Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen's Admission to Taking Mostly Developer Campaign Contributions: The mayor said he’s "proud of the fact. . "
For more on Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen's admission to accepting nearly 60% of all his campaign contributions from 1998 to Jan. 2005 coming from Houston and other area developers see the quote below from the FB Star or click the title link above and ask council members why they never investigated the city ethics complaints against him for pushing the Johnson Development apartments on Sienna residents (nearly 2700 apartment units approved with more multi-family slated in South Sienna)?
Why have these allegations gone un-investigated and why, following the submission of the petition and the ethics complaints against the mayor, has the Sienna homeowner who helped lead this drive been targeted by Owen's major campaign contributor Johnson Development Co. of Houston (Larry Johnson, President) and Doug Goff his Vice President?
Quote from the FB Star (7/05):
"Had I not had that personal relationship with him, I’m not sure he would have agreed and we (Missouri City) ended up with a hospital. "The mayor said he’s "proud of the fact that developers and builders who built this city have chosen to support me in my role as mayor," that he’s "proud of what Johnson & Sienna brought to this city" and denied having ever shown "any favoritism to any developer regardless of their contribution to me."
Stay tuned to http://missouricitychatter.blogspot.com for more on this and other area issues (like the airport expansion with Sienna and other area communities under the fly-way --> see related stories on this at FortBendNow.com, the FB Sun, FB Star and of course here on MissouriCityChatter). . . .stay informed and keep in touch!
posted by responsible_dvlpmnt at Monday, December 26, 2005
13 Comments:
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Anonymous said...
Here's a good one on chief county judge Bob Hebert. Owen (the Mo-City mayor) is on his contribution list along with Goff (One of the Sienna Developers).--Here's the FB Star article by Skinner on the airport expansion that isn't?
Fort Bend County, At Large
By Cheryl Skinner
------------------------------------------------------------------------
This column expresses the personal opinions/views of the writer. If you would like to express your opinions/views regarding the column, write a SIGNED letter to the editor. Name can be withheld by request with a valid day time phone number.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
County Judge defends himself
Fort Bend County Judge Bob Hebert has a lot to say on the proposed McKeever Road project. For one thing he is, he says, at a loss as to how the “conspiracy theory” has entered the rumor mill in the Arcola area.
The court met in closed session last week to discuss the possible need to exercise imminent domain and take a portion of four landowners’ property for the proposed road project. Hebert says the court did not intend to take action, but to discuss if there is a need, by Federal Aviation Administration rules, to take some of the property. Hebert says that if the FAA says the need is not there, the land will not be taken because purchasing or condemning the property would then amount to taking it for economic development purposes and would violate the court’s recently approved resolution saying they would not condemn property solely for economic development purposes.
On the other hand, Hebert says, if the county attorney’s office finds that the land is needed to comply with FAA stipulations on McKeever Road, the need to take the land is for improvements that are direly needed to provide the area with mobility and traffic relief and that is a different set of circumstances.
McKeever Road was “grandfathered” by the FAA 25 years ago when the airport began operation. Hebert says that if the county does improve the road for mobility reasons, he has been told by the county’s engineers and others studying the project, which the county would then be responsible for making sure that safety issues are addressed and the county is in compliance with FAA regulations as they pertain to the road.
Now the county’s legal staff has been directed to deal directly with the FAA to determine what land, if any, will be needed to comply with the safety factor. Hebert expects an answer sometime in January 2006.
“If the land is needed to clear the existing end of the runway, not to any way expand the runway, then we will be under obligation to do that. If it isn’t needed for that reason, then we won’t do it, not on my watch anyhow,” Hebert stressed in an interview Monday.
He says the driving factor behind the McKeever Road project, which will tie McKeever into South Post Oak, is to provide traffic relief for the thousands of new residents and future residents. Secondarily the project would benefit the city of Arcola because the airport owner has agreed to let the airport be annexed into the city.
The conspiracy theory may have surfaced because the airport’s owner has agreed to providing right of way, annexation and $500,000 toward the work. Let’s face it, the first question is why in the world would anyone shell out a half million dollars unless they were in cahoots with the county officials and others supporting this project?
Hebert says the airport will benefit inadvertently because the 200 acres that is owned by the facility will go from being farm land to prime real estate if a major thorofare is put adjacent to the business. But it isn’t because of any cloak and dagger, under the table, behind the scenes conspiracy.
Hebert is firm in his commitment to the intent of the resolution the county passed. He says that once the answers are firmly determined, if the Newpoint Estates land is needed to complete the mobility project and comply with safety regulations from the FAA, the county has to do it if the road is to be completed. If it is for any other reason, in other words if the land is needed solely for the airport’s benefit, Hebert says that would be wrong and he would not support it.
By the way, one landowner was quoted as saying half of his land would be taken. Hebert says the most that will be needed is 100 feet of land off an 8 acre parcel. There will be four land owners impacted if the land is needed. And, the amount needed will go downwards from the highest amount of 100 feet to follow the path of McKeever. The county is not going in, even if the land is needed, to take acres and acres of prime real estate, Hebert says.
We will be eagerly awaiting the findings by the county’s legal eagles. In the meantime, rumors will circulate and conspiracy theories will abound.
That’s just the way it is.
10:55 AM
Anonymous said...
I found the entire article from FB Star that is in the post. Is this the actions by Sienna residents that lead to the SLAPP suit against them? Check it out:
Council speakers slam Missouri City
officials over Sienna apartment issue
By Barbara Fulenwider
At most city council meetings none to few speak during the public comments part of the agenda but at Missouri City’s July 18 council meeting the mayor and council got an ear full.
Chris Calvin, who has been identified in local media as the spokesman and co-chair of Committee for Responsible Development, which opposes apartments in Missouri City, was the first speaker and he told council and Mayor Allen Owen that he had requested a copy of the mayor’s campaign contributions.
Calvin said that over the past two election cycles 60 percent of the total contributions came from developers and that Larry Johnson, developer of Sienna Plantation, was among the largest donors in that group.
Calvin also said that at the June 6 council meeting residents spoke up opposing apartments in Sienna and "were treated with little courtesy" by the mayor.
Specifically, Calvin said that when one resident spoke opposing apartments the mayor told him that he could sell his house if he didn’t like it here. Calvin requested that an ethics committee be formed "to look into this" in regard to the code of ethics council members must adhere to. He ended by requesting that the developer contributions to Owen’s campaigns be entered into the public record of the July 18 meeting.
Paul Malone also spoke on the issues Calvin raised and "how the city has handled some of the issues are my concern." He began by saying he had nothing to say about apartments, that his issues are "how council and the mayor have been functioning in recent months -- how the city has handled some of the issues.
"It is hard to imagine that anyone in the city has acted more responsibly in the development of our city than you," Malone told Owen, but added that the mayor’s remarks at the June 6 council meeting were "especially troublesome to me.
"The perception is "the way you’ve done some things, especially recently, (which) have contributed to the distress and confusion in our community. I’m focusing on you (Owen) because you’re the leader. I know you alone can’t take any action without council. It’s not all your fault." And he said he was sorry that council members Jerry Wyatt and Don Smith were not present.
Malone referred to the June 6 meeting where two residents of Sienna protested apartments during an agenda item concerning the Sienna Plantation Joint Development Agreement.
"It’s not acceptable to me for any official to criticize a citizen that you’ve put in a particular position," Malone said referring to the fact that the mayor strongly answered a citizen who does not live in the city limits.
At that meeting council voted to annex a commercial area in order to collect sales taxes while many residential areas in Sienna are not in Missouri City so pay no property taxes and are not represented on city council.
"Some Sienna citizens have been made dysfunctional by the situation they are in," Malone said adding that he believes council has "seen some of this type of dysfunction in some of the people who have tried to address you."
Malone said the mayor’s comments pose the perception to citizens that those who contribute more money to the city via taxes carry more weight than those who don’t. "You told (homeowner) Robert Die, that Johnson has a lot more invested in Sienna than Die has invested in his home. Your words and actions stressed that who has the most invested or at stake gets a bigger vote in what the city does.
If this is a miscommunication or perception not based on reality, then mayor, you need to look at how you’re functioning that has caused this to happen. "The owner of a business consulting firm in Missouri City said he wasn’t for hire but urged them to hire a consultant to help them "understand what’s going on in regard to this situation so it doesn’t deteriorate further. In my opinion, it will only get worse unless you and council change some things."
_-Mayor, you’ve done many things right in this city and you’ve done some things wrong and I ask you to find some way to deal with these people differently. That goes for all of council, not just you, mayor.
Keep up the good work but please do it a little different," Malone said. Owen replied, "It troubles us as well. It has divided the council and is dividing the city and there’s not an easy solution to it; there are a lot of outside factions to it.
The A word has set us back to where we were three years ago. "Then he pointed to his 30-year friendship with Sienna Plantation Developer Larry Johnson and said that "because of that relationship, I was able to sit down with him and get the compromise they agreed to on the apartments.
Had I not had that personal relationship with him, I’m not sure he would have agreed and we (Missouri City) ended up with a hospital. "The mayor said he’s "proud of the fact that developers and builders who built this city have chosen to support me in my role as mayor," that he’s "proud of what Johnson & Sienna brought to this city" and denied having ever shown "any favoritism to any developer regardless of their contribution to me.
The state of Texas has a very strong ethics law and one we always abide by. I’ve never tried to hide anything. "Owen said he’s lived in Missouri City for 29 years and served as a city official for 25 years and it’s "a thankless job" because "you can never please everybody.
There will always be two sides. I appreciate your comments. I think they were sincere. We’ll all try to do a better job and thank you. "Then Gerry Hookstra stepped to the microphone, and the Missouri City resident who lives in Sienna, spoke to a petition drive started to stop more apartments from being built in Sienna.
So far, he said more than 1,100 residents have signed the petition against a second group of apartments and that only one in 25 home owners or 5 percent didn’t sign on. "No more than 150 to 200 residents would support a second grouping of apartments.
Ninety-five percent plus do not want a second group of up to 1,800 apartments in the area adjacent to the Planned Development 8 region where currently up to 900 apartments are already approved. "Most residents in Sienna seem very happy with the course of development with the exception of unwanted apartments and the lack of representation here.
We are requesting that city council initiate an amendment to the developer’s agreement that removes or significantly reduces the number of apartment units near Waterbrook West."
10:57 AM
Anonymous said...
I heard that the SJD lawyer filed the suit the week before Christmas against the Sienna homeowner.
11:14 AM
Anonymous said...
The original petition was filed August 3rd but wasn't served until August 27th and the damages were filed for right before Christmas.
"The mayor said he’s "proud of the fact that developers and builders who built this city have chosen to support me in my role as mayor," that he’s "proud of what Johnson & Sienna brought to this city" and denied having ever shown "any favoritism to any developer regardless of their contribution to me."
----------
Don't they realize that Sienna isn't just the developer that it wouldn't have been a success without the 9-10,000 residents who purchased here. The consumer brought these things to Missouri City too Mr. Mayor and our monies sustain the growth and sales taxes!
Isn't this the mayor that opposed the property tax cap legislation last year?
I wonder if anyone would be willing to pay lawyers to dispute the constitutionality of the EJD. I don't think the civil code for the EJD considered that tens of thousands of people would be covered under these rules. Missouri City has annexed every drop of commercial land in and around Sienna. Something isn’t right.
Here's a good political corruption joke:
---------------------------------------------
This is how it's done
A corrupt local government chairman passed away and a new one was appointed to take his place.
When the replacement took charge, the citizens complained that the previous chairman was so corrupt that he got money sanctioned for a community center building, but used the money for himself instead of constructing the center.
The new chairman promised to look into the matter and found that it was true.
So he promptly had more money sanctioned to get the building demolished.
Report on the impact of over-development in the Houston area from the chronicle.com:
County growth worries planners
Experts study forecasts showing that open spaces could disappear
By MIKE SNYDER
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle
Over the next 30 years, most of Harris County's remaining open space will succumb to subdivisions, office buildings and shopping centers where millions of new residents will live and work, projections by local planners show.
The spread of development, particularly west and northwest of Houston, is among the more striking trends shown in preliminary population and job growth projections developed by the Houston-Gal-
veston Area Council for the eight-county Houston region.
The potential loss of open space alarms conservationists and others concerned about suburban sprawl. It is among the factors driving an effort by business and civic leaders to find different ways to accommodate the region's anticipated growth.
While continuing to support the economic benefits of new development, local leaders increasingly are seeking strategies to protect the environment and reserve land for parks and recreational use.
If development continues at current low-density levels — roughly 3,500 people per square mile — as many as 1,000 square miles of open space could be lost throughout the Houston area by 2035, said John Jacob, a coastal community development and environmental quality specialist at Texas A&M University. The city of Houston encompasses about 650 square miles. "The implications," Jacob said, "are probably catastrophic."
Throughout the region, the H-GAC's experts are forecasting a population increase from 5.3 million to 8.8 million by 2035. In Harris County alone, the forecasts predict growth from 3.8 million to 5.8 million residents. All of those people will need schools, office buildings and places to shop. Houses and businesses will spring up on prairies and rice fields.
"If we continue at our current densities and patterns of development, this is what's going to happen," said Diane Schenke, executive director of the Park People, referring to the loss of open space. "Is this really where we want to head?"
To develop alternatives, the H-GAC and the nonprofit Blueprint Houston organization are collaborating on an initiative known as "Envision Houston Region," which sponsored a series of public workshops last fall to seek ideas about how the region should grow.
The hundreds of people who attended the workshops generally expressed support for a linear park system along bayous with no development in flood plains; more "town center" style development with housing close to jobs and shops; and a combination of transportation services to improve mobility and reduce commuting times, said Heidi Sweetnam, executive director of Blueprint Houston.
Results of the Envision Houston Region process, expected early next year, will influence the next Regional Transportation Plan, a list of highway and transit projects for which local governments intend to seek federal funds.
Developers and public officials agree that transportation investments are the most effective way to influence the form and direction of local growth.
A good example is the Grand Parkway, a planned third loop around the Houston area that is expected to bisect the 10,000-acre Bridgeland master-planned community being developed off U.S. 290 in northwest Harris County. The highway will be a key access point for buyers of the 20,000 homes planned in the development over the next 15 to 20 years.
"It matters where and how you spend that (transportation) money," said Robin Holzer, chairwoman of the Citizens Transportation Coalition, which was critical of the way the most recent transportation plan was developed.
"This new process has made improving the quality of life an essential part of the transportation plan, which was just unheard of before."
Debates about urban growth often break down along ideological lines. Advocates of "smart growth," who support more compact development patterns, square off against those who believe that traditional suburban development — large houses on large lots — represents the fulfillment of the American Dream.
Local conservationists say their mission is complicated by the absence of forests or mountains in the immediate Houston area, leading some to question the value of preserving land that often seems like little more than bare dirt.
"People think forests are majestic, and they don't necessarily understand the subtle beauty of the prairie," said Mary Anne Piacentini, executive director of the Katy Prairie Conservancy.
The Katy Prairie, which includes the land where Bridgeland and other housing developments are planned, is an important refuge for resident and migratory birds. Scientists say prairies and the wetlands found on them improve water quality and absorb rainwater that might otherwise cause flooding.
Executives with General Growth Properties, the company developing Bridgeland, said their plan reflects an understanding of these concerns.
About 3,000 acres — almost a third of the project — will be preserved as open space, said Joseph Necker Jr., the project's general manager.
A site plan provided by Necker shows water features scattered around the project and a number of good-sized tracts preserved as open space.
Jacob of Texas A&M said the developers deserve credit for setting aside more open space than is typical.
"But from an ecological point of view, this is still a major problem — whatever open space is preserved is totally fragmented," Jacob said.
I wonder if banker/mayor Owen is as proud of his opposition to church development in this community as he is about his developer supporters?
This is the same guy that recently said (in the Fort Bend Star) that he thinks the local newspapers have an obligation to only print "good news" about the school district and the community so we don't run off potential home buyers. What a sweetheart. (deal that is).
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