Monthly Newsletter
May 4, 2018  Issue 64
Residents of District E,
  
April was a busy month for the District E Office and as we prepare for the upcoming Hurricane Season and we continue to monitor and evaluate progress on the local, state, and federal levels on Post-Harvey progress. The Army Corps of Engineers held a pre-bid conference last week and is expected to bid the dredging project within the next few weeks. Shortly after the contract is awarded, the dredging over the West Fork of the San Jacinto River is expected to occur as soon as the contractor can get mobilized. Once there is a confirmed dredging start date, we will provide notification to the community.
 
Additionally, the City of Houston submitted a Notice of Intent to apply for a Hurricane Harvey Disaster Relief - 4332 Grant (HMGP) for the addition of flood control infrastructure on the Lake Houston Dam Spillway. The HMGP is funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and has a single mission which is to provide financial assistance to projects that seek to prevent or reduce future losses to lives and property, as well as minimize the costs of future disaster response and recovery. The Notice of Intent was recently approved by the Texas Department of Emergency Management. The City of Houston is now working diligently to complete this application and submit for selection. To learn more about the selection process, you may visit this website .
 
While we await these projects, it is important to note that hurricane season begins June 1 and runs through November 1. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has updated their Hurricane Center Products and Services you may see those changes here  and we encouraged you to review them. To ensure that you are prepared, please follow the suggestions below:
  • Determine your risk
  • Develop an evacuation plan
  • Secure an insurance check-up
  • Assemble disaster supplies
  • Strengthen your home
  • Identify your trusted sources of information for a hurricane event
  • Complete your written hurricane plan
The City additionally offers a free Disaster Preparedness Guide for all Houston residents, which is available for download at  houstonoem.org . For a free, printed copy of the guide, residents can call 311 at (713) 837-0311. This guide aides Houstonians through the emergency preparedness process, which include having an emergency kit, a disaster plan, staying informed, and knowing your neighbors.
 
Other flood resources that you may find helpful may be found on the Houston Office of Emergency Management , United States Geological Survey , as well as the Harris County Flood Warning System websites.
 
It is a privilege serving you. As always, please feel free to contact my office should you have any comments, questions or concerns to share. 


Sincerely,

Dave Martin
The District E Office
900 Bagby, First Floor
Houston, TX 77002
 
Contact Information
  Phone: (832) 393-3008
Fax: (832) 393-3279
 
District E Team

Jessica Beemer
Chief of Staff & North
Sector Manager

Katherine Cunningham
Deputy Chief of Staff

Jordan McGinty
South Sector Manager

City of Houston Contacts
 
City of Houston 3-1-1
(713) 837-0311
 
 
Mayor's Citizens
Assistance Office
(832) 393-0955
 
Kingwood Community Center
(281) 348-2570
 
  Community Contacts
 
   Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce

 South Belt-Ellington Chamber of Commerce
 
 
 
 
Kingwood Super Neighborhood Council
 
   
  
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Forest Cove Townhomes

The Volunteer Initiative Program (VIPs) along with inspectors from the Department of Neighborhood (DON) recruited volunteers from Saint Bernard Project (SBP) as well as volunteers from the Kingwood community to secure 23 condos in the Riverview Townhomes at Forest Cove Subdivision. 

The project took place over two days to complete.

Gatebrook Drive at El Dorado

The District E office has received many emails from residents in regards to the many truck drivers parking their trucks and rigs on Gatebrook Drive, north of El Dorado Boulevard. It has become a growing issue for the community as these trucks are parking their trucks for days at a time. The Houston Police Department has been a wonderful asset to our community, monitoring the area, giving verbal and written warnings, and citations, educating the drivers they cannot park their commercial vehicles on the public street for longer than 24 hours at a time. This month, HPD wrote over 50 citations and had several truck, trailers, and rigs towed from Gatebrook, and the roadway is finally clear!
 
Moving forward, the District E Office is coordinating with Houston Public Works to add signage to restrict evening parking for all vehicles along this portion of roadway. Special thanks to HPD DRT Officers Jason Curtis and Justin Scott for their continued persistence as they continue to monitor this issue.

Voting

This Saturday, May 5, District E voters can head to the polls to vote for Clear Creek ISD Board of Trustees Election  and Humble ISD's $575 million bond referendum .
 
The Clear Creek ISD General Election will be held for the purpose of electing three School Board Trustees (District 4, District 5, and At-Large Position A) to serve on the Clear Creek ISD School Board. For more information on the candidates, please click here .
 
In Humble ISD, the election is being held to approve the 2018 Bond. The $575 million bond includes a new middle school, a new elementary school, rebuilding Kingwood Middle School and Lakeland Elementary, a second transportation center, expanding the district police station, districtwide technology and security projects, renovations, updates and repairs to high school, middle school, and elementary school campuses.

BAHEP To Launch Coastal Spine Twitter Campaign

Federal actions to fund the Coastal Spine have not yet materialized in the nine years since Hurricane Ike devastated the Gulf Coast. Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (BAHEP) is initiating an advocacy campaign to focus attention on the need for the federal government to move forward on this important project. BAHEP is asking for your help in getting the message to President Trump and Congress that federal funding for the Coastal Spine must be appropriated sooner rather than later. Further delays continue to leave the region vulnerable to a large storm surge inundating coastal communities, businesses, the Houston Ship Channel, and the region's petrochemical industry causing loss of life, many billions of dollars of damage, and a hugely negative impact on the nation's economy.
 
The advocacy campaign will focus on tweets sent to President Trump, members of Congress, and other decision makers to drive their awareness toward action that is needed immediately. The 60-day Twitter campaign will launch on May 24, 2018, and BAHEP is  seeking 500 or more individuals who are willing to tweet daily to the president and congressional members.  When these 500 daily tweets are shared by others, an exponential number of tweets could reach President Trump and Congress every single day for 60 days. The goal is to literally flood their Twitter accounts with messages about the critical need to move the Coastal Spine project forward as quickly as possible. Our tweets will let the president and Congress know in no uncertain terms that we are serious about seeing this project through to completion.
 
BAHEP is asking that you assign someone to lead your organization's Twitter campaign and participate as a team leader.  We will offer training to this individual, along with other team leaders, on May 9, 2018, at 4:00 p.m. in the BAHEP conference room.  The training will cover the basics of tweeting for those individuals who are new to the world of tweeting.  We will also arrange for additional training if necessary. Please ask your team leader to contact us for more specifics on this Twitter campaign.
 
You are welcome to contact BAHEP at 832.536.3255 if you have questions or need additional information.
Congressional Staff Day at Ellington Field

On Thursday, April 26, staff from my office attended a Congressional Staff Day at Ellington Field, hosted by the Houston Airport System. The event featured tours of the airport, Aerospace Support Center, the new Air Traffic Control Construction, and 147 th Attack Wing Reaper Static Display and Flight Demo. Staff members from several US Senate and Representative offices were in attendance to interact with the many impressive facets offered and to come to Ellington Field and the Houston Spaceport.

Exploration Green Phase One Grand Opening

Staff from my office attended Saturday's Grand Opening of Exploration Green Phase One. It was a wonderful celebration with remarks from State Representative Dennis Paul, Commissioner Jack Morman, and my office, followed by a ceremonial tree planting. The City of Houston commends the immense efforts and passionate support by partners and volunteers and extends best wishes to the Clear Lake City Water Authority and Exploration Green Conservancy for a great grand opening and Exploration Green's continued success!

Kingwood B.O.P.A.

On Saturday, April 28 Council Member Martin and the Solid Waste Management Department (SWMD) hosted the Kingwood Batteries, Oil, Paint and Anti-Freeze (B.O.P.A.) collec tion event at the Kingwood METRO Park and Ride. 

Approximately 27,540 pounds of recyclable materials were collected from residents over the course of the event including 1,500 pounds of batteries, 2,540 pounds of used motor oil, 18,600 pounds of latex paint, 800 pounds of antifreeze and 4,100 pounds of scrap metal. 
 
Council Member Martin thanks Keep Kingwood Green for volunteering to help with the event and who made the Kingwood B.O.P.A. possible, as well as the staff of the city's Solid Waste Management Department for its leadership on the event and the Houston Police Department's Kingwood substation for its additional support. 
Kingwood Pachyderms

Last month,  Council Member Martin was able to provide the Lake Houston Pachyderm Club with a City of Houston update including some road projects scheduled along Kingwood Drive that will begin in June. These projects will include much needed panel replacements that will require the closing of a single lane during their repair. The details for these projects are still being finalized and once they are the District E Office will be providing notification through our email distribution list.

CLACC General Membership Luncheon

Staff from Council Member Martin's office attended the Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Luncheon on April 25, 2018, in which the President and CEO of NASA Space Center, William T. Harris, spoke about the ongoing changes of NASA Space Center. President Harris is working on transforming NASA Space Center into not just an attraction site but into a scientific institution as well. Through new strategic hires that emphasize on visitor experience, Space Center Houston has gained a 23% increase in attendance.

In addition, they have recently completed capital improvements such as the construction of a special event building that fit up to 250 people and has had over 200 events in the past year. The growth in the center has also allowed for growth in the education program, which is bringing in guests from all around the world. President Harris is focusing his efforts on the diversity, equity, inclusion, and the accessibility all his guests so that everyone can share the same experience while also encouraging the ideas of others.
Texas Receives $5 Billion Grant from Department of Housing and Urban Development for Disaster Recovery

Governor Greg Abbott announced that Texas has been awarded $5,035,260,000 from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) for disaster recovery from Hurricane Harvey and previous flood events. The grant funding is provided through HUD's Community Development Block Grant - Disaster Recovery (CDBG-DR) Program for the rebuilding of housing, businesses and infrastructure. This allocation comes as a result of the disaster supplemental recently passed by Congress, and is in addition to the $5 billion in CDBG funding previously awarded to Texas by HUD late last year.

"The additional Community Development Block Grant funds announced today will inject billions of dollars that are desperately needed to help restore our communities," said Governor Abbott. "As the recovery process from Hurricane Harvey continues, the State of Texas is continuing to work as quickly as possible to ensure affected regions have the resources they need to fully recover. I thank Secretary Carson, as well as our federal partners, for their ongoing commitment and support throughout this process, and I look forward to continuing our work together to help communities rebuild."

"It's clear that a number of communities are still struggling to recover from a variety of storms that occurred in the past three years," said HUD Secretary Ben Carson. "These grants will help rebuild communities impacted by past disasters and will also protect them from major disasters in the future."

"Hurricane Harvey was one of the most destructive and disruptive disasters affecting the lives of millions of Texans along the coast," said Commissioner Bush. "These additional CDBG-DR funds will go a long way towards helping Texas communities rebuild while restoring peace of mind for residents and confidence for local businesses."

The CDBG-DR funding includes:
  • $652,175,000 to help rebuild damaged homes, businesses and infrastructure.
  • $4,297,189,000 for elevating homes, property buyouts, and hardening structures from wind and water to help protect Texas families from future storms.
  • In addition, Houston received $61,884,000 and San Marcos $24,012,000 for mitigation of 2015 floods.
Local Texas officials can now implement a disaster recovery plan to identify their communities needs for these funds.

Hurricane Harvey Updates for the City of Houston
Source: FEMA - as of April 13, 2018






Adopt a Drain

Mayor Turner and Amy Reed, executive director of Keep Houston Beautiful, announced the launch of the City's new Adopt-A-Drain Program, which is a partnership between Houston Public Works, Keep Houston Beautiful and community partners. This program hopes to help prevent future flooding, save taxpayer money and keep our neighborhood storm drains clean and litter free.

The city is addressing its flooding challenges on many levels, and spends $13 million each year on storm drain maintenance, inspection and repairs. As it plans for regional detention and large-scale drainage improvement projects to make our city more flood resilient, it also recognizes that all Houstonians can individually contribute in the efforts to reduce local street flooding.

The mayor encourages Houstonians to adopt at least one of the 115,000 available storm drains. As Adopt-A-Drain partners, program participants are asked to keep their drain clear of leaves and trash by cleaning it at least four times a year (especially before it rains), clean 10 feet on both sides of the drain, and compost or dispose of leaves and trash properly.

To adopt-a-drain in your neighborhood, visit:  www.HoustonAdoptaDrain.org. By adopting a drain, partners will receive information and tips from the City of Houston and Keep Houston Beautiful and notification of upcoming Houston Adopt-a-Drain events.

Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce Legislative Trip to Washington D.C.

On April 15 th a delegation of local community leaders including a member of my staff went to Washington D.C. to advocate for the Lake Houston Area. One of the items that was stressed to our federally elected officials was the need to simplify distribution of federal disaster dollars and the removal of red tape in order to allow funds to reach communities, businesses, and residents in need more quickly. 

The Lake Houston Chamber delegation was well received by Chairman Kevin Brady, Congressman Ted Poe, Congressman Gene Green, Senator Ted Cruz and Staff from Senator John Cornyn's Office. The group even had a special surprise visit from House Speaker Paul Ryan. The group was a success and was able to take away valuable information as well as contacts from the trip. The Lake Houston Chamber has been an example for the nation during disaster response and has been identified as an organization to watch from Washington D.C.

Upcoming Events

Please refer to Council Martin's District E  website for location, time and more event details. Email the District E office if you would like us to include your upcoming event in future newsletters! 

City Wides

May 14-28 
National Police Week

May 28
Memorial Day - City Holiday - Offices Closed


Kingwood 

May 4
Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce's Party on the Green

May 5
Kingwood Electronic Waste Recycling

May 9
Kingwood Service Assocation's Public Safety Committee

May 15
Kingwood PIP

May 16
Kingwood Super Neighborhood Meeting


Southeast Houston/Clear Lake 

May 12
Clear Lake Electronic Waste Recycling 

May 15
Clear Lake PIP

May 21
CCISD Rotary Teacher of the Year Luncheon

May 30
Clear Lake Area Chamber of Commerce General Membership Luncheon