I object to the tactics of the Houston Memorial City TIRZ #17 RDA

LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARDAustin, Texas FISCAL NOTE, 86TH LEGISLATIVE REGULAR SESSION

March 19, 2019

TO:

Honorable Dustin Burrows, Chair, House Committee on Ways & Means

FROM:

John McGeady, Assistant Director Sarah Keyton, Assistant Director
Legislative Budget Board

IN RE:

HB1058 by Bohac (Relating to the election of members of the boards of directors of certain tax increment reinvestment zones.), As Introduced

No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The bill would amend Chapter 311, Tax Code relating to the election of members to board of directors of tax increment financing zones located wholly or partly within a municipality with a population of at least two million. The bill would designate the procedure for filling vacancies to the boards of directors and the qualifications of candidates for election or appointment to the boards.

Local Government Impact

The bill, at the current time, only applies to the City of Houston. The city has 26 Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones according the City of Houston, and the bill would require an election in each zone every two years. Houston would need to translate the ballot into three additional languages. With respect to Houston, in the last General election the total costs were $1,267,571.

86(R) HB 1058 - Introduced version - Fiscal Note

Addicks Dam | Save Buffalo Bayou Updated April 23, 2017 — The Harris County Flood Control District reports that repair costs through March 2017 are $1.25 million. Terry Hershey Park remains closed until construction work is complete.

Ed Browne Cynthia Neely Virginia Gregory

Houston, Austin, Dallas rank on Good Jobs First report for business incentive programs, 380 Agreements - Houston Business Journal The city of Houston's business incentive programs rank below the median score.

Relevant to all TIRZ's in the Houston area

Suit challenges mechanism for Uptown development efforts The city's Uptown Development Authority and the economic development zone that feeds it were created in violation of the Texas Constitution, two critics allege in a lawsuit that seeks to void all resulting actions and block Uptown from collecting or spending another dime. The suit argues that Uptown...

http://www.savebuffalobayou.org/?page_id=2669

Dammed If They Do, Dammed If They Don’t | Save Buffalo Bayou The water in the normally empty reservoir had dropped only a few feet by the time we stood on the earthen dam looking down at the dark, opaque blue-gray surface. After almost a month, the rippling water below was still some twenty-three feet deep, and extended as far as we could see along the thirte...

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1257665/

Paving Paradise: The Peril of Impervious Surfaces Paved surfaces are quite possibly the most ubiquitous structures created by humans. In the United States alone, pavements and other impervious surfaces cover more than 43,000 square miles—an area nearly the size of Ohio—according to research published in the 15 June 2004 issue of Eos, the newsletter...

Good news - the Addicks and Barker reservoirs appear to have hit their crest late Saturday morning. They are holding back over 67 BILLION gallons of water from entering Buffalo Bayou and flooding downtown Houston. It will take an estimated two months to fully drain them into Buffalo Bayou, and that's assuming it doesn't rain another drop in western Harris county (not likely).

In case you missed it, here's a video I put together to help us visualize just how much water is in those reservoirs. It's still hard to wrap my mind around it!

http://abc13.com/weather/reservoirs-preventing-downtown-houston-flooding/1304219/

More delays re City of Houston bike lane standard...
How will this impact TIRZ 17's design & reconstruction of Memorial Drive inside BW8 to east of Tallowood & also the City's/TXDOT's reconstruction of Memorial Drive from Kirkwood to Eldridge?
http://m.chron.com/opinion/article/Dangerous-streets-6347597.php

Editorial: Dangerous streets for bikes Mayor Annise Parker raised the stakes in 2014 when she announced the "Goal Zero Fatalities Bike Safety Campaign." Yet there is perverse symbolism in the story of David Rosenfeld, a 47-year-old father of three who was fatally hit by a car last month while riding his bike to a memorial ride for Jon Tr…

June 24, 2015 Houston Chronicle-
Seems to confuse the Uptown TIRZ/Uptown Development Authority with the Uptown District. :-(

Commuter lanes to be added on Post Oak The Uptown Houston District recently broke ground on a road project which will include the creation of two rapid-transit commuter bus lanes along the middle of Post Oak Boulevard. Breeding said the project's aim is to transport Metropolitan Transit Authority's bus riders coming into the Northwest Tr…

June 2015 - The Houston Business on "What TIRZ's can actually do."

What Houston's TIRZs can actually do - Houston Business Journal Critics say tax increment reinvestment zones are being misused.

http://m.bizjournals.com/houston/morning_call/2013/07/west-houston-mixed-use-development.html