06/18/2009
Get Ready for the MillerCoors/HoustonDistributing Company Monte Carlo Night!
It is time again for the 5 th MillerCoors/Houston Distributing Company Monte Carlo Night scheduled for Friday July 17, from 7:30 – 11:30 pm at Houston Distributing Company, I7100 High Life Drive .
There will be a number of gaming tables including black jack, craps, roulette and Texas hold ‘em. There will also be a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres available. Receipts from the gaming tables will be exchanged for chances at a number of exciting raffle prizes.
“This will be a great opportunity to network with community members and their guests in a relaxed fun atmosphere,” Mary Evans explained. “You can try your hand at one of the gaming tables or dance to the lively music provided by our disc jockey or even just sit and visit at our ‘café’ tables,” she added.
The underwriters of the event are MillerCoors and Houston Distributing Company. Other sponsors to date are AJ Warren Service Co, Alpine Field Services, AmegyBank of Texas, Analytical Systems International, Avalon Insurance Concepts, Comfort Suites, Commercial Capital Ltd., Computer Moms, Contractor’s Source Inc., Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Cy-Fair Magazine , Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital, Executive Inn & Suites, Fox & Bubela Inc, Gateway Mortgage Group, LLC, Gonzales Labor Systems Inc., Grand Ventures Travel, Hooters, Houston Chronicle, Houston Community Newspapers/The SUN, Jersey Meadow Golf Course, Kwik Kar of Copperfield, Lone Star College-CyFair, Maid Brigade of NW Houston, Motel 6, Northwest Forest Hotel & Conference Center, Premier GMAC Real Estate, Re/Max Realty Center, Satellite Janitorial Co. Inc., Steel Earth LLC, Strong Vision Center and Your Community Magazine.
Sponsorships are still available! For additional information or reservations, call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber Office at (281) 373-1390.
06/16/2009
Local Congressmen Focus on Funds for Funds for 290 Project; State Lawmakers
Still embroiled in the 111 th Congressional session, the two members of Cy-Fair’s congressional delegation agree that the Highway 290 project is a top priority, but differ in their views on securing federal funding for the project.
Cy-Fair’s state legislators supported changes to the business tax, education funding reform and bills that could improve quality of life in the Cy-Fair area in the recently-completed 81 st regular session.
Several representatives of those U.S. and state legislators updated Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce members about their priorities at the Chamber’s June 16 General Membership Luncheon.
NATIONAL MATTERS
U.S. Congressmen John Culberson (R-TX), District 7, and Michael McCaul (R-TX), District 10, split representation of the Cy-Fair area.
Ellie Essalih, Culberson’s district director, said Culberson’s number one priority for the Cy-Fair area is securing a solid source of federal funding for the Highway 290 project.
“He has stated that he wants to do for 290 what he did for Interstate 10,” Essalih said. “He has made a request for funding in the Highway Reauthorization bill.”
That request included $227 million designated for the Highway 290 corridor expansion project and $40 million for a proposed commuter rail system on Hempstead Highway. These funds would be added to the Texas Department of Transportation’s project budget, she said.
“The money he requested is designed to speed up the project,” Essalih said. “We could certainly use your support on this.”
Colleen Gilbert, McCaul’s field director, said that road project is also a top priority for McCaul, but he has pledged in the past to refrain from requesting earmarks for specific projects so he has not specifically asked for funding for Highway 290 in the reauthorization bill.
However, Gilbert said, McCaul did submit a letter, which asked that the state of Texas not be penalized in that bill because of a lack of earmark requests.
“The Congressman wants to see funding go into the 290 project, but is unwilling to ask for earmarks until they are merit-based,” Gilbert said.
McCaul recently requested a hearing before a Homeland Security subcommittee to examine the wide disparities in federal assistance administered between Hurricanes Ike and Katrina. She said he wants to examine information from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that reveals higher average payments for overall assistance and housing assistance to Katrina victims.
STATE MATTERS
Eight state legislators divide the area roughly bordered by Cy-Fair Independent School District’s boundaries: State Representatives Dwayne Bohac, R-Houston; Bill Callegari, R-Katy; Gary Elkins, R-Houston; Patricia Harless, R-Houston; Allen Fletcher, R-Tomball; and State Senators Kyle Janek, R-Houston, Dan Patrick, R-Houston and John Whitmire, D-Houston.
Four of those eight were represented at the Chamber’s luncheon.
Donna Bahorich, Patrick’s District Director, said of 20 priority bills the Senator files this session, 15 are on Governor Rick Perry’s desk awaiting his signature, three passed the Senate but did not make it through the House, and only two did not make it through the Senate.
“His number one priority this session was providing relief for business owners in the state of Texas,” Bahorich said. “House Bill 4765 (sponsored in the Senate by Patrick) will raise the floor on the franchise tax from $300,000 to $1 million. That will save small businesses money.”
If signed by the governor, only corporations, limited liability companies, partnerships, professional associations, joint ventures, business trusts and other entities with liability protection with $1 million and more in revenues pay the tax.
Bahorich said Patrick also met with area school district superintendents and authored legislation that would revoke some of the unfunded mandates they are forced to cover in annual budgets. One of those is the twice-annual bus drills, which cost Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District about $80,000 per year. He is also lobbying on behalf of the district to fix problems in the state’s education funding formula, which currently penalizes Cy-Fair ISD.
Kelli Ray, Elkin’s legislative director, said Elkins was disappointed that a bill that would help to protect individuals against identity theft did not make it to the governor’s desk. The “Cyber Security” bill – House Bill 345 – would address the problems caused when businesses fail to protect personal credit and debit card information. The bill will require businesses who accept those cards to protect the data using the Plastic Card Industry Data Security Standards, which reduce the risk of security breaches.
Elkins was able to push through legislation that gives the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality the ability to impose fines, and revoke licenses, for dry-cleaning establishments that do not follow state law and adhere to safe practices. A local dry-cleaning company, now closed, was responsible for some contamination in an underground aquifer utilized by several residents living and working in neighborhoods near FM 1960 and Jones Road.
Sandy Oliver, a district director for Harless, said House Bill 3094, a bill that Harless co-authored, will give county government the authority to regulate massage parlors, and local law enforcement the ability to enforce those regulations. The goal is to address illegitimate massage establishments by investigating the legitimacy of the businesses and their influence on bringing prostitution, narcotic, and human trafficking to certain areas in Texas. The trafficking victims have been found in several recurring places, including cantinas, strip clubs, and illegitimate massage parlors.
“She believes this legislation is a start in the right direction, particularly for those businesses on FM 1960,” Oliver said.
Oliver said Harless also supported legislation that provided reforms to the business franchise tax, and encouraged additional Tier 1 research center in Texas.
Sharon Slover, Fletcher’s aide, said his top priority this session was learning how to become an effective state legislator.
Slover said he was proud to author a bill that exempts emergency service workers from fines imposed through “red-light” camera tickets.
“We appreciate everyone’s support this session and encourage you to come by the new district office, which is scheduled to open in mid-July,” Slover said.
06/04/2009
Grand Parkway Project Faces Challenges, But Slowly Moves Forward
David Gornet, executive director of the Grand Parkway Association, told Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce members that the goal is to start work next March on a section of the Grand Parkway highway project that runs from Interstate 10 to Highway 290.
That “Segment E” project, Gornet said, will provide traffic relief for the Cy-Fair area.
“It will have an impact,” Gornet told members of the Chamber’s Mobility Committee on June 4. “It will give people another alternative to get to the Energy Corridor (along Interstate 10), and to utilize Interstate 10 into town. It will provide an opportunity for diversion of traffic off of 290.”
The Texas Department of Transportation is funneling $181 million of the Houston region’s estimated $489 million in federal stimulus transportation-related funding to the Segment E project. Gornet said that would allow the state to get to work on two sections of the roadway that lies between the two endpoints.
TXDOT and the Harris County Toll Road Authority are working on an agreement that would allow the toll road authority to build Segment E. If the toll road authority foregoes the right to build the remaining sections of the estimated 185-mile Grand Parkway loop around the Houston region, then this agreement could allow the agency to be reimbursed for its work on Segment, said Gornet.
However, Gornet said, there is one potential roadblock that could affect Segment E’s construction schedule.
In March, the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Houston against the Federal Highway Administration claiming that the federal agency failed to do an adequate assessment of the environmental impacts of the proposed Segment E.
The Sierra Club claims in the lawsuit that the Segment E environmental review ignores the project’s harm to the Katy Prairie, its potential impact on Houston ’s air quality, and better transportation alternatives.
Gornet said the latest models and information was utilized to study potential flooding impacts on the Katy Prairie.
“We anticipate going to court this summer and to have a resolution later this year,” he said. “We believe we have done our due diligence and studied the issues.”
Gornet said Segment E, and possibly all remaining segments of the Grand Parkway , will be built as a toll-road facility. It will be two lanes in each direction within a 300-400-foot-wide strip of right-of-way, which allows a buffer for residential and commercial development along the roadway, he said.
The will be no continuous frontage roads, and exits will be located at Franz, Morton, Clay, FM 529, West, North Bridgelands Parkway, Central Bridgelands Parkway, South Bridgelands Parkway, and Louetta roads.
Following the construction of Segment E, Gornet said the Grand Parkway Association/TXDOT would like to see work start on “Segment F-1,” which stretches from Highway 290 to Texas 249. That segment has received approval from the Federal Highway Administration on its environmental studies. Construction is tentatively scheduled to start in January 2011.
Segment F-2 – from Texas 249 to Interstate 45 – and Segment G – from Interstate 45 to Highway 59 – have not received federal approval. Gornet said the Grand Parkway Association will make sure the issues raised in the Sierra Club lawsuit are addressed in those two segment studies.
The tentative start date for Segment F-2 is October 2011, and for Segment G July 2012.
“This is an optimistic schedule – there several issues beyond our control,” Gornet said.
Gornet said there is also a need to make improvements to radial freeway systems that feed into the Grand Parkway .
“The cars that go onto and off of the Grand Parkway will use those roads,” he said.
Mobility Committee Chairman Bill Rowden said that the traffic that utilizes the Sam Houston Toll Road , Interstate 45, Interstate 10 and Highway 290 is immense and growing.
“The Grand Parkway will provide relief,” Rowden said. “The redevelopment of the Panama Canal is also moving forward and the container ships that will be coming our way are four times the volume we have now. With four truck trips per container, think about the truck traffic that is going to be generated. Where are they going to go? Up Interstate 45 and Highway 59. There are also 2 million more people coming here that have to get around.”
“This all has to blend together,” Rowden said. “The Grand Parkway is a very integral piece of the puzzle.”
06/04/2009
2009 Property Values Could Be On Par With 2008, But 2010 Will Be A Different Story
Though many property appraisals are still be evaluated by the Harris County Appraisal District, preliminary numbers show that an equal number of properties in the Cy-Fair area decreased in value or stayed the same from January 2008 to January 2009; and a small number of properties increased in value, said Roland Altinger, the Harris County Appraisal District’s division director for information and assistance.
Altinger told members of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce’s Governmental Affairs Committee that overall there was an estimated one percent increase in property values in Harris County during that time frame, but since then the appraisal district has seen “double-digit drops” in the property market.
However, those decreases in values do not figure into the current property appraisal process, as the deadline for that was Jan. 1, he said.
“What the January 1 assessment date will do for 2010 will be very interesting,” Altinger said. “I think we will see some difficult times, though maybe not as difficult as California or Florida are experiencing.”
A decrease in property values could prove difficult for various taxing authorities – cities, school districts, municipal utility districts – but it is up to the individual taxing entity to raise, lower or maintain its tax rate.
“School districts are ones with the most concern if we see a major reduction in values,” Altinger said. “Cities have other sources of revenue.”
Though he did not have 2009 numbers available, Cy-Fair ISD’s total appraised value in 2008 was about $29 billion. The total appraised residential value in Cy-Fair ISD in 2008 was about $15.4 billion.
He said HCAD appraises 1.7 million parcels of land in Harris County at full market value each year. The entity performs those services on behalf of 34 cities, 27 school districts, over 400 municipal utility districts and several emergency services districts.
Of those 1.7 parcels, 60 percent area residential, 25 percent commercial and remainder industrial and other classifications.
Last year, the total appraised property value was about $325 billion, which equated to $7.5 billion in property tax collections.
Each year, HCAD appraisers determine the January 1 market value of all taxable property.
Property owners can protest those appraised values during the equalization phase of the appraisal process. The 2009 protest deadline was May 31.
Property owners can file protests electronically through HCAD’s “iFile” process, and HCAD makes an offer through its “iSettle” process. If the property owner chooses to reject the offer, they can participate in a formal hearing process before HCAD’s appraisal review board, which is manned by a group of independent citizens.
The next step in the protest process is binding arbitration, which carries a $500 fee. A property owner can also take his or her case to district court if all other methods fail to net the result he or she is seeking.
To date, 20,000 cases have been resolved through the iSettle process, he said, and more are expected this year.
Once the appraised tax rolls are distributed to the taxing entities in August, the “collection phase” begins. Taxing entities set their tax rates and send out tax bills to property owners in their jurisdiction.
Tax payments are due by Jan. 31. Penalties and interest may be added to accounts not paid up by this date.
For more information about the Harris County Appraisal District, property values or the appraisal process, go to http://www.hcad.org
06/01/2009
Bowling went out with a Bang!
The Cy-Fair Ten Pin Challenge Strikes for Scholarships bowling tournament on Tuesday, May 26 at Copperfield Bowl was a huge success. Thanks to all of our supporters for a great event.
Thanks to the auction and raffle item donors Advanced Cosmetic & Wellness Center, Adventures in Advertising/Angelini & Associates, Aerodrome – Willowbrook, American Heart Association, Arthur Murray Dance Studios, Avalon Insurance Concepts, Avon – Jamie Mayeux, Barhorst Insurance Agency, Berry Center, Billings Jewelers of Houston, Broadstone Cypress Apartments, Casa Del Mar Beachfront Suites, Casa Ole` Mexican Restaurant-Hwy 6, CenterPoint Energy, The Children’s Museum of Houston, Clayton Personnel Services, Cobb Fendley & Associates Inc., Copperfield Bowl, Crowne Plaza Houston-Brookhollow, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Cy-Fair Lifestyles and Homes, Cypress Creek YMCA, Cypress Taekwon-Do, Dickens Delivery Service Inc., Dog's Day Inn, Eco Suds Hand Car Wash, Excel Immediate Medical Care, GAMESPlus, Gevity, Goode Co. Barbeque, HEB – Cypress Market, Holiday Inn San Antonio Downtown – Market Square, Homemade Gourmet – Janna Jaeger, Homewood Suites by Hilton Northwest/Cy-Fair, The Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston Premium Outlets, IHOP – Cypress, Jersey Meadow Golf Course, Langham Creek Family YMCA, Leadership North Houston, Lone Star College-CyFair, Maid Brigade of NW Houston, Massage Envy – Cypress, Matrix Martial Arts, MH&S Accountants & Consultants, MillerCoors, Mischer Development, Mission Burrito, Mountasia, On the Border-Cypress, Paintball Bonanza, ProLine Supply Company, Russo’s New York Pizzeria, Sam Houston Race Park, San Antonio Zoo, Schulte Charitable Foundation, SHW Group, Skeeter’s Auto Service, Space Center Houston, Sprint, Sterling Bank, Summerville at Cy-Fair, The Sun, Sweet Tomatoes, Taisho Steak & Sushi, Texadelphia-CyFair, TownePlace Suites by Marriott - Houston Central, Waiting to Exhale and Windsor Cypress Apartments.
Archived News
05/01/2009 Bowling Tourney Offers Chance to Rally for a Cause at the Alley
05/01/2009 Committees Offer Bang for the Buck
04/21/2009 Green Squad Says Start Sustainability Effort With ‘Low-Hanging Fruit’
04/21/2009 Law enforcement is looking for a few good sponsors
04/21/2009 Applications due for Salute to Law Enforcement scholarship
04/20/2009 Chamber announces Mary Evans as new President
04/16/2009 Chamber on a roll with Ten Pin Challenge
04/02/2009 Sprint Proudly Presents Salute to Law Enforcement
04/02/2009 Texas economy fares better than most in midst of national recession
04/02/2009 TXDOT officials urges Chamber’s continued support of Cy-Fair area mobility
03/31/2009 Chamber on a Roll with Ten Pin Challenge
03/17/2009 Training Expert Says Building Clients’ Trust Can Boost Sales, Even in Tough Times
03/06/2009 Texas A&M’s Chief Economist Predicts Economic Recovery by Year’s end if Government Gets Moving
03/05/2009 Cy-Fair Area Congressional Representatives Voted Against Economic Stimulus Bill
02/20/2009 Erin Al-Salman resigns as chamber president
02/12/2009 Economic Forecast Luncheon is set for March 6
02/05/2009 Economic Forecast Luncheon Announces Keynote Speaker
02/05/2009 Legislative Staff Members Preview 2009 State Session
01/19/2009 Fifteen Years and Still Going…Chamber Herd Rides Again
01/13/2009 Chamber Leaders Respond to Challending Times with Optimistic Outlook