Posts published in June 2007

NORTHEAST HOUSTON– The 25th Annual Intercontinental Airport Festival drew hundreds of air fans and their families, despite heavy rain during part of the day. The event was held last Saturday, June 16th, at Hangar E and the adjacent apron at the airport.
Displays of aircraft, food, drink, entertainments, exhibits, live bands, a zoo mobile, childrens games, airport Rangers on horseback, search dogs, and much more kept the large crowd entertained, and the spacious hangar kept the rain off.
The event is sponsored by the Houston Airport System, and the Chambers of Commerce of Houston Northwest, North Houston-Greenspoint, and Humble Area.
Many local organizations had booths with exhibits, including the Lone Star Flight Museum, Houston Police Department, Houston Fire Department, Houston Zoo, Continental Airlines, the three Chambers, North Harris College, Metro, and many more.
Airplanes on exhibit, and open to the public, included an Apache helicopter, Life Flight, a FedEx A300 Airbus freighter, three jet fighters, and others.

Other highlights of the Festival included Miss Teen Texas, Michelle Jones of Spring; Alabama-Couchatta youth dancers; vocalists from Klein high school; and the Dekaney Diamonds Drill Team from Spring. Many door prizes were awarded, including free airfare from Continental. The Festival opened with a ceremony presented by the Girl Scouts from the San Jacinto Council.
The Festival was from 12 to 4 on Saturday afternoon. Door prizes were awarded at the end of the day, as Seth Sharr, Steve Hrncir, and Barbara Thomason of the Houston Northwest Chamber pulled the winning tickets for the many prizes.
The theme of the Festival was “IAH- Houston’s Silver Lining” a reference to the 25 years since the Airport Festival began, in 1982. The airport itself opened for the first flight in 1969.
Celebrating the airport’s contributions to the local economy, the Airport Appreciation Day Festival is highly attended by airport and airline employees and their families, as well as the public. Funds raised by the airport festival provide scholarship monies for areas students.

Residents in area neighborhoods receiving water or sewer service from Texas American Water, formerly known as Southwest Utilities, are being urged to attend one of two community meetings.
The meetings are being organized to prepare the residents for an upcoming hearing before the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on the proposed rate increase. The first meeting will be on Tuesday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m. in the Community Room at the Aldine Sheriff’s Storefront located at 5202 Aldine Mail. The second meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 27 at 7 p.m. in the Community Room at Pep Mueller Park located at 14750 Henry Road.
Earlier this year a group of area residents from Greenwood Village led by Representative Kevin Bailey and community leader Irene Garcia successfully forced an international utility company into a contested water rate hearing. The water utilities for several North Houston neighborhoods, were purchased last year by one of the world’s largest energy corporations in the world and the new owner immediately filed a rate increase.
“I made a commitment to support area residents in their fight against a company that is attempting to increase water rates more than 33% and sewer rates more than 60%,” said Bailey. “We already suffer from extremely high electric rates at the hands of powerful electric providers and now many of my constituents are receiving water bills as high as their electric bills. It has hit elderly residents living alone and the disabled particularly hard. We are determined to fight this outrageous increase.”

Bailey went on to explain that he has requested assistance from the East Aldine Management District so the residents will have legal support when the contested rate case goes to hearing. The hearing process is required by law if more than 10% of the utility’s customers request a hearing so residents of the Greenwood Village neighborhood went door to door with petitions to reach the threshold required to force the hearing.
Since the EAMD is not a utility customer they do not have legal standing in the case. However, they have employed Austin attorney Jim Boyle to review documents submitted from Texas American Water to the TCEQ and to serve in an advisory capacity.
According to Arlene Nichols, who works in Bailey’s Houston office, the best defense for residents is to attend the meetings and consider forming an organization that can go on record in opposition to the rate increase. This, she added, is commonly done in mobile home parks, where the park itself serves as a stronger voice than each individual customer.
Local neighborhoods served by the company include Greenwood Village, Mary Francis, Colonial Hills, Aldine Meadows, Bergville, Bertrand, Kenwood and Stretner.
If you have any questions regarding the upcoming meeting or about the contested case hearing, please contact the District Office of State Representative Kevin Bailey at 281-847-9000.

By BOBBY HORN JR.
With just weeks left before the start of the school year, the Aldine ISD Board of trustees took care of the biggest issue that faces them each summer, the school budget.
The Board has approved a $439.2 million budget for the 2007-2008 school year.
The new budget is the first budget under incoming superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg, who moved into the position following the retirement of Nadine Kujawa at the end of the 2006-07 school year.
The budget is $1.6 million less than the initial budget for 2006-2007 and more than $20 million less than the amended budget, which the board was also approved.
Despite the lower budget, school officials say that not programs will be cut. According to Keith Clark, assistant superintendent of finance the district was able to cut the budget by avoiding several one-time expenditures it paid out in the last school year.

Those included the purchase of computers, construction at the M.O. Campbell Center and $12 million in property purchases for two future elementary campuses, one middle school and one combined middle and elementary school.
In her first board meeting as superintendent, Bamberg said that in a time when school districts across the state are struggling financially, she is pleased with Aldine’s budget and proposed tax rate.
“We look very carefully at our revenue and expenditures, and we do what has to be done,” Bamberg said.
The budget is not the only area going down, which is welcome news for taxpayers.
The district is also proposing a lower tax rate.
The district is proposing a tax rate of $1.23 per $100 valuation. The 2006-2007 tax rate is $1.604 per $100 valuation.
The tax rate is broken down into two parts: Maintenance and Operations and Interest & Sinking. The first part, known as the M&O, is used to pay for the daily operations of the district. The second part referred to as I&S, can only be used to pay outstanding bonds.
The district will be able to lower the tax rate for a number of reasons.
The biggest decrease will come from action taken during the 2005 session of the Texas Legislature. During this session, officials approved a property tax relief bill. The tax relief will have a direct impact on the M&O. Last year, the M&O part of the tax rate was $1.49. It is projected that this will go down to $1.09. The district was also able to retire some older bonds, which will allow them to lower their I&S from $.11 to $.10.
Also affecting the new tax rate is the proposed budget. The district plans to cut last year’s total budget by 1.95%.
As anticipated by the district, a report from the Harris County Appraisal District shows that property values are on the rise in the district, which means more dollars for district coffers. The total taxable value of property in the district rose $23 million from last year.
According to the district, the average taxable value of a residence is $76, 289. With a tax rate of $1.233 per $100 valuation, the average taxpayer would pay $940.64 a year. This is $280.32 less than in 2006-2007.

By Gilbert Hoffman
Northeast News
As a prelude to the 25th Annual Intercontinental Airport Festival, a Scholarship Awards Luncheon was held last Thursday at the Wyndham Hotel Greenspoint.
The scholarships and festival are sponsored by three area Chambers of Commerce, in conjunction with the Houston Airport System. The Chambers are the Houston Northwest, the North Houston Greenspoint, and the Humble Area. The scholarship program was originally started by the Houston Northwest Chamber, and has grown to include the others.
Fifteen scholarships of $1500 each were awarded to students who applied, on the basis of academics and community service. These students are expected to go to college to pursue careers in aviation or hospitality, according to Committee Chair Steve Hrncir. Scholarships were sponsored by local businesses and individuals with an interest in the airport system.
Scholarships went to students from the Aldine, Klein, Cypress-Fairbanks, Spring, Humble school districts, and NHMCCD college.
This is the 25th year for the Airport Festival, which featured public displays of current and vintage aircraft, games, drawings, exhibits, music from live bands, zoo mobile, airport rangers, search dogs, free food and drink, and door prizes.
The Airport Festival was held at Continental’s 777 Hangar Building E at the airport. The theme was “IAH-Houston’s Silver Lining,” a reference both to the 25th anniversary and the airport’s impact on the region.

Hundreds of well-wishers packed the ballroom of the Wyndham Hotel Greenspoint last Thursday, to honor the recipients of the Airport Festival Scholarships, and to hear leaders of the community talk about the progress that the Airport System has made over the years, and the importance it has to the region’s economy.
Pilot Capt. A. J. High recounted how he was the first official plane to land at the new Intercontinental Airport in 1969, flying for Texas International.
Mayor Bill White extolled HAS for being the best air system in the world, and noted that Intercontinental airport now has risen to have the second most flights in North America. He noted that Houston has historically invested in public transportation, which has fostered the growth in the region.
Continental’s Larry Kellner noted that his airline now land 750 flights a day at IAH, the fastest growing airport in the nation. He thanked those who supported Proposition G in the last election, necessary to support the airport.
Rick Vacar, Director of HAS, announced that money had been appropriated for a new master plan for IAH, and the airport will continue to grow, with two new runways planned.