A Town Hall meeting was held at Cy Fair College (part of the Lone Star College System in North/Northwest Harris County) Tuesday night.
I missed the first 30 minutes of the meeting because for some reason, I thought it was at the Berry Center.
By the way, the Berry Center is huge… How big is it?
Big enough to take you 20 minutes to figure out the big Town Hall Meeting you are looking for, isn’t there.
Anyway, I walked in 30 minutes late and missed the first presentation. The place was packed.
I’m going to try and put in as much of the information I was able to hear/make notes of. But I am not a stenographer, therefore, not able to capture every word accurately. If you have any additional information I may not have covered either accurately or completely or at all, please put it in the comments. Thanks!
___________________
The first person I heard was Paul Bettencourt. The problem that I have with Paul is that every-time I start listening to him, I just about have a brain aneurysm. Today was no different.
Bettencourt referred to a presentation (I missed) by Dr. David Anthony, the Superintendant of the Cypress Fairbanks ISD. Cy-Fair ISD is in the middle of a huge financial crisis because it is no longer getting back as much state allocated money. Cy Fair is one of the biggest/fastest growing districts in the state and yet it is not getting enough money to keep up with that growth. Dr. Anthony is considering abolishing the Homestead Exemption. This would help the financial crisis but start a different financial crisis with just about each and every taxpayer in the district. Dr. Anthony does not want to do this, so we need to contact him and support him (not wanting to do this).
Bettencourt mentioned that there are 400 taxing districts in Harris County. Ouch! How does anyone keep up with that?
Bettencourt shared with the us that he received a communication from Austin right before the meeting that Harris County has not raised appraisals enough! That’s right, Austin is getting on Harris County’s case to raise tax appraisals even higher! (I think I just lost my right frontal lobe…)
Bettencourt said that you should protest your tax assessment. Harris County now has a system that is cutting edge. iSettle is on HCAD.org; it allows the taxpayer to conduct a good bit of the tax protest via computer. You can find out more about it here.
Paul had a lot of great slides showing how the Appraisal Caps has kept homeowners from really getting hit. The Appraisal Caps help; but a 5% cap would be better!
The next subject was the Business Tax. Senator Patrick had sent the comptroller a letter asking that the due date for monies be pushed back some more. Her response to Senator Patrick is that those monies are important to education budgets and are “spoken for”. Bottom line, the people need to contact as many lawmakers/leaders as possible to get them to understand how onerous and difficult this tax is on businesses.
The Business Tax is going to really hit a lot of busninesses hard. The reason why it was structured the way it was is so it could avoid being an “Income Tax”. When you do look at the amounts being paid and how it is being applied, you can’t help but think this is a new “Income Tax” for Texas. Senator Patrick is concerned that a lot of businesses may be very adversily hit.
The next subject matter was immigration. When asked, almost everyone in the room raised their hand in agreement that immigration is one of the top two issues facing us today. John Colyandro of Texas Conservative Coalition gave a presentation on the issues with immigration. The point of the presentation was what the State of Texas could do to curb illegal immigrants in the state (as opposed to waiting for the federal government enforcement).
One of the issues that will be tackled in the next legislative session is to make it a law for voters to have a picture ID. The Supreme Court ruled that the Indiana law mandating a photo ID in order to vote was Constitutional.
It was explained that if you want to vote in Mexico, you must have a picture voter ID. (An example was shown in the PowerPoint presentation.) One of the proposals made is to put citizenship status on all Driver Licenses. Right now, there is no formal verification of citizenship with regards to citizenship status; it is under the “honor system”. If you say you are citizen, then you are given a voter registration card.
One slide showed the following statistic between Mexico and US voting registration (keep in mind, Mexico has picture ID):
Mexico (2006)
95% of Mexicans are registered
68% voteTexas (2006)
78% of Texans are registered
26% vote
It seems to me that if Mexico could do that, why couldn’t Texas? Why is it such a terrible thing to ask for a photo ID?
After this presentation, Debbie Riddle got up and spoke about trying to get together a Citizens Task Force to look at the budget. How it would work is each person (citizen) would be assigned to look at very small parts of the budget and dissect it with a small tooth comb. The goal is to become an “expert” on that part of the budget and actually testify before the legislature about it.
The goal is to look for savings.
Just as a side note, this is an excellent idea. This seems to be an off-shoot of the idea that Glen Reynolds a/k/a Instapundit wrote about in An Army of Davids. The idea is that technology and communication are helping the little guys get together and fight the big guy.
Rep. Riddle is looking for volunteers. If interested, call her office.
Wayne Christen got up next to talk.
By the way:
HI WAYNE!!!
(Wayne wanted to be mentioned somewhere 
)
Wwayne first mentioned that we need to get involved in the voting process. 20-25% vote actually vote. If more would actually vote, we could take back our government and make them represent us.
He also mentioned that over $110 million was sent to the border counties. Since then, crossovers (those that crossed over the border), have gone down 45%. Major crime in the border area has gone down 65%. When border enforcement is done, there is a downward turn in crime.
Next, the Americans for Prosperity gave the Defenders of the American Dream award to Dan Patrick. He received an “A+” grade based on his voting record.
Dan spoke some more about Immigration. He wants immigration; legal immigration. Immigrants should be paying $5,000 to get here legally, not to a smuggler.
He went on further that Conservatives are positive. We want positive things, we are not negative.
He is working for things for the next generation, not the next election.
Lastly, there was a Q&A where audience members could get up and ask questions.
The subjects covered were the Margins Tax, illegal immigration, The Blocker Bill and taxing abilities of Harris County Emergency Services District (”ESD”).
Frankly, I had no idea about how the ESD worked. My brother is a long time Cy-Fair Volunteer Fire Dept volunteer, so I take a lot of time in trying to understand the system. I think more information, perhaps a meeting about the ESD, would be worthwhile all by itself.
By the time the meeting broke, it was 10:00.
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The Cy-Fair campus was quite beautiful! It was tranquil and serene. I was quite taken aback that such a beautiful campus was built just a few years ago, and has nothing to be embarrassed about in terms of architecture and surroundings. Any person should be quite proud of coming here…
It was time to leave the campus; on my way out I was able to take one last picture of the Barry Center.
Does anyone see anything “wrong” with this picture?
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re: “Does anyone see anything “wrong” with this picture?”
I’ve never understood why the lights are always on. They often leasve the lights on at Langham Creek HS too. Has to cost a fortune.
Wellll yes, I see the ~$80M stadium complex foisted on the Cy-Fair taxpayer further wasting $$ keeping the lights on when there’s no game in progress.
Great report Ree-C.
Thanks Ree-C. I like the idea of the Citizens Task Force for breaking down the budget. I own an Army Of Davids but haven’t read it yet - this makes me want to read it even more.
Probably does not cost them an extra cent, although it is still wasteful. Big electrical utility uses are generally billed on “Peak Demand” rather than kW consumed.
Start a couple of big motors at the same time and your bill is established for the next 30 days based upon the kW consumed during the 7-10 seconds of power surge used to start that motor. Ouch!! Motors with across-the-line starters can pull 7 to 10 times their normal running current during a start sequence.
Other big uses have the bill determined on the peak consumption of any 15 minute period during that month. A little better than the previous case but not by much.
Recently, a high school in California spent a great deal of money to install Solar photo-voltaic cell arrays. This solar project managed to lower the school’s average hourly power consumption by 75%, but the peak-demand clause kept them from realizing the gains since a couple of refrigeration compressors were driving the billing.
Maybe this is an area where Dan can put some pressure on the PUC.
Simple
As a Cy-Fair ISD teacher I can tell you that I am constantly bombarded with comments about the Berry Center. Rest assured that I have relayed those comments up the ladder to my supervisors. They have indicated that the upper level district management is well aware of the perception that the Berry Center is causing the budget shortfall. The response we received from Dr. Anthony is that the Berry Center is the only district facility that actually makes money. Believe me when I say that I am not defending the district on the decision to build such a elaborate facility, but I do know that they rent it out for local, regional and state contests and competitions, as well as seminars and meetings. From what we have been told, the state legislation that was passed in 2006 has negatively impacted Cy-Fair much worse than was expected. The law assumes that all districts in the state collect the maximum amount allowed from property taxes. Tha fact that CFISD allows home owners an additional 20% homestead expemtion really hurts the district. As Ree-c stated, Dr. Anthony is doing his best to keep the exemption in place. CFISD is appealing to the state to make major changes to the school funding laws in order to keep the exemption in effect. I guess we’ll see where we get with that. I could go on for hours about it, but I won’t. It’s a difficult situation for everyone.
Dwayne Bohac voted to bust the spending cap in Austin. He’s a RINO. Don’t listen to him. He’s my representative, and I’ll never vote for him again.
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!”
And they called the HISD admin building the Taj Mahal!
School districts Over spend and the bottomless pockets of the taxpayers pickup the tab.
If you want the definition of insanity, look up school taxes.
#8 Ford, I agree, but it damn sure doesn’t go in the teachers pockets.
You didn’t say when the meeting started, but I do wonder - where there ANY classes meeting at the college during your visit there? The college wants to build more buildings, but if there were no ongoing classes in the evening - it’s wasted space and wasted tax dollars.
I urge a NO vote for the LSCS $420 million bond referendum. Early voting started Monday and continues through May 6th. May 10th is election day. Visit the college website for voting locations.
http://www.lonestar.edu/135673/
Hell with Hawaii. I wanna spend my honeymoon THERE.
Here’s a reply from CFISD regarding the lights (that was quick):
I have been asked to respond to your email to the Board of Trustees because the Berry Center is one of my areas of responsibility. I will forward this email to Mr. Strother, principal at Langham Creek, so he will be aware of the question you raised about lights at the high school.
We schedule the lights to be on at the Berry Center stadium only when an event is scheduled there. Sometimes, the lights are on for a short time after the attendees leave if the event ends early. In addition, the lights are on during the time the custodians must clean up.
In the future, if you have questions about why the lights are on at the stadium, please feel free to contact Beth Wade, the Berry Center General Manager at 281-894-3900. If there ever is a problem with the timing device for the lights, we would like to be aware of it so your call would be appreciated.
We agree completely with you that we should be very careful about energy use since it is a large cost for our district’s taxpayers. Thank you again for taking the time to communicate with the Board about this issue.
It’s my understanding that the LSC bond is intended to go to expanding classroom space as that is limiting their ability to offer additional programs. Community colleges are generally much better values than the other higher ed choices out there because they operate with dramatically less overhead.
FourAlarm #11 I’ll think of you this weekend when I make my 15 mile drive to the beach here on Oahu!
Has anybody asked CFISD how much money they would have SAVED by not building these structures in the first place? How much taxes could have been lowered? These people just don’t live in the real world.
Costs WHO a fortune? Them? Who’s paying the bill here? If I ran the show I’d tie everything to motion sensors. Want light? Keep moving. Want AC/heat? Keep your fat butts moving. Want to shower? Dance & sing in the rain. Ditch the PE programs. We’ve now got ourselves a continuous 8 hour aerobics program.
DeepPurple:
As per classes: I got to the meeting at 7:30 and had a hard time parking. I couldn’t find the meeting at first. I didn’t know where it was. My sure fire method of ferreting out these things is to watch where people are going. I ended up in two different (wrong) buildings until I followed the right person…
Yes. These buildings are being used. They are not elaborate or fancy (I think you can see in my pictures). They are utilitarian.
But they are nice.
I only wish that Cy Fair would have done the same thing for the Berry Center.
I want to say that I am not opposed to the Berry Center *in principle*!! I only wish the planners would have decided for utility and “nice” and not quite as fancy; perhaps $30 million dollars less fancy??
I am highly vested in the success of this district. I have a daughter in High School, a daughter in Middle School and a son in Elementary School. I need this district to be successful, but at the same time not kill us financially!
They could do alot more for education by hiring one former Marine drill instructor to roam from class to class in every building.
Thanks for the info, Ree-C. I can appreciate folks raising children wanting to take an active interest in the schools. There were no such things as community colleges where I grew up (New Orleans). I never had kids, but I help put other people’s kids through school via my tax dollars, so, yeah, I care about how those dollars are spent. I imagine the Lone Star bond will pass - if for no other reason than that probably the only people voting will be the employees of the district. Early voting is pretty much confined, once again, to district property, and the May 10th polling places are off the wall and not particularly accessable. At least - not for my precinct.
I’m just disappointed that the board of trustees are so full of themselves that they insist on running BS elections such as this one. It just irks me, because they will have nearly a half billion bucks to screw around with - and I don’t care what they say - I fully expect down the road to see our taxes increase because of it.
Oh well.
17 Bends and Thrusts for everyone…That will generate some head…plus it is hard to be unruly when you are exhausted.
I used to conduct what I called the “Parris Island 500″. Pushed all the racks into the center of the squadbay (barracks for you doggies) and then got the recruits to make a dozen or two laps around the racks by duck-walking. It took all the pi$$ and vinegar out of them. Sometimes I would mix it up and make them hop like bunny rabbits…We called that “Hunting Rabbits”.
Simple
heat not head…freudian slip
Simple
Big45Iron:
My daughter is in JRAFROTC in her High School. They may not have a Marine, but they have two dedicated people looking after them! (One a Lt Col. and the other a SSGT).
I am eternally grateful to both of them!!
My son is in absolute awe of them and begged the Col. for a “call sign” and wouldn’t leave him alone until he got one. The Col., being a good sport, obliged and dubbed him “Eagle”. My son has been walking on air since and can barely wait to be part of that program!!
The SSGT is unbelievable! She tells the kids repeatedly that, “an emergency on your part doesn’t constitute one on my part”. Her mission, she has told me, is to get these kids a little more organized.
My daughter has grown and done so well with them, I can’t imagine her not with them.
The Berry Center is a massive structure and was (in my estimation) too expensive however. . .
Its pretty cool. Have taken a tour. Some things that you don’t see from the outside or wouldn’t know without investigation.
They have a massive kitchen that cooks the food for all Cy-Fair schools eliminating the need for same in newly built schools.
The Arena League Copperheads rent out the facility
They have large concerts/conferences/sporting events and many other revenue generating special events. Allowed a bigger marketing budget I bet the center would be much more profitable than it is currently. Interestingly enough one problem is that when a school district makes money what do they do with it. Logically I would assume they pay down the bond? Anybody know? Curious.
Simple, I can just see your smokey bear poking into the class room and announcing to the teacher that if she/he has any trouble, just to call me and let me know. And then that glance around at the student.
Would it be possible to construct a pit for pit call outside of every building? Talk about taking the P&V out of them!! Marine Corps has now outlawed duck walking because of the injuries it does to the knees. But it was a sight to see - a whole platoon duck walking with buckets on their heads and holding their rifles in the air over their heads when it was 95 degrees. Kinda makes an old Marine wax nostalgic.
sdhook, Arena League Copperheads left Katy ISD owing a huge rental bill that to the best of my knowledge was never paid.
Oh and for anybody who sees Dan, how about putting a bill before the legislature that all bond elections at any level can only be voted up in a general election (not even primary days). That will keep school employees and officials from constantly running to the polls on those election days when only they vote.
I just returned from my National Federation of Independent Business luncheon, where State Sen. Mike Jackson spoke. The primary discussion was, of course, the business tax. Illegal immigration was touched on briefly, and a few other items. Jackson had carried an NFIB amendment to the margins tax that proposed that businesses that failed to make a profit would be exempt from the tax. It failed. This time. NFIB is lobbying hard for reform or repeal of this tax.
In the Q&A session, two business owners stated that the money that’s going to pay the tax would have gone for a new employee. Comments were made as to the problem of finding workers in the trades when discussing the illegal situation. I brought up the fact that nearly all of the vocational programs have been dropped from the high schools, and that there are a lot of kids who will not be going to college that enter the workforce without skills to get skilled jobs and eventually become employers. Jackson took note of the comment, and NFIB said they working on that very issue; one thing they are doing is to get the kids some math credit for going through the skills training (which makes sense - math is involved), among other things.
It was a good meeting. If you are a small business owner, I recommend that you look into NFIB.
Copperheads leave town owing KISD, booster clubs
By Nick Georgandis
Managing Editor
Monday, November 20, 2006 11:16 AM CST
When the Katy Copperheads announced they were leaving the Leonard Merrell Center, the National Indoor Football League and the Katy area for greener pastures a few months ago, they left behind several disgruntled business partners.
The team, which now calls Cy-Fair Independent School District’s Berry Center home under its new moniker, the Texas Copperheads, and has moved up to join the AF2 league, reportedly owes KISD more than $20,000 in expenses for renting the Merrell Center.
“They were supposed to pay per game and the rate changed some game by game depending on how much concession sales were,” KISD Deputy Superintendent John Bailey said.
“They defaulted and didn’t pay for four games. We’ve issued a written demand letter asking for payment and at this point we are expecting it to go to litigation.”
The Copperheads played seven home games at the Merrell Center between March and June of 2006.
“The typical game cost was between $6,400 and $7,000,” Merrell Center General Manager of Facilities Jim Chapman said.
“That depended on when the games were scheduled. If there was a large event the night before, it would vary on how much we had to work to change it over, sometimes that meant working through the night. Early in the season it was also taking us longer to get the system down to set up the field, so that was an extra cost.”
The district did provide the Copperheads with a “rebate” based on concession sales. The team was refunded 30 percent of concession sales during the game.
The Berry Center, the Copperheads’ new home just up Barker-Cypress Rd., seats 8,000 compared to the 5,900-person capacity of the Merrell Center.
Berry Center General Manager Beth Wade said CFISD takes precautions when renting its facilities.
“We are aware of (the situation with KISD),” Wade said.
“They are going to pay us before the games are played. I would never do any event without payment. We always require deposits at the Berry Center. We would never put ourselves in that position.”
KISD is not the only area entity frustrated by a lack of funds from their involvement with the Copperheads. Both the Katy and Taylor High School Athletic Booster Clubs entered into agreements with the team to have volunteers sell programs at home games in exchange for a cut of the sales.
Neither booster club was ever paid for its services.
“It started out that they were selling tickets at Taylor High and we were going to get a commission on that,” Chuck Chesser, Taylor High School athletic booster club president said.
“We were selling programs at the games and figured we’d make about $500 for the booster club. We got our parents there, sold quite a few, waited a while, called and they said, ‘We’re working on it, we’ll settle up at the end of the season.’ I could kind of tell as we went through to the end of the season that it was never going to come to fruition. I wrote it up to experience.”
Mitch Fralick, Katy High School booster club president, related a similar experience.
“The initial deal was they called us and told us they were opening up the season with a Katy night and asked if we’d be willing to sell programs for $3 a piece and in return for the volunteers, we’d get $1 per program,” Fralick said.
“About halfway through the season I addressed our booster club officers and said I was a little concerned, this was a cash transaction, why are these guys not settling up with us?”
Seven Lakes High School booster club president Greg Henry said the other schools’ officers warned him away from dealing with the football team.
“The presidents of the athletic booster clubs meet together about every three months to share and be cohesive in our endeavors for the district,” Henry said.
“When I asked about the Copperheads’ deal, the others warned me so we did not partake on their offer.”
While Fralick himself never was part of the volunteer squad of parents, he related that several other Katy High parents were approached by the Copperheads to continue selling programs at the games in exchange for a cut of the profits going to the booster club. They agreed and worked several more home dates during the season.
“I made some calls and they told us they were fixing to settle up, just getting their tallies on everything,” Fralick said.
“I made a couple more calls and was told the checks were being cut, but we knew they were trouble by late in the season. We probably should have been more cautious when we didn’t settle after the first round, we were working on good faith and had some pretty zealous members as always who are out to do whatever they can for the Katy High School booster club.”
Calls to the Copperheads’ office were not returned.
On Friday morning, Katy’s newest professional football team, the Katy Ruff Riders, were formally introduced at a press conference held at Don McGill Toyota. The Ruff Riders are members of the Intense Football League (IFL) and will play mostly in-state opponents.
Bailey said KISD has learned from the mistake it made when dealing with the Copperheads.
The new team has paid in advance, we made sure of that,” Bailey said Wednesday evening.
“Once bitten, twice shy.”
For Fralick and Chesser, the most frustrating part of the experience is how many hours their parent volunteers spent without the promised return to the club’s funds.
“It’s hard enough to get people to volunteer,” Chesser said. “I had just been elected president, and I told our parents, ‘Hey guys, we’ve got a couple of opportunities here to raise some good money for our athletics. (The Copperheads) were giving me the story of ‘we’ll get back to you at the end of the season’ but nothing ever happened.”
Fralick chalked the sour deal up to an inherent trust in the city.
“The Katy community is a very ‘trust-me’ type of community,” Fralick said.
“When people come into Katy and do things that are in the old town part of Katy, you just sort of figure they’re a new part of the group. I guess this just proves that Katy’s growing fast.”
Now listen up demmit - ‘T-Shacks’ were plenty good enough for US!!
T-Shacks for EVERYONE dern it!!!
Before anyone takes pity on Cy-Fair and it’s shortfall….. and before anyone really believes the Berry center is a huge windfall, profit maker. I suggest everyone take a look at the Cy-Fair check book that has to be posted online. Want to know how your school district spends your money? It’s all there.
I do know Second Baptist Cy-Fair rents space there. Perhaps they will grow to the point they can buy the ” monument to the school board”
T shacks fur shure man. And if we’re feeling generous, we’ll put a window unit in them too!!
it reminde me of the old saying
The lights are on but no body is home….
The last time I saw Debbie Riddle (just before the primary) she was speaking as a stand-in for Joe Crabb (the usually mia rep from 127) and ardently defending ghost voting on the house floor.
Why do the good folks in the 150 or wherever she hails from keep sending her back? I’ve asked myself the same question re Crabb and find no answer. We are the idiots, falling for the same merde election after election.
Beat the bond issue and toss out all incumbent board members.
Grumpy I know next to nothing about Debbie Riddle, but what I have learned in the past couple of weeks isn’t bad. The open borders crowd tried to put her in the corner with a dunce cap, but she has survived, and seems to be fighting for us. Is that all smoke and mirrors?
BI45
Thanks for the article. Very interesting. To CFISD’s credit they hired an experienced professional to run the center as opposed to letting booster clubs or school district employees take it over. Possibly Katy’s problem.
Here’s my problem with the Berry Center: it probably doesn’t pay property taxes or any of the new business tax. In other words, a school district needs to be in the business educating kids, not hosting concerts or professional football. The talk of it being profitable is spin, to divert attention from the grandeur.
Great write-up on the town hall meeting, I’ll link it on our website (http://www.cyfaircitizens.org)
We also have a searchable database of CFISD’s check register.
The Berry Center (although way too expensive and grandiose) has the potential of paying for its operations cost as well as making $$ above that point. I have not seen the numbers but knowing a little about the events that take place there(virtually every day) I don’t think making a profit is spin.
I hope its not paying the new business tax or property tax as that money would go to the state rather than stay local.
What is wrong with the picture? That an ISD is supposed to be in the “business” of running schools and not recreation/convention/sports complexes.
That is what’s wrong with the picture.
sdhook, my point is that the school district enjoys an advantage not given to a business. If I wanted to open up a arena/concert hall, I’d be paying taxes that CFISD is exempted from. Seems a bit unfair.
And the school district’s response to any criticism toward the Berry Center is that it is their only operation that makes a profit. Not sure how true that is, since we don’t see whether revenues exceed operational costs. And let’s don’t forget about sunk costs (the building itself), sometimes it’s more profitable to do nothing than it is to spend $80 million to bring in a hundred thousand a year.
#37 There is another option. . . Build facilities that go unused for 36 of 52 weeks, generate $0 and still have to be maintained. Or of course we could eliminate sports in CFISD. Think of the savings. Our campuses could be cinder block rooms with just the basics. Think one such facility might be coming available in El Dorado, TX.
#39 - I don’t have a problem with buildings sitting unused 36 of 52 weeks - shows that it shouldn’t have been built in the first place.
The Berry Center could not be justified solely on its original purpose. When they sold the bond, the administration and board had to throw in a lot of promises.
This is all about our community leaders wanting a monument for CyFair. Since there is no local CyFair government that could have built it, and no private enterprise stepped up to do it (no profit) they used the school district to get it.
Why not have the school district rent facilities for the 16 weeks that it needs it? That seems to be more cost effective solution. That’s how graduations were done until someone thought it would be cheaper to spend $80 million to hold graduations.
The cinder blocks argument is silly. No one is calling for that, just for a little common sense. I’ve heard a variety of reasons why CFISD builds the way they do, from “increases property values” to “makes community proud”. And I thought schools were places to teach kids.
Like the Taj Mahal, another expensive mausoleum.
I went to a small school, all 12 years. We had no A/C, high ceiling and large “miami” windows.
We survived.
The Berry Center ought to make a very nice evacuee center when the next strong hurricane hits the Galveston area. BTW, are you allowed to cayak/canoe in those concrete ponds?
Provided that electricity is available. Or does the Berry Center also include emergency generators?
Jaime:
I think I should make this very clear, the Berry Center pictures are the 1st and 2nd and last pictures.
The pictures of the buildings next to the streams are of the Cy Fair College (which is right next door to the Berry Center). The Cy Fair College was built with a comparative modest budget, but well thought out and planned. If only all colleges and universities were built this way.
The Berry Center does not have any standing water or water features to kayak in.
Thanks for the clarification. CyFair College, that is a nice campus. At night anyways.
So the “what is wrong with this picture” has to do with an empty multi-million dollar sports stadium, with lights on, at night?
The stadium: THE symbol that sports are more important than education.
Hello AW;
Noted your mention of my mention of Debbie Riddle:
“The open borders crowd tried to put her in the corner with a dunce cap, but she has survived”.
As I’m not in her dist I’ve not reviewed her voting record, but, she did not acquit herself well at all when she stood in for Crabb. I am absolutely opposed to any and all forms of proxy voting by our estimable lege. Her defense of this practice was outrageous. If our overworked and fatigued reps can’t handle the tasks at hand, if they can’t possibly fulfill all their duties, it’s time we the sheeple re-order those priorities.
Mr. Crabb, who Debbie spoke for, is regularly celebrated as a taxpayers’ hero, yet he voted for the margin tax and for in-state tuition for illegals. I’ve not looked for Ms. Riddle’s votes on those or on other items.
If Ms. Riddle is your rep, try to review her voting history over the last two sessions, just pick out a representative list of bills, and should you find inconsistency apply blowtorch to her nether regions. With the next session coming fast, let’s help each other gauge the real effects of the lege by watching and reporting votes on procedural motions and actual bills. OOPS, I don’t think votes on procedural items are recorded. Darn, those votes might tell a tale other than what our reps want us to hear!
All the best,
#44
Don’t know the original cost of the modest Cy-Fair College but the bond being voted on calls for $95,000,000 in additions to the Barker-Cypress Campus. Possibly Kayak trails connecting the fountains? Stock them with Redfish and they have my vote!