(This is the second in a two-part article. The first part of this article discussed Bellaire’s great opportunity for improvement by being proactive and stakeholders specifically communicating their priorities.)

I still have a lot to learn, but two years into my term on City Council I feel more comfortable and have a better idea on how to propose ideas and effectuate change than when my term started. My first half term on Council entailed in large part concentrating on initiatives and ideas that were put in motion before I got to Council, and wanting to gain a better understanding of the city before suggesting potential improvements. I have been content to lead on just a few issues, but look forward to being more proactive this year. This second part of article discusses three specific issues I have an interest in working on in 2012.

1) Grow Bellaire’s Commercial Tax Base By Improving Dialogue With Bellaire Businesses

Bellaire’s commercial sector has a great opportunity for improvement through economic development initiatives. This will decrease Bellaire residents’ proportional tax burden and increase the number of high quality locally-owned businesses that residents can frequent. Economic development means many different things to different people, including providing non-monetary and monetary incentives for businesses and eliminating disincentives to businesses, working with developers on specific projects in specific areas, improving infrastructure, social inclusion, environmental sustainability, etc. It is one of my goals to do a better job (than I have in my first two years on City Council) communicating with existing Bellaire businesses to learn which existing regulations are creating disincentives for them, and work with our businesses and city leaders to revise such regulations in ways that grow the commercial sector while not depleting the residential quality of life.

As an example of eliminating disincentives to Bellaire businesses by revising regulations, last year, I thoroughly enjoyed working with Mayor Pro Tem Mandy Nathan and Community Development Director John Mc.Donald to propose and pass five improvements to Bellaire’s Sign Ordinance (read here and here and here). I learned a number of things in this process including: (1) If we reach out to Bellaire business owners and institutions they are willing to tell us what is hurting their organizations, (2) Don’t let perfection get in the way of progress (there were a number of other improvements that we chose to not include in order to more smoothly move the amendment through the approval process), and (3) Communicate what you are doing clearly and continually, and others will aid in bringing about the improvements. I intend to find ways to more consistently gather input from Bellaire stakeholders, and then act upon what I learn.

2) Removal of Bellaire’s Sign Provisions from Chapter 24, and Further Tweaking of Provisions.

It is one of my goals to remove the provisions regulating signs from Chapter 24 – Planning and Zoning. The process for City Council’s above mentioned tweaking to the sign ordinance was unnecessarily elongated since the provisions that regulate signs are in our zoning code. Thus, maintenance of our sign ordinance (largely an administrative process) required two public hearings and the involvement of the Planning and Zoning Commission. The P&Z Commission members (unlike many of the other issues that fall under their purview) do not have any specific competence in regards to regulating signs since it is an aesthetic not a technical zoning or use issue. Thus, due the unnecessary delay caused, and the many other important items on the P&Z Commission’s plate, the P&Z Commission should not be required to be involved in future sign ordinance maintenance. I also look forward to proposing some additional tweaks to the sign ordinance that were withheld from last year’s tweaking to increase the probability of passing the five changes made.

3) Explore if Constructing Pedestrian Sidewalks at the Bellaire Boulevard and Bissonnet Street Rail Crossings is Feasible

It was recently stated to me, and I agree, that “as [the Bissonnet Street and Bellaire Boulevard rail crossings] are in an urban core and more folks are walking, running and biking across this rail line, sidewalks have become necessary for pedestrian safety.” I intend to work with the various stakeholders to explore the feasibility of constructing pedestrian rail crossings at these two major thoroughfares, and the potential funding solutions. Currently, the cities of Bellaire and West University provide sidewalks up to their respective city limits at these rail crossings, but that the crossings are not owned by Bellaire or West University. At first glance, it seems that this project is possible with a little communication among the stakeholders (cities of Houston, Bellaire, West University, Harris County and METRO and the owner of track) and a few dollars. It was pointed out to me that these very crossings were part of the pilot “West-Loop Quiet Zone” created through the Federal Railroad Administration (read more here) thanks to the combined efforts of all stakeholders.

I look forward to receiving feedback from Bellaire residents and businesses owners on these ideas, and any other specific ideas they have for how we can make Bellaire even better in 2012. You may send your comments to me at cparker@ci.bellaire.tx.us.

Corbett Daniel Parker

(This is the first in a two-part article. The second part of this article will discuss three specific issues I have an interest in working on in 2012.)

Bellaire is a wonderful place to live; Bellaire will be an even better place to live by the end of 2012 if we commit to being proactive and put forth the effort necessary to move Bellaire forward. I believe we will be proactive and motivated to put forth the effort, if we understand the specific priorities of our fellow community leaders (city council, city staff and Bellaire’s boards and commissions). As specific examples of what I am advocating for, I will discuss three specific priorities of mine in the second part of this article.

City Council is Well Suited to Move Bellaire Forward

Despite some laws (ensuring important principals of transparency and open meetings) acting as a permanently deployed parachute slowing down government action, Bellaire’s newly sworn-in City Council is well positioned to increase the speed in which we improve Bellaire. Bellaire is blessed that Mayor Phil Nauert has stepped up to lead Bellaire after he has already significantly served Bellaire. Mayor Nauert’s experience coupled with his taking over leadership of a City Council having no new members (and not being the fractured decision-making body you see in other municipalities) provides an exciting opportunity to profoundly and positively impact Bellaire. While previous city councils have had to break-in new councilmen and get comfortable with each other, this experienced City Council has the luxury of hitting the ground running immediately. We are blessed to inherit (despite the effects of a still weak economy) a financially healthy, close knit community that most residents love. Our opportunity for success is significantly bolstered by working alongside City Manager Bernie Satterwhite, who has aptly led Bellaire for over a decade, and an experienced city staff that is our competitive advantage over other municipalities.

Communicating Specific Priorities Will Bring Progress

We all agree on overarching goals such as keeping Bellaire safe, moving Bellaire forward while maintaining our small town community, and building a healthier commercial tax base. However, each council member (and city staff) has a different set of priorities and ideas for accomplishing goals such as these. We are each more passionate about some issues than other issues, not too mention we each have a varied level of experience and competence to deal with each issue. Mayor Nauert will have the first opportunity to specifically state his priorities in his State of the City address on Monday, February 6^th (Mayor Nauert discussed some of his goals in this recent Houston Chronicle article) with council members and city staff having their opportunity during our goal setting workshop tentatively scheduled for February 13th.

The first two goal setting workshops I participated in were beneficial in helping me understand the issues at a 10,000 foot level. I am hopeful that this year’s workshop will result in a roadmap of prioritized issues and initiatives for Council to split up and work on. I realize that City Council will not unanimously agree on everything we will work on in 2012, but it is my desire that we find consensus on some priorities to all work together on (and understand which issues could be divisive), and find partners on Council to work with to put forth other specific proposals. This will require each council member to clearly and specifically communicate their specific ideas for discussion. In order to effectively work together to take Bellaire where we want to take it, we must clearly articulate our priorities.

Bellaire Needs Residents and Businesses’ Input to Prioritize Its Goals

I hope that Bellaire residents and businesses alike (especially during our goal setting) will continue to put forward their specific ideas for improving Bellaire. The many conversations and emails I have had with Bellaire stakeholders have certainly aided me in determining the issues and opportunities for improvement. Bellaire has worked really hard in the last two years to improve the ways it communicates to Bellaire residents and businesses. I hope this will result in more constructive and specific input. You may send your comments to me at cparker@ci.bellaire.tx.us.

I look forward to hearing from Bellaire stakeholders how we can make Bellaire even better,

Corbett Daniel Parker

Mayor Cindy Siegel’s message on the budget (July 1, 2011)

Letter to Southwest News Editor I wrote on Setting Tax Rate (June 21, 2011)

Bellaire Residents,

On June 8, 2011, I wrote an article in Bellaire Examiner explaining budget discussions and upcoming process. I have accumulated certain documents pertaining to Bellaire’s FY2012 Budget discussions for you to review, and (hopefully) better equip you to provide comments to City Council and staff.

• FY2012 Presentation Given by City Manager Bernie Satterwhite at May 24, 2011 City Council Meeting
• FY2011 Adopted Budget
• Letter I wrote to Southwest News published October 5, 2010  related to the FY2011 tax decisions
• Fact Sheet related to FY2011 tax decisions
• Portion of my Policy Paper dealing with Bellaire financial issues that I wrote October 2, 2009  during my campaign

I would like to clarify a few points in recent discussions regarding the proposed Bellaire tax rate increase.   City Council is proposing a tax rate that is 1.73% higher than the effective tax rate, which means a homeowner of an average Bellaire home will pay $78 more in property taxes in FY2011 than FY2010.  You might ask why is City Council raising taxes in a bad economy?   Why doesn’t the City just tighten its belt, like Bellaire families have done and cut the fat out of their budget?

The short answer is that we have tightened our belt and cut the fat out of the City budget.  We are now at the point of making the really difficult decisions.

1.       The City is proposing to increase only the debt service tax rate as a result of the increased debt service on our outstanding bond obligations and a decline of 2.4% in our tax base.  Next year the debt service increases by 9.6%, which is $530,000 more than the current fiscal year.  This increase in the debt service tax rate is strictly due to the increase in the debt service on the bonds at a time when the tax base and sales tax and other revenue have declined. City Council is not proposing to increase the General Fund tax rate.  (The General Fund pays for operations, like the police, fire and library departments.)  No one on City Council is happy about raising the tax rate. However, since the Bellaire voters overwhelmingly approved two bond referendums that included the possibility of a 5 cent tax rate increase, if the tax base didn’t grow sufficiently to pay our debt; Council believes this proposed tax rate is keeping with what Bellaire citizens supported and agreed to in 2000 and 2005.  (As an aside, the tax rate has declined from 48 cents in 2004 to a little over 37 cents last year.)

2.       The City staff has balanced the FY 2011 budget by making substantial cuts (almost $1 million) to the General and Enterprise (Utility) Funds by freezing salaries, cutting over-time and part-time positions (in addition to the 11.5 full-time equivalency employees that have been eliminated since 2009), increasing staffs’ out-of-pocket costs for health care premiums and deductibles, to name a few cuts.  This was done without raising the General Fund tax rate, without increasing the water rates, and without spending reserves (ie, no deficit spending) needed for bond rating purposes and disaster recovery similar to Hurricane Ike. This budget was unanimously approved by Council with a few additional adjustments.   City Council voted to eliminate Council compensation ($10/meeting, no more than $50/month for Councilmembers and $75/month for the Mayor) and meals for early meetings.  We also voted to cut the cost and number of garbage bags purchased by a third.  (Councilman Hickman was the only Councilmember who voted against cutting the garbage bag cost and decreasing the number of garbage bags purchased.  The only proposal he made to cut costs of operations was to cut two line items that totaled less than $5000.)

Other options that the City could consider, rather than raising the debt service tax rate, is to cut more than a $1/2 million out of the General Fund, which could be accomplished by cutting salaries and/ or eliminating staff positions.  Due to the additional large amount that would need to be cut, in order to not raise the tax rate, positions (and services) would need to be eliminated in the police and fire departments, as well as other City departments.  The City could also raise the water rates and/or deficit spend by reducing our reserves.  This was the proposal that Councilman Hickman made when he proposed transferring over $241,000 out of the Enterprise Fund to reduce the tax rate to the effective tax rate.  While a recent article stated that Councilman Hickman did everything he could to hold the line on taxes, his proposal would only have shifted money from one fund to the other.   Council did not support his proposal because the City would have to raise the water rates (ie,a hidden non-deductible tax) or we would need to reduce the reserves and run the risk that the City’s bond rating would be downgraded and cost the citizens more in interest.  Additionally, Councilman Hickman’s proposal would reduce our reserves to the point that it would be difficult to pay for items, such as debris pickup after a hurricane.    (Councilman Hickman’s proposal did NOT include holding the line on the tax rate, but instead included a 4.6% overall tax rate increase and 15.3% debt service tax rate increase at a level equal to the effective tax rate.)

City Council is proposing the option that it felt that the residents of Bellaire want and would support -  the option that meets our debt service requirements and keeping with what the voters approved; maintains our high bond rating that ultimately saves taxpayers money; maintains sufficient reserves to pay for emergencies, like a hurricane; and does not deficit spend, like other governmental agencies are doing.  However, City Council wants to hear from our residents.    Do we want a tax rate increase, or are we willing to live with City services being eliminated and staff positions cut in all City departments like the library, senior services, parks department and less police and firemen (the two largest departments)?  Do we think the City should use reserves, rather than increase the tax rate and run the risk of downgrading our bond rating?  Are we willing to wait for FEMA to pickup our storm debris, rather than ensuring the City has sufficient reserves to pay up front for trash pickup more quickly after a hurricane?  These are some of the difficult questions that we as a City and a community have to address.

The public has another opportunity to provide their comments to the City Council at a second Public Hearing on Monday, October 4^th at 6 pm or providing written comments to the City Clerk by noon on Thursday, October 14^th (tdutton@ci.bellaire.tx.us).  I look forward to hearing from residents’ viewpoint about the difficult decisions we face this year and next.

Related Info = Cuts Made to General Fund Expenditures, Options City Council Has in Adopting FY2011 Budget and Tax Rate, and Recent Bellaire Tax Rates

(1) NEW HORN ACADEMY CONSTRUCTION = On Monday 4/19, Council held Special Hearing for almost 2 hours on the proposed plans for the new Horn Academy.  There was a great amount of feedback from Bellaire residents that were mostly supportive of the plans, but had gate access, parking, and Bellaire Little League concerns. Unfortunately, we learned that despite prior hopes, HISD has no money set aside for the rebuild of baseball fields. Bellaire Council will vote on HISD’s Special Use Permit on May 3rd. [Recaps = http://bit.ly/didzQg and http://bit.ly/c8P16X and http://bit.ly/c4IEs1]

(2) FIRST STREET HOSPITAL EXPANSION. Council will hold a Special Hearing on Monday, April 26th to discuss abanding the city property and construction expected to begin next month to double the size of the hospital to 34,000 square feet= http://bit.ly/aOAByv

(3) WATER RATES LIKELY TO RISE. Due to the City of Houston’s vote to raise water rates and Bellaire’s rate needing adjustment to help city keep up water-related capital improvements, Bellaire Council has discussed raising water rates. = http://bit.ly/cBS7EC (Bellaire Discussion) and http://bit.ly/aPWOxW (Houston Vote to Raise Rates)

(4) COUNCIL GOAL AND OBJECTIVE SETTING. Council held a public special session to continue setting our goals and objectives for the next two years. Council previously met in chamber discussing each of our individual goals and objectives then presented this list of goals and received residents’ feedback at a Saturday workshop. The goals and objectives were then grouped into 5 areas, and Council spent the Special Session discussing and amending each objective. We made a significant number of changes and anticipate meeting again to prioritize the resulting goals and objectives. The revised goals and objectives will be posted on city’s website once they are drafted. The video of the Special Session is available for those wanting to watch the entire discussion. I look forward to discussing Council’s comments with any resident that has questions or comments. [Recap = http://bit.ly/cmuwNh]

(5) MID-YEAR BUDGET REVIEW = http://bit.ly/9ed7J8

(6) TENTS IN TOWN IS THIS SATURDAY= http://bit.ly/dpdkOi

(7) EVERGREEN BATH HOUSE RENOVATIONS ARE COMPLETE = http://bit.ly/aUaojJ

(8) COUNCIL VOTES TO CLOSE RECYCLING CENTER IN 2010 = http://bit.ly/ba4pk5

The certified tax rolls for all cities will be available April 30th.

You can see HCAD’s summary sheet of all the various models used to compute Bellaire property values here.

Timeline of Relationship and Activities with Oliver Luck and Dynamo Organization

Oct 2008 = Until their recent move to GRB, the Dynamo’s offices were in the same building I work in. I first met Oliver by approaching him in parking lot to speak to the Rotary Club I founded at our weekly meeting, which he did in January 2009. Shortly after he spoke, the club setup a community service tutoring program with the Dynamos’ Under 15/18 Soccer Academy where we tutor those student-athletes that require it.

Mid-May 2009 = Oliver was the MC for club’s Outstanding Community Impact Awards held at Hyatt. Many Houston city officials and community leaders attended this great celebration of profoundly serving the community.

End-May = Oliver bought me and about 10 other tutors lunch, and offered us Dynamo tickets for our time spent tutoring. Later in season I attended the only Dynamo game I have ever been to with another tutor.

Mid-July 2009 = Oliver asked the club to move one of our weekly meetings to a luxury tent the Dynamo were placing at East End stadium property during October. They thought they were about to break ground on construction and intended to start the buzz on the new stadium and get as many community groups as possible into the tent. The club began making plans to do a reception on Oct. 29th.

August 25th = I asked Oliver if he would introduce me at a campaign reception/let me use his name as supporting me from our working together on tutoring program. At this point, the Dynamos were moving forward on groundbreaking on East End site, and my guess is Midway still hadn’t approached Dynamos yet.

August 31st = Club was told by Dynamo Charities that they were no longer doing community organization events in the tents at East End stadium site, so club canceled planned reception.

Sept 15th = Oliver introduced me at campaign reception at Bellaire home (media present). OLIVER CONTRIBUTED ZERO DOLLARS TO MY CAMPAIGN. My campaign contributions are mostly Bellaire residents and longtime family friends, none are related to Dynamo. (All my campaign finance reports).

Sept 15th – Dec. 14th = I did not talk to Oliver about or hear a single thing about any developments as to East End site. I did offer him congrats in early Nov. about the successful season his son and Stanford were having.

Dec. 15th = Oliver asked me to have coffee before work, which is the first time I heard anything about potential Westpark/S. Rice site. He told me Midway recently approached him and that he told them to put together financial package comparable to the East End stadium site. He stated that they were very early in preliminary discussions, and that the Dynamos were not going to waste timing chasing/researching deal or let it interfere with his East End stadium site. I told him about Comprehensive Plan and pointed to the section discussing Bellaire’s plans for RDD.

Dec. 16th-Jan 26th = I did not talk to Oliver about or have any developments as to potential site given to me.

Jan 27th = I found out that possible stadium site was discussed in Commissioner’s Court. In the very phone call I learned of this, I told city staff  that I was friends with Oliver and had previously heard that Midway approached Dynamos about this but that it wasn’t far along at all. I also called the City Manager and Mayor and discussed it with them, including discussion with Mayor of abstaining from voting if the stadium site ever came to fruition.  When asked by Bellaire Examiner if I had a conflict of interest, I immediately answered possibly and that I would look into it.

Summary and Additional Facts

1. I consulted Bellaire’s City Attorney, relayed to him the majority of these facts, and was told that it was NOT appropriate for me to recuse myself.
2. Oliver Luck did not give me a penny before, during, or after campaign.
3. To my knowledge, my law firm has never represented the Dynamo or Oliver Luck or had any other contact with them in any capacity.
4. I have never had a conversation with or even met anyone from Midway, even though I talked to everyone I could during the campaign (tons of conversations about RDD area). I also did not even know that former Councilwoman Pam Holm (also a friend of mine who spoke at Rotary club) was helping Midway. Despite us being friends, she never contacted me, nor did any of my other community leader friends before the Commissioner’s Court discussion.
5. I have zero financial interest from the Dynamos getting a stadium built, much less where it is built.  I do not own (and no one related to me owns) any property in/near the RDD area. I have not been given or promised a single penny from anyone in anyway related to any potential Dynamo stadium.
6. At no time have I tried to conceal or play down my friendship with Oliver Luck whether with city staff or council, or when asked by the media. I told Bellaire’s Mayor in our very first conversation that I was friends with Oliver and discussed with her whether I should abstain if anything came to vote…and did same with City Attorney.
7. I am VERY active in community (often attend social/political/charity events) and there are a significant amount of other community leaders that I have developed similar friendships to through serving Houston community. I gave up and continue to give up a huge chunk of my salary serving the Bellaire, Houston and International community and supporting others that are impacting community.
8. I have responded to every resident email/call almost immediately upon receiving it, and every media request. It would have been nice if those residents accusing me of impropriety had picked up the phone to inquire about a single line in newspaper, in which I openly admitted friendship with Luck and consideration of my conflict.

Now that you have the facts, feel free to share them with those residents questioning my integrity without having the facts.

Corbett

Related Articles: State of the City: mainly anxiety over stadium, Dynamo chief cautious about stadium plan, doubts ‘private’ funding, Who knew? Dynamo private stadium deal was privileged info, Mayor catches heat for stadium stand but ‘had to do it’ (Bellaire Examiner 2-3), “There’s no such thing as a project like this without public money” (Off the Kuff 2-5), Not in Dynamo’s pocket, councilman says (Houston Chronicle 2-2), Bellaire mayor fears traffic, noise from stadium (Houston Chronicle 1-30), Bellaire Residents Voice Opposition To Stadium Idea and Parker Says No Conflict Of Interest With Dynamo Stadium (InstantNews Bellaire 2-1)

(Above is an article about the proposed Dynamos stadium site at South Rice/Westpark disclosed at Harris County Commissioners’ meeting, and includes Bellaire Mayor Cindy Siegel’s letter addressing her concerns)

Mayor Siegel, the Planning and Zoning Commission, and City Staff did an outstanding job envisioning the positive economic development that can take place in Bellaire’s Research and Development District (RDD) through Council’s recent adoption of the Comprehensive Plan. The RDD is across the street from this new potential stadium site owned by Midway Companies.   Mayor Siegel and other city planners were understandably surprised with the recent news, since envisioning for the RDD did not include any discussions of a potential stadium as it was not contemplated at the time.

Personally, I am excited about the possibility of the Dynamo’s new home being Bellaire’s next door neighbor, but share Mayor Siegel’s concerns about how it will affect Bellaire’s residential quality of life.  With the discussions between the Dynamo organization and Midway just beginning, there has been no serious inquiry into these concerns and issues such as positive/negative impact on surrounding community, possibility of easing site into residential neighborhood, environmental issues,  traffic patterns, etc… which are mute if the site does not make sense financially.

I look forward to learning:  (1) Whether Midway can present a financial package comparable to the East End stadium site which makes this proposed site feasible, (2) The public-private partnerships that are available (i.e. is there more private money available for this site in current economic conditions?), (3) What more advanced site designs for the stadium and surrounding area will look like and include, and (4) The questions, concerns, and comments of Bellaire residents, particularly those in close proximity and more significantly affected. The answers to these questions will help determine whether this is a good, better,  site for a soccer stadium.

The Dynamo have remained committed to not only being a first-class organization, but also a great community partner. On numerous occasions the Dynamo, and President Oliver Luck individually, have answered my requests to partner with the Rotary Club of Houston Skyline (as they have many other service organizations) to better the Houston community and help us help others.