December 2007

News

12/17/2007

Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union Spring Swing Golf Tournament is getting into the Swing

The tournament will be held March 31 at Jersey Meadow Golf Course, 8502 Rio Grande .

The tournament kicks off with registration from 9:30 - 11:00 a.m. During that time participants can also take part in a putting contest and fuel up at lunch, for a day on the greens. Golfing gets underway at 11:30 a.m. with a scramble-shotgun start. Starting at 5:30 p.m., an awards dinner and auction wrap up the event.

As in years past, a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Bear Creek, Cypress and Northwest Assistance Ministries.

For more information about sponsorship opportunities, tournament registration or auction items should call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber at 281-955-1100 or sherri@cyfairchamber.com.

12/17/2007

Rustlin' Up Herd Members for the Fourteenth Year

It is that time again and Trail Boss John Fox of Fox and Bubela, Inc. is rustlin' up Herd Members to collect funds to purchase livestock at the Cy-Fair ISD FFA Auction on Saturday, February 2, at the district's Exhibit Center on Telge Road .

The Herd is a group of Cy-Fair Houston Chamber businesses and individuals who donate funds to purchase "freezer sale" animals - those that are not purchased during the live auction. The meat is then processed and donated to Bear Creek, Cypress and Northwest Assistance Ministries.

The following generous "Trail Riders" have already reserved their spots in the Herd! Adventures in Advertising, Apartment - Home Search - Houston, Balfour All American, Caldwell Companies, Joyce Berube, CenterPoint Energy, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Cy-Fair Rotary Club, Debbie Emery, George Hobson, Gary Brown & Associates Inc., Dirk Goldsmith, Haginas & Chapman, Donnie & Linda Humphries, Independence Bank, Judge J. Kent Adams, Lakey Electric Co., Lone Star Quickprint, Maid Brigade of NW Houston, McCall, Gibson & Company, PLLC, Darcy & Bob Mingoia, ProLine Supply, RADCO Construction Sevices LTD, Reach Unlimited Inc., Resource One Credit Union, Rick Berry & Associates, Severn Trent Environmental Services, Signs Now, Wal-Mart/Cypress Rosehill, Weatherton-Cole Insurance Agency, Pam Wells, White-Tucker Company.

Businesses or individuals who want to be "Trail Riders" in the Herd should contact the Cy-Fair Chamber. For more information, call Sherri Padalino at 281-955-1100 or e-mail sherri@cyfairchamber.com.

12/12/2007

Installation Celebration to Honor Local Businesses

and Inaugurate New Chairman, Officers and Board

The Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce will honor local outstanding businesses, install new officers and directors and recognize retiring directors at its Installation banquet on Thursday, January 24, 2008.

The Installation Celebration will be held at the Crowne Plaza Houston - Brookhollow Hotel, 12801 Northwest Freeway, from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

As has been the custom for a number of years, the outgoing Chairman Jennifer Pittman of AmegyBank of Texas will honor local businesses for outstanding service.

The "Chairman's Awards" are an opportunity for the Chairman of the Board to recognize those businesses that have many extraordinary contributions to the Chamber and the Cy-Fair community. The announcement of the award-winners is highly-anticipated and a secret until the evening's festivities.

In addition, to the Chairman's Awards, the 2008 Chairman of the Board Reginald Lillie of Reginald Lillie Insurance Service, officers and directors will also be installed.

2008 officers are Vice Chairmen Rhonda Welch, CenterPoint Energy (Administrative); Dr. Diane Troyer, Cy-Fair College/NHMCCD (Community Development); Jim Fordice, Maid Brigade of NW Houston (Member Services); Debbie Blackshear, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union (Special Events); Fred Koetting, Schulte Building Systems (Secretary); Martha Torres, Capital One Bank (Treasurer).

New directors to be installed are Debbie Blackshear, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union; Jeffrey Hastings, Spain Hastings Ward Carey & Chambers; April Jones, Willowbrook Mall; Greg Nelson, Hewlett-Packard Company; Mark Sappington, Cobb, Fendley & Associates, Inc.; Jeff Skinner, Jogler Inc. and Ryan Sweeney, NewQuest Properties.

Returning directors are Richard Ancy, Coors Brewing Company; Brenda Angelini, Adventures in Advertising; Dr. David Anthony, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD; Mike Bubela, Fox & Bubela, Inc.; Mike Castro, City of Jersey Village; Larry Craig, Houston Coca-Cola Bottling Company; Joe Necker, Bridgeland; Ron Roberson, Caldwell Companies and Tom Sturm, Signs Now.

Retiring directors are George Hobson, Cypress-Fairbanks ISD; Todd King, Opus West Corporation; Jimmy Martin, Hewlett-Packard Company; Brenda McDaniel, Wal-Mart/Cypress Rosehill; Ann McGovern, Sam Houston Race Park ; Joseph Natoli, National Processing Company and Mike Reiland, Carl's Bar-B-Q, will be honored at the banquet.

Join the following companies as sponsors at the event. AmegyBank of Texas, Bridgeland, City of Jersey Village, Cy-Fair College/NHMCCD, Cypress Fairbanks Medical Center Hospital, Houston Community Newspapers/The SUN, CenterPoint Energy, Cy-Fair Federal Credit Union, Fox & Bubela Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, PBK Architects Inc., Cobb, Fendley & Associates Inc., Crowne Plaza Houston - Brookhollow, Independence Bank, Prairie View A&M University, Towne Lake A Caldwell Companies Community, North Cypress Medical Center, Willowbrook Mall, Comfort Suites, Executive Inn & Suites, Motel 6, Jersey Meadow Golf Course and Keller-Williams Realty Greater Northwest.

Individual tickets to the event are $55. Silver, gold, platinum and V.I.P. table sponsorships may be purchased for $750, $1,000, $1,500 or $3,000.

To be part of this premier event, call Sherri Padalino at the Chamber Office at 281-955-1100.

12/06/2007

Rail district chair says a funding source is key to future rail projects

Members of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce’s Transportation Committee/Highway 290 Passenger Rail Coalition asked Gulf Coast Freight Rail District Chairman Mark Ellis what role the newly-combined committee could play in helping the new rail district move forward with freight rail and commuter rail projects.

“Your committees have been studying transportation and rail issues for a long time,” Ellis said to members at the committee’s Dec. 6 meeting. “Go out in to the community and educate people on the need for funding for the district.”

Ellis said that legislation that created the Texas Rail and Relocation Fund, which could fund the district’s projects, did not set up a revenue stream for that Fund. Ellis said he is doubtful the Texas Legislature will set aside state dollars for the Fund when there are so many unfunded transportation projects in the Texas Department of Transportation’s jurisdiction.

That fund, which was supported by the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce, was established to fund the relocation, acquisition, improvement, rehabilitation and expansion of rail facilities for freight and commuter rail services.

The Chamber’s board passed a resolution last year calling for legislators to designate a state-funded revenue stream to go into that account, so that the Gulf Coast Freight Rail District, Texas Department of Transportation, Houston-Galveston Area Council and other public and private partners can work toward getting commuter and freight rail projects underway in the Houston region.

Ellis said a Freight Rail Consolidation study identified about $4 billion in projects that could relieve congestion, enhance public safety and quality of life, and promote economic development in Harris County and the surrounding region.

The Houston Galveston Area Council’s (HGAC) Regional Commuter Rail Connectivity Study identified another $3.4 billion in proposed projects.

The Gulf Coast Freight Rail District’s new project planning committee has proposed two major freight rail-related projects – at a cost of about $170 million – that would get the ball rolling in two areas of concentrated freight-rail congestion.

The first project proposes several grade-separations, and street-closure projects in Houston ’s East End , which is a concentrated source of railroad tracks and traffic. That project would require about $67 million in funding.

The second project – at the Port of Houston - focuses on reconstructing a bridge that carries rail traffic from two merging lines, grade separations and track installations.

Ellis said he also believes the freight rail yards need to be relocated out of Houston , and in to areas that are easily accessed by the rail companies. That would free up some of the space on rail lines inside the city that now have rail cars stacked up on the tracks for long periods of time.

“It would also help free up those lines for commuter rail in the future,” Ellis said.

Ellis said he is “hopefully optimistic” that the District will move forward with projects in the next two years. He said the commuter rail options would probably eventually fall under the Harris County Toll Road Authority or the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County.

He said there is a proposal under discussion that would establish a freight-user cargo fee to fund projects and provide a revenue stream for the Gulf Coast Freight Rail District.

The challenge is getting the railroad companies, which have a say in the district’s projects and activities, to buy in to the projects and funding options, said Ellis. For many years those companies have taken the position that the railroads have been in the area for 150 years and the roads, city and neighborhoods developed around them, so they should not have to contribute, he said.

“That is not going to work anymore,” Ellis said. “The public and private sectors will have to work together on these solutions.”

“There is a lot of congestion in Harris County ’s freight rail network and that web needs a lot of improvement,” he said. “We will figure out and fund what works best for our community and surrounding counties.”

Ellis said he is “hopefully optimistic” that the District will move forward with projects in the next two years. (you already mentioned this quote earlier in the article).

12/06/2007

Harless said interim is proving busier than legislative session

State Rep. Patricia Harless, District 126, said in the 18-month interim period between the 2007 and 2009 legislative sessions there are several committees gathering information and public input on key issues such as transportation funding, illegal immigration, affordable housing and the state’s biennial budget.

Harless told members of Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce’s governmental affairs committee Dec. 6 that those committees will take that information and make recommendations on legislation for the 81 st session.

She said now is the time for residents and Chamber members to contact Cy-Fair area legislators to discuss issues of concern, and legislation they would like to see introduced in 2009.

Harless said there are key issues she will champion on behalf of her constituents: changes in state law to help in the fight against massage parlors that serve as fronts for prostitution; continued protest against low income/affordable housing funding granted to developers who do not always utilize the money they way they should; and support for the proposed Cypress Creek Greenway project and the “Green Medians” project on FM 1960.

She said she would also immerse herself in the work of two interim committees she sits on: the County Affairs committee, which will study illegal immigration issues facing Texas ; and the Transportation Committee, which will examine the Trans-Texas Corridor road project, metropolitan planning authorities, and alternative funding methods for state transportation projects.

“One of the things I am most concerned about is the massage parlors that serve as fronts for prostitution,” Harless said. “We rode around with a deputy constable one weekend and it is scary to see what happens after midnight on FM 1960 on Friday and Saturday nights. There are 10 to 15 cars parked in front of these massage parlors.”

Harless said she would ask County Affairs to study revisions to the law governing massage parlor operations that could cut back on illegal activity and allow law enforcement to better police those that are breaking the law. Some suggestions include limiting hours of operation and prohibiting tinted windows on the store fronts.

Dr. David Anthony, Cy-Fair ISD’s superintendent and a governmental affairs committee member, said the same study should be applied to illegal gambling parlors.

“They bring an element into our community that we would prefer would stay out,” Anthony said.

Harless said the House Urban Affairs committee would study the affordable housing issue.

“My office has taken the stance that we will protest every affordable housing funding proposal in our area except for those that fund senior housing,” Harless said. “There are 71 affordable housing apartment complexes in District 126. It is not that we do not want affordable housing in the area, we just believe that the agency charged with overseeing these complexes is doing a poor job of overseeing the projects and are not making the owners responsible for upholding their end.”

Harless said she attended a public hearing recently and spoke out against three applications for state funding for low-to-moderate income apartment complex projects in the Cy-Fair and Spring/Klein areas. One of them, which met with tremendous community opposition, involved the Woodedge Apartments complex on Green Creek Drive off Jones Road.

As for issues facing the Transportation committee she sits on, Harless said the Texas Department of Transportation is up for “sunset review” this session, and a special committee has been appointed to comb through the agency’s books to see if there is indeed a transportation funding crisis in our state, or if TXDOT is simply not spending funds wisely.

“I don’t think this will be a pretty session in terms of transportation,” Harless said.

She said the committee would look at several different methods of funding transportation projects across the state – the gas tax has not kept up with the demand – and issues involving private versus public entities building and operating toll-road projects.

With many issues surrounding the immigration debate, Harless said the County Affairs committee would focus on the cost of housing illegal immigrants in jail and prison facilities. She said law enforcement sources indicate that about 30 percent of prisoners are illegally in the United States.

The committee would talk about giving law enforcement officials the right to ask for proof of citizenship, and work closely with other agencies on deportation of illegal immigrants convicted of crimes, Harless said.

Governmental Affairs committee members asked Harless to work with them on education, insurance, affordable housing and transportation issues.

Archived News

11/13/2007 Caldwell Companies weaves a sense of community into development projects

11/01/2007 Panama Canal expansion will have ripple effect on local roads and rail

11/01/2007 County Judge says bond issue will not increase taxes

10/07/2007 New President named at the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce

10/07/2007 Update for November General Membership Luncheon

10/07/2007 Cy-Fair Chamber Herd Stampedes into 2008

10/07/2007 Non-profits join forces to raise funds for barrier-free playground at Matzke Park

10/01/2007 Chamber announces 2008 Board Officers

10/01/2007 Chamber members urged to support CFISD bond election

10/01/2007 Group launches campaign supporting Cy-Fair ISD bond election