Musings

Yin & Yang of the holidays

For us this year it was a very rich holiday. Lots of joy but a more balanced level of activity between doing and just enjoying. Hearing from friends and family, going to events, enjoying the decorations and festivities.  Content with everything we need and feeling very fortunate.

We saw family early before Christmas so it was more taking pleasure in our home and having things done so we could enjoy a fire and staying inside during the wonderful soaking rain. We’ve had more rain in the last 3 months than we had in the first 8 months.  A gift we more appreciate because of loss. Yin & Yang.

Both John and I enjoyed a very interesting mystery by a first-time author, S.J. Watson. “Before I Go to Sleep” is about an amnesiac (written from her viewpoint) who literally wakes up in an older body, but with only a few memories of childhood. Each day she has to rediscover herself and reconstruct her history. Interesting story and a mystery that really makes you think about how our experiences define and shape us—while you just wonder what is really going on—what is imagined, what is real. More a “how did this amnesia happen?”

And who couldn’t feel a tear of joy seeing our servicemen come home and surprise their children and loved ones at unexpected events. I never grew tired of seeing those features. And suffering from longing and loss of loved ones is always magnified during a holiday when it is fresh and ongoing. My Yin or shade was merely remembering those I’ve lost, my Yang or light was just enjoying  relaxing activities—so I considered it very balanced, if bittersweet at times.

The same balance was not true for everyone I knew for a variety of circumstances. One friend and neighbor from the late 60’s and early 70’s lost his son, who when we knew him was a toddler and pre-schooler.  When John said Morgan would be over 40, I really took a pause, because he’s a forever young toddler and pre-schooler for me. I had a mental picture of him in his 20’s, but 40 something? But the calendar isn’t lying on that one.

We will now start to venture out the holiday movies. I’m very interested personally in War Horse.  A shaping incident for my mother during World War I was their horses being drafted and taken to war in Europe. Until her death my mother longed for, and at times agonized, about those two horses. She was around 8 when they were taken so the ages of many of the elementary aged children we’re seeing in the returning servicemen stories-- shaping, lifelong stories.

Think of the sacrifice that farmers, who plowed their fields with horses, made to that war effort. My mother remembered her brothers pulling the plow . . . and that they were a sorry substitute for the horses. But I suppose the real story is what those horses meant beyond farming. My grandmother on my father’s side, always talked about foregoing church in the early 1900’s so the horses could rest.  Have you ever felt that deep of an attachment to a machine?

So now our part of the holiday is looking forward and what resolutions and activities will be for next year. What do you want your holiday letters to say next year? How will you balance Yin & Yang? Happy New Year!

Illustrated from Musings column in the 12/28/2011 Fort Bend Independent.

Growing better community

A community is more than its streets and buildings. It’s what it means to people and how it allows them to live, work, and play together determines whether it takes root in the hearts and minds of its inhabitants or is just a bedroom or passing through point.

Growing a community is easy to talk about and hard to do. Last Thursday, November 10, the Quail Valley Garden Club celebrated planting a grove of Golden Figs on the Edible Arbor Trail on Oyster Creek (between the Fort Bend YMCA on Cartwright and Mosley Park on FM 1092). It was a beautiful day and poignant for many club members.

Quail Valley Garden Club is 40 years old this year and planted its first five trees in 1974 at the Richmond State School. They’ve been planting trees ever since, particularly in Missouri City. They’ve also given plenty of scholarships, landscaped and maintain the Arbor at Ridgeview Park . . . and the list goes on.

It takes a lot of effort and commitment to fund raise and give service to the community. While some groups have grown large and have large fund raising efforts, it’s all the groups contributing and individuals becoming involved that makes a community. It’s having a variety of ways for people to meet, hold their club meetings, special events, or just informal happenstance like meeting in the park.  

And people won’t use parks or trails unless they’re beautiful. People won’t support the community if parks and meeting places aren’t used. So it’s constantly planting trees, developing amenities and supporting gatherings that build a sense of community.

Roads and bridges may be a community's arteries. Parks and recreational opportunities are its soul.

Missouri City is really entering a new era of understanding this concept and having city ordinances that encourage groups to form, meet and then give back to the community. 

And it was a special event, The Quail Valley Backyard Tour that paid for the grove of trees . . . and the city issues permits for those events.  Up until now, special events by groups could only be held every six months. And for most events that’s more than enough. You know if you’ve ever organized one!

However, something like a Farmer’s Market that needs to meet periodically can’t develop unless it is held on a much more frequent basis.  A Missouri City Farmer’s Market got its fledgling start celebrating the ground breaking of the Missouri City Recreation Center on October 8. The response was so positive, the market will host a Thanksgiving Harvest Special Event November 19 from 10 am to 1pm at 2601 Cartwright on the Cypress Point side of the shopping center across from the new MC Recreation Center.

Sponsored by Sorelle Deli that features fresh food from local farmers, the market will offer a wide variety of fresh, locally grown vegetables, fruits and yard eggs as well as the home growers who bring their “what’s growing” surprises.  There are also crafters, custom orders of holiday wreaths and baskets as well as fresh baked goods inside the deli.  

Missouri City Council will review on November 21, whether to authorize the market for several months while it is reviewing its special event ordinances as part of an ongoing review that is making our ordinances more relevant to businesses and residents. For example, we updated what colors are allowed on signs several months ago.

To get a flier that includes a list of produce that will be featured, press the following link  Download Community Show & Sell

Illustrated from Musings column in the 11/16/2011 Fort Bend Independent.

To read about the Missouri City Recreation Center opening and "Sweet Celebration" that went with it, press here.

There's not always room in the newspaper to say thank you . . .but this picture of the audience at Edible Arbor Trail Ceremony speaks volumes in "happy taxpayers." 

In my opinion City Employees often get picked on unmercifully. I've probably done some of the picking myself. City employees due to a sizeable budget shortfall are being asked to do more with a whole lot less, but that was true before this year.

They also don't make the ordinances they have to enforce--Council does.

Thank you MC Parks and Recreation especially Paul Wierzbicki for developing the concept of the Edible Arbor Trail and for Parks Director Larry Foos and Ass't Parks Director Randy Troxell for supporting it as well as to all the employees in the Department who make it possible and all the other dedication that goes unnoticed.

And thanks to the MC Public Relations department who photograph, film and put all this info before the public on the Website and MCTV.

And thanks to the MC Development Department that includes Planning, Permitting and Inspections including Gary Smith, Director; Travis Huff; Paul McKeever and Tracy Landrum for helping us identify how we might get a Farmer's Market legally started in Missouri City and working with us. We also appreciated Larry Foos and Shane Mize in Parks & Recreation for taking the time to acknowledge a market could be an important community building asset.

And Public Works uses the latest computer equipment to design the beautiful signs and know how to construct them.

 

Progress Happens

After you have hoped for something for several years, sometimes it’s hard to see progress because it often happens slowly.  Having a beautiful week to walk during the day and not just at dawn’s early light, John and I walked MacNaughton Park. The Missouri City Public Works Department has been re-contouring the land on the former Executive 9 golf course; and now, Parks and Recreation is spreading top soil and grass seed.

The Quail Valley Municipal Utility District has also trenched and provided a storm water diversion pipe to Thunderbird Lake on the El Dorado 7. That means that storm sewer run-off will be funneled into the lake. Let’s pray for rain to sprout the grass seed and start filling the lake that is a dry eyesore and  foul-smelling on the lake as fish and wildlife died from drought.

The heavy earth moving has been fairly slow because of using a very small bull dozer on a big job of filling in or making more shallow lakes that were on the former golf course.  However, Missouri City has done a nice job and the land still rolls with some creek beds and another big drainage gulch into Thunderbird Lake. It looks very natural and as grass and marsh grass fills in, should be something for pride—and a nice area for walking, biking, nature walking and meeting neighbors.  It appears there is still more work on what was the lake on the East Creek Club side of the park, as finishing work continues on the other sides of the park.

The big piece of progress deserves a drive down Cartwright. The shopping center on Cartwright and Cypress Point has a new paint job—and what a positive difference that makes! This used to be a thriving center that had a Gerland’s , then a Foodarama Grocery. The awnings will be repaired next . . . but a barber shop has replaced what was a bank and then a civic group. Why? Well, the new Missouri City Recreation Center, that will be dedicated October 8 at 10:30 AM, is stimulating commercial re-interest with Sorelle Italian Deli expanding its free Thursday night entertainment to Friday night as well.

Just like, even in our record heat, you see people walking on the new sidewalks on Texas Parkway, providing infrastructure stimulates pride, interest and new opportunities. And in the summer, our libraries have more kids than the area pools! We needed safe sidewalks for people, especially kids, to get to the library and basketball center at City Hall as well as throughout Missouri City to walk to school safely.

The extension of the Oyster Creek Trail from the YMCA to Oyster Creek and Lost Creek Parks in Sugar Land is approved and is being finalized. Hopefully a date to begin that project will be set shortly.

And the Community Center dedication is scheduled September 17 at 9:30 at El Dorado and La Quinta.

So progress does happen, however slowly it may seem. But keeping it moving involves your involvement and interest . . . or nothing happens. It’s a partnership between residents, civic groups, homeowner associations, business and government.  Every group I’ve mentioned here deserves recognition for finding ways to more cheaply deliver service to the public.

 Illustrated from Musings column in the 9/14/2011 Fort Bend Independent.

Sins of omission

Because of Missouri City decisions not to re-pipe portions of the irrigation system that supported some (or all?) of the lakes on the golf course, we find ourselves with lakes that can no longer receive effluent water that have done so for years. This decision was likely to avoid TCEQ permitting.

Sunday I spoke with two homeowners who are likely typical of residents on the oxbow lake on El Dorado Course #7. They are professionals who both worked. They have lived in their home since 1987, are retired and have a comfortable living from saving and being careful with their money. They invest in their home and created a beautiful  garden to enjoy the golf/lake view. Moderate in their views, when I asked if they expected that “restoring the golf course” meant the lakes and irrigation system that supported them, they answered, “We assumed so.”

I’d say they are typical of most people who voted for the bond issue. We trusted the word restore meant restore.  At the worst during the Renaissance regime, the lake was down 4 feet. Homeowners paid the electricity and Renaissance pumped in the effluent water.

When the city rebuilt the old irrigation system, it chose not to restore the piping that carried effluent water to certain lakes, maybe all. So we have lakes becoming mud pits . . . and lakes that were 6 feet at high areas, now with 8 inches of water, and a replay of the 2009 dying wildlife on the old Executive 9.

The city merely “omitted” telling us about it. We are constantly in new discovery.

The most concerning situation is the El Dorado course number 8 which is really three golf “islands” surrounded by water, or used to be. It is 16.43 surface acres. Due to the “oxbow” shape of the lake, 109 homes directly sit on “waterfront” that is now a mud pit. Conservatively it directly impacts the value of 250 homes.  That’s around $6-7M of residential real estate. The lake at Cartwright and 1092 is drying (it was enlarged). That impacts 11,000 homes.

That’s a lot of property value to ignore when we have bond funds to correct this situation before realtors once again fear bringing prospects to Quail Valley. But we would have to re-think our priorities and bond spending. Not a pleasant choice.

From the city’s study, we should consider two of the 5 options. I only have estimates for the oxbow lake:

 1) Restore the clay liner so effluent water from the course irrigation system can be used. The estimated cost is $875,000. That would prevent the lake from drying during drought conditions.

 2) Divert water from the city’s existing storm sewer system that would keep fresh water in the lake so bacteria levels would only be higher during drought. The city’s estimated cost of this is $336,000.

Total $1.2 to $1.3M, not cheap.

The lake may never be 6 feet deep again except during extreme rains, but it would not have golfers standing at the edge of the “golf islands” shaking their heads in disgust. We invested a lot of money in a golf course to ignore this situation.

Advertising only goes so far. My opinion is we don’t want to try and sell the mud pit as a new golf hazard in championship play.     

Illustrated from Musings column in the 7/20/2011 Fort Bend Independent.

 . . . More stuff including Missouri City "study" on issue . . .

From a distance, the water level may not look too bad, until you scroll to the picture of the Great White Egret fishing. Great whites stand 4 feet high. They are big birds. This bird is not at the edge of the water, but standing in the middle of the lake, where it is 6 feet of water when full! That means the lake is down almost 5.5 feet. If you look at where the water is on the bird's legs,  there is about 6 to 8 inches of water left.  Not much in this heat.  You can already see the fish and turtles starting to suffer, but fishing is good for the birds.

While this is aesthetically unpleasant and downright heart breaking if you love wildlife, homeowners on Kiamesha Weir off Glenn Lakes (where there is a bigger lake more subject to wind and waves) told a distressing story of property damage and erosion. One widow spent a considerable sum two years ago to replace her bulkhead, as did other homeowners. Because the lake is so low, when there are waves, they splash up behind the bulkheads resulting in erosion behind the bulkhead and portions of their yards and gardens collapsing into the lake bed.

Will she re-invest in repairs or let her property erode away?

Many of us assumed too much about promises made. I doubt that as much trust will be afforded the city officials who pushed these initiatives--considering both the golf and trash "omisions."

Many of us have wondered how Meadows Place can build a new lake, get TCEQ permitting, and have it filled and going, while Missouri City can only provide reports of "why we can't."

In the attached report, Missouri City expeditiously provided, the city says it is not feasible to work on what I consider an oversight in planning and weighing where to invest funds. While we can't take back decisions on golf course rennovation spending, we can look at our improvements spending now. Do we need to re-prioritize where bond money is invested?

The City seems determined to move on in this report. However, at City Council Meeting this past Monday was re-considering the divert water from storm sewers option that the report admits only helps during times of rain but allows recreation. That's why I recommend both approaches.  Press the following link to download Missouri City's response and analysis.

Download April 2011 QV Water Level Background

Will and Support

In 1994 Missouri City taxpayers voted city bonds to spend money on parks, trails, kids’ baseball and the like. Phase I/ Buffalo Run Park, improvements of the baseball fields at Community and StaMo Parks, and part of the Oyster Creek Trail are some of the initiatives of benefit to a cross section of taxpayers.

By 2008, MC had only expended 8 million of the bonds from 1994, and still had 9.5M earmarked for defined, planned parks projects. Those funds were diverted from Parks and Recreation (supposedly for one year) to have the money to remove a bad steward of open space -- Renaissance Golf Course.  Not mowing, letting lakes go dry, and making threats to do worse were the reasons.

The 2008 Quail Valley Park bond issue included restoring El Dorado golf course as well as irrigation and minor improvements to La Quinta course. All of a sudden, we were building a championship level course at double the price. Many people felt the new lakes and bunkers were overkill, but were delighted to get the grass mowed and progress begun on reclaiming the community. That includes me.

 While hiking, biking and “park” issues seemed to take a back seat, most tried to just go with the flow. But when the old Executive 9 that was to be a park space, started to look as bad as when Renaissance owned it with the lakes going dry and grass not being mowed, protests emerged. How dying wildlife, mud pits in people’s back yards and high grass increased property values was of real concern to many Missouri City residents who bought the assertion that 11,000 homes values were adversely impacted by the conditions in Quail Valley and passed the 2008 park bond issue.

Despite building and enlarging lakes on El Dorado course, today we have some lakes on the golf course with sufficient levels of water, but the drought supposedly impacting others, conveniently mainly only seen by homeowners and golfers. How does this condition improve our golf or property reputations, much less our belief in the City’s stewardship? I can’t imagine that golfers enjoy seeing mud pits any more than homeowners do. Why did we build more lakes if we’re not taking care of existing ones that impact people’s property?

Taxpayers have shown the will to tax themselves to improve property values. However, will the support continue?

Should we work out these lake and environmental stewardship issues before we launch into more capital improvements? These are not the “fun” issues in any park system. What has changed that we can no longer use effluent water to fill the lakes? What do we need to do to handle change if that has occurred?

The effluent water that irrigates and feeds these lakes is being released into Oyster Creek. Some capacity exists. Are there increased power costs to pump or health department fees to permit adding effluent part of the hold up? Par 3 residents were able to work out a fee structure with Renaissance when their lakes dried. I contributed to that effort to spare wildlife and keep our community beautiful.  Could homeowners contribute if increased costs are the issue?

The city needs to be more proactive with these environmental stewardship issues and find a reasonable solution that truly lives up to her promise of improving property values.

That’s my opinion, what's yours?

Illustrated from Musings column in Fort Bend Independent  07/13/2011 edition by Janice Scanlan.

. . . More contrasting pictures taken on 7/13/2011 . . .

   

The picture on the right was taken on the Executive 9 in 06/27/2009 when protests about the lakes and not mowing or edging the grass occured. The city is now working on recontouring these areas. Initially plans indicated a re-circulating brook.

Some say now the City is going more for a wetlands with marsh grass such as on number 14 El Dorado.

Our point is the City needs to be more solution focused. Some areas have had mud and dry pits longer than June 2009. We are not asking the City to use treated, drinkable water; but continue to use effuent waste water, drought or no drought, that will continue to be produced.

Please click on to the pictures to enlarge them.

Past, present and future

I’ve been ancestor hunting, but you never know what such an exploration will find. Happily, I found pleasure in the past, the present, and saw relevance for the future.

Before I met my other 3 relatives who are 87, 64 and 14 in Frederick, Oklahoma, I stopped in Weatherford, Texas, to see if I could find the grave of my Grandmother’s great grandfather, who was born in 1832 and settled in Parker County (which Weatherford is the County seat) in 1855. 

Isaac Jefferson Briscoe (Jeff) was a founder of the Harmony Community just outside of Weatherford. There were still Indian conflicts and the family often had to flee to Fort Worth when they got particularly nasty. It seems adventure ran in the bones of this part of my family that is traced back to 1600’s England and a gentrified manor complete with its own railroad station.   Who would think one of its descendents, my Grandmother, would live in a dugout in Oklahoma Indian Territory in 1900? It seems that when things started to get a little more settled, my family would move to a new adventure. Actually new generations were following where land was available, well water was present, and where railroads would be located.

I found the abandoned Harmony Cemetery. To look for graves, I will need more expertise than was available this trip, but I know who owns the land and that likely archaeology will be involved to find graves.

Weatherford was the pleasant surprise. With rural Texas declining at a rapid pace, seeing a thriving community that has experienced population growth during the past ten years made me change my plans from going to Clark Gardens to exploring Weatherford itself. What was a city of 25,000+ and a county of 80,000+ doing right to thrive and exude energy? The commute to Fort Worth is 25+ miles before you get to suburbs.

In the geographic center of Parker County on a high hill is the beautiful Parker County Courthouse. Completed in 1866, the Second Empire style courthouse is one of the most beautiful in Texas (or anywhere for that matter). It has been delicately restored and has pulled renovation of the historic district that includes the old Santa Fe Railroad station, which now houses the Weatherford Chamber of Commerce and a museum. 

My most fun find was the Farmer’s and Public Market between the Courthouse and Railroad station museum.

I have to say I at first envied what appeared to be using two old train depots—come to find out they were clever stucco facades on metal warehouse type buildings that had many garage doors and were open air, merchandized beautifully and open daily. The fresh peaches were divine.

 

Keeping customers and bringing new customers is the “First Monday Trade Fair” which is actually held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the first Monday of the month, monthly. Using a public, private formula, this was an active and attractive community magnet . . . and all kinds of other businesses were drawn by the traffic.

There are many more pieces to what makes Weatherford thrive and work, but the main formula is bringing together its past, relevance for the present, and continuously building and renovating for the future—using existing assets in clever, resourceful ways that fit the communities’ means. They have found common interests (like fresh food) to bring people with many interests together.

Illustrated from Musings column in Fort Bend Independent 06/29/2011 edition by Janice Scanlan.

. . . More Stuff . . .

The Downtown Weatheford Cafe above is one of those, plate lunch "chicken fried steak" places. I had an amazing blackened chicken on rice which was one of it's specials. . .with great sides of vegetables. It sits across from the Courthouse and has a wonderful primitive painting of "The Square" that just happened to be my view from my table. But it's not just the past.

The next photo will show you how Weatherford is thinking to the future. Like I said, all the pieces have to click whether it's the already realized park, pool and recreation area "just down the way" or the visions for the future depicted below. Lots of pieces to making a community exude energy and vibrance like Weatherford. No, we don't all have a square and beautiful courthouse like Weatherford. It's not trying to do a "me too." It's figuring out each community's unique assets . . . and then how to enhance and capitalize on them--and both the past and future visions are some of those assets. It's how you share them so people of varied interests feel they "fit into to them and dream about them" so the will to keep building continues.

It took Oklahoma City 40 years to realize Bricktown by cleaning up 40 square blocks of skid row and taxing herself to do so. That's the will part. Having enough people willing for more taxes is the varied interests part. You can't be a one or two trick pony. Many people have to feel included and excited.

Please click on pictures if you wish to enlarge the view.