Meeting minutes
Minutes January 20, 2010 Zeph Capo, 2009/2010 President started the meeting on January 20, 2010 at 6:50 pm to allow judicial candidates an opportunity to introduce themselves and tell us the offices they are running for: Reginald McKamie - Judge 295th Civil District Court. Paul Simon (accompanied by his wife Robin) - Judge 295th Civil District Court. Michael J. Skadden - Probate Court No. 2. Wally Kronzer - Justice 14th Court of Appeals, Place 5. Donna Roth - Judge 281st Civil District Court. Damon Crenshaw - Harris County Civil Court at Law #3. Lee Arellano - Judge 270th Civil District Court Harris County, Texas. Christina Bryan - 113th Civil District Court for Judge. Tanner Garth - 234th Civil District Court. Marc Isenberg - Judge 313th Juvenile Court. Olan Boudreaux - Judge 190th Civil District Court of Harris County, Texas. Lee Arellano - Judge 270th Civil District Court Harris County, Texas. Jerome Fjeld - Judge 113th Civil District Court. Robert J. 'Bob" Thomas - Judge 270th Civil District Court. Mary Galligan - Judge Harris County Probate Court 3. Brad Morris - Judge Family District Court 311. Zeph started the program on the Hwy 290 Expansion Project by thanking Richard who helped put the program together. We had several speakers that were from or working with Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) and Gigi Lee from Senator John Whitmire's office. "The US 290/Hempstead Corridor Program was established in October 2006. As part of this program the Texas Department of Transportation is working with local partners including the Harris County Toll Road Authority (HCTRA), Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), Harris County, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), the City of Houston, the City of Jersey Village, Union Pacific Railroad and the Houston-Galveston Area Council (H-GAC), to develop a multi-modal solution to the challenges facing the US 290 corridor. The proposed solution consists of highway improvements, construction of a new Hempstead Tollway, bike trail, right of way reserved to implement high capacity transit, and the preservation of existing freight rail movements with improved grade crossings. Proposed improvements to the US 290/Hempstead Corridor include construction of the IH 610/US 290 Hempstead Interchange; the re-construction of US 290 from IH 610 to FM 529; the widening of US 290 from FM 529 to FM 2920; and construction of the Hempstead Tollway from IH 610 to the proposed SH 99 (Grand Parkway)." Handout. There will be three phases. "At this time Phase I lettings for the IH 610/US 290/Hempstead Interchange and the Hempstead Tollway are targeted for FY 2011/2012; it is anticipated that these facilities will be operational by 2014. Phase II lettings are presently estimated to occur in FY 2016. The earliest potential letting would be FY 2014, following the completion of Phase I. Phase III is heavily dependent upon funding opportunities and is currently programmed to let as late as FY 2021." Handout. Currently to alleviate congestion a $2.1 million project is under way which consists of: "Widening the pavement on the existing westbound approach to Jones Road; Replacing the existing exit ramps to Jones Road and West 43rd, with new two-lane exit ramps; Completing median modifications and pavement widening for additional left turn storage at Senate, Gessner, Fairbanks-North Houston, Hollister, West 43rd and West 34th; Re-striping the U.S. 290 eastbound and westbound frontage roads between Dacoma Road and Jones Road;" The Leader, January 21, 2010 Priority was given to the most congested road ways in the state of Texas. US 290 ranked 13th. Actually IH 45 is more crowded, but is not as "shovel ready". Home owners, whose property is adjacent to where a sound barrier would be placed, may vote on whether to have a sound barrier and are given a choice as to type and the color. There will be neighborhood and home owner meetings. Gigi Lee said that because Senator Whitmire is on some influential committees, he will be able to secure some of the funding for these projects. There were many questions on flood control and the design of the project. Some houses will be bought out for right of way. Announcements: On January 30th there is a Democracy for Houston workshop. Cost is $10. See party web site. The primary is March 2nd and at 7:00 pm there will be precinct conventions. Early voting starts February 16th and ends February 26, 2010. River Oaks Area Democratic Women (ROAD Women) wants to schedule meetings with us and other groups to meet with and "vet" judicial candidates. There will be a coffee on February 6th for Kendra Yarbrough who is running for state representative District 138. Susan Graham and Royce Carrington are having a coffee for Diane Trautman on March 7th. The Democracy for Houston screened candidates and will be endorsing. Bill White is having a training event at 12:00 noon on Saturday, January 23rd. There is an open house for Sheila Jackson Lee's campaign HQ, 1730 Jefferson on Saturday January 23rd from 2 to 5. Bill Rice is having an event on Tuesday. He will post the detail on the OFAD web site. Zeph Capo said that OFAD does not endorse for democratic primaries, but since Bill Rice was a founding member and had no opponents for Family District Court 309, it would be appropriate to endorse him. There was a motion to endorse and a second. The motion passed unanimously. Some candidates that came in late introduced themselves. Joellen Snow - Probate Court 2. Judith Snively - County Criminal Court at Law No. 3. Priscilla Waters - Judge Probate Court 3 Harris County Texas Trent Gaither - 248th Judicial District Court Dennis Slate - Judge Harris County Criminal Court No. 13 Clinton Chip Wells - Family Law Court 247 Damian LaCroix - Judge Harris County Civil Court at Law No. 2 The meeting adjourned. Jane L. Tillinghast, 2009/2010 Oak Forest Area Democrats Secretary Minutes November 18, 2009 2009/2010 Vice president Susan Graham called the meeting to order on November 18, 2009 via Bill Rice's voice at 7:00 pm. Royce Carrington made a motion to approve the minutes. The motion was seconded and approved unanimously. Diane Trautman, 2010 candidate for Harris County Tax Assessor Collector, presented her background and updated information on the HCDP vote registration lawsuit. Diane was the Democratic nominee in 2008 for Harris County Tax Assessor Collector. She received 500,000 votes in the general election and was endorsed by the Houston Chronicle twice once as a candidate in the general election and then as a replacement when Bettencourt resigned three weeks after he took office. Her former career was as a banking administrator, public school administer, and educator. Her story is that thousands of voter applications and provisional ballots were not processed in the last election. Bettencourt resigned after being elected and then was influential in picking his appointed successor, Leo Vasquez. There is now a law suit for (1) failure to process ballots (2) failure to count provisional votes. Ed Johnson, an official in the Tax Assessor/Collector's Office, was moonlighting to provide voter registration statistics to the Republican party. Vasquez wrote an ed opt where he said he knew all about this. Vasquez agreed to a settlement but then ignored the settlement. Ed Johnson still works in department. This affects District 138 because Wayne Bohac is a partner in Ed Johnson's business. Diane Trautman would like people to host meetings where she could meet new people. Visit her web site. Diane then answered questions. Lane Lewis updated us on his campaign. He said it had been a tough year, and now he is in a run off in a most conservative district. He is trying to reach voters, and his volunteers are stuffing envelopes, phone-banking, and block-walking. Sue Lovell is in a run off. She said it is an opportunity to campaign which she enjoys. She wants a land slide. She is supporting Annise Parker. Both joined the gay political caucus at the same time. Karen Derr was represented by Randall. She needs help with her campaign. Her headquarters are on 34th. Nancy Sims, author of the website "Mayoral Musings", presented information on the upcoming run off races: Nancy is a long time watcher and player in City Politics. She said that apathy was the winner in the past election. Some people think everything is going OK. The most passionate of the voters are Annise Parker supporters. Low turnout benefits Parker. There is really nobody to hate. The district races are clearly defined but the mayor's is not. Parker and Locke are trying to "out conservative" each other. Fact is neither is very conservative. Republicans are the deciding factor. Parker has the women. Locke only got 68% of the African American vote. Parker won the Latino vote. It has been 20 years since Houston had a female mayor. It is a drop dead heads up race. Winner will get the vote out. Locke may not get the vote out. District A is in a shift. The gay baiting people have moved out to the suburbs. The further out, the less interested. Lane Lewis could win if he could get out the vote. Republican party is older, and they vote, but they did not vote in this election. District G had low turnout compared to normal. Clear Lake and Kingwood is where the tea bag movement is exploding. Hate groups help Parker energize her base. Older west side Republicans will vote - women for Parker, men for Locke. Endorsements all went to Gene (Big 3), but it did not help him. A question was asked regarding District J. Nancy explained how the system works with computers and the Justice department. It is based on population not voting population. Census is important. Hispanics are 48% to 50% of the population. Face book and the web are very important to candidates. Both Gene and Annise have in depth web sites. January will be our next business meeting and the program will be on sound barriers for 290. Zeph will try to get Senator Whitmire to attend and give an update. There will be a progressive dinner for members only on December 16th. Zeph - appetizer Royce & Susan - dinner & dessert Jane L. Tillinghast, 2009/2010 secretary Oak Forest Area Democrats
Oak Forest Area Democrats