2005 Archives

2004 Archives

2003 Archives

Wednesday               March 9, 2005

American Shore and Beach Preservation

The American Shore And Beach Preservation Association Summit 2005, "Defending America's Embattled Coastal Resources," is being held in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.  

Following the board meeting, ASBPA President Harry Simmons welcomed the delegates from coastal areas including the East Coast, the West Coast and the Gulf Coast Region; and thanked Summit Chair Greg "Rudi" Rudloph, who in turn thanked all of the sponsors of the meeting.  Listen  Download.

Scott Faber, a water resource specialist of  Environmental Defense, a national non profit organization, spoke on Defending American's Embattled Coastal Resources.  Faber spoke of the need to address "real environmental impacts" in assessing coastal projects. Listen  Download

"There is no question that these projects are urgently needed," Faber said, stressing the importance of projects to restore coastal Louisiana.

However, Faber cautioned against a plan being proposed by Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu.

"I don't think that represents real reform and I think it would be a mistake for this group to support it," Faber said.

Faber encouraged the group to work toward regional sediment management in shoreline restoration projects.

Steve Underwood, assistant director of resource management, stressed that "humans are part of the ecosystem," while urging the group to address issues. 

Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu will address the group this afternoon.

Jim Guidry is in Washington, D.C. for the meeting and will be filing additional reports on The Online News Station.

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League City City Council

League City City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve a capital improvement project that will extend Palomino Lane to a four-lane concrete median lane separation.

Palomino Road will be the only road leading from FM 518 to the proposed site of the new League City high school.

The project will include internal drainage, a roadway from FM 518 to a future intersection with the proposed Beamer Road extension and the corresponding allocation of funds.

Several League City residents commented on the dispute between the city council and the school district concerning the location of the new high school and the improvements to Palomino Lane. 

"There will be a public hearing for input and questions for city officials and school district officials," said Council Member Rusty Tidwell. "It is important that everyone's voice is heard and questions are answered."

The city council has also scheduled a joint workshop for school district and League City officials.

“I’m just glad that the problem has been resolved and that we’re moving on,” Mayor Jeff Harrison said.

The city council voted unanimously to approve a policy to assist disabled retirees with health insurance benefits.

The city council voted unanimously to set a workshop for Wednesday, April 6 to discuss the complete Phase 1 retail development assessment by the Buxton Company.

The city council voted 5-1, with Jim Nelson opposed, to approve a resolution supporting legislation that would provide for reduction in the property tax burden on homeowners caused by rapidly escalating appraisal values.

Council Member Thomas Cones recommended that the resolution be modified to reflect a yearly increase of approximately 16 percent instead of 26 percent, which he said is not accurate.

The city council voted unanimously to approve a re-evaluation of school crossing zones within League City and the appropriation of funds for improvements specifically to include a guarded crossing at Victory Lakes Intermediate School.

The city council voted unanimously to evaluate an appropriate school crossing on FM 518 at Creekside Intermediate School.   

Ruth McCarthy, a resident of The Landing subdivision requested that the city council vote on a tax appraisal cap for senior citizens in League City.

Jon Keeney and Mike Hembree have asked that the staff provide a recommendation regarding a possible graduated extension for senior citizens based on house value. 

All other agenda items were unanimously approved.

The city council proclaimed March 15, 2005 as “Earl S. Johnson Day.”  Johnson, 95, is the last living cowboy to have herded cattle down the main streets of League City in 1942. His son, Phil Johnson, spoke about his contributions to his family and to the city.

The city council named the week of March 28 through April 3 as “National Community Development Week.”

The city council named the week of March 20 through March 26 as “Poison Prevention Week.”

Council Member Mike Hembree was absent.

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Dickinson City Council

Dickinson City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to allow Council Member Mary Dunbaugh to continue her research on neighborhood community grant programs. 

Dunbaugh gave a report of her research to date, saying she has identified two types of grants: grants from the Child Safety Fund that would enhance child safety, health or nutrition and grants from the city's general fund for enhancement of neighborhood quality of life. 

The city council requested further details on what could be funded and how grants would be handled. 

All other agenda items were approved. 

The Dickinson Independent School District bond election for construction of new schools and facilities will be held on Saturday, April 2 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.  Votes may be cast at McAdams Junior High School and K.E. Little Elementary School, and early voting will be held at the Administration Building at 4512 Highway 3.

The city council heard a presentation from James Menotti on behalf of the Make Room For Our Kids Committee. The presentation related to the upcoming bond election. 

The city council received a request from the Harbour Playhouse for funding of its activities from the hotel occupancy tax.  The city council will consider the request further when developing next year's budget. 

City Administrator Ivan Langford and architect Joe Hoover gave an update on the city's plans to remodel City Hall and the library and to construct a new fire station. 

The city council will review the proposed plans and costs associated with the project during a workshop on Monday, March 14 at 5:30 p.m.

"We discussed the need to relocate city hall operations during some, if not all, of the remodeling and the necessity to close the library for periods as well," said Council Member Kerry Neves. 

The annual Trash Bash will be held Saturday, March 12, to clean up areas around the bayou and throughout the city. The event will begin at 8:30 a.m. at the boat ramp on Highway 3.

The groundbreaking for the Depot Restoration Project will be held on Thursday, April 7 at the railroad depot at 218 FM 517 West at 4 p.m.

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Houston City Council

Houston City Council today voted 9-4, with Addie Wiseman, Pam Holm, Michael Berry and Gordon Quan opposed and Mark Goldberg and Ada Edwards absent, to approve a partial ban on smoking in public places. The ban applies to restaurant dining rooms and covered bus stops in Houston and to taxicabs whose operators opt to go smoke-free. Listen Download

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Beaumont City Council

Beaumont City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to award a bid in the amount of $599,100 to G & G Enterprises, Inc., of Orange, Texas, to construct a new Henry Homberg Golf Course Club House.

The bid from G & G was the lowest out of ten bids.   

The city council voted unanimously to approve the purchase of a mobile stage in the amount of $92,292.  The stage will be maintained by the recreation division of the Beaumont Library System and will serve as a portable entertainment venue for community gatherings throughout the city. 

The city council voted unanimously to approve an ordinance calling the general election on May 7 to elect a mayor and six council members, two at-large and one for each ward. 

The city council voted unanimously to deny a request to change the zoning for property located at 2795 Eastex Freeway from Neighborhood Commercial to General Commercial-Multiple Family Dwelling. 

The applicant, Jeremiah Brammer, wants to open a used car sales business and an auto mechanic shop on the property.

The city council voted unanimously to approve a request to change the zoning for property located at 3320 Delaware from General Commercial-Multiple Family Dwelling to Single Family Residential. 

The city council voted 5-1, with Bobbie Patterson opposed, to approve a request for a specific use permit to allow the operation of a cellular telephone transmission tower in a Light Industrial District at 4940 Fannett Road.

Cingular Wireless, the applicant, has agreed to plant shrubs and trees along each side of the property and to build a wood screening fence to cover the barbed wire along the top of the chain link fence. 

The city council voted unanimously to approve a specific use permit for Kingdom Connection Outreach Church.  The church will operate an outreach ministry at 3655 Highland. 

The city council voted unanimously to approve an amendment to the zoning ordinance that would allow no trees along a perimeter landscape edge when overhead lines are present along the edge.  The amendment also prohibits trees within a 30-foot distance from the outermost power line. 

All other agenda items were unanimously approved. 

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Morgan's Point City Council

Morgan's Point City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve an ordinance providing for details relating to the May 7 general election. 

Mayor Peggy Arisco announced that the Harris County Mayors' and Councils' Association will meet on Thursday, March 17 at the Harris County Appraisal District at 13013 Northwest Freeway in Houston. 

The Texas Municipal League Region 14 will hold a spring meeting on Thursday, March 31 at 6:30 p.m. at the Hilton Houston Westchase and Towers at 9999 Westheimer in Houston. 

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Moody National Bank

J.B. Mathis of League City has been elected to the Board of Directors of Moody National Bank. 

Mathis is president and executive director of the Port of Texas City/Texas City Railway Company and is general manager of the Houston Belt and Terminal Railway Company.  He is also a member of the Port Terminal Railroad Board of Directors. 

"Bill has been an effective leader in the shipping and transportation field for nearly three decades," said Moody National Bank Chair Robert L. Moody, Sr. 

"That segment of the economy is vital to our trade area in coastal Texas, and we look forward to having his insights on the board." 

Born in Sherman, Texas, Mathis worked for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad for 11 years, then served as president and general manager of the Kansas City Terminal Railway and general manager of the Port Terminal Railroad for the Union Pacific Railroad prior to taking his current position in 1995. 

His professional activities include service as chairman and member of the Executive Board of the Texas City-La Marque Chamber of Commerce, member of the Executive Board of the Galveston County Economic Alliance and membership in the American Association of Port Authorities, the Texas Ports Association, the Gulf Ports Association, the Port Safety and Advisory Committee, the Southwest Association of Rail Shippers, the Association of American Railroads and the Western Dredging Association.

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Galveston Trolley Extension

The City of Galveston, the University of Texas Medical Branch and the Federal Transit Administration will celebrate the completion of the Galveston rail trolley to UTMB on Monday, March 14 from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.  

The ceremony will take place at the trolley stop at the corner of 8th Street and Market Street in Galveston.

Keynote speakers at the ceremony will include former Congressman Nick Lampson, UTMB President Dr. John Stobo. Galveston Mayor Lyda Ann Thomas, Galveston City Manager Steve LeBlanc and Barry Goodman of the Goodman Corporation. 

Representatives will be in attendance for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison and for Congressman Ron Paul. 

Expanded trolley service to UTMB will begin on Tuesday, March 15.

The approximately $5 million, 1.5 mile extension of the existing fixed-rail downtown trolley is designed "to increase transit utilization, decrease congestion, decrease energy consumption in individual passenger cars, reduce pollution and help revitalize the areas served".

The project is funded by the Federal Transit Administration and the Texas Department of Transportation. 

As part of agreement between UTMB and the City of Galveston, employees, students, staff, ambulatory patients and visitors to UTMB can ride any part of the Island Transit system for free.

They are encouraged to travel via the trolley throughout the day, reducing traffic congestion on city streets. 

Some restaurants will design “trolley express lunches” that will enable UTMB patrons faster service during lunch hour so that employees can ride the trolley and return to work on time.

The project included new track laid in old city streets, new switches, station development and additional rail.  All improvements were designed to be compatible with existing land uses and zoning ordinances.  The tracks are located in the center of the street and almost all of the existing parking has remained intact.

For additional information, contact Marie Janke at (281) 686-2088.

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University of Texas Medical Branch

The Brown Foundation, Inc. of Houston has contributed $750,000 to the planned national biocontainment research laboratory at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. The donation is the first philanthropic contribution to the facility.

This gift will support the construction of the proposed $167 million Galveston National Laboratory and will help pay for essential scientific equipment.  

UTMB received a $110 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in 2003 to construct one of two national biocontainment laboratories that will allow researchers to safely study the pathogens responsible for a number of dangerous emerging infectious disease threats.  

The Brown Foundation’s contribution will help fulfill the $57 million local match needed for construction of the laboratory.  Philanthropic support and revenue bonds committed by the University of Texas System’s Board of Regents will satisfy the match.

With construction slated to begin later this spring, the proposed Galveston National Laboratory will contain more than 12,000 square feet of biosafety level 4, or maximum containment, lab space.  The seven-story building will significantly augment UTMB’s existing 2,000 square feet of maximum containment space in the Robert E. Shope, M.D., Laboratory in the John Sealy Pavilion for Infectious Diseases Research. 

The Shope Lab is the first full-sized maximum biocontainment facility on a university campus in the Americas. It was financed by a lead gift from The Sealy & Smith Foundation of Galveston and additional funding from the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere.

In addition to the biosafety level 4 space, the Galveston National Laboratory allot more than 70,000 square feet for lower-level biosafety labs and related support facilities.  

The laboratory’s biosafety level 4 capacity will allow UTMB researchers to use large pieces of equipment never before integrated into maximum biocontainment research.  Such equipment includes a confocal microscope, which employs lasers and fluorescent antibody “tags” to locate specific proteins in cells, and high-speed robotic drug-screening systems.

UTMB President John D. Stobo thanked the Brown Foundation’s Trustees for making a lead contribution to the national laboratory and thereby encouraging other philanthropic organizations to make similar contributions. 

“The Brown Foundation’s gift will significantly aid research that addresses one of the most pressing public health concerns of our age,” Stobo said.  “We greatly appreciate the foundation’s foresight in supporting work aimed at developing new countermeasures, including breakthrough vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostic tools, against a range of dangerous pathogens."

Dr. Stanley M. Lemon, an internationally recognized virologist and principal investigator of UTMB’s national laboratory project, said the Brown Foundation’s contribution will enhance the university’s position as an international leader in infectious disease research. 

“The world’s most distinguished investigators from UTMB and other universities will have the opportunity to conduct truly cutting-edge research in this facility, examining many viruses at a level of detail never achieved before,” said Lemon, who holds the John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Human Infections and Immunity.

“The Brown Foundation’s generous gift will help ensure that the Galveston National Laboratory will be an extraordinary facility capable of fulfilling a key role in the efforts of the National Institutes of Health to protect the American public not only against the potential ravages of bioterrorism, but also against the even more awesome threats posed by Mother Nature,” Lemon said.

A UTMB benefactor since 1991, the Brown Foundation has contributed nearly $1.8 million to various programs and initiatives, including the Program for Innovation in Education and the establishment of the William C. Levin Chair in Environmental Toxicology. 

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Houston TranStar 

Over the past five weeks, Houston TranStar, the Transportation and Emergency Management center for the greater Houston region, has been featured on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings and in respected national newspapers including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Chicago Tribune and the Houston Chronicle for its high-tech and innovative approach to addressing traffic congestion in Houston.

Houston TranStar is a multi-agency partnership comprised of the City of Houston, Harris County, the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County and the Texas Department of Transportation-Houston District. 

The partnership coordinates the planning, design, operations and maintenance of transportation and emergency management functions in the greater Houston region.  Houston TranStar is recognized nationally and internationally for its collaborative and innovative approach to transportation and emergency management solutions.

"We as a partnership have always strived to be as effective as we possibly can in the delivery of critical transportation and emergency management services to the greater Houston region," said Jack Whaley, director of Houston TranStar.  "To have other major cities like Chicago, Dallas, Beijing and others attempt to emulate what we are doing in the region makes the whole process just that much more satisfying."

The Houston TranStar partnership employs a variety of technologies and services, including over 300 closed circuit television cameras, 150 dynamic message signs, traveler information devices, roadway flooding systems, wrecker capabilities, public/private partnerships, railroad monitoring systems and automated flood alert systems.

For additional information contact Artee T. Jones at (713) 881-3244 or visit http://www.houstontranstar.org.

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Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke's

The Board of Trustees of the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital and The University of Texas System today announced a special affiliation to further research and education in cardiovascular disease.

“The Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital has enjoyed a worldwide reputation in cardiovascular research, education and patient care for many years," said Denton A. Cooley, M.D., president and surgeon-in-chief of the Texas Heart Institute. 

"Collaborations such as this agreement with The University of Texas System will help ensure that we maintain our leadership role and position us for even greater accomplishments in the coming years."

“In this affiliation THI becomes the hub of a grand research collaboration involving Baylor College of Medicine and The UT Health Science Center at Houston, along with other universities and health care institutions, in the quest to conquer cardiovascular disease," said James T. Willerson, M.D., president-elect of THI.

"The affiliation with U T System will allow THI to expand its research capacities and cooperate with other U T components. I believe this agreement signals a new era in collaboration.”

The U T System operates six health institutions with a focus on education, research and patient care.  The system includes four medical schools, two dental schools and three nursing schools and schools of allied health science, biomedical sciences, health information sciences and public health.

“This unique affiliation between the world class programs of THI and The University of Texas System offers terrific opportunities to further strengthen cardiovascular research and education, to improve the health of Texans, and to enhance the role of Texas as a leader in research, treatment and preventive medicine,” said Mark G. Yudof, chancellor of the UT system.  

"To advance research and education in cardiovascular disease, THI and U T System, with the assistance of the UT Health Science Center at Houston, agree to cooperate in recruitment of scientists, including physicians, to joint appointments at the health science center and THI," said a news release.  

At THI’s request, U T System and the health science center will also assist in recruiting scientists to THI who have medical or faculty appointments at other Texas Medical Center institutions.

THI and U T System also agreed to cooperate in mutually beneficial fund-raising for research and education programs, which will include seeking support at the local, state, federal and international levels from both public and private resources.

“This special affiliation with the University of Texas system further enhances our relationships among these prestigious institutions and accelerates opportunities for achieving our complementary missions," said Meredith Long, chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Texas Heart Institute.

"Research and education to eradicate cardiovascular disease, the leading causing of death in our country, deserves no less than our total combined commitment.”

For additional information, visit http://www.texasheartinstitute.com.

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Scheduled Meetings
Meetings will be held in the regular meeting place of the city council or other governmental body, unless otherwise specified.

Today, March 9
4:00 Galveston Zoning Board of Adjustment

Thursday, March 10 
9:00 American Shore and Beach Preservation Association 2005 Coastal Summit, Washington Court Hotel, Washington, DC
12:00 Galveston City Council Workshop
12:00 Houston Downtown Management District, 909 Fannin, Ste 1650.
5:30 Galveston City Council
7:00 Kemah City Council
7:00 Santa Fe City Council
8:00 Nunsense, The east-end theatre company, etc., Galveston
8:00 Same Time, Next Year, Bay Area Harbour Playhouse, 3803 Highway 3, Dickinson

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Gulf Coast E-news, published by Guidry News Service, provides comprehensive coverage of posted public meetings in Galveston, Harris and Jefferson Counties as well as regional news impacting the Upper Texas Gulf Coast.

Jim and Lynda Guidry are publishers of Gulf Coast E-news and The Online News Station.

Jim Young is Houston City Correspondent.  Dana Patricia Burke is the Bay Area Houston Correspondent. Chuck Lawrence is Galveston City Correspondent.  Carl Guidry covers events in Jefferson County.  Anita Donatto covers the education beat in Galveston.  

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Robert John Mihovil is a special photographic correspondent for Guidry News Service  

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This electronic  newsletter replaced, and expanded on, the mission of the Galveston Fax, established by Jim and Lynda Guidry on Galveston Island in  July 1996; and Clear Lake Area E-news, begun on January 2, 2002.