JUST IN TO MCC FROM FORTBENDNOW.COM: Christus Puts Hospital Plans On Ice At Sienna Plantation
Christus Puts Hospital Plans On Ice At Sienna Plantation
by Bob Dunn, Apr 12, 12:16 pm
Uncertainty in the medical marketplace has caused Christus Health Gulf Coast to put plans on hold for a hospital and 80,000-square-foot medical office building in Sienna Plantation.
Formed in 1999 as a result of the merger of two Catholic charities, Christus had plans last summer to build a 100-bed hospital employing 350 people, and eventually to expand it to add 200 more patient beds and full medical services, according to home builders at Sienna Plantation.
Groundbreaking originally was expected this year. But Christus now has put plans on hold to review changes in the marketplace, and hasn’t yet decided on when the project will proceed or whether it will be built as originally conceived, said Julia Fetzer, Christus regional vice president for planning and development.
“We’re reviewing it every few months,” she said of the project and the rapidly changing medical scene in Fort Bend County.
Among other things, Christus has heard rumors that St. Lukes intends to locate a hospital in Sugar Land.
And Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, a $93 million, 220,000-square-foot project, broke ground a year ago at the northwest corner of the U.S. 59 – Grand Parkway intersection. The Methodist Hospital system also is expanding in the county.
“We take a look at all of them,” Fetzer said of potential competing medical projects. “What the issue is, what the opportunity is, what the threat is.”
Christus owns 36 acres at the southeast corner of Sienna Parkway and Highway 6, the site for its proposed hospital. Fetzer said the healthcare organization has an agreement, running through 2008, with Siennta Plantation allowing Christus to be the only hospital services provider in the community.
However, she said the fact the agreement runs through 2008 would have no bearing on the timing of the hospital project.
Christus recently agreed to sell its Christus St. Joseph Hospital in downtown Houston to Hospital Partners of America, of Charlotte, N.C. The deal is expected to close in June.
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CRD COMMENT: We would like to thank FBN for covering the real story and not getting caught up in the smoke-screen. Getting accurate and timely information out to the community on this issue is essential. The public has the right to know when a hospital is being indefinitely post-poned and the contruction date cancelled!
posted by responsible_dvlpmnt at Wednesday, April 12, 2006
18 Comments:
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Related information from FBN:
Greyling Poats Running Against Allen Owen For Missouri City Mayor
by Bob Dunn, Mar 11, 08:43 am
Businessman Greyling Poats has announced he’ll run for Missouri City mayor against incumbent Allen Owen, who has held the position since 1994. Poats said he filed to run for office on Thursday.
Poats, a long-time insurance representative for State Farm in the Missouri City area, said he decided to run “because the level of apathy in local government has reached a critical mass… It became apparent to me that we needed true local representation on some of the more controversial growth issues ongoing in our community.”
According to his campaign announcement, Greyling, a resident of the city’s Oakwick Forest subdivision, has made numerous appearances before the Missouri City Council on issues “ranging from disparity in development along the FM 2234 corridor to the controversial apartments scheduled to be built this year.”
He said he supports “value-added growth that enhances the quality of life and community over the long term, and will work with the communities most impacted by these growth issues that often get ignored by the current administration under Owen.”
Poats said he met with a community group several months ago and outlined some of the shared concerns they agreed should be addressed during a new administration. These include:
→ “Restoring honesty and integrity to our local council and especially with regard to the administration.”
→ “Retaking local control from the special interests now operating and profiting in our community.”
→ “Pledging not to accept out-of-area special interest contributions and to represent this community’s wants and needs.”
→ “Real tax relief that keeps quality of life as its core principle.”
→ “Reduce disparity in development in some areas of Missouri
City. The focus of a new administration would be on protecting homeowners’ value throughout Missouri City, and not just newer areas.”
→ “A greater concern for the natural environment and development concerns (a more eco friendly strategy
through incentives).”
→ “Review of fast-track privileges for corporations instituting negative PR models here locally.”
→ Long-term planning with real citizen input from area neighborhoods prior to final council decisions/votes.”
→ “And a committee to review the possibility of term limits for all council members.”
Poats said he looks forward to “meeting all my Missouri City neighbors over the next few months of the campaign and listening to the real needs of area residents.”
1 Refreshingvoice - Mar 11, 03:40 pm
This is great news to hear that after so many years of singular control by out of area special interests through it’s current administration Missouri City will now have an election. I believe Mr. Owen just finished cancelling one last year.
Good luck Mr. Poats!
2 JLS - Mar 12, 09:22 am
Good luck Mr. Poats and rock that boat!
3 William but you can call me "Bill" - Mar 12, 03:12 pm
YES
4 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Mar 12, 06:32 pm
I noticed Owen didn’t waist anytime getting a release out. I guess the city secretary got Poat’s papers to him quickly so he could get out a fast response. I also think it’s almost humurous touting/defending his friendships with the nearly 60% campaign contributions from developers since ‘99. Add the other related building groups from Houston and you notice most of his contributions came from out of area folks (including law firms in the land business). That means having had virtually no opposition since the early 90s he has been collecting these contributions for what reason? On top of this he has uninvestigated city ethics complaints in the council minutes that he and the city administration conveniently ignore that are related to his advocacy of the 2700 apartments slated for Mo-City soon which benefits one of his top givers (JDC a matter of public record). . . interesting. It must be nice to have those friends and for some of those developer friends, like Johnson Development Co. of Houston, to silence the opposition to their land useage through SLAPP suits on homeowners in this area. I believe JDC is the number 2 giver for Owen (‘99-’05).
Must be nice to have rich friends like that and to support their projects with impunity. GET out and vote folks!!!
..Ck all facts here by viewing the MoCity streaming video minutes of July 18th 2005 & February 20th 2006 (open sessions). Get the contributions list through the city secretary or the state elections ethics site for confirmation.
5 maized&cornfused - Mar 12, 07:07 pm
Is this the same person that told residents if they don’t like what is going on in MC then they could move?
Wasn’t it reported that he didn’t want a property tax cap? or was that someone else too?
Now that there will be an election we must be getting the kinder/gentler version.
I can’t wait to watch this race heat up.
6 voterwise - Mar 13, 08:06 am
That is correct maized&cornfused. It was Owen who received complaints for this comment he directed at a Mr. Die of Missouri City at a city council session on June 6th over the Johnson Development apartment controversy issue. I think you can still view the minutes at http://www.ci.mocity.tx.us/council/cminutes/minagndtocfp.htm.
7 poatsformayor - Mar 13, 03:24 pm
Visit http://voteforpoatsmayor.blogspot.com/
to visit Mr. Poat’s V-Campaign Headquarters and get support materials, and additional information. Join us today in our bi-partisan efforts to take back local control here in Missouri City!
go to http://voteforpoatsmayor.blogspot.com/
8 maized&cornfused - Mar 13, 07:31 pm
Thank you voterwise. Maybe Mr. Poats should have shirts/buttons that say, “IF you don’t like what is happening in Missouri City then VOTE!”
9 voterwise - Mar 14, 08:52 am
That’s a great idea maized. I will suggest it too and maybe they can add it to the buttons. If enough people get involved maybe we can change Missouri City from the politics as usual crowd, if not then this is a good start to waking the community up (maybe the county too).
10 JLS - Mar 15, 07:33 am
I’m gonna vote and I don’t like what’s happening in Missouri City! It’s too bad more aren’t running against this bunch!
11 voterwise - Mar 19, 05:08 pm
Owen is also the candidate who recently lead the mayor and council group to endorse all incumbents. Not a big surprise considering he is one but not the usual operating procedure of this group. See related article here in FBNow.com.
12 JLS - Mar 22, 07:54 am
Why did Mr. Owen oppose the proposed property tax cap last year?
13 Mr. Concerned - Mar 22, 10:00 pm
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH, I WAS AT A CITY COUNCIL MEETING IN 05 AND THE MAYOR ASKED THIS VERY NICE AND PATIENT LADY IF SHE DOES NOT LIKE THE IDEA OF 2700, THATS TWO THOUSAND SEVEN HUNDRED APTS IN HER NABORHOOD, THAT SHE SHOULD SELL HER HOUSE AND MOVE ON. BY THE WAY THE NABORHOOD IS SIENNA PLANTATION.
14 Burt Levine - Mar 22, 11:14 pm
Sienna is NOT in MC so therefore has ZERO relevance in the argument abt voting agnst the incumbent mayor but Sienna can make history in voting aginst its incumbent state rep this fall as it should’ve voted for its own Sienna citizen Rubal when he ran agnst Olivo for State Rep. in 2002.
15 jls - Mar 23, 08:32 am
Well Mr. Levine we are in the ETJ of Mo-City and as anyone knows our developer agreement (master-plan) is enforced by the city. This makes it our business. We can support anyone we need too. Kinda like supporting those folks in Arcola that are fighting the special interest that will impact our quality of life when they get their airport expansion (special project) forced through on us. We can’t vote for them either but we are impacted by their decisions and can contribute time, money, etc. to defeating their council people too. In addition we can support, or not, county officials that are in bed with this same crowd (out of area special interest). It’s a bit myopic to view the jurisdictions in a one dimensional manner as you have suggested. Sienna homeowners know who their friends are and who the special interest are back in our area. That is why the special interest in our community are pushing so hard and one of their leaders is Mr. Owen (just ck his contributions list). Good luck Greyling!
Try again levine>
16 Gerry Hookstra - Mar 23, 10:09 am
Good Luck Greyling!!! I’m going to do everything I can to spread the word and gain voter support for you.
Those who pay taxes and are allowed to vote ARE NOT as dumb as some might think. They do question campaign contribution percentages. They do question total disregard for ethics complaints. And they do questions overwhelming approval of special interests, especially when it comes at their expense.
Furthermore, the mayorship was never intended to become an ‘heir to the throne of Missouri City’ proposition. Nor was it ever expected that so little regard would be given to the ‘Voice of the Average Joe or Joann.’
The time has long since come to do away with the motto: “Whom ever has the money makes the rules.” It’s time to give control back to the voters!
17 jls - Mar 23, 11:06 am
Give ‘em hell Greyling!
18 voterwise - Mar 24, 09:17 pm
Gerry,
I agree that the taxpayer and voters need to wake up and make a change in Missouri City. Anyone that has been in politics as long as Allen needs to be retired by the electorate. Did it really take him 12 years to come up with a “hopeful” plan to reduce the taxes here?
19 jls - Mar 26, 09:25 am
More people need to volunteer and get out in the subdivisions and talk to the voters that will make this decision on May 13th. I’ve volunteered and have recruited a few others. Get out and let people know who is really working behind some of our politicians! We need to take back local control.
20 Burt Levine - Mar 26, 03:33 pm
I hope those excited abt the Missouri City Mayor’s race make the right decision to vote for Wayne Howard and Steve Dieu for Fort Bend ISD. Your concerns regarding developers and taxes apply as much if not more so to the FBISD races in that FBISD is the county’s largest employer, biggest taxer and I hope those in MC going to vote in the FBISD races do take their vote for Mayor serious as well.
21 jls - Mar 27, 07:09 pm
We’ll do our best to educate them Burt don’t you worry. Just follow the money!
22 voterwise - Mar 29, 05:17 am
Didn’t Owen as recently as late ‘05 tell a local newspaper that they shouldn’t report negative events in a community because it could hurt home sales? Not very trust inspiring!
23 refreshingvoice - Mar 31, 03:41 pm
It would seem to me Mr. Levine that this problem is a county wide issue. With continued low voter turnouts it doesn’t seem to me like the reform movements will have much of a chance. As long as the sleeping public stays uninformed and non-voting, more than likely it will be easy for a small group to control this area. Hopefully this won’t always be the case here.
24 politicsasusual - Apr 4, 11:21 am
I wanna wish anyone running against Mr. Owen good luck. Defeating old style machine politicans isn’t easy and you will have to turn out the vote to accomplish this.
25 JED. - Apr 11, 03:49 pm
Greyling, like you, I think that the people deserve better. We need a whole new crew of fair-minded, well-intentioned legistrators (throughout the Nation), whose primary purpose is to provide for the welfare of the People!!! GOOD LUCK
Hi JK! . . . ;-)
"Groundbreaking originally was expected this year. But Christus now has put plans on hold to review changes in the marketplace, and hasn’t yet decided on when the project will proceed or whether it will be built as originally conceived, said Julia Fetzer, Christus regional vice president for planning and development."
This is a very telling quote.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
More FBN comments:
1 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 02:06 pm
Some questions that should be asked about this indefinite hospital postponement and cancellation of the construction start:
-Why has it taken several months for the news to be released to the public? Christus apparently knew about this since the end of last year and the developers (Owen’s #2 contributor over the last 5 years) claim they’ve known since February and only released it on the Sienna internal website, which the rest of Missouri City doesn’t have access too, two weeks ago.
-Why was this critical information not released in a timely manner by our mayor and council so that the public could be protected and make appropriate healthcare choices in our community? Especially considering the hoopla last year when the Mayor and developer took bows for “bringing it here” and using it as one justification for the up to 2700 apartments injected into our neighborhood and city.
-Is the council now going to reconsider the Johnson Development apartments that will negatively impact our community?
-Is the city and our developer going to change their habit of not keeping the public informed on critical issues like this?
-What are residents going to do during events like Rita without a local hospital Mr. Mayor?
-etc. . .
2 Matthew Feinberg - Apr 12, 06:40 pm
Why is there still a sign on Sienna Pky saying the hospital is comming soon? Isn’t that a little misleading?
3 John Armstrong - Apr 12, 06:57 pm
Well, I don’t know this ‘Miss Leading’ person that Matthew is referring to but, must be the same spoke person for the 2700 apartments.
4 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 07:25 pm
Matthew,
How about the name on the blvd. next to the indefinitely postponed hospital, Sienna-Christus. Oh here’s some interesting news. The developer, through our developer controlled HOA board (known as the SPRAI) in coordination with our Sienna schools, is hosting a candidates meeting here in SP on April 24th. Apparently it has been reported that questions will be taken from the community beforehand and given to the candidates (no open mic questions?). A very controlled event. A group calling themselves “Concerned Parents of FB County” jointly headed up by an SJD developer employee is helping with this event. Does this group qualify as a legitimate grass-roots group or a subverted developer PAC?
I wonder who our developer is backing in this one? I better check those contribution reports. You know they backed the former incumbent (Mr. Bain) whose seat is now open. Some of the candidates have sworn-off this funding. So far they are Steve Dieu, Liz Mitton, Rodrigo Carreon. I wonder if Smelley and some of the others will take the pledge on this one.
It would be nice to see more candidates take this oath (no out of area special interest funding or vendor funding or gifts in kind). Of course if too many take this oath the political-industry may be in trouble. Honesty hurts, right?
5 maized&cornfused - Apr 12, 09:50 pm
The Concerned parents group is just that. Not all of the parents are from Sienna. There have been other “meet the canidate” events/opportunities posted on their site the SJD is not the first. I don’t know why it shouldn’t be considered a grass roots efforts is there a certain criteria?
Please give these parents some credit for trying to make the schools better. I don’t a see conspiracy and if there is one I am sure Bob will report about it-so will you on your website.
6 MoCityResident - Apr 13, 05:53 am
I have to throw my two cents in on this one. What the hell are so many residents in this area going to do without emergency care and for how long?
More comments from FBNow.com:
1 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 02:06 pm
Some questions that should be asked about this indefinite hospital postponement and cancellation of the construction start:
-Why has it taken several months for the news to be released to the public? Christus apparently knew about this since the end of last year and the developers (Owen’s #2 contributor over the last 5 years) claim they’ve known since February and only released it on the Sienna internal website, which the rest of Missouri City doesn’t have access too, two weeks ago.
-Why was this critical information not released in a timely manner by our mayor and council so that the public could be protected and make appropriate healthcare choices in our community? Especially considering the hoopla last year when the Mayor and developer took bows for “bringing it here” and using it as one justification for the up to 2700 apartments injected into our neighborhood and city.
-Is the council now going to reconsider the Johnson Development apartments that will negatively impact our community?
-Is the city and our developer going to change their habit of not keeping the public informed on critical issues like this?
-What are residents going to do during events like Rita without a local hospital Mr. Mayor?
-etc. . .
2 Matthew Feinberg - Apr 12, 06:40 pm
Why is there still a sign on Sienna Pky saying the hospital is comming soon? Isn’t that a little misleading?
3 John Armstrong - Apr 12, 06:57 pm
Well, I don’t know this ‘Miss Leading’ person that Matthew is referring to but, must be the same spoke person for the 2700 apartments.
4 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 07:25 pm
Matthew,
How about the name on the blvd. next to the indefinitely postponed hospital, Sienna-Christus. Oh here’s some interesting news. The developer, through our developer controlled HOA board (known as the SPRAI) in coordination with our Sienna schools, is hosting a candidates meeting here in SP on April 24th. Apparently it has been reported that questions will be taken from the community beforehand and given to the candidates (no open mic questions?). A very controlled event. A group calling themselves “Concerned Parents of FB County” jointly headed up by an SJD developer employee is helping with this event. Does this group qualify as a legitimate grass-roots group or a subverted developer PAC?
I wonder who our developer is backing in this one? I better check those contribution reports. You know they backed the former incumbent (Mr. Bain) whose seat is now open. Some of the candidates have sworn-off this funding. So far they are Steve Dieu, Liz Mitton, Rodrigo Carreon. I wonder if Smelley and some of the others will take the pledge on this one.
It would be nice to see more candidates take this oath (no out of area special interest funding or vendor funding or gifts in kind). Of course if too many take this oath the political-industry may be in trouble. Honesty hurts, right?
5 maized&cornfused - Apr 12, 09:50 pm
The Concerned parents group is just that. Not all of the parents are from Sienna. There have been other “meet the canidate” events/opportunities posted on their site the SJD is not the first. I don’t know why it shouldn’t be considered a grass roots efforts is there a certain criteria?
Please give these parents some credit for trying to make the schools better. I don’t a see conspiracy and if there is one I am sure Bob will report about it-so will you on your website.
6 MoCityResident - Apr 13, 05:53 am
I have to throw my two cents in on this one. What the hell are so many residents in this area going to do without emergency care and for how long?
7 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 13, 07:03 am
Well maized, the problem comes when the SJD employee who participates/leads this group presents before the school board incomplete information. For example, at a recent board meeting discussing the zoning and over-crowding issues at Baines MS, this SJD employee used developer generated data to emphasize their points and counter the districts data. During this presentation the SJD employee (PTO president and one of the leaders of this CPFB group) left out, misinformed, the real data on the zoning buster up to 2700 apartments being brought here, which her employer pushed on this community against popular consent. Not only was that information withheld (a conflict of interest) they didn’t mention that this area has more multi-family coming in the South Sienna area (further complicating the zoning picture).
All the facts should be presented as well as the relationships pointed out. I believe you maized are using the word “conspiracy” selectively for a purpose. I would suggest using a word like political-business relationships. The interplay of words does impact how a story is viewed and I think Bob, in this story on the hospital (and most of his work), is much more balanced than what we are used to in this community. If you view his intro video available here on the site you will see how he reduces and feels about the impact of ad pressure on reporting, which is a well documented fact in the research literature.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Looks like this needs updating--July '05 release on hospital project still posted as of Ap. 13th on www.SiennaPlantation.com (external marketing website):
back
07-19-2005
281.778.7777
CHRISTUS HEALTH GULF COAST ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR SIENNA PLANTATION
HOUSTON (July 19, 2005) – CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast announces that architectural plans are underway to develop a full-service healthcare facility at Highway 6 and Sienna Parkway, in the master-planned community of Sienna Plantation. The facility will provide services that focus on women’s care, pediatrics, cardiology, orthopedics and sports medicine.
“CHRISTUS’ strategic plans have included this area for many years,” said Pat Carrier, president and chief executive officer of CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast. “The area has experienced tremendous growth, and by offering first-rate outpatient and technologically-advanced services, we will provide excellent services that are customer-focused and meet the healthcare needs of the growing population,” he added. Construction is estimated to begin in the winter of 2006.
“We are very pleased with the announcement of CHRISTUS’ decision to make this commitment to our city," said Bob Graf, Economic Development Coordinator for Missouri City. "We see this hospital complex as a cornerstone and it will probably serve as the impetus for additional medically-related development in this area," he added. In addition, Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen expressed delight with the announcement, noting that “The old adage of when one door closes, another one opens cannot be more apropos with CHRISTUS arriving to meet our expanding community’s future inpatient, outpatient and other health related needs.”
Other representatives of the area have expressed delight with the plans as well. “By locating one of its outstanding medical facilities in Sienna Plantation, CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast is making a valuable contribution to the health and wellbeing of Fort Bend County residents,” said Michael Smith, general manager of Sienna Plantation.
According to Carrier, “CHRISTUS Health is committed to meeting the healthcare needs of this area, providing state-of-the-art healthcare services to its residents and becoming a vital part of the community,” he said. “We have delivered healthcare to the Greater Houston area for more than 136 years and look forward to being the hospital of choice in the Sienna Plantation area while continuing to serve our mission.”
The Dallas-based healthcare practice of RTKL Architects has been selected to design the facility, while The Irvine Team, a national design and construction strategy and project management firm, will spearhead the project with CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast.
CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast is comprised of hospitals, clinics, and outreach ministries in and around the Houston area. With more than $730 million in gross revenue production, the Gulf Coast Region is one of the larger regions of the CHRISTUS Health System, which is one of the top 10 Catholic healthcare systems in the country. Dating back more than 118 years, the hospitals in the CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast region provide a wide variety of services including residency programs and a cancer research laboratory. With a geographic coverage of more than 100 miles, CHRISTUS Health Gulf Coast is the only Catholic sponsored hospital system in the Houston metroplex.
It looks to me from the post above that the Star quote by Graff saying the hospital was scheduled for construction to begin in late '06 is wrong. This piece above states it was to begin in winter '06 (it's already Spring).-Hum
Found these on one other candidate, after a search:
"Liz' stance on key questions on the minds of voters....
Several questions are repeatedly coming up from voters and at candidate forums. Below are my thoughts on the most often-asked queries I am receiving:
What kind of Superintendent do we need?
I am advocating that we do a national search for a Superintendent that has a strong business and management background. FBISD is a $400+ million a year operation with 8600 employees. A review of internal audits done over the past three years (which I have read and written about extensively) show an alarming pattern of mismanagement of district resources and many instances where district assets are at risk. We need someone who understands concepts such as risk management, budget management, cost/benefit analysis, and fixed asset controls to ensure our tax dollars are spent wisely and dollars are directed to teachers and classroom needs in an effective and efficient manner. In addition, the Superintendent should have the skills and vision to lead the administrators, employees and teachers, motivate them to achieve measurable goals and be willing to hold people accountable for achieving those goals.
How do we get the budget under control?
There are many ways to do this. First, a strong Superintendent with the business mangement skills (as decribed above) should be able to lead this effort. The Board should work cooperatively with the Superintendent, ask intelligent questions, and be proactive in looking at the budget the administration proposes. The Board has line-item veto authority and may want to exercise it. In an article below, I write about the process I would use for evaluating issues brought to the Board.
I would ask that the administration bring cost/benefit analysis for new programs or prosposals as a routine part of their requests for funding. In addition, I would ask that the Superintendent review current programs and departments to determine if money could be saved by outsourcing certain tasks so that we can get back to what our core competency should be -- education. For example, FBISD is in the printing business, the garbage pickup business, the lawn maintenance business, etc. That means we not only employee people full time, but pay for benefits, equipment, maintenance, storage, liability insurance, etc. associated with each of these tasks. I would like to see an analysis done to determine if FBISD could save money and resources by outsourcing some of these jobs to local businesses.
The internal audit staff has been very good, to date, at helping to identify areas where there are inefficiencies in the system and thier efforts should continue to be supported.
How do we improve our test scores and get our teacher/student ratio back in line?
Statistics I have researched and have been talking about include these:
Six years ago, 56% of FBISD employees were classroom teachers. Today, that percentage has dropped to 48%.
Out of 1037 school districts, FBISD ranks #1018 (near the bottom) in terms of student teacher ratio.
Across the board, it is our math and science scores that are keeping most of our campuses from achieving a higher state rating of recognized or examplary. In addition, the achievement gap in FBISD is really a canyon on many of our campuses. The truth, today, is that FBISD is a just barely above average school district in Texas.
There are two independent, public sites that verify this:
The National Center for Educational Accountability site:
www.just4kids.org
Standard and Poor's www.schoolmatters.com
I have several initial ideas for how to make improvements while actively seeking the advise and input of our rank and file teachers to determine more about what their current needs are:
Get an enlightened, forward thinking superintendent in place who is willing and able to bring in fresh, proven models for educational success. We need to change the culture which, in too many instances, believes that all answers reside inside the administration building on Lexington Avenue and there must be a "one size fits all" solution. We have many smart, intelligent and capable administrators, but we don't have a monopoly on good ideas. Let's bring proven best practices from other areas to FBISD.
Work with the Chamber of Commerce, the Education Foundation, PTO's, and the greater business community to focus efforts on math and science enrichment programs for our schools and support for better math/science resources.
Recruit and hire more and more qualified teachers in the math and science areas -- ensuring they are certified to teach in those subjects. Be willing to adopt and use proven differentiated teaching models.
Identify our lowest performing campuses and pair them with like campuses (those with similar demographics) in Texas that are currently outperforming us in terms of academic achievement. Allow the principal and key teachers to go to the partner school, discuss the strategies and methods they are using with success and allow the team to bring back models to implement on their campuses.
Review and reinforce our discipline and dress code policies to give teachers authority and support to maintain an effective learning environment in their classes.
With regard to reducing the student/teacher ratio: Beyond the elementary school level (where class sizes are limited by the Legislature), our middle and high school classes at many campuses are much too large. The new superintendent should be prepared to evaluate and reorganize current staff levels to put more emphasis on ensuring we have more classroom teachers and get our ratio of teaching to non-teaching personnel back in line with at least what it was 6 years ago. The Board should be prepared to support those efforts and hold the line on administrative growth.
How do we go about developing a long range plan for the district?
As I've written about and discussed at length, FBISD, for at least the last couple of decades, has not had a real long range plan. We have simply gone from one bond election to the next. It is now the middle of 2006. FBISD does not have a facilities and growth plan for 2008. They are currently working on a bond initiative to come forward in early 2007. I would oppose that move until such time as we have a meaningful, realistic long-range plan (at least 10 years) in place.
The City of Sugar Land has a rolling 10-year plan for growth that is updated annually. Our local city and county planners, as well as mud district leaders know where the growth is planned. FBISD should assemble a blue ribbon panel of these leaders, along with a qualified demographer, and selected community leaders and the Assoc. Superintendent of Facilities and Planning staff to develop such a plan -- which we should be able to complete in a 3-4 month time frame.
In conjunction with this plan, we should consider the merits and potential cost benefits of a district-wide rezoning effort to do two things:
Better utilize our existing campus capacity. Today, there is enough capacity at every level (elementary, middle and high school) that not one student should currently be in an overcrowded school. A district-wide rezoing effort may allow, at least in many areas, us to forestall the construction of new campuses and give us some breathing room to get ahead of our fast growth curve. In addition, we should consider the possibility of adding on to existing campuses in some areas, rather than building entirely new schools.
Better align our feeder patterns from elementary to middle to high schools. Today, students from elementary schools are often split between two or three middle schools and then split again going into high school. This needs to be reviewed and corrected as much as possible."
More:
9 Bob Dunn - Apr 13, 02:17 pm
My understanding is that until 2008, Christus has the exclusive right to build a hospital at Sienna.
I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.
10 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 23, 03:23 pm
“I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.” Bob D.
Apparently Hermann Hospital in Mo-City owns the current hospital and building. At the April Missouri City Council session it was announced that Hermann will not lease out the old hospital building as a future hospital. Combine this with the competition limiting agreement above and post-ponement, we see a community being put at health risk because two Houston area hospitals want to limit area competition.
Something is wrong here and why aren’t our local officials doing anything about it, with hurricane season approaching? Well Mr. Owen?
11 Mary McClure - May 23, 05:23 pm
Christus said the hurricane was the reason for the postponement. Is Owen responsible for the hurricane? If you are so anxious for the hospital, don’t you know almost every hospital needs apts. for residents, etc.?
12 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 23, 05:37 pm
I’ve had many family members work in the health care industry and none of them ever lived across the street from the hospital they worked at. Additionally those apts. you so ardently defend will be across the street from the college, not the hospital. Guess who will fill them up?
This thread is about the safety of the families in Missouri City and the actions, or lack of action by the city, the developer and two hospitals concerned about limiting competition, even at the potential expense of our families. You can defend this if you like. You never answered, for the developers in the Rosenberg apartment thread, about the taxing disparity or Mr. Armstrongs concerns, but that is another thread.
You have stated you have children here in this community as do I. When hwy 6 backs up, after the closure of Hermann, and no Christus is in sight, where are you going to take them???
Public health is not something to debate or compromise. If you watched the city council sessions on this in April and May you will see that much of this information was being kept off the radar.
Take care!
FBN comment update:
Christus Puts Hospital Plans On Ice At Sienna Plantation
by Bob Dunn, Wednesday April 12, 2006
Uncertainty in the medical marketplace has caused Christus Health Gulf Coast to put plans on hold for a hospital and 80,000-square-foot medical office building in Sienna Plantation.
Formed in 1999 as a result of the merger of two Catholic charities, Christus had plans last summer to build a 100-bed hospital employing 350 people, and eventually to expand it to add 200 more patient beds and full medical services, according to home builders at Sienna Plantation.
Groundbreaking originally was expected this year. But Christus now has put plans on hold to review changes in the marketplace, and hasn’t yet decided on when the project will proceed or whether it will be built as originally conceived, said Julia Fetzer, Christus regional vice president for planning and development.
“We’re reviewing it every few months,” she said of the project and the rapidly changing medical scene in Fort Bend County.
Among other things, Christus has heard rumors that St. Lukes intends to locate a hospital in Sugar Land.
And Memorial Hermann Sugar Land Hospital, a $93 million, 220,000-square-foot project, broke ground a year ago at the northwest corner of the U.S. 59 – Grand Parkway intersection. The Methodist Hospital system also is expanding in the county.
“We take a look at all of them,” Fetzer said of potential competing medical projects. “What the issue is, what the opportunity is, what the threat is.”
Christus owns 36 acres at the southeast corner of Sienna Parkway and Highway 6, the site for its proposed hospital. Fetzer said the healthcare organization has an agreement, running through 2008, with Siennta Plantation allowing Christus to be the only hospital services provider in the community.
However, she said the fact the agreement runs through 2008 would have no bearing on the timing of the hospital project.
Christus recently agreed to sell its Christus St. Joseph Hospital in downtown Houston to Hospital Partners of America, of Charlotte, N.C. The deal is expected to close in June.
1 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 02:06 pm
Some questions that should be asked about this indefinite hospital postponement and cancellation of the construction start:
-Why has it taken several months for the news to be released to the public? Christus apparently knew about this since the end of last year and the developers (Owen’s #2 contributor over the last 5 years) claim they’ve known since February and only released it on the Sienna internal website, which the rest of Missouri City doesn’t have access too, two weeks ago.
-Why was this critical information not released in a timely manner by our mayor and council so that the public could be protected and make appropriate healthcare choices in our community? Especially considering the hoopla last year when the Mayor and developer took bows for “bringing it here” and using it as one justification for the up to 2700 apartments injected into our neighborhood and city.
-Is the council now going to reconsider the Johnson Development apartments that will negatively impact our community?
-Is the city and our developer going to change their habit of not keeping the public informed on critical issues like this?
-What are residents going to do during events like Rita without a local hospital Mr. Mayor?
-etc. . .
2 Matthew Feinberg - Apr 12, 06:40 pm
Why is there still a sign on Sienna Pky saying the hospital is comming soon? Isn’t that a little misleading?
3 John Armstrong - Apr 12, 06:57 pm
Well, I don’t know this ‘Miss Leading’ person that Matthew is referring to but, must be the same spoke person for the 2700 apartments.
4 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 12, 07:25 pm
Matthew,
How about the name on the blvd. next to the indefinitely postponed hospital, Sienna-Christus. Oh here’s some interesting news. The developer, through our developer controlled HOA board (known as the SPRAI) in coordination with our Sienna schools, is hosting a candidates meeting here in SP on April 24th. Apparently it has been reported that questions will be taken from the community beforehand and given to the candidates (no open mic questions?). A very controlled event. A group calling themselves “Concerned Parents of FB County” jointly headed up by an SJD developer employee is helping with this event. Does this group qualify as a legitimate grass-roots group or a subverted developer PAC?
I wonder who our developer is backing in this one? I better check those contribution reports. You know they backed the former incumbent (Mr. Bain) whose seat is now open. Some of the candidates have sworn-off this funding. So far they are Steve Dieu, Liz Mitton, Rodrigo Carreon. I wonder if Smelley and some of the others will take the pledge on this one.
It would be nice to see more candidates take this oath (no out of area special interest funding or vendor funding or gifts in kind). Of course if too many take this oath the political-industry may be in trouble. Honesty hurts, right?
5 maized&cornfused - Apr 12, 09:50 pm
The Concerned parents group is just that. Not all of the parents are from Sienna. There have been other “meet the canidate” events/opportunities posted on their site the SJD is not the first. I don’t know why it shouldn’t be considered a grass roots efforts is there a certain criteria?
Please give these parents some credit for trying to make the schools better. I don’t a see conspiracy and if there is one I am sure Bob will report about it-so will you on your website.
6 MoCityResident - Apr 13, 05:53 am
I have to throw my two cents in on this one. What the hell are so many residents in this area going to do without emergency care and for how long?
7 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - Apr 13, 07:03 am
Well maized, the problem comes when the SJD employee who participates/leads this group presents before the school board incomplete information. For example, at a recent board meeting discussing the zoning and over-crowding issues at Baines MS, this SJD employee used developer generated data to emphasize their points and counter the districts data. During this presentation the SJD employee (PTO president and one of the leaders of this CPFB group) left out, misinformed, the real data on the zoning buster up to 2700 apartments being brought here, which her employer pushed on this community against popular consent. Not only was that information withheld (a conflict of interest) they didn’t mention that this area has more multi-family coming in the South Sienna area (further complicating the zoning picture).
All the facts should be presented as well as the relationships pointed out. I believe you maized are using the word “conspiracy” selectively for a purpose. I would suggest using a word like political-business relationships. The interplay of words does impact how a story is viewed and I think Bob, in this story on the hospital (and most of his work), is much more balanced than what we are used to in this community. If you view his intro video available here on the site you will see how he reduces and feels about the impact of ad pressure on reporting, which is a well documented fact in the research literature.
8 - - Apr 13, 12:27 pm
Bob,
What does this mean below? Do you have anymore information on this statement:
“Fetzer said the healthcare organization has an agreement, running through 2008, with Siennta Plantation allowing Christus to be the only hospital services provider in the community.”
9 Bob Dunn - Apr 13, 02:17 pm
My understanding is that until 2008, Christus has the exclusive right to build a hospital at Sienna.
I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.
10 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 23, 03:23 pm
“I don’t think this would be an unusual incentive to include in an agreement for a commercial entity in a master-planned community.
It protects the commercial entity, in this case a hospital operator, from immediate competition.” Bob D.
Apparently Hermann Hospital in Mo-City owns the current hospital and building. At the April Missouri City Council session it was announced that Hermann will not lease out the old hospital building as a future hospital. Combine this with the competition limiting agreement above and post-ponement, we see a community being put at health risk because two Houston area hospitals want to limit area competition.
Something is wrong here and why aren’t our local officials doing anything about it, with hurricane season approaching? Well Mr. Owen?
11 Mary McClure - May 23, 05:23 pm
Christus said the hurricane was the reason for the postponement. Is Owen responsible for the hurricane? If you are so anxious for the hospital, don’t you know almost every hospital needs apts. for residents, etc.?
12 Mary McClure - May 23, 08:28 pm
...excuse me, I meant hurricanes (plural) and one of the reasons, not the reason—based on something I read.
13 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 06:28 am
The point of the post may have been missed. This community very soon will be entering the hurricane season with an indefintely post-poned hospital and one that is closing. Lack of planning didn’t seem to be a concern of the Mayor in announcing the new hospital start date, but they did take their time letting the public know when that date had been cancelled.
Since many families in this area including Fresno, Arcola, Stafford, Missouri City, etc. rely on the current hospital it is the public health that is at risk now. The public had a right to know so they can make plans for emergencies. The developers, the city and the hospitals were involved in this deal as per the Developers Agreement and are obligated to keep the public informed on these issues (especially our elected officials)!
14 Rubikees - May 24, 08:27 am
True Dr. Calvin, the worse part of the whole thing is that I really do not think our officials are ready for a Katrina type storm cutting through this area. One thing people have overlooked besides the storm surge is that up north the Conroe and Livingston dams were damaged by Rita and have not been fully repaired yet. Think the unthinkable and with Conroe’s outflow entering Lake Houston… This worse case scenario in a metro area of over 2 million could be far larger than the Katrina crisis.
15 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 09:15 am
Rubikees,
I know Rita & Katrina, along with the Houston floods a few years ago from just a tropical storm would have kept our public officials more vigilant and willing to be more transparent, but it seems obvious from recent events that taking care of their cronies is what matters most. The public must fend for themselves I guess. In the community in which I reside they still only have one major exit out of here and it dumps onto the clogged evacuation route on hwy 6. Not much of an option if we’re poorly informed. . .
16 Mary McClure - May 24, 10:35 am
In Sienna, I can exit off these roads: Trammel Fresno (sp?), Watts Plantation, and McKeever (maybe more I don’t know about). Last time I looked there was a bridge past Sienna Crossing off the jogging path for pedestrian evacuation (I assume) also. At an update mtg. I attended, it was stated emergency services would be available at both Christus and Memorial Hermann despite the hospital postponement (from my understanding).
17 Mary McClure - May 24, 11:07 am
Excuse me, ...& of course, I can exit off the main parkway also! Btw, these roads are on the right side (exiting Sienna) off the pkwy. by the main entrance.
18 Chris Calvin, Ph.D. - May 24, 11:16 am
“At an update mtg. I attended, it was stated emergency services would be available at both Christus and Memorial Hermann despite the hospital postponement (from my understanding).”
That would be quite a trick if Hermann at hwy6 is closed and Christus hasn’t broken ground. You may want to check the information source on that again (if it’s the one I’m thinking of).
As for the one exit out of Sienna, only Sienna Pkwy until you get to McKeever Rd (nothing out of South Sienna, since the road isn’t finished). Last year during the Rita scare the service road exit wasn’t posted until the day before. If anyone had taken it they would have found a road block South on 521 and would have had to turn around back to hwy 6. Additionally all the roads mentioned in your post end up on the same hurricane evacuation route that was backed up all day. Not a plausible plan, nor very confidence inspiring and at least, in this scenario, there is still no nearby hospital.
Try again.
19 Sienna Resident - May 24, 12:53 pm
Mary, all of those roads dump onto 6…a major evacuation route. During the Rita evacuation, it took 90 minutes to get from Sienna to Oilfield Road. We are not in horrible shape, by any means. However, as we grow with more homes and apartments, that will create additional congestion.
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