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RPCA General Meeting Minutes – February 2010

Richwood Place Civic Association
General Meeting
February 23, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Zoe’s Kitchen

Minutes

Approximate count of neighbors present: 52

Moustapha El-Hakam, president, calls meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.

Announces officers:

Vice President: Daniel Baker
Treasurer: Larry Wood
Secretary: Andy Stefaniak

Discussion Item No. 01:

Officer Elections:

Vice President and Treasurer run unopposed.

President: Moustapha El-Hakam versus Laura Mullen
Secretary: Andy Stefaniak versus Davide Houston

Floor opened to each candidate for 2 minute discussion

Open floor for questions from neighbors 7:30 p.m. :

  1. Neighbor from1800 Block of Portsmouth: How is each candidate going to reach out to new neighbors who not aware of the Neighborhood Association?
      Moustapha – continued use of signs to announce meetings, published newsletters, and use NING site and Yahoo news board.
      Laura – use existing means of communication and have an open door policy.
  2. Neighbor from 1800 Block of Norfolk. (1). Can we have write in candidates? Answer: Yes none nominated. (2). How do you interface with city council representation? Both presidential candidates have working relationships with Wanda Adams and Sue Lovell. Moustapha has good relations with City Planning Commission.

No other questions. Ballots are cast.

Treasurer’s Report: available funds $1795.00; prior to dues paid on night of meeting.

Vote to create Deed Restrictions Committee:

Rebekah El-Hakim (chair)
Karen Copeland
Eric Houston
Stanley Jones
1 other (Alice ??)

Safety Committee Report (7:45 p.m.):
Neighborhood watch deemed successful with good participation from those who are trained. ID cards are available. For those of you who are interested in signing up contact Larry Wood (281-384-8291)

Capital Improvement Plan Committee
Motion to create standing committee. Motioned approved. Moustapha appoints Daniel Baker chair of the committee. Request to neighbors for help. Committee formed.

Old Business (8:00 p.m.)
Fence on 1800 Block of Portsmouth: City will not enforce deed restrictions.
1800 Block of Portsmouth (Fairmont Museum District Appartments) no new news.
2000 block of Norfolk – Property owner acknowledges deed restrictions
1700 block of Norfolk – new residents
New neighborhood maps illustrating minimum lost size, minimum building line, and deed restricted houses presented.

New Business (8:10 p.m.)
Sign Toppers for road signs. Will discuss further at next meeting when new information becomes available.

Next General Meeting: May 11th.

Announcement of New Officers:

President: Laura Mullen
Vice President: Daniel Baker
Treasurer: Larry Wood
Secretary: David Houston

Meeting Adjourned at 8:20.

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Alabama Theatre’s Future Uncertain

From KUHF:

Houston’s historic Alabama Theatre could soon undergo renovations. As Laurie Johnson reports — Weingarten Realty is considering a plan to gut the interior and lease the space as a big box retail store.

The Alabama Theatre on Shepherd is one of two surviving Art Deco theaters in Houston, along with the River Oaks Theatre.

It was built in 1939 and operated as a movie theatre until 1983. It was then converted into a Bookstop, but as David Bush with the Greater Houston Preservation Alliance points out, the bookstore maintained the theatre’s art deco interior.

You can read the full article on the KUHF web site.

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Where you live – 2010 Census Underway

It’s census time again! Don’t forget to submit your forms. To get into the spirit, my wife and I looked up the 2001 census data for Montrose, which happens to be online at the City of Houston website which provides multiple ways to access the data. 

It shows that over 60% housing units are occupied by renters — the Houston average is just under 50%.

It’s not as diverse as you might imagine.  Jennifer wants to meet the native Hawaiian family.

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Neartown Meeting — March 2010

I attended the March 2010 Neartown meeting this evening, hosted by David Robinson, the Neartown president, at the Cherryhurst Park Community Center. Richwood Place is now a member in good standing of the Neartown association. The meeting was attended by members and officers of Neartown Civic Associations as well as representatives from the offices of Council Member Wanda Adams, Council Member Stephen Costello, and Senator Rodney Ellis.

You can expect that minutes will be posted on the Neartown web site, but I have a few notes from the discussion topics:

Capital Improvement Planning

    The Neartown Association is working on a number of CIP requests on behalf of the superneighborhood and the 21 civic associations that Neartown represents. David Robinson, Neartown President, has complained to the city and our council members about the lack of transparency in this process and the difficulty of the request process.Richwood Place has submitted a request to Council Member Adams and I will forward that request to Neartown’s leadership. There are many other neighborhoods in our superneighborhood that are having severe sewage problems and other matters that need to be addressed by CIP as soon as possible.

Carnegie Vanguard High School

    Carnegie Vanguard High School (web site) is a HISD magnet school for gifted and talented students. It is currently located in South Houston and will be relocating to Taft and West Gray in 2012. They will have 600 students in 2012.

    They are currently seeking a parking variance to prevent having to create an excess number of parking spots on a green lot. The city requires they have in excess of 300 parking spots, but they only have 104 in their current location and are requesting a variance to allow 225 parking spots.

HEB

    There has been a lot of talk in the neighborhood, in the news, and on this web site about a proposed HEB on the corner of Dunlavy and West Alabama, which by some is considered the most valuable piece of open property in the city. HEB has purchased the property. They have applied for a re-plat without variances. This does not require a vote before the planning commission.

    The City has encouraged HEB to work with Neartown and the association President has met with HEB’s Director of Real Estate at HEB’s corporate headquarters. He reports that HEB has hired an arborist to assist with the tree-filled property and that HEB is pointing out that a supermarket would create new jobs, be an increase in the tax base, and that they could offer a green plan that is conservation oriented.

    Representatives at the meeting discussed a number of potential layouts, traffic issues, and land use concerns. The property is on the agenda for the City of Houston Planning Committee on April 1st.

There will be a Neartown Development Forum at the end of May for residents to work together and with the city to discuss the development and planning of the Montrose area. I will post an update when there are more concrete details.

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Have you paid your 2010 dues?

All residents of Richwood should become members of the Civic Association. The dues are only $25 annually per household. As a member, your dues will support the beauty, security, and historic preservation of the neighborhood. Additionally, members have voting rights at the quarterly association general meetings.

Please pay your dues online today — it only takes a minute. You can pay $25 for the year or subscribe to pay annually.

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RPCA Board Meeting

There will be a RPCA Board meeting on Monday, March 15th at 7pm at my house, 1922 Lexington.  Everyone is welcome to attend.  Sorry for the short notice, but we finally got enough people available to meet to finalize the transition.

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Google Street View — Richwood Place

Google Street View is an online feature for Google Maps that shows panoramic views up and down virtually every street in Houston (and other major cities). You can use Street View to virtually drive up and down every street in Richwood Place (as well as throughout Neartown) with photos from ~2006 (if you know the exact date, please comment and let me know).

Here are a few notable moments Google Earth captured as they drove through Richwood:

Notice something else that’s interesting, different, or changed since Google Street View drove through? Please click “Link” from the Google Street View page and post it here as a comment.

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August 2009 deed restriction enforcement on Portsmouth

As promised, I’ve written a post about the deed restriction enforcement regarding a new fence on the 1800 block of Portsmouth.  I realize this is a sensitive topic, with strong opinions on both sides of the argument, so I’d like to simply present the information here for those interested.  Please also understand this matter is still being pursued, so it may not be appropriate for me to share details without the consent of the homeowner.  If you have more questions, feel free to email me directly.

As you are probably aware, properties in Richwood Place are deed restricted.  It is the responsibility of the Richwood Place Civic Association to enforce deed restrictions on behalf of the residents.   

In August 2009, the Richwood Place Civic Association and the City of Houston found that a new fence constructed on the 1800 block of Portsmouth violated the Richwood Place deed restrictions (specifically, Article III, subsection 9 of the Declaration of Restricted Covenants) because it was built less than 20 feet from the front of the property line.  A letter was sent to the homeowner noting the violation and requesting the property comply with the deed restrictions.   The Civic Assocation received a letter from the resident’s attorney in September 2009.  Eventually, a suit will be filed on behalf of the Civic Association to resolve the issue and that’s where it stands.  This item is discussed in more detail our regular meetings.  Members and residents that would like to join the discussion should attend the next meeting (scheduled for Tuesday, May 11, 2010). 

Copies of our deed restrictions are given to owners at the time of purchase.  I have also included them on the About Richwood Place page of the this website.  If you have questions about your property, visit the City of Houston Deed Restriction information website, contact the Office of the City Attorney’s Deed Restriction Enforcement Team’ s Deed Restriction Hotline at 832-393-6333,  or contact the City Services Help Line at 311.

I’d like to close this post by letting you know my philosophy for posting to this site; I’m only going to pass along information.  Rarely, if ever, will I include my own personal bias. The web site and blog are intended to to pass along content I feel will interest you.  And again, please feel free to comment here or email me directly with questions or concerns.