Inside Today: Gordon playing part in growth of area homes • Page 1B
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SATURDAY | October 26, 2013 | Vol. 59 | No. 52 | www.theleadernews.com | @heightsleader
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Taxes heading up, even with city council vote
The Houston City Council voted last week to keep the property tax rate at 63.875 cents for each $100 of assessed value, where it has been since 2009. Still, with property values rising in city limits, the rate is projected to bring in $967 million more than last year – and it means property owners will be paying 6.3 percent more, according to city data based on the final, certified Harris County Appraisal District tax roll. The rate passed 14-1, with District A Councilwoman Helena Brown opposing. She had asked the mayor and council to roll back the rate by 2 cents, pointing out the increase in the tax roll and revenues and saying, “sharing the city’s prosperity with the taxpayers will help.” Houston ISD recently voted to increase its tax rate by 3 cents after initially suggesting that a 6-cent increase might be necessary to compensate for lost state funding in recent years.
Timbergrove opposes more waste
Timbergrove Manor Civic Club president William Morfey asks a question during a TCEQ public meeting last Thursday regarding the proposed expansion of the Southwaste plant in Timbergrove. (Photo by Michael Sudhalter)
by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com Several residents and employees who work in the Timbergrove area expressed their strong opposition to the proposed expansion of the Southwaste Services plant during a public meeting last Thursday. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) accepted pub-
lic comments, and had an open forum for questions as part of the permit application for the Southwaste Disposal Company’s permit application to increase its maximum limit of waste at its 6407 Hurst Street facility, near Ella Boulevard and West 11th Street. Several individuals indicated that they plan on filing a Contested Case Hearing in the event that the TCEQ approves Southwaste’s permit to expand
Probation means magnet programs could be removed by Michael Sudhalter michael@theleadernews.com
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nce a year, The Leader pulls together as many local businesses as we can find to produce a section that literally walks you through life in the Heights, Garden Oak, Oak Forest and North Houston. From city services to politicians, entertainment to happy hours, the Guide is that one edition every newcomer and old-timer must read. Take time to learn about the recreation, shopping and living opportunities in today’s edition. We promise you won’t find another publication like this in your community. Enjoy.
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see Waste • Page 8A
Three area schools put on notice
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First place in Reader’s Choice Awards
from 36 million gallons to 46 million gallons per year, over the next eight years. “The trend of development in the neighborhood speaks against having a facility like this in the middle of it,” said Lorraine Cherry of the Timbergrove Manor Civic Club. Gabriel Alvardo, who works nearby
The Houston Independent School District has announced that it will close 20 magnet programs that are not drawing enough students from outside their neighborhoods. No magnet programs in the Leader area will be affected by the closures. However, the district also placed 18 magnet programs on probationary status, which means the programs are not meeting minimum student achievement standards required for magnet status. Among those 18 are programs at Scarborough High School, Hogg Middle School and Helms Elementary School. If they don’t meet minimum requirements after this year, those magnets will be phased out. Houston ISD board president Anna Eastman said trustees and principals should be notified before the information is made public. “My frustration lies in the fact that we do have the capability to do this differently and with respect for our employees and communities who are affected,” Eastman said. “The board did give permission to administration to set these regulations, but I had understood we would have to approve any actual removal of programs (funding and transportation) from schools.” Scarborough principal Jason Catchings said the school didn’t have enough students interested in the architectural landscaping program to continue it. “We’re re-applying and changing the name of it to a different program (and) working through the district
see Magnet • Page 8A
Ghost stories linger as Halloween celebrations loom by Betsy Denson betsy@theleadernews.com Realtor Pat Walker has some good ghost stories which isn’t surprising considering she grew up in an East Texas funeral home. Her best one though concerns the house she bought in 1990 on the 800 block of Fisher, near St. Rose of Lima. There was a lot to be done on the property, both inside and out, and Walker asked her yardman of 15 years if he would start working. “He opened the back door and said ‘I can’t come in here. There are haunts in here,’” Walker said. While Walker also got a hair raising feeling, she persisted in getting the house ready and hired a family to help her. They quit too after the wife saw an old lady in a hospital gown hobble from one first floor bedroom to the other, and the husband told Walker
Keith Rosen includes College Memorial Park Cemetery on some of his Haunted Tours. (Photo by Betsy Denson)
he felt the “coldest cold I’ve ever felt” upstairs. The last straw though was the contractor
who while meeting with Walker in the house told her there were three ladies in the backyard having a tea party. That’s when Walker
called the seller. It was the seller’s younger brother who identified the old woman in the hospital gown as his great-grandmother Dora. A ghost expert was dispatched to the house who advised that once the renovations were done Dora would move along. Walker said that was indeed the case although “I still never would sleep alone in [that] bedroom.” Sandy Adzgery has a story about her grandmother’s house on Heights Boulevard, which was rented by a young couple once the grandmother moved to a nursing home. Their flower shop was downstairs and they lived upstairs. “Shortly after my grandmother’s death, I had a dream that my mother and I had gone to pick up the rent payment,” said Adzgery.
see Haunted • Page 8A