See This Recent Fortbendweb.com Piece On Mo-City Development Disparity (Just a coincidence -- Click this title link for more)

Mo-City Election Theme Revisited By Smith Article
Published on 10/26/06 at 14:16:25 CST by MCCNewsUpdates


Earlier this year the Missouri City mayors race produced a candidate with themes very similar to this FB Sun article and concerns over disparity in development. See:

"Mayoral candidate Greyling 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.” -- From the FB Sun (March 2006).


This weeks October piece by Diane Tezeno.

Council takes another look at the disparity:

With widespread speculation about changing the city's name subsiding, Missouri City Councilman Don Smith sparked a new issue at last Monday's City Council meeting - disparity in the condition of parts of the city.

Although not in favor of a name change, Smith expressed support for the city's image and branding campaign and considers it an opportunity to deal with erosion of northern portions of the city along FM 1092, Cartwright and Texas Parkway.

Smith had originally intended to work behind the scenes to resolve some of the problems evident in his district.

He contacted some of the owners of strip centers in his area and was involved in the recent revitalization of the Hunters Square Shopping Center owned by Silvestri Investments.

"It is like putting a band-aid on an open wound rather than paying attention to the wound itself. Erosion of these segments of our city is a cancerous wound, it is growing and should be one of the city's highest priorities," Smith said.

Smith said he was inspired to become more vocal with his concerns after hearing a presentation by local Realtor Len Goff at a recent Missouri City Business Alliance meeting.

Goff, owner of Golf Land Realtors on Texas Parkway, voiced his concerns to fellow business alliance members. "We need a much better, pro-active and more welcoming attitude toward business and community development," said Goff.
Although he believes Missouri City has made some progress in becoming more business-friendly, he believes the city's long-held perception and promotion as a bedroom community hindered the development of businesses in the area.

"The city made it difficult for businesses to operate and made prospective businesses go to our sister cities of Sugar Land and Stafford because of some of its policies," said Goff.

He would like to see the city establish an Economic Impact Zone for the Texas Parkway Corridor that would provide tax abatement grants and low-interest loans to develop and revitalize the area, said Goff.

Goff recently attended a meeting in which former NBA player Magic Johnson shared his efforts in purchasing and bringing 103 Starbucks franchises into various inner-city communities to revitalize the areas. Goff believes similar redevelopment and revitalization efforts would benefit deteriorating areas of Missouri City.

"We need to include all of Missouri City instead of concentrating all of our development efforts along Hwy. 6," said Goff. . .

Get the related full FBSun story at: http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17376166&BRD=1574&PAG=461&dept_id=532245&rfi=6