NORTHEAST HOUSTON – The Chamber had a busy luncheon schedule last Thursday, as it honored Aldine ISD for receiving the national Broad Prize for the best urban school district, heard from speakers on the 2010 national Census, from the U. S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency on commercial fraud and counterfeiting, and the keynote speaker of the luncheon, Harris County Judge Ed Emmett on the “State of the County.”
AISD superintendent Wanda Bamberg thanked the community for their support to receive the Broad Prize. This will result in 50 to 60 scholarships, totaling $1,000,000, for underprivileged students to go on to college.
Ida Mae Love, representing the Census Bureau, emphasized the importance of a “complete count” so that the Houston area receives its share of $400 billion in federal funds over the next 10 years. The census will be due next April 1st.
Chip Owens of the federal Immigration and Customs agency spoke of the need to stop counterfeit merchandise, and asked for everyone’s help. He said that over $1 trillion dollars is lost annually worldwide, to perpetrators of counterfeit goods. Many of the bogus goods are of poor quality and dangerous, he said.
Judge Emmett’s message was that the county is cutting back on its spending budget to match the economy, but that the county is financially strong, due to reserve funds that have been set aside earlier. He noted that Harris County is made up of 33 cities, not just one, and comprises 4 million people, including 1.3 million in the unincorporated areas.
He pointed out the strengths of the county, including the fact that we will grow as a trading “gateway” to North America. Key factors in this are the expansion of the Panama canal, and our upgraded transportation, rail, airport and port facilities. Emmett discussed the upcoming commuter rail possibilities, expecting at least two lines of new heavy rail to be operating in the next year or so, with more to follow. This will include a line to Hempstead, and one to Galveston. Another to Tomball is being studied. All of these are on existing rail right-of-ways, and therefore could be implemented in a short time. The Hempstead line might eventually extend to Texas A&M.
In transportation, he noted that the northeast section of the Beltway 8 is under construction now, and will soon be completed. He expects that the Grand Parkway will see completion too, in the next decade. It will connect through 7 counties, he noted, and that regional cooperation has been important to its success.
One of the strengths of the county, he said, is its diversity and richness of ethnic groups. Although it is now almost 40% Hispanic and growing, he thinks this distinction in ethnicity is disappearing as the various races blend and adopt American life styles.
He also talked about quality of life issues, including health care and water and air quality. He stressed all of these problems require a regional solution to be successful. In addition, he said that health care needs a coordinated systems approach to delivering services, not just more hospitals and clinics.
The age and condition of our infrastructure is a major concern, he said, and indicates that we must be planning and budgeting for the future. Our water system is antiquated, and now serving a county population of 4,000,000. Most of it will need to be replaced, and the MUDs in unincorporated areas may not be able to afford this, indicating a new regional approach and funding will be required.
Emmett reminded the Chamber members that in Texas, the county government is actually an arm of the state government, and can only implement laws and funding provided by the state.
His conclusion to all this was that Harris County will continue to grow and prosper, but that funds must be found and budgeted for the services and growth that will be required in the future.
In his words, “We are on the Cusp of Change,” and are setting ourselves and the county up for the future.