Super neighborhood 66.

Super neighborhood 67.

Ken Rogers, President, Greater Third Ward, Super Neighborhood.

Okay.

Super Neighborhood 68.

Tamara Alexander.

Oh.

Oh, I'm sorry.

Paulette Wagner.

Okay.

But I am not the president.

Beverly is yours the president.

But I'm here representing if she's not.

Okay.

Thank you.

Priscilla.

Oh, sorry.

Okay.

83.

Tomorrow, Bell, President.

Okay.

Great.

And then Wondale Wayside.

Lindsay.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Anyone else that we didn't call or that I missed earlier in the roll call?

Spring branch central super neighborhood number 85.

Okay.

Thank you.

Super neighborhood 71.

Um, Sunny Side, Melanie Young, President.

Oh my.

Uh, Mitchell Walker, downtown Super Neighborhood 61.

Uh, Michael Graves, Super Neighborhood 15, Woodland Heights.

Okay.

Hi, that's the council member Kyla Carter talking.

Just wanted to say hello.

Okay, welcome.

Uh we'll have an opportunity for elected officials to speak at the end of the meeting.

Okay, I think that's it.

I'll turn it back over to the chair.

All right.

Do we have a quorum?

Oh, oh, yes, we do.

Definitely.

Clearly do.

Sorry, feet.

Yeah, because there was quite a bit of numbers in those in attendance.

So happy to hear that.

All right, we'll move right along into our agenda.

Everyone has had an opportunity to see it, and I will call for a motion to accept tonight's agenda.

Uh make a motion, we accept tonight's agenda.

I said, Tamara Bale, second by Cheryl O'Brien.

All those in favor.

Aye.

No.

Any opposed?

Opposed by Jeff Baker?

No.

No, I was saying I.

Sorry.

Oh, oh.

Any opposed.

Okay.

All right.

Let's move right along.

So guys, we are we have the privilege today of welcoming two individuals to give a presentation to us, and we will go ahead and get started with the metro.

Um, let's see.

I saw him earlier.

I'm I'm on here.

Good evening.

Oh, there we go.

All right, Wilfrick.

We will turn it on over to you.

Do you have a do you have a slide presentation?

I do.

Am I able to share?

Let me try it.

I do believe so.

Ronda, is he?

He's able to share, correct?

Let me try it.

Can you all see my screen?

There we go.

Yes.

Thank you.

All right, thanks so much.

All right.

Well, good evening.

My name uh is Wilfredo Santa Maria, the manager of public engagement at Metro.

Uh, and I'd like to first of all thank uh Letitia and the Super Neighborhood Alliance tonight uh for allowing me some time to speak.

I see we have a full agenda, so I'll I'll keep it brief, but I I did want to uh make sure that this information got out uh to the super neighborhood alliance and all the super neighborhood councils.

I think it's really crucial information.

We have uh some of the most incredible community leaders in the city right on on this call.

Um so I'll be giving a brief overview of Metro's new fair system.

Uh Metro has launched the new ride metro fare system uh recently.

We've upgraded our entire fare collection system to make it uh easier to pay and a lot more flexible, and I'll get into how that actually is gonna look like.

We actually did what we called a quote unquote soft launch back in November.

We we knew it was gonna take it's gonna take a large undertaking to transition folks from the old metro card to the new metro card.

Uh the big deadline that I think everybody needs to keep in mind is April 4th.

After April 4th, you won't be able to use uh the old Metro Q card.

So starting April 5th, uh you will have to use either the new Metro card or actually one of the other multiple ways of paying.

Um on March 1st, uh you won't be able to load additional funds onto the current Q card.

So you'll still be able to use it uh if you have a new balance on it, but you won't be able to load additional uh funds on it.

So we've actually uh been sending notices to all our registered riders.

Anybody with any contact information for we've been emailing them, texting them.

We're getting ready to do uh like a physical mail out to those folks as well, just notifying everybody as much as possible with as much heads up on this transition.

Um we've also have been setting up eight extra mini ride stores, so they're like little booths at eight of our highest ridership transit centers throughout the entire system where people can just walk up to an attendant and get their new metro card or even ask for directions or get all types of just metro uh information.

Um go to the next card.

So the ride metro fare card is our new electronic reusable fare card, so you'll be able to use it to pay for riding the local bus, the parking ride, the metro rail, and the metro curb to curb services.

Um and like I said, the the big date is April 4th.

Uh, you will be able to put funds now through March 1st.

We also have a ride metro app.

We actually launched a new Metro app.

We used to have two separate apps, one for paying, one for trip planning.

Trip planning and payments will now be in one metro app.

So you can all download the ride metro app right now and set up a virtual card in your app so you don't actually have to order anything uh additional unless you want to get a discount, which I'll get I'll talk about in a minute.

One of the major benefits of getting a metro cart is actually for every 10 pay trips you do, you get one free ride.

Uh so it's a major incentive for the folks that actually do ride metro uh regularly uh and uh get them to use the the metro card.

So by paying, I mentioned we're gonna have multiple ways to pay.

So obviously we're gonna we're gonna be able to pay with um the metro card, but we'll actually be able to pay tap to go.

It's just like whenever you go to a regular store and tap your your credit or debit card, you'll be able to tap your credit or debit card on our tap machines and just hop on the bus or hop on the rail.

You won't you won't actually need to get a metro card if you if if you don't want one, uh, or if you don't have a discount card, you won't have to uh get a new one.

This will be I I think really useful folks uh with the rodeo.

Um uh you won't have to get a special metro card or think about trying to figure out how to pay for it.

You can just tap your metro card and hop on the rail.

You'll also be able to pay with Apple Pay or Google Pay or with uh our ride metro app.

There's a QR code you'll be able to scan.

So it is a major upgrade from our current system.

You write our current system you can only pay uh with a metro card or with cash or the Q ticketing app.

But now moving forward, you can even pay like uh I've seen people pay with their Apple watches because they have Apple Pay on it.

Uh it'll be that much more convenient for folks or or if you have any friends come from out of town or people coming from out of town, they won't need to get a whole metro card just to pay for for the metro.

They've always just tap uh their debit or credit card uh and go.

Um transfers are currently free for three hours and they will stay that way.

So uh transfers are free in any direction for three hours with our metro card.

So you'll be able to do that with the metro card with the app or with our with your debit or credit card.

And then you can buy the metro card either online at Metro RideStore.com at any of our Metro Ride stores, our physical locations throughout the city, or at our participating retailers.

We are actively expanding which retailers are gonna have the metro cards available.

Um it'll be you're gonna be able to buy the metro cards at um, you know, those walk kiosks where you can get like gift cards at Walgreens or CBS, like those that location that'll have uh our Metro cards available.

So it'll be a lot easier uh through the system now to get those distributed as well.

Um I mentioned discounted cards, so just as a reminder, there are 50% discounts for students.

That's K through 12 and university and trade schools as well.

Seniors 65 to 69, and then folks with disabilities get a 50% discount.

Seniors over 70 ride for free.

So if you know somebody that's over 70 doesn't have the metro card, uh it doesn't have to get the free metro card, they're gonna be able to ride for free.

Decorative veterans also ride for free, and then qualified veterans with a disability also ride for free.

To get the metro discounted card, you do have to apply online at uh at Metro RideStore.com.

Um, and then that was a brief overview.

If you'd like to get more information, I'll put my contact uh in the chat.

Um you can go online to our website at ride metro.org slash fair system.

And with that I conclude.

You're on mute, Letisha.

You're on mute.

Thank you.

I just had a whole conversation with myself.

Thank you so very much, Wilfred, for sharing that information.

And I was asking if we had any questions, and we do.

First person up is none other than Doug Smith.

Hi, Wilfred.

Uh, do seniors have to get a new card, or is the old one since it's free valid?

No, you do have to get the new uh metro card um with the discount.

Yes.

If we get it replaced.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

The next person I'm gonna call on is Mr.

Greg.

Hello, thank you for presenting tonight and being here.

What constitutes a decorated veteran?

So that actually will have to uh that application's on our website.

It'll have to go through the VA, so they'll be able to kind of uh uh designate that.

There's a couple qualified so you don't know what the qualifiers are for which level okay no, yeah.

The VA is the one that uh uh that approves that okay.

Okay, so next we have number three, Keith Downey's hand is up.

Um my question is will you have kiosks over at the transit ups?

Yes, so we have some many rights sources that we're calling them at eight um of uh of our transcenters in the area.

Okay, Doug, your hand is still up, and then we have if you have another okay, all right, Dexter.

Yeah, uh, I gotta piggyback on uh uh Greg's uh uh question.

What is a decorated uh veteran?

We really need to get that sorted out.

I'm retired military, and I really would like to get that online or something so that we don't have all these other veterans going through chaos trying to figure this out.

Sure, I'll have to follow up with you on that one.

Um it's just uh when you fill it out.

We hand it over to the VA for them to kind of uh for them to um approve of it.

Okay, that sounds good, but but many of us are retired.

We already have our permanent IDs.

Why can't this be streamlined?

I'm sorry.

Oh, okay.

I'm sorry.

Uh why can't this be streamlined?

A lot of us are retired.

We have our permanent identification cards.

Right.

So it's not all veterans, and so because the veterans affairs department kind of manages that program.

You uh I do encourage you to fill it out on our website, and then um it'll be submitted to the VA, and then they'll be able to uh approve um uh that application.

Okay, thank you.

Anyone else?

Now people can order these cards online, right?

They don't have to go to one of the kiosks.

That's correct.

Even the discounted cards can be ordered online.

Yes, that's correct.

Okay, thanks.

Good deal.

Well, that thank you so very much, um, Wilfredo.

We appreciate you for being here and giving us with that information.

And as soon as you have an answer about the decorated veteran, please let us know.

Um, and we will share that with the team.

Um, I see one more hand.

Uh Catherine Easterly.

Yes, uh, somebody just texted me actually just watching and said, ask me to ask how much the discount is for students and seniors over 65 but under 70.

That is 50% off.

So for a local bus, that's 60 cents.

Right.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Okay.

Catherine Alexander.

Yes.

Uh, what about veteran spouses of diseased veterans?

No, so it's not um, it's not for spouses, it's just for for veterans.

Okay, if there are no other questions, we will move right along.

Thank you again for presenting and and as stated.

Once he has that information, he'll share it, and then we'll make sure that it is public and um present that to you all.

Thanks so much.

He makes sure he put his contact in the like you say it in the uh chat.

Sure.

Well do.

Perfect.

All right.

So while we wait on that, we will go ahead and move right along.

I'm sure many of you have been um awaiting this update.

So we have Mr.

Jim Blagburn, who is the professor in the practice of environmental law, and he is going to be presenting on uh Bentov.

Thank you, Letitia.

I appreciate it.

I've I've been recognizing uh many of you the names that have come up here, uh old friends, uh a few clients, uh, people I have worked with.

I'm Jim Blackburn.

I'm an environmental lawyer, and I have uh found myself in the middle of this uh what I will call a mess involving the expansion of Ben Taub uh kind of emergency um care facility, the level one trauma center uh that exists over in the medical center.

I got involved uh with my friend Ann Hamilton, uh who brought to my attention that Ben Taub was seeking to condemn uh land that was part of Herman Park.

It is uh piece of Herman Park that is on the medical center side of Cambridge, um, but is right across from the zoo, and um and sort of that uh south side of Herman Park.

And parkland is not supposed to be taken for non-perk purposes unless that there has been a full and thorough analysis of alternatives, and everything had been done to reduce impact.

Now, I think it caught us all by surprise that there was a condemnation of parkland that was proposed here.

And I went back to the bond election election language, and back in 2023, there had been a bond election about the expansion of uh well for Harris Health generally, which is the group that oversees uh Ben Tob.

And Harris Health got a two a 2.5 billion dollar bond election approved by voters, but the language around Ben Taub said that the expansion would be within the Ben Tob campus.

And so that you know kind of raised a double flag to me.

Uh, one uh seemed contrary to the bond language, and certainly no one had been told during the bond election that there would be parkland taken and that there would actually be an expansion beyond the Ben Tob campus.

Now, there is no one that I am working with that is opposed to Ben Taub and its expansion in any way, but when it comes to the condemnation of parkland, there are certain legal procedures that must be followed, and we're very concerned that they haven't been followed and may not be followed.

The bottom line here is that there have been we I have written seven different letters to the commissioner's court, to the county judge, the commissioner's county attorney, uh each one raising issues.

Most recently we have complained because on the one hand, there are settlements that are being pursued.

Um, I do not represent the Herman Park Conservancy, which is the nonprofit that runs Herman Park.

I'm working kind of loosely with a group called Protect Herman Park.

Uh there's kind of an alliance of those of us that are concerned.

Um, and we made a freedom of information or an open records act request to ask for some documents that uh Harris Health uh we we discovered they had these documents by going back through the reports of the various meetings, and we asked the county to provide us with copies of these, and we were told that they would not uh give these documents to us.

They have asked the attorney general if they can withhold these documents.

And I think that almost summarizes probably more than anything, kind of the current situation.

Where on the one hand, there is a need for a hundred bed expansion.

Uh, we don't dispute that.

We think it can be done within the campus.

We think it can be done uh within without having to condemn parkland.

And if they are condemning parkland, they're trying to condemn nine acres of parkland, and they certainly don't need nine acres of parkland to uh build a hundred bed expansion.

Uh, we think ultimately this is about the long-term expansion of Ben Taub.

And that site they're condemning is in the middle of the mapped 100-year floodplain for Brace by.

We think that it just doesn't make a lot of sense to pursue this alternative.

We're hopeful that it can be done within the current footprint.

Uh, we have not given up on that, although currently commissioners court is headed toward a March 19th hearing on chapter 26 taking they will vote whether to go forward with the condemnation at some point.

It's not clear that they will vote on March 19th.

Um I think what I'm probably most concerned about is the absence of transparency, uh, starting with the bond election and carrying through to frankly us being refused access to documents that are clearly public documents.

Um there are settlement discussions going on between the Herman Park Conservancy, um, the county, I think the city's involved in it, Harris Health is involved in it.

Um we are not, I mean, we are not any recognized group, uh, but I just wanted you to know that there are discussions going on that we're not part of.

Um, we are, I think outsiders in a very real sense that are simply advocates for parkland.

We really are concerned about the precedent that this may set.

And uh I think you know, the you know, the worry is parks are supposed to be pretty much untouchable unless they're just incredibly weird circumstances, and we don't think those exist here.

Um kind of where this will go, I I don't know.

We're trying to understand uh kind of what impacts uh uh Harris Health has had in other parts of the community.

We're trying to understand whether it makes sense for the level one trauma center expansion to be in another part of town rather than the medical center, and that's one place where input from you guys could be quite useful is to um uh help us uh understand better long term.

I did not intend to study the provision of medical services across Harris County.

Uh that's kind of where this is beginning to take us.

Um I think with that I will stop and you know, I was just trying to give you an overview of kind of some of the confusion and chaos that surrounds this issue.

If that's your perception, I would tell you it's not wrong.

Um, I don't think this has been handled well from the beginning, and it's it really hasn't gotten a lot better as we've gotten deeper and deeper.

It seems like every rock we turn over, something crawl out from under it.

So uh, and with that, Tamara has been one of our strong supporters, and uh it looks like she's got her hand up.

So, tomorrow, you want to jump in?

Yes, uh, first off, thank you so much for uh coming to talk to us this evening.

Uh, as many of you all know I live in McGregor, I live by the bayou on this end where Sheryl Num lives on the bayou at the other end and all the way down um uh going past Bellway 8.

And uh when this came to my attention, I was really really blindsided by it because as an advocate for the 2023 bond where they said they were gonna take money and build a new LBJ and then take money 100 million uh 400 beds, 400 million, building it uh in the bond language on the Bentop campus.

I was taken aback when around June they switched that and said, No, we're gonna take Herman Park.

Um, this this bayou can only hold so much uh as it is, and because Text Dot has put in a drainage pipe from Saint Emmanuel that will pump water from St.

Emmanuel now into this bayou.

Uh, and if you take nine acres that is in the floodplain, what's going to happen next?

The floodgates that they put up to protect the medical center ended up being a horror story for Stella Link and Meyer Land because the water had to go somewhere.

So I'm not just concerned about where they're gonna do an expansion, the potential of flooding.

In addition to that, once parkland is gone, it doesn't come back.

And then some of the side conversations that I heard about the justification of taking Harmon Park, that parks are really supposed to be for the wealthy, so taking nine acres from Herman Park don't matter.

Herman Park is the people's park.

Herman Park is our central park.

I mean, there's no one in Houston, I think, who hadn't had a happy moment in Herman Park.

And so I I mean, when I went to as many of the town halls, I did not go to all of them, but I went to Leslie Brionis and she had the last one.

It was at Tracy G Community Center.

While out there, Dr.

Porsche was there, and I asked him, I said, if each town hall that I've attended, you say you cannot go up at Bentab, you cannot tear down the garage.

I said, What about old Ben Tob, which is still standing?

He said, I'm not familiar with that building.

I said, I know we're not gonna do that today.

He said, I'm not familiar with that building.

And so I said, Okay, that's fine.

I'll deal with you on Sunday.

When I went to commissioner's court to speak on Thursday, I brought that up in Leslie.

That is exactly what he said.

Because you all see old Ben Tob was so strong when they built the current Bentab, they couldn't even demolish it.

So they used the first floor for the pharmacy.

They use the fifth floor for unhoused patients.

They use the tower for uh expanded mental care.

So it easily can house a hundred more beds.

The capacity that Ben Top was built at, the current one, was around 550.

They have reduced the beds to 400 by a choice.

So I don't think that number one, you should get our bond money and then do what you want to do with it instead of what you say you got to do with it.

And I don't think that you should take park land that we can we're not growing any more land.

I so I don't think, and if they have not been transparent and they've not been forthcoming, and in many of the town hall meetings, the meeting might have been two hours, but they talked for an hour and maybe 30 minutes, so you didn't have enough, and there was a lot of people that showed up for the meetings, and that is why I have gotten involved in this, and this is something that should concern all of Houston because I'm telling you, Herman Park is all our parts, and to put additional hospital care in a floodplain, because I'm not happy with what they did at LBJ, because even if you elevate it, how in the world are the people around it supposed to get there if everything is flooded around it on the roads and there's no access.

I do believe health care needs to be spread out.

That's why you see Memorial Herman with different hospitals around town, Methodists with hospitals around town.

I don't think it all needs to go in one area.

I think all of Houston should have access to health care and hospitals.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tamara.

Thank you so very much.

Um, and let's move into our questions.

Cheryl, your hands up, and then Keith, I believe you guys have a question.

Okay, so I'm um wanted to point out, Mr.

Blackburn, that there's some questions in the chat, and I didn't know if you saw them.

So I wanted to make sure that that ever that they were brought up.

Michael Graves has the question.

Do we know if there's a reverter clause in the agreement that saw the land contributed to the city?

The city is in the past lost land for trying to use it for non-park purposes.

There's about a response from Ann Kennedy that says there is a reverter clause.

And I was wondering if you could address that for them.

And then E.L.

Crady also wants to know what's the best way for neighbors who use the park or are near it to voice concerns about the lack of transparency, the apparent bait switch of the post-2023 bond election.

Um a couple of people have asked about that.

So if you're not going to be able to do it, let me address those.

The proposal is for, I mean, one, there is a reverter clause, uh, as I understand it.

And that is why condemnation of this land has been proposed by Harris Health, uh, which is the parent organization of Bental.

Uh Harris Health in turn has to ask permission from the commissioner's court to use the power of condemnation.

So it becomes a county issue as well as a Harris Health issue.

So by going through condemnation, the reverter clause can be severed or can be condemned.

And so that's why it's not gonna be just a willing buyer, willing seller transaction, because then the reverter clause, I think would come into effect.

So that's my understanding why condemnation is being undertaken.

Um in terms of the best way for neighbors who use Herman Park.

Uh, one thing is to check out Protect Herman Park website, and there's contact information there.

I have also put my email address in uh the chat if there's somebody that would like to either get copies.

We have sent seven uh, I would say pretty serious letters to Harris Health and to the commissioners.

I'm happy to send copies of those to anybody'd like to see them.

If you're looking to for how to get involved, I can help you uh get in contact with some of the people that are helping put together the website and that are generally concerned.

Now, the Herman Park Conservancy is a group that I would urge everyone that's concerned to reach out to.

They are the nonprofit that's responsible for essentially taking care, they're the stewards of Herman Park.

Herman Park Conservancy has been in the middle of both of the discussions and frankly of a lot of pressure.

This has turned out to be kind of a uh high-powered high stakes behind the scenes set of encounters.

And um, I understand there's some very good people that want very much for Bentob to be expanded at this site.

And I I appreciate that.

On the other hand, I disagree with it.

Um very much for that.

Yeah, if you look at the chat, Mr.

Blackburn, because there's a couple of other questions that are kind of long, and you could address them at some point too.

Okay.

So we're gonna and we're gonna go ahead and go to Keith, whose hand is uh Keith.

Thank you.

Uh hey Jim, how are you doing?

I am good, Keith.

Good to see you.

Good seeing you too.

Good seeing you too.

Uh, I want to point out from architectural standpoint, it's I just like tomorrow said, when you can't go out, you go up.

And um, you know, this has been done uh in a lot of places around the country now where you don't have the the expansion space.

Um so now you go up.

And as long as you got air rights and there's no problem with that going high, going higher.

Uh I don't see why they can't on the ex on the old Ben Tob.

Uh I just don't understand why they can't do that uh and leave the park space alone.

Keith, we agree with you totally.

We got uh uh landscape architect and planner KJ Asakura to look through the site.

There's actually even places where you can get a foundation into undeveloped land on the site.

Uh we've submitted that, and Dr.

Porsa dismissed that, saying it's little pretty colored rectangles you guys have put on the uh on a map, uh, and you don't know anything and told us we didn't know anything about the medical business.

Um, I have now had an offer from one of the best structural engineers in the United States to come in free of charge to look at the Bentov campus.

And I have made that as a written offer to both Harris County and to Dr.

Porsa to bring this man in to try to help uh see if we can go up.

Um, I mean, our goal is to help Ben Tob achieve its goal without using parkland.

And we don't think that's an incredibly tough ask.

We're trying to help them solve the problem.

Um and uh somebody in the chat, I think, talked about that uh we're talking a high cost for a hundred beds, and I would tell you this is getting to be an extremely expensive hundred beds.

And Houston.

I'm sorry.

But I just want to I just want to add on Houston needs more green space, not less.

Well, we certainly agree with that.

So in the expensive for five minutes.

Well, in the chat, in the chat, there were quite a few more questions.

Um I'm gonna go through them really quick.

Um, what is the best place for neighbors um who use Herman Park or near it?

Um second, or near it to voice their concerns.

Get to your commissioner, the county commissioner's court, Judge Hidalgo, ultimately are the final decision makers here.

I think Herman, I think Harris Health and uh the Ben Taub uh management have made their decision.

I think the county commissioners and the county judge are still able to be persuaded.

They haven't heard a lot because honestly, we haven't tried to really go public with this so much, as try to just raise these questions and try to get answers to our questions.

And uh we've just been very dissatisfied with the answers we've gotten.

Are there other, let's see, what else have we got down?

There are uh we we addressed that one, and then we had they totally agree.

Um, what do we have to do?

And I think you just stated that um do we need to write letters of opposition?

Mm-hmm.

Or just even, you know, just transmitting your concern to the county, I think is really really probably the most important thing.

Uh if you know a staffer, write to a staffer.

If you know you know some of the elected uh county commissioners or the county judge, express your concern directly to them.

Um this is a situation that I found very surprising.

Um, I honestly didn't think something like this would have would have happened without a full explanation.

None of the under chapter 26 of the Parks and Wildlife Code, they're supposed to have a full analysis of alternatives as to why they have to take parkland.

None of us have seen that yet.

Um and um I'm not, I mean, I don't know for sure that it exists yet.

Um my kind of perception of what Dr.

Porsa has has said is I've done my analysis.

I'm an expert, trust me.

And uh I don't think we're at an age where trusting government has served us particularly well.

So I think it's reasonable to ask for information.

The next question is why add on instead of making it better.

Bentop needs some love.

I'm sorry, I missed that.

Why add on why add on to the hospital instead of making the hospital better?

I think that it's all about making the hospital better.

I think the intention of the people at Harris Health is to make the hospital better.

I think our intention is to make the hospital bit better.

I think the vision of how that happens is different.

I think we can see a an excellent Ben Tob within the current footprint with no need to go out.

And you know, I mean, I've done a lot of work with flooding with many of you on this call.

And you know, the last thing I think we need to be having is the county condemning land that is already mapped in the floodplain.

It's gonna get worse.

Um we we all know that they're redoing floodplain maps, and everything I'm hearing is that the floodplains will be larger.

And uh we don't need to be building, and the county ought not to be setting the example of building in these in floodplains.

Um it just makes no sense to have a level one trauma center that you can't get to when there's a flood, which is the most likely big emergency we're gonna have in this region.

So I don't know.

It doesn't make a lot of a lot of sense to me.

And that takes us right into our question from Greg.

What are the plans for detention on the property?

I have seen no plans for detention on the property.

I don't think I don't think there are plans yet.

I think they have said they will do detention on the property, but I don't think there's there are there are any plans that have been announced.

And you know, floodplain lands not great detention land because it's gonna be flooded when the rain comes.

Um so in some respects, uh it it even detention there doesn't make a lot of sense.

I mean, you can make storage for smaller storms, but it's the big storms we're all worried about.

Right.

All right, I think that's everything.

I hope that has helped to.

I don't know if that clarified anything, but uh I you know you've heard my best kind of analysis of it.

Like I said, send me an email if you'd like any more of this information, and by all means, check into this.

If you, you know, if this concerns you, let the commissioners know.

Let the judge know.

Um, and um let us know.

Thank you.

Perfect.

Thank you so very much.

Um, Tamara, your hand is up.

You had another question or a question.

No, I wanted to add to please talk to the council members because the if they if it does happen, the money will be paid according to what they said.

The city will get uh a bulk of the money, and of course the family will get some of the money.

But talk to the council members.

Uh I mean, and I need y'all to reach out because they've been kind of silent on this, and that's really disturbing to me of something that's so please, as he said, reach out to the commissioners or reach out to your council members and see what I think that's something that also can be done.

Thank you.

Thank you for that.

Appreciate it.

All right, ladies and gentlemen.

If there are no more questions for Jim Jim, thank you so very much for being here and providing us with your expert opinion or expert information because that is so neat.

And it has been a topic.

So thank you for having me.

Of course, of course.

It has been a topic of conversation for our super neighborhood.

So we're it was definitely a pleasure and an honor to have you here.

Okay, we're gonna move right along on our agenda.

And then we have Melanie.

Melanie, are you here?

Yes, I'm here.

Perfect.

Melanie's gonna give us an update, our voters' update for this meeting.

All right, I'm gonna try to share my screen, but you can let me know if it's if it doesn't come up.

We're here.

It's here.

All right.

All right, awesome.

Um, so just some um important dates um to think about and also share with your super neighborhood as it relates to the upcoming primary elections that's happening March 3rd.

Um early voting is kicking off um on Tuesday, February the 17th.

Um, and that goes through Friday, February 21st from 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

Um, then uh there's um Sunday um is February 22nd.

That's from 12 p.m.

to 7 p.m.

Monday, the 23rd through the Friday, the 27th, and that's 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

And also Friday the 20th is the ballot by mail application deadline.

And this document also just shares acceptable forms of identification.

And some additional things that I wanted to share two resources that I've recently shared out with my super neighborhood is the website that's called well really Harris Votes, the what's on my ballot.

Since some super neighborhoods are now going to be included with CD 18 and no longer in 9.

I think it's important to share the new ballots as well as who represents me so that way people can know who they're voting for and can try to do some some pre-research prior to that.

And I'll place those links in the chat.

Perfect.

Thank you so very much, Melanie.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for giving us that information today.

For those of you that do not recall, last year we decided to just have a section just because of the climate that we're in and how things are changing so rapidly.

So that is that section.

I did see someone's hand up.

Did it miss it or did they put their hand down?

Okay, Greg.

Yes, thank you.

I just want to know that it's not only CD 18, but there's a lot of us that have been changed into different congressional districts, including us.

In fact, our super neighborhood has been split into two now.

Yeah.

So everybody's checking to see what they're.

So we are currently um we actually were able to vote for 18 and we'll be able to vote for 18 in March, but um in 27 we will be 29.

So yeah, there's there's there's quite a few.

So anyone have any questions?

Yeah, yes.

Sorry.

What what did you say again?

We are voting for 18.

We will vote for 18 in March.

We voted for 18 in what January.

We'll vote for 18 in March, and then in 27, in 27, we'll be in 29.

Yeah, you're caught in that area, but switching.

No, baby, I don't think that's it, Letitia, sweetie.

I think that you all you this on the 17th, you all are in 29.

Yes.

No, 2027.

No, there's no 2027.

It's not changing in 2027.

So we have a registration card.

Have you received your voter registration card?

We vote, we're voting in March.

Yes.

For 18.

That's who we're voting for in March.

Okay, baby.

Make sure you check it.

Yeah, you better check it.

Because the boundaries are changing as of this March.

That's what we said as well.

And that and it will not change again until 2028 at the earliest.

Correct.

Okay.

In March, uh, they are on the November election and they are on two-year terms for Congress.

So Congress won't change in 27.

It doesn't change again until 28.

Okay.

Okay.

Well, right.

Just take a look at it, precious.

Yeah.

All right.

Any other questions?

Okay, moving right along.

All right, guys.

So I am going to share my screen.

Because we do have a committee report.

If you all recall, we had uh we broke up into committees.

Let's see.

There we go.

Can everyone see my screen?

Is Jack here?

Okay, so Jack is at a town hall meeting.

Um, and uh he has presented his report.

So Jack is the chair, or he is um sitting in on the budget and the fiscal affairs for the city of Houston.

Um so this is just his recap.

Um the announcement was Houston's on the path to overspend 55 million on overtime for public safety and solid waste.

Um he said the city continues to spend more money than it has.

Um and this is the report that he submitted on in in early February, yep, February 3rd on Tuesday.

The next committee meet meeting is March 3rd of 2026.

Um, so just wanted to make sure that I shared that with everyone.

That is the one report that I did get for February.

I did get some reports for December, but this is the report that we did receive for February, but wanted to be sure that everyone was able to take a look at his report.

Um, did anybody have any questions about that?

He's not here, so um, and I wasn't in attendance, but if someone else was um and they'd like to kind of expound upon that, or if they had any questions, this is that time to do so.

This was a nice concise summary.

I attended the meeting, and it's another he has a good summary.

Okay.

Anyone else?

All right.

So I will stop sharing and we'll move right along on our agenda, and we are moving into approval of minutes.

Amy Yes.

So we have uh two sets of minutes for approval.

Uh the December minutes and the January minutes.

Okay, and I see one hand raised, and that's Greg.

Greg, yes, sir.

Uh yes, I have a point of information.

When were the November minutes distributed to all the representatives?

At the December in person meeting.

So, no, that wasn't to all the representatives.

That would have just been to those, and they just kind of that would have been to those that are in attendance.

Yeah, only to those in attendance.

So none of us were able to see it until last Wednesday, which is when we saw the December and the January, correct?

Amy.

No, I believe the November minutes were mailed out.

I mean it's been a minute.

We've approved them in December.

I think they were sent out ahead of time.

I think that's typically what we do.

Would you verify that?

Now we are that is not true.

Okay.

I don't remember I don't know, Greg.

It's now February.

We're trying our best to move forward.

And like I said, those amendment were approved at the December meeting.

That's that's was documented in the minutes.

Uh I can't speak to it beyond that right now.

I have posted, would you let me finish?

I have posted all of the minutes from 2025 in a folder that's uh that Letitia has created.

And so if you need to review the minutes from past meetings, they are there and you can review them.

Yes, I know that was my point, and they weren't up there until last Wednesday evening.

None of their own.

Oh, we just posted all of the minutes from 2025 in the new folder that was created so that the minutes could be available for anyone to look at.

So that's the new process.

That's what we're doing.

It's 2026, it's a new year, and we're doing our best to keep people informed.

Thank you.

I understand, but the thing is there are two sets of minutes, and my point is still that the November minutes were never sent out to the group.

Gotcha.

Tomorrow, you have a question?

Yes, is it time to make a motion to accept the minutes?

Uh what December January?

We are ready.

We are ready.

All right.

Oh, I'm sorry, there's one more question.

Oh, okay.

There's a there's a motion on the floor.

Who made the motion?

I made the motion.

Somebody seconded it.

Second the motion.

Oh, perfect.

Okay.

I saw your hand up, Catherine.

I thought you had a question.

All those in favor.

Any opposed?

I oppose, yes.

Because you didn't even look.

Cheryl, did you even look at the minutes for January?

Because that's not the way it was done.

We've already voted.

Can we move on, please?

Okay.

We sure can.

Well, you cannot say, can we move on?

And there's a question open.

First of all, let's hold on one second.

Hold on.

Was there was there actually a question?

I think that Greg, your question was directly to Cheryl, and your question was, did she look at that?

And you guys can talk about that offline.

Um is there another question?

No, that's all right.

Well, no question.

Perfect.

All right.

Well, with no questions, we will move right along.

All of the um I already asked any opposed, and there was one person that opposed, and that was Greg.

Okay.

Let's move right along into old business.

I have placed in the chat.

There we go.

I just placed in the chat, and this may not technically be old business, but um community emergency response team training is rolling back out.

Um, all of you may have seen that, but that's coming up in April.

Um, and it says um coming back.

So I just stuck it in old business.

Um, anyone have any older business?

This is your old business section.

Nope.

Okay.

Moving right along.

Then I understand that we have someone here from Twilight Carter's office.

Thanks.

Oh, tomorrow, did you have a guess, ma'am?

New business at the old business.

Well, so we're gonna take some announcements because that flows right into new business.

Okay, okay, because I I got a big one.

Okay, so okay.

All right.

Oh, you have a big new announcement?

Good lord, yes.

Um be on the lookout.

Look out of lock out.

We're dealing with uh a developer who was building a legal houses.

One of them has 22 bedrooms, 22 bedrooms.

It was a single family house.

Uh my super neighborhood meeting is Thursday the 19th.

Uh, people who have not been to our super neighborhood meetings ever are coming to our meetings because they have deed restrictions, just like we do, and the city has given this guy one point two million in fines, and he is still building.

Uh, it's like seven over here, but he's buying up houses in all different areas, and I don't know what you call them.

Uh, there was an article in the Chronicle talking about these seven bedroom attendants what you call it, baby.

That it that ain't what we call it up north.

We call them rooming houses.

So it's a room and house.

Yeah, cold living nutton.

But anyway, this is a true concern uh for our community.

So I need y'all to be on the lookout because they named Third Ward, they name independent heights.

I think they named Trinity Garden, but y'all need to be on the lookout for this.

But next week at our super neighborhood meeting at Good Hope at 6 30 uh on North McGregor.

The city attorney's office is coming.

Um, the short-term rental people are coming.

Permitting is coming.

Um another department coming.

I think this planning coming, but I need you all uh I need you all to really pay attention to this because these people are trying to make as much money as they can when the World Cup comes.

That's it.

This is what this is about.

And I mean it.

So I need y'all to be on the lookout.

If you can make it to our meeting, please come.

Because this is I I did not believe them when they told me 22 bedrooms and one, what used to be a single three-bedroom, I think a four-bedroom house.

Uh and now it's got 22 bedrooms in it.

One door in and one door out.

My meeting again is February 19th at 3015 North McGregor.

That's good Hope Baptist Church, uh, at 6:30 p.m.

Y'all all invited.

They gave me the big room.

So you all are all invited because this is very, very, very concerning.

Thank you.

Thank you, Tamara.

We have Mark's hand up.

Um, let me see how I get and then Kevin immediately following Mark.

Mark, we could hear you.

He went back on mute.

Oh, you hear me?

Yes, we can hear you just.

Oh, sorry, sorry.

Okay.

Um, yeah, so just to piggyback on her.

I have a that concern on my street.

It's 38 38 Southmore.

And uh right now, our approach is we will actually want to sue this developer.

I'm sure you're talking about the same developer at KGM properties.

Um there all over Thurward.

Mr.

Rucker is online, and he's been down since 2020.

I mean, yeah, 2024.

And um, we've been dealing with it since July of the summer.

And the city what there was a recent meeting that Mr.

Rucker, Mr.

Les Rucker um conducted, and a lot of these departments were there, and they said that um the street on the the house on our street was the most legitimately permitted.

So they basically skirted this guy through for the because I was raising so much sand.

Me and my neighbors on the news.

So I kind of feel like they kind of trying to.

I think how it looks is very it's like deep level corruption in the government in the city hall that are allowing this guy to continue to progress.

So we're conducting a um a GoFundMe uh campaign to raise money to actually sue this guy because I don't think any of the other properties have been sued yet, or like he's so that's kind of our approach.

And I don't know if it's okay to drop the link because we're on the same situation, and our street has the only house that hadn't been completely finished yet that I'm aware of.

Because we um we we uh we got like really aggressive on uh I guess the news with blocking it, so that kind of helped.

And then we also have deed restrictions that um uh prohibit um short-term rentals, but I don't know how long it's gonna last because they keep like giving these guys grace, and I don't know what that's about.

And it's kind of disturbing because it's happening all over the ward.

And with that being said, may I drop the link just so you guys know, as far as like our fundraising link.

Um, we found a lawyer that's Maya Shea's lawyer that is interested in pursuing the case.

Um, he's capping the amount, capping it to a certain amount, even though it costs a lot of money to sue somebody because he really wants to go after this guy.

So I just need to know if this is permission.

I can drop the link if anybody wants to support.

And I'm also coming to uh uh Tim the Super Neighborhood 83 uh meeting that uh Tamra Bell just mentioned.

I'm gonna be there too.

All right, Kevin.

Hi there.

Since we're talking about the lack of enforcement from the city, which we've talked about here many times before because it's abysmal.

I've wondering if there's anybody from Department of Neighborhoods or ARA here.

Um I've got an issue I've been chasing for some time, and uh the city closed my 311 with no action.

So if I was frustrated before, now I'm frustrated enough to make y'all listen to it.

There's a lot at the corner of I-Tin Theeder and Heights Boulevard, which hasn't been mowed for years, literally.

Um, they're homeless people who hang out in this area under the bridges there, so it gives them a place to hang out.

It's also where the city removed the armadillos for the bike path there, which forces people onto the sidewalk, and the sidewalk's completely overgrown.

I asked um district C's help.

Um, but I'm asking if there's anybody from ARA or Department of Neighborhoods or I don't know, public works.

I'll take anybody at this point who can help me get this lot mowed.

It's for sale, so I don't understand how the owner can get away with selling it without actually mowing it, and why an inspector can't go out there and at least cite them.

It's clear that they haven't been.

Thank you.

Right.

Anybody, nobody?

All right.

They were invited.

I don't see anyone raising their hands.

I saw somebody, I saw that um we have people from Don Department of Neighborhoods and the meeting.

I mean, I don't see uh left.

I'm looking to see if they're still signed in.

Okay, while you look, Cher, we'll go ahead and move right along.

Can y'all hear me?

Yes, who's that?

I'm here.

Oh, there we go.

Okay.

I was asking, could he repeat the question?

Kevin, can you repeat the question?

There's a vacant lot at the corner of the I-10 feeder and Heights Boulevard.

It's super noticeable.

It literally has not been mowed in years.

Uh it's starting to grow small trees.

Homeless people hang out and the bridges underneath, so it gives them a place to hang out, and it's accumulating a huge amount of trash.

Plus, the sidewalks are almost impossible.

And a fair number of people actually walk and bike there.

The city closed my ticket.

Um, the second one.

Um, so more than a little frustrated at the lack of progress, which getting in vacant lot mode should be a relatively simple exercise for the city to enforce.

So it rhonda sent you an email, so I want the details on your your 311 ticket, so I can follow up with HPW.

As you guys know, we don't own that process anymore.

That's in public works now, community code enforcement.

So, but I do follow up with them all the time because I do know the process.

Um it's not as simple as that.

You would think cutting an empty lot would be simple, but it's still private property in the state of Texas.

Is a private property right state.

So there are guidelines we have to follow per the Texas um municipal code, and so we we make sure we follow those because legal has advised us well that we do not want any claims based on um going on private property and evading anything.

So I agree it could be something that we we overlooked.

I'm not saying that that's the issue, but we can follow up with with public works and get you an answer.

Great.

I I understand the process.

I've gotten several vacant lots mode, so that's why I'm frustrated that this one is being uh very difficult.

Um I'm looking at your name, Herbert Sims.

Yes.

Okay.

And how do I find you?

I'll put I'll put my information in the chat for you, Kevin.

Oh, yes, sir.

Thank you so much.

I appreciate that.

No problem, man.

Thank you.

Um now, Mark, your hand is still up.

Is that intentional?

Okay, so we'll move right on.

Greg, and then after Greg, it's Willie.

Thank you.

Director Sims, I appreciate your being on because both these questions are should be probably directed to you.

We have been getting the uh the the plat reports uh as when they got it sorted up again, but we haven't seen the weekly permit reports for for some time.

So I appreciate if you can look in to see why it's not occurring.

The the second question is I think it's been a quarter of a century since super neighborhoods uh started, and we have 88.

And I just saw something in the chronicles, a breakdown of each of them in terms of population.

And I don't think the boundaries have been changed in quite some time.

So we have some that are as little as you know less than 5,000, up to over 55,000.

So there's an order of magnitude difference in there.

Isn't it about time that we should look at the boundaries and make sure that everybody's represented properly?

That's something we could review with planning on on the boundaries as we look at the ordinance and other things to update.

I appreciate that.

Willie uh, yeah, hey, um, my concern here is uh a little bit different than what y'all just been talking about.

Um I hope everyone's aware that uh our heavy trash is about to change, and I mean change drastically.

Uh they're going to go to a uh per house.

You have to call pick up type of system where you will have to call, and I think that's going to be a real big problem in certain neighborhoods inside this city, because you're going from like 13 pickups or 12 pickups a year down to four, and you're only gonna get those four.

And uh I think that I don't think that that will work, and I'm basing that on the fact that Sugarland had a system like this call-in system, and they were well financed, had all the equipment necessary, all of that, and they still had to pull it because it wouldn't work.

It didn't work, and I do not understand or see how a city as large as Houston with the square footage that we have, the miles that we have, uh, how that will work when we can't even get it done right now.

So, you know, I think that that's something that uh they probably need to rethink because I do not think that that's gonna work out, and I think in the end it's gonna make some communities uh much worse than what they are even right now.

So just wanted to know if we think about that.

Um Director Sam's are you still there?

Of course I thought he has to party.

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

I can pass alone.

That's not that's not I can't speak for another director on on that issue.

Um but I can definitely um bring that up to them if you want to discuss that further.

Perfect.

Oh thank you.

Yeah, thank you.

It's meant to work.

All right.

Now we have an unknown user.

Uh can you state your name, please?

Okay, so maybe that hand raise was a mistake.

You um but I can definitely um bring that up to them if you want to discuss that further perfect oh thank you is meant to work all right now we have an unknown user uh can you state your name please okay so maybe that hand raise was a mistake moving on to the tetitia this vicky do you see my hand it's been up for a while well I've been calling you for a while oh I'm sorry I didn't hear you uh may I yes me know it was you okay well I had two things I had one for the D restriction I was going to comment that we have D restriction and we have a street that for some reason the persons that uh own those four square corner they continue to want to live in RV and trailers and that violates our D restriction uh for land use which is one of the enforceable uh five uh factors and they keep coming out and people keep doing it even we filed a loss the city filed a lawsuit they didn't show up the judge issued a judgment then they set it on fire they have people living on in Home Depot and Lowe's uh garden sheds where they put an AC unit in the wall and I'm just trying to understand why this city is allowing this to go on for not one year not two years but going on the third year and we're de-restriction it's almost like you take the necessary steps to put the parameters in place and they're enforceable but we need to do a better job on the D restriction enforcement but to direct the sims uh welcome uh I have a question about the department of neighborhood grant oh I understand the two thousand dollar administrative reimbursable grant has gone to an application type system but it's moving at a slower pace than the way we move as a super neighborhood when we get ready to have an event and order food and purchase shirts and things that are reimbursable sometimes that three day send your you know send it in get get approval wait three days that's slowing things down i mean these are expenses that are deemed to be reimbursable under that grant so why why the slope boogie why can't we just know that these are reimbursable items and we move just like that all that send it in do the application and let them look at it and then they pay the the vendor we have relationships with some of these uh businesses and this is not our first go round with them and we need to move quicker than that thank you I yield back hello Ms.

Vicky can you hear me yes yes I can so on the grant process we are reviewing it but one thing that has to be understood is that the department neighborhood is general fund dollars and that's tax fund so all spend all um money charged to that account is audited and we have to audit that before we opted so that's your slow turnaround we will look at it and see what we can do this is your three to speed up the process but I I think I I tried to make that clear and I and my apologies when we started it it is general fund taxpayer dollars and what I want to make sure is that that money is spent per um the charter for general fund so I know that you guys have relationships I know you're moving we want to fund you as best as possible but that's the reason for the delay but we um are looking at the process and trying to improve it however I know you say we give you a list of of items that are eligible which we did before there was no process before and we got many items that that we couldn't reimburse and so then you have a super neighborhood upset at us because we can't reimburse that item so we don't want that either we don't want you stuck out either so that that's what the change is for are you saying that things on the list can still not be approved like t-shirts business cards uh food for events if you buy t-shirts and the t-shirts are not for the super neighborhood and the t-shirts are for something else then no that won't be an approved item and issue uh a real life issue so that's what I'm saying the the we're what we're trying to do is we're gonna make it as specific as possible but we have had items that are on that list purchased that are not approved because they have to also be in clear relation to your super neighborhood absolutely they said as long as we have our super neighborhood name on there or something even if we're doing it for you know one of our organizations we they need to be a member or something okay we just need to get a quicker because you know you're trying to place a huh huh as I'll show you get it okay but I get it I don't want to take up the everyone's time okay thank you and we can talk if you want to sure I'll give you a call tomorrow okay you're on oh sorry Carol yes yes I wanted to tag on

Okay, but I get it.

I don't want to take up the everyone's time.

Okay, thank you.

And we can talk if you want to.

Sure, I'll give you a call tomorrow.

Okay.

You're on oh, sorry, Carol.

Yes, yes.

I wanted to tag on to I'm with I'm in Super Neighborhood 45 on the north side, and I wanted to tag on Mr.

Rainwater's comments.

I I saw the slide deck for the presentation of the city council on this um going to four times a year and making their calls on heavy trash, but it did not address how they were going to have handle heavy trash going forward once this starts.

Not to mention how short the rollout is on this.

I've talked to people that know nothing, have heard nothing about this.

So, how is this gonna work?

They're rolling this out on March 2nd.

We still haven't had heavy trash pickup.

So, how are we gonna address the heavy trash issues in neighborhoods that are having a horrible problem with them when they're not even addressing what's going on now?

How are they gonna address it going forward with the illegal dumping that's gonna occur?

And uh another thing is they you know, when they dump on your property, guess who has to clean it up?

So, on top of it all, they also I think they need to look at expanding who can take things to the centers, like the one here on North Bank.

There's a lot of people in apartments that don't have electric bills, and maybe not even a lease, maybe another utility such as an internet or Comcast or whatever, you know, cable, so that we avoid these things where people don't have any have any way to dump anything, so they just dump them in our neighborhoods.

Anyway, so I just think that maybe some more questions need to be asked of uh solid waste about what's the plan other than just shutting it off completely and going to four times a year and having to make a phone call for it.

It's all very confusing, which is somewhat 1980s to me, but thank you.

Thank you, thank you.

We have okay, guys.

I because we we and in all fairness, we did have, and I understand that because the chat is blowing up about solid waste, and I think it may be a good idea.

We maybe we should have even reserved you know some more time to kind of discuss it during this meeting.

So we're gonna get through these last two questions.

Um, because I don't want to leave anyone out, but everybody has a great question.

Um, Tamara, your question, please.

I want to say is this I need y'all to pay attention to this.

I want to thank you, Mr.

Rain Ward and the lady who just spoke because I've been having conversations with people.

I'm telling y'all, the reason they're doing this is because they want to get us to pay for trash pickup.

This right here is gonna inundate.

I don't care what neighborhood you live in, I don't care.

This is gonna affect you because you have people moving.

You talk about a city this massive four pickups on now.

This is going to be a disaster when they haven't even picked heavy trash that was lingering before the new change that they make it into effect.

This is just thrown at us.

So I'm telling y'all, keep y'all eye on this.

This didn't work for sugar land.

How is this gonna work for Houston?

Right.

Okay, that's all I'm saying.

Please, y'all pay attention to this.

I forgot about this because I'm not kidding.

Somebody just said they had a pickup since October.

Call y'all council members, blow their phones up because this we're not even given an option.

It's like this is what it is, deal with it.

Yeah, Lindsay.

Yeah, I'm I've been trying to get the word out and trying to spread this among among as wide of an audience as I can, and I am getting a lot of questions.

I don't really know where exactly to direct them, and I have very similar concerns that the other other leaders have mentioned.

Um, most notably, we we still have residents in our area where we have not seen pickups since October, November.

Um, we call our council member, we put them in 311, they just set, they just set.

Um, and I'm I'm genuinely concerned because we have lots of apartments that just dump everything out on the side of the road every single time, spills everywhere.

We have the legal dumping on everybody's property, it feels like sometimes.

Um, and it's just not really clear how some of these things are going to be tackled.

And so I don't know if we need to have another time, like another visit or if we need to have something else where we can build questions.

I'm sure that that would be super helpful.

Yes.

Thank you.

I I totally agree.

And based on what I'm seeing in the chat, it's not one.

It seems that it's all there's only one person that opposed to this conversation at this time because there are several questions and lots of unanswered questions.

Let's get um Tamra Alexander.

Okay, so I thought last month when the Solid Waste director was on this call that he claimed that one day before this is rolled out, there will be education.

He made it all he also stated that it would have they would have a separate number for residents to call to make the request.

This was in a dictionary, and that's not what's being rolled out now.

So yeah, I think he needs to come back.

Okay.

Yeah, I don't based based on the concern.

I don't I don't disagree.

Anyone else with any other questions or statements?

Well, I guess we just really at this point, we probably need to um someone was well, there's a phone number, so I can't tell who that is.

Uh look Letitia.

Uh one one quick.

Um, we're gonna talk about it at all.

We we've signed up for the representative of Solid Waste to come down super neighborhood meeting on February 17th, but because it's early voting, we'll be virtual.

But we've been rolling this out with our organizations and they have good questions.

We have a lot of land rich, so we have a lot of vacant lots.

And we have some home property owners that are not uh they're not great property owners.

So if you're negligent in the upkeep of your property and someone happens to illegally dump on your property, who's calling that in?

So if one of our block captains called that in, is that counting as one of their one out of the four?

You know, because they're gonna ask who's making the call, what what's your address?

So that's one thing, and about the cleaniness of the neighborhood.

The way our pick up was today.

We haven't been picked up since October.

So they skipped tree waste in November and they didn't come today.

So at least with the old system, at least when they did come, it was picked up, and you had a little reprieve of clean days before people act up again.

But with this system, are you calling all throughout the month?

Or are you calling the Friday after 6 p.m.

leading up to your pickup day?

And if you miss it, the on demand, they say they'll respond in five days.

If you miss it, do you put it out in the same month that you missed, or are you open for the following month?

It's so many questions.

But thank you.

Um they'll be speaking at our meeting, and we intend to ask the questions that people have been asking us.

Thank you.

I yield back.

You're welcome, no problem.

Well, guys, that one was heavy.

So um to lighten it a little bit, um, we would like to congratulate a few new super neighborhoods, and that was a part of our um new business.

So, Pastor Deb, um, congratulations on becoming a officially a new super neighborhood president.

So we're excited to Ursha U I in to the club.

I was looking for her earlier and I couldn't find her.

She's almost always here, but she may have dropped off.

She is on.

She's she's been on.

Well, Pastor Dave.

Yeah, she is present tonight.

I saw her.

I do, but I think she was on earlier.

She was on earlier, but I don't see her now.

Exactly.

That's what I was saying.

I was looking for and I didn't see you.

I did see her.

Come on, but I haven't seen her.

Sure, right.

She did leave.

Huh.

Okay.

And then we also have a new board member, um, Scott Singleton 63.

Scott, are you here?

Well, congratulations to those that are served.

Yes, I'm I'm here.

I found my mic.

I'm here.

Thanks, everybody.

Appreciate it.

Thank you.

Thank you for being here.

Um, I just happened to see your email today.

So congratulations on your recent election.

And that congratulations and welcome to the board and welcome to the super neighborhood alliance.

Thanks very much.

Perfect.

Okay, in addition to that, last piece of new business, and then we can go into elected officials.

Last piece of business is going to be our meeting and in-person meetings.

If you look on your agenda, and if you don't have them, then I can screen share so that everyone can see that real quick.

We're gonna go as soon as I can find a share share button.

Okay.

So based on our planning committee, March will be our very first in-person meeting, and it's gonna be at um and it's going to be at first Houston United Mess Methodist Church.

Our next in-person meeting will be May Northeast, September, Acres Homes, December Southeast.

These are all proposed.

Um, but for sure, our March meeting.

Um, the location and the information is there in the notes.

We have two hands up.

Hand one is Miss Tamara Alexander.

Hand two is Greg, and please move right into the next question.

No, no, my hand is removed.

Oh, no problem.

All right, Greg.

I I would like to for you to consider that I see one's downtown, one's north, one's northeast, and one southeast.

Please consider doing something out west.

If you can.

I realize that we don't have a community center in District G, but we can make other arrangements if possible.

We're we're looking, okay, Greg.

I'll tell you, we are looking at every end of town.

And so you your end of town is in the mix.

We're just we're only doing one a quarter.

So, you know.

Yeah, but if you have if if you have suggestions, if you have suggestions as to where we can hold it, please let us know.

Okay, we'll do it.

Thank you.

Because they're all proposed, so we don't know if everyone's going to agree.

So, yes, Greg, that's exactly what I was gonna say.

Go ahead and send that over.

Um, Sherry, Sherry.

I don't know if it's okay if we make public announcements.

Is are we allowed to do that now?

Or is there the unfortunate thing is our public announcements turned into trash?

I know, I know.

I'm so sorry.

Okay, put it in the chat.

Um, no, go ahead.

No, go ahead.

Okay, all right.

Um, Sherry Cortez with the Harris County District Attorney's Office at Domestic Violence Bureau.

I have some great news, and it's in regard to public safety.

And I wanted you all to know that the Harris County District Attorney's Office under Sean Tier has completed over 560 trials in 2025.

This is huge.

This means that people are not bonding out and coming back into the community to re-offend.

That is an increase of 13%, five times the trial volume, which is huge, guys.

This means that they're not just staying in the Harris County Hotel.

I call it the Harris County Jail Hotel, they're actually having their day in court.

Um, so this is really really important.

And if you're wondering about the public safety dollars that is being used, please support it.

Um HPD is um working alongside of us, and we can't do these cases, work them without the investigation.

And the investigation is done by law enforcement.

In one particular case, I'm just gonna tell you about this one when in regards to domestic violence.

Um, a person that was um uh that was following and stalking his girlfriend for years, um, had finally unfortunately um had assaulted her and through the great work of the South Gestner crime suppression team, they were able to arrest this individual, and he got 40 years, 40 years for assaulting um his girlfriend.

Um, so I'm telling you that if you feel that you anybody out there, anyone feels like they are being stalked or they need a protective order.

Remember, you can get a protective order without a police report.

You do not have to call the police.

If you feel you're afraid, you can contact the Harris County District Attorney's Office, Domestic Violence Bureau.

There's a phone number there, there's an email there, and there's resources available.

So please reach out.

Um, never feel like you're alone.

And we are now doing our public service announcements.

Um, and this month is Teen Dating Violence Awareness.

We're trying to get these kids while they're young and talk to them and give them this pertinent information.

Um, it on our website, there are resources available.

So please reach out to us if you ever need a guest speaker.

We can send advocates or uh um assistant DAs to come to your community meetings to talk about domestic violence resources.

There is help available.

We want you to know that we are here for you.

Um, and that um we we want um uh the public to be safe.

Um, that's the most important thing of all.

So if you ever have any questions, please email me.

I put my email in the chat, but I'm super excited about these cases.

Um, this means public safety is number one, and crime is actually really down because we're getting these violent criminals off the street.

I mean, this is this is incredible.

Last year alone, the Harris County DA's office handed out 38 life sentences.

That's a lot.

Um, and consider it that that hasn't happened in the last few years.

Okay, so violent crime continues to grow go down, and we're very excited about it.

me i put my email in the chat but i'm super excited about these cases um this means public safety is number one and crime is actually really down because we're getting these violent criminals off the street i mean this is this is incredible last year alone the harris county dA's office handed out 38 life sentences that's a lot um and consider it that that hasn't happened in the last few years okay so violent crime continues to grow go down and we're very excited about it but please email me contact me if you have any questions i'm always here and available thank you sherry thank you thank you okay all right so do we have i know um we had a rep from twila's office um still here okay chavit yep there we go chavez hand where where are you yes i this dravis with mayor pro camp castax tatum's office i put some information in the chat thank you um madam president but i put um i put some information in the chat about our upcoming free community shred day and also put the flyer you don't have to live in district k to attend that please uh share that information if you will um everyone's invited to come out on february 21st from 9 a.m to 12 noon at new first faith church on west gear crazy street as as i said the flyer is in the um in the chat and also um mayor pro tem chairs the economic development committee our next meeting will be wednesday february 18th at 2 p.m and you can find the presentations in the agenda when they're available they'll be posted on the economic development committee website that link is also in the chat and then uh save the date presidents of neighborhood organizations in district K Thursday April 9th from 6 a.m 6 p.m to 8 p.m uh save that date uh there will be our first impact meeting that's Marcus President advisory council and look for more details uh forthcoming but please save the date thank you for your time and attention have a great evening thank you all right james all righty well good evening everyone I know we're over time so we'll be very quick um James Burnett I'm a community engagement coordinator in the office of your Harris County Commissioner Leslie Brianis uh two actually three quick updates uh the first is our black history luncheon that's gonna be next Tuesday uh February 17th from 11 to 1 at the church about walls uh great opportunity to celebrate the legacy of Accommerce leaders here in Harris County uh it's gonna be great food your performances uh awesome event for you to come out to we look forward to seeing you there uh second update is uh the hockley 40th anniversary roundup uh celebrating 40 years of the hockley community center uh this is gonna be 28 515 or washington road there's gonna be black roping demonstrations art shows and a bunch of other family friendly activities so it's worth the drive I will say that and we'd love to see you uh Saturday uh February 28th from one to three uh the third thing I saw in the chat someone suggested Tracy G as possibility we would love to host you um I'm gonna leave my contact information in the chat please feel free to reach out as well and with that I'll yield back uh thank you for the time perfect thank you do we have anyone else okay that's good meeting perfect well that that does it guys we are a few minutes over so I will take a motion to adjourn sorry about that but seems like heavy trash is definitely going to be a big issue so we'll figure out how we can get that back on the agenda so I saw a hand raised I think the motion was made by Cheryl second by tomorrow bale all of those in favor uh anyone opposed I didn't know all right good night great meeting good night everybody