FB Star: Arcola City Council Moves Forward On McKeever Rd.

Arcola agrees to county plan for extension
of South Post Oak and McKeever Road

By Cheryl Skinner

It’s been a long time coming, but last week the Arcola City Council voted to approve an ordinance that will allow Fort Bend County to go forth with a planned change in South Post Oak Road and make needed maintenance improvements to McKeever Road.

However, as anticipated, there was not a full slate of council members in agreement with the planned work. Council voted 3-2, on the resolution which will allow the county to extend South Post Oak with a sweeping curve.

The route suggested by Fort Bend County as well as Houston Southwest Airport owner Jamie Griffith, will extend South Post Oak with the westerly curve and intersect McKeever just beyond the south end of the airport runway.

For months the Arcola officials refused to agree to the plan. Instead of the sweeping curve, they were hoping for a “T” intersection. But an agreement with Griffith that will allow the city to annex over 200 acres he owns seemed to be the deciding factor in the decision to move forth....follow the link above for more.

MCC Comment:

Will this lead to the eventual expansion of the AXH airport near Sienna and other MC communities?

See related:

http://www.fortbendnow.com/pages/full_story?page_label=home&id=76902&article-New-Arcola-Mayor-Wants-Meeting-With-County-Over-McKeever--South-Post%20=&widget=push&instance=home_news_bullets&open=&

Enjoy Your Memorial Day--click here for tribute--

Chron:HW Sienna Land Deal Off With FBISD?--click the title link for more--

FBN: FBISD Cancels Sienna HS Land Purchase

FBISD Terminates Contract To Purchase Sienna Property For School
by John Pape, FBN

Fort Bend ISD’s on-again, off-again deal to purchase property in Sienna Plantation for a new high school is off again, this time apparently for good.

In a specially-called meeting that lasted until after 11 p.m. Thursday evening, school trustees voted to terminate the contract with HW Sienna, L.P., and request the return of earnest money paid to secure the property. The vote came at the end of an almost two hour executive session during which the board debated the decision behind closed doors.

Trustees voted to terminate the contract by a 5-2 vote, with newly-elected board members Daniel Menendez and Susan Hohnbaum casting the dissenting votes.

In March, the board had voted to buy 77 acres of property from HW Sienna for $3.35 million. Although specific details on what caused the deal to fall through were not publicly revealed, trustees alluded to “conditions” and “constraints” placed on finalizing the deal by the seller.

The district has been under the gun to finalize the purchase in order meet deadlines to build a new high school in the eastern part of the district.

Trustee David Reitz, who made the motion to terminate the contract, voiced his frustration over dealing with the seller, asking Superintendent Dr. Timothy Jenney if the purchase of the Sienna property had been typical.

“How long have we been negotiating to do a routine transaction?” Reitz asked. “Dr. Jenney, you’ve been at this for a long time; is this normally a six-month process?”

Jenney said it was not.

“Generally, it’s fairly straight forward,” he explained.

Trustee Bob Broxson, who seconded Reitz’ motion to pull out of the deal, echoed the frustration.

“We’ve worked really hard to get a high school in Sienna,” Broxson said. “I’ve been (doing) contract negotiations for 25 years and I’ve never been in a process like this. I think it’s time to bring this sad chapter to an end and get on with building a high school.” --follow the link above for the full piece--

Chron Reports: MC Taxes Going Up Again?

During the week of early voting for the municipal elections it was reported in local media that the city saw no need to raise taxes again and the then budget proposal reflected that assertion (by the city manager). Ten days after the election and at the first council session, where the 3 incumbents were sworn in once again, the city apparently is now proposing a record bond debt and another tax increase to cover it.--Click the title link for this full chronicle piece.

Visit FBISDWatch For More On The Local Schools From Independent Sources--click here--

From FBN: Did Voter Fraud Occur In The Missouri City Elections? Or was it just another mistake?

Leftover Election Sign Causes Some Confusion Saturday At Glover Elementary
by Jamie Mock, FBN
At least one Missouri City voter was misdirected on election day due to a sign mistakenly left up by the Fort Bend County Election Administration.

The sign, placed at Glover Elementary during the primary run-off, told voters from precincts 2077 and 2141 that their polling location had moved from Glover Elementary to the Missouri City Community Center.

Missouri City resident Beth Blankenship saw the sign, and went to the community center on Saturday to vote. She was told she could not vote, because she was not on the voting roster. She told election officials about the sign, and the election judge at Glover was contacted. By the time Blankenship returned to Glover to vote, the sign was taken down. Blankenship was able to cast her vote.

“My concern was how many people may have just turned away after they went to vote and saw the sign was up,” said Blankenship. “A lot of people might have thought it was official and didn’t vote.” . . . follow the link above for the full FBN story....

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MCC Comment/FYI:
Apparently a related US Justice Dept. complaint has been filed in relation to this case.

FBN: Arcola Council Backs Down On McKeever Rd/Houston SW Airport Stalemate (Does this mean the airport expansion will continue?)-

Follow the title link for more. . .

Lawsuit Abuse By HOA/CAI Industry--click the title link for more on this growing industry problem in your backyard--

JUDICIAL CORRUPTION: LYNCHED BY COURT ORDER
How to steal millions of dollars by turning public courtrooms into a private playground

May 11, 2008

By Mac Kock Lebel
Copyright Mac Kock Lebel 2008
Boston, Massachusetts -
In Essex County, Massachusetts, a group of lawyers supported by several state and federal judges, after having stolen over $800,000 using invalid court orders, is now ready to liquidate and distribute among themselves the rest of the estate of 87-year-old Mary Jane Chalupowski, still worth about $1,500,000.

When a Lawsuit is a Crime

Except for the affected few, almost no one in this country would ever believe that each year, millions of dollars change hands (are stolen to be exact) in staged litigation schemes devised with the sole purpose of generating fraudulent bills for alleged attorney's fees.

In the process of such schemes, various unsuspecting, law-obeying citizens are being pulled into a vortex of unnecessary litigation, disguised as legitimate court proceedings.

The result is financial and emotional devastation, comparable only to lynching, if we think of lynching not as the sudden outburst of irrational group hatred, but as the "cool, calculating deliberation of intelligent people," as defined by Ida Wells-Barnett in 1900.

With violence and corruption widely accepted as an essential part of the American lifestyle and culture, this new, refined version of common robbery goes largely unpunished, as did lynching for decades. . . (follow the title link above for the full story)

Related Fox News Special Investigation On Local TX lobbyist who maintain this questionable network that also influences local school, municipal and county politics:

http://www.ahrc.com/new/index.php/src/news/sub/pressrel/action/ShowMedia/id/4078

Other related sources on this industry racket:

http://pages.prodigy.net/hoadata/

http://www.texashoareform.org/

http://www.ahrc.com/new/index.php/src/news (visit this site to see a survey on how the public has lost confidence in the court system when protecting their homes from the HOA abuse industry)

http://stoptexashoaforeclosures.com/

http://www.writeyourownstories.com/

Election Results From Around The County--click on the title link--

Click the title link for all the results...

More: http://www.chron.com/apps/ElectionPub/local.mpl?action=results&nextview=localmatrix&crit=Fort+Bend&conav=1&crittype=COUNTY&colct=

or: http://blogs.chron.com/fortbend/archives/2008/05/are_you_surpris.html

GO VOTE SATURDAY MAY 10TH FOR MUNICIPAL AND SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES AT YOUR LOCAL POLLING STATION!

Note: MCC/CRD (this site) has endorsed Pinnock, Poats and Tunstall in the Missouri City council races for their ethical stance on city function and other issues!

FB Chronicle: Missouri City Officials Admit Errors Involved In TPIA/TOMA Complaint Filed With Attorney Generals Office

Complaint filed over access to information in Missouri City
Official: timing of press release an error, no law was violated
By ZEN T. C. ZHENG
Houston Chronicle

Chris Calvin, a critic of the Missouri City municipal government and a Pecan Grove resident, has filed a complaint with Attorney General Greg Abbott's office requesting an investigation into possible violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act and the Texas Public Information Act by city officials.

The complaint filed on April 21 stemmed from a city press release dated March 4 that was handed out at the March 3 city council meeting. The pre-written release announced council's approval of the purchase of the Quail Valley Country Club before such action was taken at the March 3 meeting.

While the city's media relations specialist Elsa Maxey later retracted the release, saying it was an innocent error, Calvin said he smelled something "fishy."

"We found this odd considering the meeting hadn't taken place yet. Following this session, where they voted after the announcement, several of those in attendance decided we needed to dig a little further to attempt to ascertain if a meeting in violation of the Texas Open Meetings Act had taken place prior to the council session and official vote," Calvin wrote in his letter to the attorney general.

Calvin said supporters for the investigation also include Kevin Tunstall, candidate for the At-large Position 2 council seat.

Both Calvin and Tunstall have accused city officials, including Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen and most members of the city council, of allowing "special-interest groups" such as developers to influence city decisions. City officials have denied such allegations.

In explaining the premature release of the city council's decision on the purchase of the country club, Maxey offered an apology . . .

. . . Two weeks later, Calvin filed a request with City Secretary Patrice Fogarty for all documents pertaining to city-funded studies since 2005, including information on vendors involved in bidding, companies awarded contracts and the award amount as well as any action taken by the city administration on those matters.

Calvin also asked for text messages sent and received by city council members on their Blackberries that Calvin said are paid for by taxpayers.

Numerous e-mail exchanges have subsequently occurred between Calvin and Fogarty. While Calvin accused Fogarty of using "delay tactics" in "dodging" his public information request, Fogarty said she did everything within her responsibility to comply with the request under the law.

. . ."Council members don't do text messages. They do e-mails. I cannot produce something we don't have," Fogarty said.

Calvin said he is not buying what he was told and claimed that a former city council member told him that such text messages exist.

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Go vote Saturday for positive change and a NEW beginning after decades of special interest control of the city agenda!

From FortBendWeb: What should voters do about the special interest dominating our elections?

What should voters do about the special interest dominating our elections?

Tuesday, 06 May 2008
Ethical Government

KD Tunstall

Political discourse among many often is accompanied by disfavor of how our elected officials tend to vote with their wallet instead of for the interests of their constituents. Some even label Washington DC as the Den of Corruption. Likewise we see the same symptom of this political disease controlling the agenda in Austin. However, many if not most fail to realize that special interest groups also control their civic agenda. Missouri City is no different. . .follow the title link above for the full story from FBW.

See recent Dr. Paul (Congressman CD-14) endorsement of Mr. Tunstall at:

http://blogs.chron.com/fortbend/archives/2008/05/more_endorsemen.html#comments

http://missouricitychatter.blogspot.com/2008/05/cd-14-republican-congressman-paul.html

GO Vote Saturday (May 10th)

FB Star: Is McKeever Road Diversion Near Sienna Plantation Still On Counties Agenda?

Arcola councilman still maintains airport is out of compliance

By Cheryl Skinner

Arcola city council member Tom Hilton is no more convinced now than before the city’s mayor received a letter from the Federal Aviation Administration saying Houston Southwest Airport is in compliance with FAA rules and McKeever Road is no problem.

Hilton maintains that proposed changes to South Post Oak and McKeever puts more people in danger because more people will be traveling the highways flanked by the airport runway.

“We heard back from the FAA, which claimed that the dimensions for the threshold siting surface (TSS) have changed since 2004, and that the runway safety area now fits entirely inside the airport property. They also state that McKeever and vehicles traveling on McKeever do not penetrate the TSS. However, they go on to say that they don’t have a problem with the road improvement project as long as there is a DISPLACED THRESHOLD AS REQUIRED. Question: Why do you need to displace the threshold if the TSS is not being penetrated?” Hilton questioned...

...In the meantime, Hilton will continue his quest to get what he deems viable explanations about the airport from the FAA. Hilton’s home is located adjacent to the airport and he has been a very outspoken opponent of the facility for several years.
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MCC Comment:

In an article by the FB Star a few months ago one of the county commissioners was unable to account for nearly 4 million in mobility bonds for the McKeever Rd. improvements. We would still like to know where the money is?

Follow the title link for the full FB Star story...

CD-14 Republican Congressman Paul Officially Endorses Kevin Tunstall In His Bid For Missouri City Council--click the title link for more--

Follow the title link for the full piece. This gives Kevin endorsements from 3 major parties and numerous local and regional officials (Kevin's comment is that the only endorsement that matters is the voters)...

Early voting ends tonight at 7p. with election day Saturday! Please support an independent council in MC by voting for Greyling Poats, Kevin Tunstall and Noel Pinnock (PPT). . .

See related chronicle piece: http://blogs.chron.com/fortbend/archives/2008/05/more_endorsemen.html#comments

Controversy Over Mayoral Endorsements Embarrass Allen Owen (R)--click the title link for more--

Follow the link above for the full story.

Teacher At Baines Middle School In Sienna Plantation Caught With Minor!

Follow the title link above for the full FBN story...

FB Star Covers Verbal Attack On Candidates Wife In MC--click the title link for more--