Brunswick Meadow's 1st Annual People's Market/Neighbor Party

Rain or shine - the 1st Annual People's Market/Neighbor Party is ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Tell or bring a neighbor to the playground off of Brunswick Meadows Drive and Sandstone Bend from 2pm - 6pm.
Come and play!
Eat some food!
And meet your neighbors!

Brunswick Meadows Town Hall Meeting

You probably received something in the mail from David King of AMI, the management company for Brunswick Meadows, with an agenda for a Town Hall Meeting. Just in case you didn't, here's the details:

DATE: Monday, November 1, 2010
TIME: 6:30 to 8:00PM
PLACE: Jones Memorial United Methodist Church - 2504 Almeda Genoa Rd.

Announcements, Award Presentation, Landscaping Report, and Deed Restriction Update are the topics to be covered, followed by a general discussion. Come hear what the HOA has to say and have your voice heard as well.

Neighborhood Watch Training

We are asking for your participation in Neighborhood Watch Training, to get the details and dates Contact CG Johnson 281 932 1233 for Brunswick Meadows

Contact Mike Smith 832-754-3953 for Brunswick Lakes

CRIME INFORMATION ALERT Wed, Oct 6, 2010 at approximately 8:15 am surveillance photographs of two suspects burglarizing a home in the Brunswick Lakes sub-division were posted to the Brunswick Meadows 77047 yahoo group.

Details:

Harris County Constable's Deputies were dispatched to a burglary call within 14100 block of Bishop Bend Lane. Upon arrival, Deputies observed that the front door of the residence had been kicked open and later determined that several electronic devices and computer equipment had been stolen.

Anyone with information on this case is asked to call the Harris County Constable's Department at 713-643-6602 or Harris County Sheriff's Office Burglary and Theft Division Unit at 713-967-5770, or Crime Stoppers at 713-222-TIPS.

Who To Call For Emergency Law Enforcement

May Walker , Harris County Constable Pct. 7, now has the security contract with WCID89. Her office is located at 5290 Griggs Road Houston TX 77021 and her phone number is 713-634-6118.
If you have need of law enforcement, please call this number 713-643-6602 rather than 9-1-1. You'll get faster service.

AK Babers Presents The Brunswick Meadows' 1st Annual People's Market

So that our community may maintain personal safety, quality of life, and enhance the health and welfare of our children and families, WCID89 Director AK Babers and friends will be hosting, 'The Brunswick Meadows' 1st Annual People's Market'.

The inaugural Peoples’ Market, will be held at The Brunswick Meadows Playground on Saturday, November 13, 2010 from 2:00 pm – 6 pm. Our community has been around for over five years now and in that time we have accomplished several significant achievements.You may be aware of our campaign to help make the community a safer place from crimes and home burglaries. We have worked together to get our security contract changed from the Harris County Sheriff District 3 to Harris County Constables Precinct 7. We have also persuaded a change in our Home Owners Association management company to better serve our community. We should be very proud of our achievements and the hard work of a lot of people connected through their neighbors. We would like to take time to bring our community closer together and to celebrate our efforts. We would also like to use this event to welcome Harris County Constable May Walker to our neighborhood.

In the upcoming weeks, you will be receiving updates and flyers concerning the People's Market. AK would like to take this time to ask if there is any one in the community with special talents, who would like to perform during this event. Or anyone owning a small business who would like to set up a booth to promote or sell during this event. If so, please contact AK Babers @ akbabers2008@yahoo.com.

Tax Hike - Have Your Voice Heard!

Please refer to the posting on the WCID89 blog maintained by Dr. Root for more information about the recent decision to raise the tax rate. The public hearing for the 2010 tax rate will be held at the beginning of the next District meeting at 11:30AM on Tuesday, October 19, 2010. The new meeting place is the Frost Bank Bldg. located at 6750 West Loop South, Suite 250, Bellaire, TX. Free parking is available.

AMI & HOA Enforcing the Deed Restrictions

Perhaps you received a post card from AMI in the mail like I did. Just in case you tossed it, thinking it was junk mail, let me reproduce it here for you.

AMI and your Homeowners Association would like to maintain the aesthetics of your community but can only do so with your help. Below are some friendly tips and reminders on how to help keep your community beautiful.

• Basketball goals are not allowed.
• Trash containers must be kept from public view (except on trash days)
• Please remember that garden hoses should be on garden caddies and/or placed out of view.
• For the safety of our residents and your visitors, overnight street parking is prohibited. In order to alleviate cluttered streets, your Association is currently in the process of contacting the local municipality to ticket and tow these individuals who violate this parking restriction. (My comment on this one: we are not within any local municipality so I presume that they are contacting the Sheriff to ticket and tow. Considering the Sheriff's response times to our emergency calls, I would think that the HOA might have difficulty getting this enforced!)
• Now is the time to fertilize both your front and rear lawns. Fertilizer can be purchased at any feed, hardware, or lawn store and is vital in minimizing weed growth during the spring germination period.

No street parking is allowed over night. Please try your best to use your driveway, your neighbor will appreciate it. (My comment again: Seems that they really want the cars off the streets. It is a definite safety hazard. Pets or children can dart out into the street and a driver would not be able to see them as quickly due to the parked cars. And, if a fire truck tried to get to a burning house it would have to plow it's way through these parked cars.)

Please keep in mind that during the winter season management will be reviewing the above mentioned items each visit and reminding owners of their maintenance responsibilities -- for the benefit of all.

Sincerely,
Dave King
Community Manager

AMI Resource Center New Phone Number

713-932-1122 or 800-932-9449

Recap of HOA Annual Meeting on 5/18/2010

Compared to previous HOA meetings, I thought this one was much more civilized. Only near the end did things start to fall apart. Here's the highlights:

Javier of Friendswood Development announced that Keith Schoonover would be taking over as President of the HOA and go-to-guy for all Developer related issues. He will be assisted by Shamar O'Bryant and Nat Heston.

One week ago our old management company, ACMI, was fired. A new contract has been given to AMI to take over management and will officially be in effect on June 1st. Dave King of AMI will be the manager for Brunswick Meadows. AMI services over 260 neighborhoods and has been in business for 30 years. Let's face it...they couldn't possibly be worse than ACMI :--) and hopefully will live up to all they promised tonight. AMI office is located at 12230 Shadowcreek Parkway, behind the Sherwin Williams. Twin Villas residents should start sending their monthly dues to AMI starting in 30 days.

You can send your problems to Dave via e-mail at dking@amitx.com and he will respond within 24 hours. AMI also has a Resource Center that handles 14,000-15,000 calls per month and 80% of those calls were addressed within 2 minutes. Call 713-332-4675 to reach the Resource Center - but you'll have to wait until the middle of June for it to be up and running. For immediate needs, e-mail Dave. Dave says he has already been cruising the neighborhood and sees many violations of the deed restrictions. He wants a few weeks to read over all the rules and will be visiting violators 3 days a week. He also said a monthly newsletter will be created with assistance of a committee of residents and a website will be provided with all the bells and whistles. Until we see evidence of that, I will continue to post on this blog and the yahoo group will continue.

The sidewalk to nowhere along Sandstone Bend was adorned with bushes along the fences of each side of the street. 'Nowhere' is actually the last part of the development that will be starting in December. This sidewalk was part of the master plan. No other sidewalks - the ones we've been wanting along Brunswick Meadows and the detention ponds - were ever planned. Javier said that it was possible to build the sidewalks - there is no problem with the right of way - but there was no budget available to build them.

Streets needing completion to outlet on Furman is a responsibility of the Developer, but no timeframe was mentioned as to when they would be done. Once the roads are built, they are turned over to Harris County for maintenance. So if there are problems with the roads in the future, you should address Commissioner Pct. 1 El Franco Lee. Someone mentioned the need for speed bumps and asked who had jurisdiction over that. It was unclear who was responsible for them. Supposedly it is Harris County, but El Franco Lee said that it was not within their power. The city of Houston does build speed bumps, but as you know, we are not within the city of Houston limits so that leaves us back in the 'black hole' of no one taking responsibility.

For the continuing debate on bus stops, it is necessary that you take it up with the appropriate school administration. Some have had more success than others in addressing this issue.

There was a new twist on the 'water vs no water' in the detention ponds debate. Seems that while the water was sitting in the ponds, unscrupulous sales reps for the home builders attached a premium to lots that abutted the 'lakefront' property. The developer said that it was never the intention to have water in those detention ponds. They are to remain dry in order to deal with flooding when it rains. The reason the water was in the ponds for so long was because the developer felt that WCID89 should be responsible for paying for the pump after it was installed. But WCID89 refused to do so. The developer paid and the ponds were drained and will remain in their dry state forever.

Those are the main points. Please feel free to comment on others that I may have missed.

Tuesday May 18th Annual HOA Meeting

7:00 to 8:30 p.m. Jones Memorial Methodist Church which is at 2504 Almeda Genoa Road (very near 288) and here's a few of the concerns that residents intend to address at this meeting:
Sidewalks along Brunswick Meadows Dr (Public Safety Issue)
Retention Ponds (Water or Not?)
Security Contract Issues
Water Quality
Improvement to Furman Rd
Completion of the thoroughfare near Sutton Glen Lane and Furman (relieve some of the through traffic in other sections)
Recycling options
Level of occupancy for the community
Trucks parking overnight
Constant advertisement left on doors - might be a way for thieves to see if anyone is at home
Community amenities (playgrounds, picnic area, etc.)
Street signs (children at play, no outlet, etc) throughout the entire neighborhood
More street lights
Scott Street landscaping & signage (should be more attractive & inviting)

Come and join the discussion on these and other matters affecting our neighborhood!

Come to Golden Corral on 3/23 at 6PM

I'm hoping you will be able to join AK Babers and me at the Golden Corral on 518 (9115 Broadway St, Pearland, TX 77584 if you want to mapquest it, or you cancall them at 281-412-4546) at 6PM Tuesday, March 23, 2010 for a little strategy session on how we can get us elected to the Water District Board. I've reserved the meeting room for us so we can have a quiet place to talk and eat. The buffet is $9.99 and you can just ask where the meeting room is and they'll point it out to you.

So far, here's what we know. The election will be held on Saturday, May 8, 2010 from 7AM-7PM at the home of Cynthia Woolridge, who lives in Morningside - the neighborhood adjacent to Tom Bass Park off Cullen - at 14719 Teck Ct. Early voting is from 9AM-5PM April 26-30 and May 3-4 and election day is Saturday, May 8 from 7AM-7PM.

We will be using voting machines rented from the County. You have to be registered with the address in the neighborhood showing on your registration card. In other words, you can't just be registered to vote in Harris County and still qualify to vote in this particular election. If you need to get registered with your Brunswick address, please let me know. I have the registration form.

The best news? I, Jeraine Root, will appear first on the ballot and AK Babers will be 2nd. We drew for places on the ballot at the lawyer's office where the MUD meetings are held. And everyone will be allowed to vote for two candidates, so we won't run the risk of splitting the vote. So come help us strategize and win some Brunswick representation on the Board!!!

History of WCID#89

This is the first in a series of postings that I will devote to understanding more about our MUD or Water District and some of the complaints that the "Wick" neighborhoods have expressed regarding their services to our communities. The Wick are the relatively new developments built on the north side of Beltway 8 between Furman St and Cullen Blvd. Brunwick Lakes, Brunswick Meadows, and Brunswick Place make up the Wick. The other two major neighborhoods served by WCID #89 are Morningside Place I and Morningside Place II which are on the south side of Beltway 8, bounded by Cullen Blvd and Fellows Road which runs along Tom Bass Park.

Harris County Water Control & Improvement District #89 (WCID #89) was created March 6, 1964 and was converted to a municipal utility district (MUD) on April 11, 1984 and according to chapters 49 and 54 of the Texas Water Code, WCID #89, is empowered to purchase, operate & maintain all facilities necessary to provide water, sanitary sewer service, storm sewer drainage, irrigation, solid waste collection & disposal, including recycling, parks and recreational facilities for the residents of the District. In addition, WCID#89 can contract for or employ its own peace officers with power to make arrests and to establish, operate and maintain a fire department to perform all fire-fighting activities within the District. On April 4, 2000 WCID #89 entered into a water supply agreement with the City of Houston, which has supplemented the District's water supply from wells.

WCID #89 is governed by 5 Board members who serve 4 year terms of office. Until April 2009 these positions were held by Sharyn Smalls (President) Arthur G. Washington (VP) Victoria Lastee (Secretary) Danny Perkins (Director) and Claudell Bradby (Director). It was discovered that Claudell Bradby was not qualified to sit on the Board because she had not maintained a residence within the District since 2007. She was replaced by Byron Keith Watson, Sr. - appointed to office by the Board.

Interesting isn't it that there was no attempt by the current Board to include a representative from the Wick when given the opportunity to appoint a new Board member? Especially since many Wick residents had attended meetings and voiced their concerns with various issues related to the District. AK Babers, who resides in Brunswick Meadows, had a personal meeting with Sharyn Smalls back in 2008. During that meeting, he expressed an interest in serving on the Board. He was told at that time by President Smalls that there was no need for him to serve because she was content with the current makeup of the Board, including the unqualified Director presumably.

Elections are held whenever an incumbent has a challenger petition to be on the ballot. No elections have been held for any Board position since the Wick neighborhoods came into existence; therefore, all Board members are from Morningside. That has now changed. There will be an election held (exact date, time, and place to be determined and will be announced on this blog) for 2 of the 5 positions because AK Babers and I (Dr. Jeraine Root) have requested to be on the ballot. We will be vying for the 2 positions currently held by Victoria Lastee and Danny Perkins. The candidates who receive the most votes will win the positions - there is no runoff.

Next posting will be about finances of the District.

Exciting Meeting Hosted by State Rep. Allen

Just got home from the community meeting spearheaded by our neighbors, Brunswick Lakes, with the assistance of our State Representative, Dr. Alma Allen. The meeting was held at New Beginning Church, 4251 Schumier Road (the pastor extended an invitation for everyone to come back and worship on Sunday) and at least 100 people were in attendance. Before I get into a review of the meeting, let me announce that AK Babers has set up a Facebook group for all the Brunswick communities represented at the meeting tonight called The Wick. Click here to become a fan. Now we have 3 methods of communication on the 'Net. This blog, Facebook's The Wick, and the yahoo group. Join all 3 and keep fully informed! Anyone out there know how to Twitter? If so, let me know and I'll include info on it here on the blog as well.

Now, a synopsis of the meeting. And please, if you were at the meeting, feel free to supplement my review with your own comments. First, I was impressed with the number of public officials present and it's the first time I've been to any meeting where all the people we've been told to contact were in the same place at the same time. That in itself was very empowering.

• Sheriff Adrian Garcia
• Captain Kevin Radabaugh (District 3 Captain, Sheriff)
• Captain Mike Talton (Communications Captain and former District 3 Captain, Sheriff)
• Sgt. Byrd (Communications, Sheriff)
• Lt. F. Bradley and Sgt. C. Adolph (District 3 Deputies, Sheriff)
• Rhonda Sauter and the 3 Deputies assigned to our contract with WCID#89 (Sheriff)
• Constable Mae Walker
• Chief Goree Anderson (Constable Walker)
• Bessie Swindle (Congressman Al Green)
• Paul Reyes, Vickie Ward & 2 others (Principal Management Group of Houston)
• City Council Member Jolanda Jones
• City Council Member Wanda Adams
• Shavanda Johnson (Council Member Adams)
• Angela Solis (Mayor Annise Parker)
• John Beadioun (Commissioner El Franco Lee)
• WCID #89 Vice President Arthur Washington
  
• WCID #89 Secretary Victoria Lastee
  
• Christopher Richardson (General Counsel for WCID #89)
• Jim Ainsworth (Engineer for WCID #89)
• Equator Turner (Inner City Emergency Response Team)
• David Randolph (Planning Engineer - Harris County Flood Control District
• John Jones (Houston Police Department)
  

There were also the leaders of the Brunswick Lakes subdivision Ms. Johanna Williams (I'm very sorry, but I didn't catch the names of the others) who presented their concerns, along with a projected slide show that provided evidence of the problems. In a nutshell, Brunswick Lakes residents pay $480/year in HOA dues but have no control over or representation on the HOA Board. Indeed, no one from the property management group seemed to even know who the HOA Board members were. Finally, when pressed, Paul Reyes admitted that it was just the developers Joe Foggarty and John Speer, both of whom refused to attend the meeting.

Promises were made for a pool, sidewalks, jogging trails, etc. that have not been kept to Brunswick Lakes homeowners. And there was a lack of financial accountability, especially regarding the landscaping fees (sound familiar Brunswick Meadows?) There are significant safety issues regarding the lack of any type of barrier or adequate lighting around the big pond at the front of their subdivision, along with some giant hole that appeared and has yet to be explained or filled in. The streets flood after it rains and don't drain properly. Finally, they are frustrated with the lack of water quality provided by WCID #89 and so-called security provided by the contract with the Sheriff when it takes nearly an hour for a response to a 911 call. Several people raised their hands in the audience when asked if they had personally been victims of home burglaries.

Once the problems were presented, each person in the bullet list above were given an opportunity to give a response. Constable Mae Walker spoke first, saying that her office had competed for the security contract that was awarded to Sheriff Garcia by WCID #89 and because she had lost out calls for law enforcement would be directed to the Sheriff rather than her officers. Sheriff Garcia did acknowledge that there were problems with response times to calls and had Sgt. Byrd explain how 911 relied on cell phone towers to pinpoint which law enforcement official to send out on an emergency call. It seems that our cell phones bounce off a tower near Reed Road, which is in the city of Houston's jurisdiction, but land line calls show us to be outside the city limits. Some cell phones bounce off a tower near 288 and Beltway 8 and get re-routed to Pearland police and/or Brazoria County. He suggested that rather than have the 911 operator try to figure out who to send, state clearly that you need to be routed to 'Harris County Neutral' and that should cut down on the confusion.

This problem with jurisdictional responsibilities was a common refrain and reminded me of the media report last year that we were in "The Black Hole" when it comes to government services. One of the most animated conversations arose after Arthur Washington suggested that the security contract with the Sheriff was intended to secure ONLY the water district's infrastructure, not the homeowners from criminals. He was challenged by that statement and both Constable Mae and Sheriff Garcia seemed unaware that their contracts with neighborhoods were designed to protect water tanks and sewer lines. Christopher Richardson backed up Arthur Washington's statement about the security contract and suggested that it wasn't the place of the water district to tell any law enforcement official how to carry out their duties under the contract. Sheriff Garcia said that he was willing to amend the contract if it did, in fact, only protect the district's facilities.

Although we do live outside the city limits, Angela Solis, Councilmembers Jones and Adams all offered their assistance in getting the problems resolved. Councilmember Jones gave her phone number 832-393-3006 for us to call and Councilmember Adams got on her phone to ask who would respond if a 911 call was made for a house on fire. Good to know that while the Houston Police Department would not respond to us in an emergency, the Houston Fire Department will!
Another group that was willing to meet our needs in an emergency was the Inner City Emergency Response Team. They handed out cards on training they offer on how to extinguish small fires; provide basic medical aid and treatment for shock; search for and rescue victims safely; effectively assist your family & community; and, prepare for natural or man-made disasters. For more info, visit their website at www.in-cert.com or call Officer Shandenia Gay at 713-294-7331 or the Dispatch Line at 832-352-6192.

Bessie Swindle gave the most honest and helpful response in my humble opinion. She said that if Brunswick Lakes really wanted to get their problems resolved, their best bet was to hire a lawyer and sue the developer. It might take several years, but the courts would be fair.

John Beaudoin said that it is not within the power of Commissioner Lee to enforce deed restrictions or punish developers for failing to follow proper procedures getting permits for County maintenance of the ditches and retention ponds. David Randolph of Flood Control said that a plan for dealing with stormwater is offered by the developer and an inspector from Flood Control approves it. Then after a period of one year, the County will take over maintenance of the plan, but in this case, the developer had problems with the plan and the inspector pointed these out. Nothing was ever done by the developer to follow up.

Paul Reyes said he was looking forward to meeting with the leaders of the Brunswick Lakes community to try and resolve the problems. There has NEVER been a meeting for the homeowners and Councilmember Adams expressed her outrage at the property management team for not treating Brunswick Lakes the same as it did other neighborhoods it managed - she knows because they manage her neighborhood.

Final 30 minutes of the meeting was for Q&A. One had to do with who was responsible for writing the deed restrictions and covenants for Brunswick Meadows (Answer: the developer) and several others had to do with WCID 89:

• Had a backup system been put in place so that water service would not be lost in case of a natural disaster like happened during Hurricane Ike? Yes, a natural gas operated generator was installed so water service would not be interrupted.
  
• What was the current development of Plant 2 and the wastewater plant? Plant 2 construction plan is under review with the City of Houston and should take another year to complete. Wastewater plant will take longer - perhaps 18 months or more, and construction should begin at the end of 2010.
• What has been done to address the ongoing problem of substandard water quality? Testing shows the water is fine. (Much disagreement and evidence offered to the contrary by the crowd that they experience smelly brown water)
  
• Where and when will the election for WCID 89 Board members take place this year? May 8th and the place to cast the ballot will be provided in your water bill.

I invite others to comment on what I missed in this review of the meeting. I also am hopeful that we can come together and affect positive change for all our "Wick" neighborhoods. I will be posting updates on those efforts here because knowledge is power. I will also be posting a series on WCID 89 from documents I have received over the past year through the Freedom of Information Act. Should be interesting...

AK Babers and Jeraine Root Throw Hats in the Ring

AK Babers and Jeraine Root have taken the first step toward empowering the Brunswick neighborhoods by filing to be put on the ballot for the 2 positions on the WCID #89 Board that expire this year. This blog will be running a series of posts about our Water District, gleaned from over 400 pages of documents that were received from several open records requests made by yours truly, soon-to-be candidate Dr. Root.

Keep coming back to the blog for information about the election which should be held sometime in May this year.