Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice (HSLECJ). Please find attached to this email a flyer with information about this very important community meeting.
The HSLECJ is the only public high school located in Super Neighborhood 22. SN 22 has encouraged HISD not to move this high school out of the area, and continues to work with HISD Trustee Juliet Stipeche to achieve this goal.
If good community schools are important to you, please plan to attend this meeting, and please redistribute the information about this meeting to your family, friends, and neighbors.
We continue to see lost pets in our neighborhood. Please take a moment to put a collar with a tag on your pet or get a micro chip. In an effort to assist our lost and found pets andtheir owners, our resident, Jodi O’Hara has created a Facebook Page dedicated to the lostand found pets along Super Neighborhood 22. Please help spread the word to other neighbors. Here is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/SuperNeighborhood22LostFoundPets?ref=ts&fref=ts
At the moment, there is a found red dog in need of finding it’s owner or a new home. It has been taken to the Pearland shelter. The neighbor who took it is friends with the director of the shelter and so is keeping tabs on it. We will be alerted if it goes on the “kill” list. It is a chow / lab mix, very friendly. I have attached a picture. If this dog belongs to you or you know the owner, please contact me immediately.
As many of you know, we’ve begun efforts to improve Cleveland Park. Luis Franco is leading the efforts for an improved playground. I am leading the efforts for improvements to the park in general. If you would like to help Luis or myself, please let me know. Currently, we are trying to put together some rough plans, which include sketches andestimates, to present to TIRZ 5 (Memorial-Heights) in hopes of getting consideration for money to improve the park.
We realize many of you live with limited green space. We want to make this park a placeyou, your family and pets can all use. We want to improve the issues with dog waste and trash and have a bigger, enclosed playground with new, safer equipment. We are very happy to see that many of you are choosing to raise your children in our neighborhood. We want to have a safe, clean place for them to play and for grown ups to enjoy too. Some of my fondest childhood memories where at the park that was just one block from the house I grew up in. I want our kids to have a place where they can safely play, perhaps grow a garden, go watch little league games and who knows, maybe one day go for a swim.
So, if you are an architect, landscaper or builder, please help us with very rough sketches and estimates. I need to present this on Tuesday morning, February 12th. Please contact me if you can help with this. We are asking for you to donate your time at this moment.
311 App:
The 311 App will finally be available this coming week. If you have a smart phone, please download the free app. With it, you’ll be able to take a picture, send and the 311 office will get the exact date, time, location of your request. Keep the reference # in case action is delayed or it is a recurring problem. Anytime we call the city for issues, they look up 311. If the issue has not been reported there, they ask that we go through those steps first.
Here is a link with more information: http://offthekuff.com/wp/?p=50518
Membership:
You knew it was coming. This year, I want to increase our membership. We have gotten off to a great and exciting start. The first month is not yet over and we already have 31 paid members!!! I know it’s still less than 10% of all of you on Facebook and our email distribution list but I’ll take that because it is a big jump over the entire membership of 2012!!! It shows great promise! So congrats to you for being such good members!
I am enclosing the Membership Form for 2013. Please take a moment to fill in out and send to me. If you can volunteer to set up PayPal for us, please let me know. Also, pass along to your neighbors, especially if you live in a gated townhouse.
I want to mention a few things to you re membership. Please be assured, your information is private. Only the officers have access to the database and they are sworn (by me – which can be scary) to never give your information to anyone for any reason. If someone emails me that they need to contact you, I will forward that email to you and not just give out your email. So, rest assured, your information is safe with us.
Likewise, I encourage you to get to know your neighbors. A few days ago, late at night, someone was pointing a flash light at our house and our neighbors’ house. Another neighbor saw this. He called me and later sent a text. I talked to a neighbor’s dog walker. The guy had been around our house for a couple of days. I saw police officers taking a break by Jackson Hill and told them. They started canvasing the neighborhood and know to be on the lookout for this guy. This is why I think it is so important to know your neighbors. If you know someone, you are more attentive to their property.
Chapter 42 Amendment:
Please take a moment to read the email below and write emails to our city officials. Please add your experience with poorly planned high density. Here are a few of my personal concerns:
1. Zero Build Lines – developers can build right up to your property line. In my case, the builder cut down two of my mature trees (without my knowledge or permission) because they were in the way of his construction. To finish the building, they either had to access through my private property or do a very poor job. Feel free to drive by my house and see what I mean.
2. Parking – not enough parking is allowed in most townhouse developments. Additionally, because of the narrow shared driveways, homeowners with large vehicles are forces to park on the street. We are all too familiar with how this leads to car break-ins and recreates a safety hazard for pedestrians and cyclists.
3. Safety – the narrow driveways create a safety hazard for firetrucks and fire fighters. These narrow shared driveways make it difficult to get to the back end townhouses. It creates a safety hazard for the firefighters and for the owners of these townhouses.
More detailed information is provided below from Jane Cahill-West, Past President of Super Neighborhood 22.
Dear SN 22 Friends and Colleagues,
On Wednesday, Jan. 30th at 2:00 p.m., the City Council Committee for Housing, Sustainable Growth and Development chaired by CM Adams will consider proposed amendments to the city’s development code known as Chapter 42 and proposed amendments to the city’s off-street parking ordinance known as Chapter 26 of the City Code of Ordinances. The meeting will take place at 2:00 p.m. in the City Council Chamber on the second floor of City Hall (901 Bagby).
The full texts of the proposed amendments are available on the Planning Department’s website.
The key aspect of the proposed amendments to Chapter 42 is to make the entire city “urban” meaning that the density at which single family residences can be built outside the Loop 610 will increase from approximately 8 units per acre to 27 units per acre without any increase in the public infrastructure. This “urban” standard has been in force inside the Loop since 1999, and the results have caused and exacerbated many problems.
The Super Neighborhood Alliance has created a Top Ten List of Community Concerns regarding the proposed amendments to Chapter 42 which you will find attached to this email.
I encourage you and others from from your neighborhood to attend the committee meeting to express your opinions about the proposed amendments.
I also encourage you to correspond with your District CM, the five at-large CMs, and the administration to express your comments or concerns. Input from the development community in support of the proposed amendments are already flooding their offices.
Please find copied below is the text of a sample letter that the SNA is distributing.
Thanks and best wishes,
JaneRe: Proposed Chapter 42 AmendmentsDear Mayor Parker and City Council Members:I am writing to express strong opposition to the Chapter 42 amendments currently being proposed, and strong support for the Top Ten List of Community Concerns adopted by the Super Neighborhood Alliance.The intent to extend the so-called “urban” standards for development of single family homes beyond the Loop 610 to the city limits and beyond means that the density at which single family homes can be built outside of Loop 610 will increase from roughly 8 units per acre to 27 units per acre without any corresponding increase in the public realm (ie. infrastructure such as sidewalks, parks, and storm sewers).
Since Chapter 42′s “urban” standards were initially adopted in 1999 for the Inner Loop, many neighborhoods have experienced lot by lot redevelopment of single family homes. Although it was hoped that
this redevelopment would create transit-served, pedestrian-friendly environments, in most cases that has not happened. And in many cases problems such as flooding, inadequate drainage, traffic congestion, and on-street parking have worsened. There is no reason to believe that expansion of Chapter 42′s “urban” standards beyond the Loop 610 will yield a different result.
Why should the public choose to invest in residential real estate if the infrastructure around it is systematically undermined?
Inner loop residents are already reaching a tipping point as Chapter 42-related negative impacts grow.
Expansion of Chapter 42′s “urban” standards to the city limits and beyond could cause an exodus to master-planned suburbs where the value of home investment will be better protected than inside the city.
Wholesale expansion of Chapter 42′s “urban standards” will not do the things that the city says it will do—increase competition or result in a “better” project—and it could conceivably achieve the reverse.
Until the city has formulated substantive plans for addressing the problems that application of Chapter 42′s “urban” development standards have caused the Inner Loop, the city should not extend Chapter 42′s “urban” standards beyond the Loop.
Sincerely,
The addresses for the Mayor and City Councilmembers are as follows:
Mayor Parker: Mayor@HoustonTx.gov
CM Helena Brown
CM Jerry Davis
DistrictB@HoustonTx.gov
CM Ellen Cohen
DistrictC@HoustonTx.gov
CM Wanda Adams
DistrictD@HoustonTx.gov
CM Dave Martin
DistrictE@HoustonTx.gov
CM Al Hoang
DistrictF@HoustonTx.gov
CM Oliver Pennington
DistrictG@HoustonTx.gov
CM Edward Gonzalez
DistrictH@HoustonTx.gov
CM James Rodriguez
DistrictI@HoustonTx.gov
CM Mike Laster
DistrictJ@HoustonTx.gov
CM Larry Green
DistrictK@HoustonTx.gov
CM Stephen Costello
AtLarge1@HoustonTx.gov
CM Andrew Burks
AtLarge2@HoustonTx.gov
CM Melissa Noriega
AtLarge3@HoustonTx.gov
CM C.O. Bradford
AtLarge4@HoustonTx.gov
CM Jack Christie
AtLarge5@HoustonTx.gov
