Northeast News • 5906 Star Lane, Houston, TX 77057 • Phone: 713-266-3444 • Fax: 713-977-1188 • Email: nenewsroom@aol.com
Commissioner Adrian Garcia’s Advisory Board is hosting a series of community meetings in Precinct 2.
The meetings are a great opportunity for residents to share their vision for Precinct 2 and give input on topics such as education, health, flooding, housing and the environment.
The upcoming meetings will take place at different locations.
Please see below for the full list and Topics. (more…)
ALDINE – The East Aldine community will have a brand new option for high-quality academic and workforce training beginning this fall. On Saturday, May 4, Lone Star CollegeEast Aldine Center welcomed the public to an open house community awareness event from 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. at the BakerRipley – East Aldine Campus, 3000 Aldine Mail Route Rd.
Dr. Luis Lucio, dean LSC-East Aldine Center, was the host for the event. He commented, “I have waited a long time to be able to say it, but now Lone Star CollegeEast Aldine Center is open for registration for students for the fall semester!” Lucio continued, “I am proud of the work we, along with our partners, have done to reach this point. Lone Star CollegeEast Aldine Center will bring affordable education opportunities and the expertise of LSC faculty and staff to the East Aldine neighborhood.”
The opening of LSC-East Aldine Center represents the culmination of years of work from many people and groups, including partner agencies BakerRipley and the East Aldine Management District.
This event was a festive affair and attended by prospective students and family. High school students interested in nearby college class options, adults interested in high-tech workforce training and seniors interested in their grandchildren’s education had the opportunity to meet educators in person and learn about the value LSC-East Aldine will provide.
EAST ALDINE – As part of the observance of Earth Day (April 22) the Greens Bayou Coalition and the East Aldine District co-sponsored a Greens Bayou Sprint Clean-up on Saturday, April 27.
We had over 30 volunteers for our greens bayou clean up. Groups from MacArthur, Pine Village PUD, Northbelt UD, Dignity Memorial, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts and families came out to clean a stretch of the Greens Bayou. The target area was the bayou next to Kennedy Greens Business Park on JFK Boulevard.
Harris County leaders gathered for a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Harris County 911 Emergency Call Center in East Aldine last Friday, April 26. The 42,000-square-foot facility is a major upgrade from the current call center operation that has been victimized by repeated flooding, most recently during Hurricane Harvey. The new Harris County 911 Emergency Call Center is part of the 60-acre East Aldine District Town Center. The elevated building is designed to operate before, during and after a Category 4 Hurricane with winds up to 155 mph.
During Hurricane Harvey in 2017, Sheriff’s Office call takers were forced to evacuate the current downtown location after storm waters overwhelmed Buffalo Bayou and flooded the call center. The call takers then spent many post-hurricane weeks working out of the Greater Harris County 911 building in northwest Harris County.
The new call center boasts a main floor with 72 call-taker consoles and 3 backup generators, one of which has enough fuel capacity to run the building on full power for 6 days. It includes staff sleeping quarters and laundry facilities. The operation is set to begin fielding calls next week.
The District II Sheriff’s Safety Forum took place on Apr. 24, 2019 at the East Aldine Management Office.
There were approximately 25 residents, 5 CPAAA members, and numerous officers present.
Sgt. Scholwinski introduced officers present. He discussed crimes committed in D2 and shared crime statistics for the past year. Most statistics have shown a decrease with the exception of auto theft and burglary of motor vehicles.
Captain Koteras called these crimes of opportunity:
– Don’t leave items in your vehicles.
– Park your cars in your garage, if possible.
NORTHEAST HARRIS COUNTY – The new leadership of Harris County turned out in force to announce Harris County Project Recovery-Harvey Program at the Harris County Barrett Community Center last Saturday.
Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Judge, Adrian Garcia, Precinct 2 Commissioner, Daphne Lemelle, Harris County Community Services Director and a host of county community workers from varied agencies were present to share their expertise enabling residents to get help for their houses, the services they need to recover from Hurricane Harvey.
Harris County Project Recovery-Harvey is for homeowners outside Houston to apply for home repair, reconstruction or reimbursement.
The new Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo indicated that the county is giving out about $200 Million in this program.
“Harvey was an especially difficult disaster because it got to the core of people’s lives because it reached into their homes, in their housing. People’s homes are anchors for them and their families. When people lost their homes and were forced to leave and live somewhere else, they were still forced to watch and wait until they could rebuild and return. That destroys and disrupts the rest of their lives and the fabric of our community.”
“For the first time we are making a massive investment in housing around Harvey,” said Hidalgo, indicating that the program was to be the largest investment a region has made in the area of housing repair.
“It helps us build a stronger community and a more resilient community in all of Harris County,” the Judge concluded.
A north Houston game room where an employee was robbed, beaten, and kidnapped in February has closed after Harris County Attorney Vince Ryan filed a lawsuit to close it.
The game room located at 2118 Maurine Street was the site of an aggravated robbery of the parking lot attendant who lived and worked on the property. On February 4th, the attendant was attacked by three men with guns who blindfolded, kidnapped, beat and robbed him. He escaped his captors by jumping out of a moving vehicle into oncoming traffic.
In the course of their investigation sheriff’s deputies discovered illegal gambling including customers playing 34 eight-liners at the unlicensed game room. Eight liners are slot machine-like devices and are legal only if they offer only non-cash prizes valued at less than $5. Law enforcement officials say that illegal cash payouts are near universal in unpermitted game rooms throughout the state. Despite the arrest of the operators and repeat visits by law enforcement, the game room continued to operate in violation of the law, according to the lawsuit.
After County Attorney Ryan’s Office filed suit the owners of the property agreed to evict the game room operators and close the enterprise.
Over 3,000 cleanups in communities across the U.S. for Earth Day 2019April 16, 2019 (Washington D.C.) – Earth Day Network is implementing a nationally coordinated environmental volunteer cleanup to mark Earth Day 2019, in collaboration with partners across the U.S., including National CleanUp Day and Keep America Beautiful. All over the country people are encouraged to get up, get out, and help clean their communities to celebrate Earth Day.
People have a right to expect a clean environment and can exercise that right by helping to clean their own communities with over 3,000 cleanups of green spaces, urban landscapes and waterways with grassroots organizations leading up to Earth Day on April 22 and taking place throughout the remainder of the month of April.
Volunteers across the U.S. are coming together with grassroots organizations for Earth Day 2019 to clean up over 3,000 green spaces, urban landscapes, and waterways. Plastic pollution and waste challenge every community, every day, and these cleanups offer a chance to make a real difference.
Cleanups are planned in over 80 cities and towns, including Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Richmond, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C. More cities and sites are being added every day.
In Aldine, the community and volunteers in conjunction with Greens Bayou Coalition are coming together to do a cleanup on Saturday, April 27, 2019 on Kennedy Greens Business Park located at 4343 Kennedy Commerce Dr., 77032 from 9 am to 12 pm. They recommend to bring your own sunscreen, hat, gloves, bug spray and to wear work clothes for those who would like to volunteer on the cleanup.
HOUSTON– “It’s like the circus is coming to town!” exclaimed one Republican resident, of the combined excitement and trepidation of having the presidential motorcade come to an unincorporated area that voted for him in the Presidential election by a whopping 74%.
Trump landed his plane at Ellington Field, and travelled by Motorcade to Crosby on US90. After his talk, he returned to Ellington for a fundraiser dinner at the Lone Star Air Museum.
The speech and signing ceremony at the IUOE center was attended by about 400 invited guests, from Harris County and a few from Crosby. A number of industry friends of Trump attended, some even riding the Air Force One with the president.
Arrival at the International Union of Operating Engineers International Training and Education Center comes in controversy. President Trump signed executive orders to facilitate easing regulations on making petrochemicals and speeding up pipeline construction, even in the wake of four petrochemical fires and three worker deaths in less than one month in East Harris County. And the union facility recently became non-profit, thus reducing taxes paid to local first responders. White House officials announced the orders will grant incentives for investors to build energy infrastructure, streamlining permitting for pipeline projects. Last May Trump issued a permit to initiate the delayed Keystone XL Pipeline.
Aldine Education Foundation has announced that for 2019, graduating seniors will receive 147 scholarships from AEF, totaling $438,000 in awards. This includes 37 permanent endowments, including AISD staff-funded scholarships.
In addition the Aldine Scholarship Foundation will award 135 scholarships. The total awards by the ASF will be $135,000. In all AISD seniors will receive $572,000 in awards for their future college studies. There were a total of 735 applications for these scholarship, 391 for AEF, 43 for ASF, and 301 for both organizations. Award notifications were sent on April 3rd.
Awards will be given out at an AEF/ASF Scholarship ceremony on Tuesday, May 14 at M. O. Campbell Center, starting at 6:00 pm. It was announced that the format of the ceremony has been changed from previous years, and the reception will follow the awards ceremony, rather than occurring prior to the awards.