MICHAEL
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MICHAEL SILVA
713.725.8748
Covering the Heights, Garden Oaks, Oak Forest & the neighborhoods of North Houston
michaels@johndaugherty.com
10570 NW Frwy 713-680-2350
Saturday, February 11, 2017 • Vol. 63 • No. 6
About Us 3500 East T.C. Jester Blvd Suite A (713) 686-8494
What’s going on with Recapture? By Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com
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Photo by Landan Kuhlmann Wakefield Crowbar General Manager Mike Pushkin (left) and bar manager Kevin Hernandez examine construction just down the road from their bar on Wakefield Drive. The Garden Oaks and Shepherd Park Plaza project has caused some headaches for them and other business owners.
Sunset Heights Clinic. Although Texas leads the nation in uninsured citizens, the Harris County Health system offers patients affordable, comprehensive walk-in care at six same day clinics.
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Houston Crush Independence Heights embraces their local youth baseball team, which is in turn loving them back.
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Find it. WANT TO LEARN ENGLISH? Affordable ESL classes, 28 years experience. 713-349-4676. ESTATE/GARAGE SALE: 5926 Autumn Forest 77092. Saturday, Feb. 11, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Dining/kitchen table, beds, sofas, miscellaneous. AKC GERMAN SHEPHERD PUPPIES, 903-529-2729; Shepherd Lab mix puppies, 903529-2873. 2012 MITSUBISHI GALANT: 67K miles, $7,000. One owner. A/C, stereo. Runs good, excellent condition. 281-701-0521, 281-847-0619.
Local watering holes scrambling to cope with city drainage project
By Landan Kuhlmann landan@theleadernews.com Residents have accepted the growth of this local area as a fact of life, but the process of a recent construction project has left several local businesses wondering what the light at the end of the tunnel may be. As Mike Pushkin and Kevin Hernandez walk up to the Wakefield Crowbar each day, the hustle and bustle of the ongoing construction along Alba Road hits them full in the face. The work has completely blocked access to Wakefield via Alba Road, which has forced drivers to detour around the neighborhood to reach the bar—and the pair just wants answers. “You’ve just got to know you can get to us. We have no idea when it’s going to stop,” bar manager Kevin Hernandez said. The $19.55-million Garden Oaks and Shepherd Park Project, part of the city of Houston’s Capital Improvement Plan, is aimed at reducing the risk of structural flooding in Garden Oaks, Shepherd Forest, Shepherd Park, Candlelight Plaza and other surrounding areas through design and construction of storm drainage improvements, necessary concrete paving, curbs, sidewalks, driveways and underground utilities. Areas to be affected by the work include Alba from Chamboard Lane to Judiway Street, Brinkman Street from Janisch Road to Chamboard Lane and Chamboard Lane from Alba to Brinkman Street. “We want to make sure we do everything we can to help residents and homeowners,” Alanna Reed with the city of Houston said of the project, which began construction last October. “We’re constantly trying to improve the system and infrastructure
which is there, and with projects like this we absolutely can.” Hurting business As the Wakefield Crowbar duo comes to work each day, the construction is but a minor annoyance; however, their deeper fear is with regards to their customer base, which
where from 25 to 40 percent week to week,” Liberty Kitchen co-owner Brian Schrumpf said. “Our lunch business has certainly been the most damaged.” Hernandez said such a downturn never comes without trickle-down effects. “I think it had a substantial effect on our business for sure, which then trickles down to all of our employees,” he said. “Bartenders don’t make as many tips, that means the bar backs don’t get as many tips—it affects our job as managers too because our owners are wondering why numbers are down.” Much of the same rings true for Liberty Kitchen, as the resulting decline in foot traffic has forced Schrumpf and co-owner Jaime Greene to work on an abridged menu as well as diminish their workforce. “A lot of our core items are still there, but simply due to the number Photo by Landan Kuhlmann of staff it takes to prepare and takThe work will continue until July 2018. ing into consideration the amount of product you have to order, we’ve basically had to cut our menu in half,” they believe has taken a hit. he said. “If it’s annoying me and I have Adding to the problem is the enorto come here, some neighborhood mous “Road closed to through traffolks might say ‘I’m not going there, I fic” sign prominent as one passes by don’t want to deal with that traffic or Wakefield on Golf Drive. construction over there because it’s “It’s a big old sign where people annoying,” Hernandez said. “We’ve view it as “I can’t go down this road’,” seen a lot less of our regular neigh- Pushkin said. “We’re looking into putbors here over the last two months.” ting up signs around the neighborhood “I’ll drive by a place if there’s not alerting folks that we are still open enough parking, so if it looked like it and they can come on through.” was more difficult to even get to the Liberty Kitchen has taken proactive place, I’d probably head on down the attempts to address any confusion, posting at least five signs around the road,” Pushkin added Fellow business and popular neigh- neighborhood so as to help patrons borhood dining spot Liberty Kitchen navigate the ever-changing routes, has also taken a hit with reduced foot traffic. See Navigation P. 6A “We’re looking at a loss of any-
The recent news that the state Senate Finance Committee has charged a study team to devise a new, equitable school finance system for Texas was encouraging to HISD board members. “Everyone is tired of having a convoluted system,” said HISD board member Anna Eastman of the increasingly complex formulas the state uses to figure out each school district’s allotment. “There needs to be a system a lay person can easily understand. The Supreme Court has left the door open to doing something totally different.” In the meantime though, Houston is still in Recapture – meaning that in the current system, HISD is considered “property wealthy” and is subject to sending $162 million in local property Anna Eastman taxes to the state. In the November elections however, voters said no to recapture, and HISD will now be subject to the detachment of about $18 billion worth of commercial property within district borders starting in July 2017. That’s partly why HISD board members along with Superintendent Richard Carranza and other staff went to Austin to meet with Larry Taylor, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, and Speaker of the House Joe Straus, among others. “We want to be a part of conversation,” said Eastman. Another purpose of their meetings was to make recommendations of how to get Houston out of recapture. “The things we talked about were more of a short term fix in the current system,” said Eastman. “Maybe not this session, but ultimately they’ll come up with better solutions.” These interim remedies including raising the basic allotment per student, currently at about $9,000 per student; calculating the Homestead tax exemption for HISD homeowners on the full value of the property; counting full day Pre-K children as part of the daily attendance counts – because currently the state only funds a half day for students and HISD picks up the rest of the tab; and asking for a Transportation allotment because if Houston does go into recapture that funding for buses will be lost. “The remedies we asked for are not exclusive to Houston,” said Eastman. As for what will happen in July when properties are scheduled to be detached, Eastman said she has not heard of any specific movement on the behalf of businesses to sue the state to prevent the seizure. The concern is the permanence of the detachment of commercial properties for the purposes of taxation. Eastman did note the action of State Representative Jim Murphy who filed HB 1059 relating to the reattachment of property detached from a school district by the Texas Commissioner of EducaSee Recapture P. 6A
2017
The INDEX. Church....................................................... 5A Classifieds.............................................. 4B Coupons. ................................................. 6A Food/Drink/Art................................... 7A Opinion. ................................................... 4A Public Information......................... 2A
The top two vote getters are taking it all in stride
Puzzles...................................................... 4A
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Sports. ....................................................... 7B
Jasmine
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