Zoning in Midtown

Currently a zoning plan is in the development stages in Midtown. Charles LeBlanc, executive director of the Midtown board of directors and city attorney Gene Locke believe that they will be able to begin to enacting zoning in Houston through local associations as if reflected in their remarks quoted in the article. This would eventually create zoning in areas checker boarded around the city. Political watch dog Barry Klein along, with other anti-zoning advocates, takes the position that a City Council approval of localized zoning would violate the terms of the 1994 referendum which defeated zoning for the third time in Houston history. The city council has made efforts, with some degree of success, to zone Houston through the "back door" method since its implementation was defeated by the 1994 referendum and this is just the latest tactic. This is an issue which should be addressed before the city spends a fortune in zoning planning. Everyone should recall that the large number of people employed and the money spent by the city on planning of zoning created a whole new department of city government and left the city with the responsibility of finding jobs for the employees which were hired after the defeat of the zoning proposal in '94, all at the expense of the taxpayer; money which is still costing the tax payer of Houston to date.


Partly quoted from the Houston Chronicle article of November 18th by Julie Mason:

Michael M. Butler

New School Bond Proposal in the Spring Independent School District

Spring ISD is proposing a humongous bond in a district that already spends more per student than Klein or Cy Fair. I think that this spending proposal includes providing lap top computers for each high school student and maybe PDA's for lower grade students. To paraphrase what singer Dierks Bentley says, "I know what they are feeling, but what are they thinking?" The pawn shops would all of a sudden be flooded with lap tops and PDA's. Our tax dollars would also be wasted on paying people to keep track of these laptops and PDA's and maybe further burden teachers time with unnecessary requirements. "What ARE THEY thinking?" The whole school district, and many others, have gone bonkers with unaccountable spending....of our money. It is too easy for the schools to get money and they are too little like a business where spending accountability and the need to get a return on your investment means something. We are spending the money, but the education is not coming through.

Heaven knows the teachers need to be better paid..and also held accountable for poor performance if it is within their control..of course that opens up a whole new topic of what they can do and what they cannot do. However, the school districts are sooooo top heavy that most of the school tax dollar goes to the administration and not to the teachers who do the teaching.

I have also heard that the tax dollars for Spring ISD has purchased a box at Minute Maid Park, I think, for about $1.7 million dollars. If that is true, it is unconscionable that tax money would be spent on something like that.

Does anyone know if other school districts are doing the same thing?

I think "Enough is Enough!"...."WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?"

Gary S. Bailey

Legislative/Regulatory Affairs by Larry Korkmas

All real estate is affected by city, county, state and federal government actions. It is critical to know what governmental entities are contemplating, and why, as an essential part of ongoing due diligence for properties already owned. Perhaps more important, we must know what consequences new laws and regulations will have on property contemplated for acquisition. Our governmental representatives must be informed of our opinions regarding their intended actions in order that values are not diminished along with the tax base. Politicians are often unaware of the unintended consequences of their "good intentions."

There are many topics worthy of discussion: Revised ADA rules, building codes, environmental standards, fire protection requirements, financing and taxation, the Trans Texas Corridor and banks wanting to enter the brokerage/property management business.

To start this informational blog, the legislative actions, or inactions, of the State of Texas are worthy of discussion. There presently exists an imbalanced reliance on residential ad valorem tax revenue for financing of the public school system. The school finance issue is also intricately interwoven with the problem of school district accountability and performance. Two years of negotiations have been unsuccessful in resolving this issue. Failure to find a solution is likely to result in the Texas Supreme Court, sometime in September, directing the legislature to take action. Perhaps worse, the court may dictate a solution if the legislature does not act in a timely manner.

It is important to understand who are some of the affected parties and their interests.

• The oil companies want to finance schools with an employment tax because they have to pay an enormous amount of ad valorem property taxes on their holdings.
• Residential property owners want ad valorem tax relief because, at current rates of increase, their taxes double every 7.2 years. Many who have children in public schools also want better classroom and testing performance along with accountability from the school districts.
• School districts want a continuous 10% or greater annual increase of funding for the indefinite future. The districts generally reject controls and accountability asserting that they should be the sole arbiters of performance and accountability.
• State legislators are caught between their constituents, the school districts, the large corporations, teacher unions and the municipal organizations. While only the public can vote the legislators out of office, the other affected parties are the ones who pay for their elections or support their opponents.

Please let your state representative and senator know your thoughts on this matter. The bills proposed by the house and senate can be viewed at: www.capitol.state.tx.us. At this writing, the bill sent to the house by the senate is SB 8.

Since this is a blog for real estate and related professionals, please send in your comments, insights and new information on the above topic, and any others, so that we might all be knowledgeable providers of quality information and service.

This blog is for education and information purposes for real estate owners, professionals and related service industries. Please use this platform to post information and concerns and not for any political posturing not related to real estate.

Thanks, Larry Korkmas