More Wasted Resources By FBISD?--click here--

FB Sun: Arcola-Missouri City Contrasting Communities--click here for more--

Arcola: A different reality

Sun reporter Diane Tezeno’s special report on Arcola will continue with a look at why residents choose to live in Arcola and what officials are doing to improve the area. Keep on the lookout for more stories.
By DIANE TEZENO

Audrey Crawford drives past a number of master-planned communities and sprawling town centers in her daily commute home from her job in neighboring Houston.

She is a resident of Fort Bend County, a county that has fared relatively well in the recent economic downturn, been ranked third in job growth in the nation in a U.S. Department of Labor study and recently earned the recognition as the No. 1 Best Places to Get Ahead in a recent Forbes.com survey.

In a county of 556,870 residents, where the median household income is $83,968 and 39 percent of the population is college educated, based on 2009 US Census estimates, Crawford is living a different reality...(follow the title link for the full piece)

FBN: Budget Crisis Will Continue For A Few Years Says City Administration..(still borrowing heavily from the cities "fund balance")

“The last couple of budget years and the next couple will present challenges for Missouri City..." FBN

--Follow the title link for the full story.

Recent HOA Board Abuses: Is this a growing pattern in our community?

KHOU (and several other local Houston t.v. stations) reported on this recent action by the FCCA which encompasses parts of Missouri City and Sugar Land:

http://www.khou.com/home/Water-park-with-life-size-dragon-has-neighbors-breathing-fire-96619549.html


History: http://www.khou.com/home/Proposed-Water-Park-Causes-Splash--93332634.html

MCC Comment: Apparently several local politicians are remaining silent on this as some community members feel abandoned by them. This appears to be a pattern in the FBC communities from lawsuits in Meadowcreek, in Missouri City to New Territory (Sugar Land) and now First Colony....what are our state legislators doing, if anything, to clean this up and how do the developers and their political ties to many of our area politicians come into play?

See this related piece for more at: http://www.fortbendnow.com/2010/06/18/46330

"...Some First Colony residents have begun circulating a petition against the project, and said they would hire an attorney to file a lawsuit to stop the project, if necessary.

Additionally, residents have questioned whether the First Colony’s development company is using its clout to push construction of the park as a way of making one last profit from the development.

According to information provided to FortBendNow by residents, the development company, Planned Properties Development [sic Planned Community Developers] Ltd., still has the legal power to “take over the board” if they want.

“They still retain the voting power to take back the board, if they so desire. This gives developers and their vendors a great deal of undue power to press for undue projects,” according to an e-mail message being circulated among residents. “The clinch here is they will lose their (legal) status on Jan. 1, 2012.”

Some are calling the water park project a “last-ditch effort” for developers to profit from the master-planned community.
Kim Mason, organizer of a petition effort opposing the water park, said more than 70 percent of the residents in First Colony’s Edgewater Bay and Edgewater Gardens neighborhoods oppose the project being built in their area..."

Related: http://www.khou.com/news/HOA-that-foreclosed-on-soldier-gets-death-threats-96884984.html#

Houston Press: Gammon Out On Bail For Child Pornography

Bill Gammon, a lawyer lobbyist in the HOA/developer-builder industry who has filed more foreclosure notices than any other legal vendor in the Houston area and well known for his crafting of legislation that benefits this predatory industry over small private homeowners was bailed out recently according to this Houston Press report....-Click the title link above for the full story-

Related: http://www.fortbendnow.com/2010/06/18/46330/comment-page-1#comment-14123

ABC13-Houston: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=7488469

FBS: Former Missouri City council woman blasts election actions

FBW: Apparent Pressure By School Officials To Take Down Facebook Page Of New Board Member Draws Concern--

Click the title link for the full piece--

(Chron update 6-14) http://www.ultimatefortbend.com/2010/06/trustee-no-pressure-shut-facebook-page#comment-5589

Chron: Reformer Gary Slams Owen & Council Decision To Appoint Smith--click here--

Chron: Missouri City Still Attempting To Deny High Crime In KHOU Investigative Series....--click here--

Houston Press Reports Bill Gammon, well known HOA-management company lawyer, Arrested For Possession Of Child Porn!--click here--

According to this Houston Press report, Bill Gammon, listed on the HOAdata.org website as one of the most litigious attorneys, with regard to filing cases against homeowners in Houston area HOA communities, was recently arrested for possession of child pornography.....click the title link for the full story and follow the HOAdata link above for more on this growing industry problem in Texas and a complete list of local lawyers who engage in targeting small property owners.

FortBendNow: Budget Crisis Continues In Missouri City...-click the title link for more--

"...Council decided earlier this year to drop a proposed homestead exemption from the May election ballot ..."


MCC comment: What was kept out of the report was the massive borrowing from "contingency" funds ("slipped" bond monies--repurposed monies) that has been going on under this administration over the past 3 budget cycles to give the appearance of balanced budgets, while they fund a rather large debt service portion of the operations budget.

FB Sun update includes more borrowing from the "fund balance" (contingency funds):

"The city proposes to use $778,000 from its fund balance, with $500,000 set aside in reserves for unanticipated or any unplanned expenditures, such as a natural disaster, or other unforeseen need, according to Simpson."

http://www.hcnonline.com/articles/2010/06/09/fort_bend_sun/news/sws_-_mc_proposed_budget_78.txt

Visit MyFortBend.Net For More On County News & Info--click here--

Formerly FortBendWeb.com....