FBN Editorial: Can We Trust Fort Bend County Officials?--click the title link for more--

FBN Editorial: Fort Bend County Municipalities Need More Transparency
Wed, Jul 28, 2010

Howard Moline

I appreciate the series that Ms. Mock and the rest of (the FortBendNow) staff put together to shed some light on the status of crime reporting for the City of Sugar Land. Those of us in other cities within Fort Bend County would like to see the same type of bright light put on this issue in our own municipalities. Transparency in these hard economic times is doubly important to residents like myself who have to sift through the sometimes obscure municipal press releases and communications that we find ourselves reading and doubting. We need the facts.

What I personally don’t understand is why communities like Sugar Land and Missouri City feel such an overriding obligation to hide the truth. When residents know the true extent of crime in their neighborhood, they will take conscious steps to prevent themselves from being victimized. Hiding the actual incidence of burglaries, thefts, and violent crimes is a disservice to the City’s residents...(follow the title link for the full story and series Mr. Moline, a longtime retired federal law enforcement professional, is referencing).

Get More Local News Via FortBendNow--click here--

See the above link for more local news and commentary...

Happy 5th Birthday MCC/CRD--Yep it's been 5 years since the launch of this site--

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISSOURICITYCHATTER! Yes it has been 5 years since this site was launched and challenged by a Houston development firm in an attempt to silence community members protesting 2700 additional apartment units coming to the Sienna Plantation community in Missouri City, TX. Since that time we have continued to cover many other land use and politically related issues that may impact the average homeowners property values in an interest to provide alternative communications on these all important issues that often do not see the light of day.

Feel free to search these archives for historical background and current issues. Good luck and stay informed and keep in touch!

FB/SL Sun Report: Missouri City Residents of Meadowcreek Call for Removal of Russell Jones Lawfirm As HOA Board Legal Council

According to the Fort Bend Sun (July 15th, 2010) the ongoing conflict between homeowners in Missouri City living in the Meadowcreek neighborhood of over 700 homes has voted to remove the Holoway Jones Law Firm as legal representative after decades of involvement. As you remember Russell Jones, one of the owners, is a seated Sugar Land and former Missouri City city council member. In recent years it became known that over 270 homes out of this community had been targeted by the law firm with foreclosure notices which ran fees and fines on these members into the thousands of dollars.

Tom Blankenship who has been involved with a large group of homeowners for several years now to end the potentially abusive activity going on against members was quoted in the paper as saying, "...to take a $180 fee and within a period of three or four months turn it into a debt of $3,200 is completely irresponsible."

This and many other issues lead to a recent lawsuit that has now been settled which also involved the removal of several seated board members.

For more see the neighborhood website: http://meadowcreekneighborhoodnews.blogspot.com/

Update: http://meadowcreekneighborhoodnews.blogspot.com/2010/07/whatever-happened-to.html

FB Sun: Teachers Federation Discusses Recent Court Fight

Federation makes push for step pay increases and information for members

By DIANE TEZENO
Updated: 07.16.10

The Fort Bend Employee Federation held a recent press conference to announce plans to issue several challenges to the Fort Bend Independent School District.

Among the issues are step pay increases for teachers, access to information used to terminate employees in the recent reduction in force and academic honesty in the classroom related to grading policies.

Top on the list of Federation concerns is step pay increases for teachers in the 2010-2011 school year.

“We are only talking about $400 to $800 per teacher for the year,” FBEF President Karrie Washenfelder said.

“Each district is allowed to determine their step on their own, it is not rendered by the state in any way, but teacher salaries are so compressed there is not a lot of room for advancement on the pay scale, so the step is just a built-in amount to provide for the cost of living,” Washenfelder said.

According to the district, the recent Attorney General Opinion will cause the FBISD budget to increase $3.5 million...

Get the full article at: http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/07/19/fort_bend_sun/news/sws_-_teacher_federation_716.txt

FBN: More TOMA Challenges Moving Forward In The Courts--click here--

One local city council member, Russell Jones, has been reported to be involved in over-turning the Texas Open Meetings Act along with the Texas Municipal League (a municipal government lobby group).

FB Star Reports On FCCA (HOA) Abuses--click for the full story--

BREAKING NEWS on lawsuit in the meadowcreek case coming next...

Here it is: SPECIAL MEETING UPDATE ON MEADOWCREEK HOA ABUSE CASE...

FBS blurb on FCCA abuses:

Something doesn’t smell right.....It’s hard to understand why a civic organization like First Colony Community Association would continue with its plans to fill in five neighborhood pools with dirt for a cost of $1 million and leave them as green space when such opposition has come forth from the neighborhoods. But then I started getting emails from residents who have had dealings with FCCA over the years and their current high-handed treatment of their own ratepayers are not so surprising. They’ve gotten away with it for years. Why stop now?

I find it interesting that the company that did the “survey” that found that the communities wanted all these parks razed and a new “schlitterbahn” style water park built in the neighborhood had as its vice-president an individual who is also on the FCCA board of directors. When I called both Sherrie Knoepfel, executive director of FCCA and Joyce Walter, board member and Vice-President of Creative Consumer Research, both were on vacation. In fact, after numerous phone calls and an office visit, I have yet to be able to speak to Sherrie Knoepfel who seems to be dodging my calls....follow the link above for more (why is this the exception in so many of the large HOAs, rather than the rule?)


Trivia: What is a blockwart?

KIAH-Houston Reports On First Colony Residents Fight Against Their HOA To Save Their Pools--click here for full story--

Get this full story on a dispute that has gone to the courts here in Fort Bend County between hundreds of homeowners and the FCCA HOA that runs the First Colony neighborhood that covers parts of Missouri City and Sugar Land....

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See: http://myfortbend.net/ (Formerly fortbendweb.com)

Happy Birthday America!