A standing-room-only crowd of 800-plus people packed the Kingwood Community Center last night for a high-rise meeting. They were there to hear for the first time from Romerica and the people who hope to build high rises in an area deed restricted to single-family residential.
Gabriel M. Haddad, one of Romerica’s partners, seemed decent and sincere. He answered questions directly with a few exceptions, and remained cool in the face of hostile questioning. His main point: he wanted to solve the flooding and sedimentation problems on the river and in Lake Houston to make his project viable.
Haddad even admitted that the property where he wanted to build most of the high rises was deed restricted to single-family residential. He said that his plan was to get a permit and THEN get Friendswood to change the deed restrictions.
No Details, No Plan
However, neither Haddad nor the other speakers provided specific details about the project. Several people commented that the speakers from SWCA and Civil Tech seemed unprofessional, unprepared, not responsive to questions.
Several posters scattered around the room made grandiose claims without any support. For instance, they claim:
The high-rise project would generate $135 million of property tax revenue for the City.
Up to 70% of the property is planned to be preserved.
They will preserve wetlands (while filling them in).
Few Chances for Followup Questions
Upon questioning, Haddad confessed that it might take 30 years to reach property tax revenues of $135 million. That would translate to almost $5 billion in appraised value. That’s more than all the appraised value of all commercial properties in the entire Humble ISD including Deerbrook Mall! But then the meeting format didn’t allow for follow up questions.
Weasel Words
Regarding the “up to” in front of 70%: that includes a lot of territory starting with 1%.
That’s a pretty neat trick with the wetlands. Oops, they forgot to mention the wetlands will be preserved somewhere else.
Omissions, Insufficient Explanations, and Public Meetings for Dummies
I was very concerned about evacuation plans, so I asked. Guess what. There is none. “We’ll have people shelter in place.”
No evacuation plan? I guess someone forgot to consider heart attacks, sewers that back up in floods, and power outages that would leave people sweltering in their vertical footprints for days in August. No evacuation plan needed for high-rises in what soon will become the floodway of the San Jacinto! Seriously?
They also hoped to address traffic problems with a bridge and a Hamblen-Road extension that voters already rejected, thus showing a total lack of understanding of local history and values.
A Civil Tech employee couldn’t tell me where more than 150,000 cubic yards of fill was coming from or going to.
Mr. Haddad felt that his condos were no longer in the Kingwood Lakes Homeowner Association. (They are.)
Mr. Haddad claimed that they were no longer soliciting investments through EB-5 visas because the project had “outgrown” them. (However, they still operate an EB-5 regional center and website.)
Financing for a supposed $5 billion project was never addressed.
They invitation said they would talk about phasing and they didn’t.
Sizzle No Substitute for Substance
The posters seemed to revolve around buzzwords, such as conservation, preservation, sustainability, mobility, and resiliency. However, they used the same support points over and over again for each…without ever explaining how they supported the buzzwords.
For instance, they supported sustainability with “natural water systems, promoting alternative modes of transportation, vertical development and preserving forests.”
To mix it up a little bit, they promote resiliency with “natural water systems, preserving forests, a compact development footprint, and alternative modes of transportation.”
You get the idea. You’ve heard it all before. And that, I think, pretty much sums up the takeaway for most of the people that I talked to. “No substance. No specifics. No plan. No answers. No way.”
Not Buying It
During the Q&A at the end of the meeting, one of the questioners asked people in the audience who were still against the development to stand up. Almost everyone stood.
People standing to show their opposition. Photo and video courtersy of Jim Zura, Zura Productions.
Now that was one message that was clear and unambiguous.
Reinforcing Worst-Nightmare Scenario
At one point, Mr. Haddad said, “We’ll start slowly, and if we see it’s uneconomic, we’ll do something else.” This confirmed the worst fears of many in the audience who saw the developers disturbing the environment and then abandoning the job half finished.
They never did address the vast majority of the questions I posted on Friday. Had they done so, they might have changed some minds. But by ignoring them, many people felt the developers had something to hide or that Kingwood people were easily bluffed.
Little wonder that Manlove chose not to have a public meeting while the Army Corps’ public comment period was still open.
As always, the thoughts herein represent my opinions on matters of public interest. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP laws of the great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 19, 2019
567 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/IMG_0136.jpg?fit=960%2C1280&ssl=11280960adminadmin2019-03-19 21:56:572019-03-20 12:48:29High-Rise Meeting Doesn’t Change Many Minds and Raises Big Concern
Romerica packed the house with perhaps 800 to 1000 people. Both large rooms of the community center were standing room only. Contrary to pre-meeting guidance, the Romerica developer and his team DID take questions from the floor. The meeting lasted more than three hours.
Gabriel M. Haddad was not what I expected. He was disarming and appeared to answer questions candidly even when they were hostile. He seemed cautious and reasonable.
However, nothing I heard tonight changed my mind about the development. I had some questions answered. Some answers raised more questions. Many questions remain unanswered. And there were many contradictions and surprises. This will require sleep, food, and thorough review of my notes before I can make sense of it.
Please check back tomorrow for a rundown of the entire meeting.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 18, 2019
566 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/SectionDHilighted.jpg?fit=1500%2C1153&ssl=111531500adminadmin2019-03-18 22:18:292019-03-18 22:18:41They Took Questions from the Floor After All
For weeks, Barbara Hilburn (Kingwood Lakes President), Bill Fowler and Dianne Lansden (Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiative leaders) and I have been calling and emailing Manlove Marketing and Communications. We asked whether the high-rise developer would take questions from the audience tonight. We were consistently ignored. No answer. None. Nada. Silence.
Barrington Resident Finally Breaks Through
This morning, a Barrington resident called Manlove. She actually managed to speak to someone. Here’s how her conversation went:
“I called the PR contact for the Romerica project, Manlove Marketing, to make sure they were including a question and answer portion in tonight’s “free” meeting. The receptionist gave me a very enthusiastic ‘Oh yes, of course you can ask questions!’ Then she trailed off with something to the effect of ‘before and after the presentation.’ To clarify, I asked ‘Questions won’t be addressed during the meeting?’ The receptionist said, ‘Oh no. That’s not necessary!’”
The resident replied, “‘It absolutely IS necessary.’ The receptionist then offered to let me talk directly with the woman handling this project. I was transferred to her voicemail.”
“I followed up with a FaceBook message asking why they weren’t planning to answer questions in a public forum,” said the resident. “The message has been read, but no one has responded.”
Later this afternoon, Manlove added several paragraphs of copy to the developer’s home page that confirm the resident’s report.
“Dialog At Every Level”
Manlove’s website boasts that, “Romerica believes in collaboration which includes a dialog with stakeholders at every level.”
Memo to Manlove: answering questions and emails, and returning phone calls would be a great way to start collaborating. I believe they don’t really want to address people’s concerns. If they did, they would have had a meeting long ago at the start of the Corps’ public comment period, not after it closed.
One wonders why they’re even bothering to have a meeting tonight. As my friend John Knoezer asked this morning, “Are they going to read a brochure for two hours?”
As always, these thoughts represent my opinions on matters of public policy. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak, Mandi Thornhill Lokey and John Knoezer on March 18, 2019
566 Days since Hurricane Harvey
https://i0.wp.com/reduceflooding.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Screen-Shot-2019-02-20-at-7.09.38-PM-copy.jpg?fit=1500%2C1971&ssl=119711500adminadmin2019-03-18 16:30:312022-10-05 19:34:03Manlove Says Questions “Won’t Be Necessary” at Romerica’s Public Meeting
High-Rise Meeting Doesn’t Change Many Minds and Raises Big Concern
A standing-room-only crowd of 800-plus people packed the Kingwood Community Center last night for a high-rise meeting. They were there to hear for the first time from Romerica and the people who hope to build high rises in an area deed restricted to single-family residential.
Gabriel M. Haddad, one of Romerica’s partners, seemed decent and sincere. He answered questions directly with a few exceptions, and remained cool in the face of hostile questioning. His main point: he wanted to solve the flooding and sedimentation problems on the river and in Lake Houston to make his project viable.
Haddad even admitted that the property where he wanted to build most of the high rises was deed restricted to single-family residential. He said that his plan was to get a permit and THEN get Friendswood to change the deed restrictions.
No Details, No Plan
However, neither Haddad nor the other speakers provided specific details about the project. Several people commented that the speakers from SWCA and Civil Tech seemed unprofessional, unprepared, not responsive to questions.
Several posters scattered around the room made grandiose claims without any support. For instance, they claim:
Few Chances for Followup Questions
Upon questioning, Haddad confessed that it might take 30 years to reach property tax revenues of $135 million. That would translate to almost $5 billion in appraised value. That’s more than all the appraised value of all commercial properties in the entire Humble ISD including Deerbrook Mall! But then the meeting format didn’t allow for follow up questions.
Weasel Words
Regarding the “up to” in front of 70%: that includes a lot of territory starting with 1%.
That’s a pretty neat trick with the wetlands. Oops, they forgot to mention the wetlands will be preserved somewhere else.
Omissions, Insufficient Explanations, and Public Meetings for Dummies
I was very concerned about evacuation plans, so I asked. Guess what. There is none. “We’ll have people shelter in place.”
No evacuation plan? I guess someone forgot to consider heart attacks, sewers that back up in floods, and power outages that would leave people sweltering in their vertical footprints for days in August. No evacuation plan needed for high-rises in what soon will become the floodway of the San Jacinto! Seriously?
They also hoped to address traffic problems with a bridge and a Hamblen-Road extension that voters already rejected, thus showing a total lack of understanding of local history and values.
A Civil Tech employee couldn’t tell me where more than 150,000 cubic yards of fill was coming from or going to.
Mr. Haddad felt that his condos were no longer in the Kingwood Lakes Homeowner Association. (They are.)
Mr. Haddad claimed that they were no longer soliciting investments through EB-5 visas because the project had “outgrown” them. (However, they still operate an EB-5 regional center and website.)
Financing for a supposed $5 billion project was never addressed.
They invitation said they would talk about phasing and they didn’t.
Sizzle No Substitute for Substance
The posters seemed to revolve around buzzwords, such as conservation, preservation, sustainability, mobility, and resiliency. However, they used the same support points over and over again for each…without ever explaining how they supported the buzzwords.
For instance, they supported sustainability with “natural water systems, promoting alternative modes of transportation, vertical development and preserving forests.”
To mix it up a little bit, they promote resiliency with “natural water systems, preserving forests, a compact development footprint, and alternative modes of transportation.”
You get the idea. You’ve heard it all before. And that, I think, pretty much sums up the takeaway for most of the people that I talked to. “No substance. No specifics. No plan. No answers. No way.”
Not Buying It
During the Q&A at the end of the meeting, one of the questioners asked people in the audience who were still against the development to stand up. Almost everyone stood.
Now that was one message that was clear and unambiguous.
Reinforcing Worst-Nightmare Scenario
At one point, Mr. Haddad said, “We’ll start slowly, and if we see it’s uneconomic, we’ll do something else.” This confirmed the worst fears of many in the audience who saw the developers disturbing the environment and then abandoning the job half finished.
They never did address the vast majority of the questions I posted on Friday. Had they done so, they might have changed some minds. But by ignoring them, many people felt the developers had something to hide or that Kingwood people were easily bluffed.
Little wonder that Manlove chose not to have a public meeting while the Army Corps’ public comment period was still open.
As always, the thoughts herein represent my opinions on matters of public interest. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP laws of the great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 19, 2019
567 Days since Hurricane Harvey
They Took Questions from the Floor After All
Romerica packed the house with perhaps 800 to 1000 people. Both large rooms of the community center were standing room only. Contrary to pre-meeting guidance, the Romerica developer and his team DID take questions from the floor. The meeting lasted more than three hours.
Gabriel M. Haddad was not what I expected. He was disarming and appeared to answer questions candidly even when they were hostile. He seemed cautious and reasonable.
However, nothing I heard tonight changed my mind about the development. I had some questions answered. Some answers raised more questions. Many questions remain unanswered. And there were many contradictions and surprises. This will require sleep, food, and thorough review of my notes before I can make sense of it.
Please check back tomorrow for a rundown of the entire meeting.
Posted by Bob Rehak on March 18, 2019
566 Days since Hurricane Harvey
Manlove Says Questions “Won’t Be Necessary” at Romerica’s Public Meeting
For weeks, Barbara Hilburn (Kingwood Lakes President), Bill Fowler and Dianne Lansden (Lake Houston Area Grass Roots Flood Prevention Initiative leaders) and I have been calling and emailing Manlove Marketing and Communications. We asked whether the high-rise developer would take questions from the audience tonight. We were consistently ignored. No answer. None. Nada. Silence.
Barrington Resident Finally Breaks Through
This morning, a Barrington resident called Manlove. She actually managed to speak to someone. Here’s how her conversation went:
The resident replied, “‘It absolutely IS necessary.’ The receptionist then offered to let me talk directly with the woman handling this project. I was transferred to her voicemail.”
“I followed up with a FaceBook message asking why they weren’t planning to answer questions in a public forum,” said the resident. “The message has been read, but no one has responded.”
Later this afternoon, Manlove added several paragraphs of copy to the developer’s home page that confirm the resident’s report.
“Dialog At Every Level”
Manlove’s website boasts that, “Romerica believes in collaboration which includes a dialog with stakeholders at every level.”
Memo to Manlove: answering questions and emails, and returning phone calls would be a great way to start collaborating. I believe they don’t really want to address people’s concerns. If they did, they would have had a meeting long ago at the start of the Corps’ public comment period, not after it closed.
One wonders why they’re even bothering to have a meeting tonight. As my friend John Knoezer asked this morning, “Are they going to read a brochure for two hours?”
As always, these thoughts represent my opinions on matters of public policy. They are protected by the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Anti-SLAPP Statute of the Great State of Texas.
Posted by Bob Rehak, Mandi Thornhill Lokey and John Knoezer on March 18, 2019
566 Days since Hurricane Harvey