Quote for the day!

A small group of thoughtful people can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Margaret Mead

FB Star Reports On AG's Ruling Against FBISD (On "Global Taj Mahal")--click title link for more--

"The letter to Feldman from Davis says the district must release all information requested, with the exception of e-mails from the public who object to this information being released. However, the opinion goes on to say, that withholding e-mail addresses from vendors who seek a contract with the governmental body or a person who has a contractual relationship with the governmental body must be released." FB Star

FBISDWatch Exclusive: FBISD ORDERED BY TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO TURN OVER REQUESTED "GLOBAL SCIENCE CENTER" DOCUMENTS!

FBISD ORDERED BY TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL TO TURN OVER REQUESTED "GLOBAL SCIENCE CENTER" DOCUMENTS!

After numerous requests before public hearings by taxpayers of FBISD and formal requests for all documents and communications surrounding the $27 million dollar taxpayer funded controversial "Global Taj Mahal" and numerous attempts to block these requests by the superintendent until after the 7-0 school board vote in June, the Texas Attorney General has ordered the school district to comply with these requests.

Get the full AG order at: http://fbisdwatch.blogspot.com/2009/07/fbw-exclusive-fbisd-ordered-by-texas.html

FortBendWeb.com Becomes MyFortBend.Net--click this title link for more--

Also get this update from the Fort Bend Star on the controversial proposed tax increase and the Global "Taj Mahal" (approved in June by our school board at a cost of nearly 27 million dollars while they are projecting a 2009-2010 second annual budget deficit of 13-18 million dollars, according to local media sources)....

"Reader’s take on Global Science Center" FB Star

http://www.fortbendstar.com/Columns/letters.htm

Stay informed and keep in touch!

FortBendIndependent: FBISD-Jenney Projecting Another Record Budget Deficit For 2009 And Another Tax Increase!

"The administration’s proposed 2009 budget anticipates a deficit of $12 million to $18 million." FBI

FBI link: http://fbindependent.com/default.asp?
sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=Default&mad=&sdetail=1676&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus
=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=2531&hn=fbindependent&he=.com

MCC Comment: This projected deficit comes only a month after the current school board voted to approve Jenney spending another $27 million on a duplicate museum (HMNS & GSTC).

FBISDWatch: FBISD Hiring Practices Under Review--click this title link for more--

Please follow the tile link above for the full story...

FBN: Judge Orders City To Turn Over Communications Of Mayor Owen In Largest Eminent Domain Case In Fort Bend County History! --click the title link--

See: http://www.fortbendnow.com/2009/07/15/39007

"...there was no required “public necessity” for condemning the property, an act it has called “merely a pretext to confer a private benefit on particular private parties, including the mayor and a number of city council members.” (Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen and councilors Jerry Wyatt, Brent Holaja and Buddy Jimerson all live in Quail Valley)...."

&

"...Failure by the city to produce email has also hampered QVCC’s ability to take “key depositions,” Breeding said in court filings.

QVCC intended to depose Mayor Owen on July 10, but was told by a city attorney that email to and from Owen probably wouldn’t be available by that date.

“Communications reflecting a purpose for condemning the property that is contrary to the city’s stated purpose will create a fact issue on QVCC’s affirmative defense” Breeding argued. “Because no communications with Mayor Owen have been produced, QVCC was forced to pass his deposition. The city has not provided a date by which it will produce the responsive communications.” FBN

Follow the title link above for this evolving story that has cost Missouri City taxpayers thousands in legal costs to pursue when in all probability this case could have been settled by an outright market purchase of the course and for much less than the current boondoggle!

Chronicle: MHS Academy Safe For Now!

"...that the academy could remain so long as it remained “financially viable.” Superintendent Jenney

Follow this link for the full story: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nb/fortbend/news/6527321.html

Higher Property Taxes Again Proposed For FBISD?

Chronicle Update:

http://blogs.chron.com/fortbend/archives/2009/07/fbisd_proposes.html

Bond Review Board lists 4 Houston area districts in the top ten for bond debt. FBISD is one of them. See: http://www.brb.state.tx.us/lgs/summaries/08/isd08/isd2008sum.aspx

FBISD Administration Proposes 3.5-cent Property Tax Increase
July 13th, 2009 | by Bob Dunn, FortBendNow

Property taxes could go up for residents within Fort Bend Independent School District, as the district administration is recommending a 3.5-cent hike in its tax rate for 2009.

The FBISD administration is proposing a maintenance and operations tax rate of $1.04 per hundred dollars in property valuation - the same rate the district currently levies. However, the administration is proposing increasing the debt service tax rate to 26.5 cents per hundred - a 3.5-cent increase over the current 23-cent rate.

If the FBISD Board of Trustees approves a total administration-recommended 2009 ad valorem tax rate of $1.305 per hundred, the district tax bill for the owner of a $200,000 home would be $2,610.

The proposed tax increase comes on the heels of a county-wide property reappraisal by the Fort Bend Central Appraisal District that indicates property values will be increased an average of 10.8% higher than last year, despite a national real estate collapse that plunged property values throughout most of the rest of the country. (Property taxes are calculated based on the FBCAD’s appraisals.) . . .

Get the full piece at: http://www.fortbendnow.com/2009/07/13/38976

FBISDWatch: UPDATE ON Possible Closing Of MHS Academy In Missouri City--click the title link for the full story--

Follow the title link above for more on this FBISDWatch exclusive. Stay tuned for updates:

Update 7-14: http://www.fortbendnow.com/2009/07/14/38990

MCC Celebrates 4th Year With Over 130,000 Visitors--

MissouriCityChatter.blogspot.com is officially celebrating its fourth year on the web. It was predated in the Sienna Plantation area by a neighborhood run website called SiennaTalk.com (2002-2005) which later became MissouriCityTalk.com (2005-2006). The post below is the first that was issued by the site by the committee for responsible development, a group that has remained involved in local area issues ever since along with expanding throughout the county:

--------------
Missouri City Chatter (A blog for Mo-City)

Welcome to the official blog for the residents and citizens of Missouri City, TX to keep up with and follow local issues. This blog was born of controversy but we hope it will be a good place for you and your neighbors to visit and discuss open and honest issues that impact positively or negatively our community. We would like to encourage those posting to identify their neighborhoods and to encourage others to blog/post here. You may remain anonymous when posting but please follow the site guides. Repeated violations will lead to removal.

We will follow the core rules of netiquette located at http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html as our guide and will stop any violations when they come to our attention.


History:

This site was founded by the Committee for Responsible Development which started in the Sienna Plantation area and can be contacted at responsible_dvlpmnt@yahoo.com and grew from a grass roots movement opposed to further apartment development in Missouri City, Texas. Some of the critical issues which grew out of that movement are still with us, such as the campaign contributions and ethics violations filed with the city against the developer backed mayor of Mo-City.


The basic goals of CRD are simple:

-To encourage residents and citizens of Missouri City neighborhoods to get actively involved in their local politics.

-To engage developers and city officials on value added growth and sustainable development over the long-term.

-Allow for more open/honest discussions on controversial issues that often don't get discussed in the community with regard to the above goals.


We look forward to hearing from you and keeping the dialogue going!


*********
Committee for Responsible Development
responsible_dvlpmnt@yahoo.com
Missouri City, TX-Group

Chronicle: Another Effort Is Launched To Save The Marshall Academy In Missouri City!

Follow the title link above to get more on the efforts in Missouri City to save the Marshall HS Academy from the FBISD budget crisis...

MCC Wishes All A Wonderful Independence Day!

“I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it.”

Thomas Jefferson

Houston Chronicle: Mediation Fails With Former QVGC Golf Course Owners In The Largest Eminent Domain Abuse Case In Fort Bend County! -click the title-

Mediation fails between Mo City and golf club

A mediator shuttled back and forth between two rooms Monday but couldn't get Missouri City and Quail Valley Country Club to strike an agreement to resolve their dispute over the 400-acre golf property the city wants for a park project. . .

. . .Kelley said both parties are "in active discovery" of evidences supporting their own case. She expects additional hearings to be set by the court between now and Sept. 8, the date of a trial by jury.

MCC comment: How much is this ED abuse case costing MC taxpayers???

FB Star: More Local HOA Abuse--click the title link for the full story--

Is your HOA protecting your property value or attempting to gain access to your home equity? Click the title link above for a local HOA abuse case impacting one First Colony homeowner:

"Peter Vogt said he doesn’t have a problem replacing the fence and had actually purchased the material to do it, but still questions the fact that some in First Colony are allowed to have half-fences, wrought iron fences or shadow box fences and are not threatened with fines for doing so." FB Star

See thousands of others online at: http://pages.prodigy.net/hoadata/