WHCA July 2020 General Meeting

Please join your neighbors virtually for our July General Meeting. We will be introducing new board members and looking for a new Director of Communications and other volunteers. If you would like to suggest a topic for the agenda, please email president@woodland-heights.org.

When:

Jul 14, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time

Where:

This virtual gathering will be conducted using Zoom.
Neighbors seeking to attend must register in advance.

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 
 
Respectfully,
Alaina Hebert
President, WHCA

WHCA November General Meeting

Tuesday, November 12th at 7pm
in the library at Travis Elementary School
3311 Beauchamp Street

The highlight of the agenda for this week's meeting is as follows:

The leadership of the Lights in the Heights committee will give an update on their status. This includes a look back at the Holiday Masquerade Bash, auction results, etc. Also, a look forward at events planned for December.

The LITH merchandise team will be there taking orders for great LITH goodies.

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Mr. Tom King of cohousinghouston.com will introduce their effort to start the first cohousing community in Houston. What is cohousing you ask? Please check their website: cohousinghouston.com. Also check out the national site: cohousing.org.

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As usual, there will also be updates from the WHCA board of directors and (possibly) other committees.

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Constable Patrol: If you need a sticker for your Constable Patrol sign, you can pick it up at the meeting.

WHCA Membership: You can also sign-up for the constable patrol or renew your WHCA membership in-person.

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Reminder: WHCA Secretary Alaina Hebert is leading a new effort to encourage the proper recycling of batteries and consumer electronics items with batteries inside. Following the guidelines offered at Call2Recycle.org, items will be collected at WHCA General Meetings.

Bring your old cell phones and batteries, so they can be properly recycled.

We hope to see you there!

Announcing the WHCA September General Meeting & Candidates Forum!

Tuesday, September 10th at 7pm
in the auditorium at Hogg Middle School
1100 Merrill St

This month the highlight of the agenda is a Candidates Forum including; Karla Cisneros, Cynthia Reyes-Revilla, Isabel Longoria, and Gaby Salcedo. All four are running for the Houston City Council seat representing District H, which includes Woodland Heights.

Residents attending the meeting will be able to submit written questions, to be asked by the moderator, and answered by each of the candidates.

Karla Cisneros

Cynthia Reyes-Revilla

Isabel Longoria

Gaby Salcedo

Charles Kuffner (Moderator)

The Candidates Forum will be moderated by WH resident Charles Kuffner. He is the author of Off The Kuff, a Houston-based political blog covering state and local affairs. Founded in 2001, it is the oldest continuously running political blog in Texas. It has gained tremendous support throughout the state for its detailed political reporting and commentary. Kuffner’s work has been syndicated by the Houston Chronicle and has been featured in Texas Monthly and the Houston Press.

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Also:
As usual, there will also be updates from the WHCA board of directors and committees.

WHCA Secretary Alaina Hebert is leading a new effort to encourage the proper recycling of batteries and consumer electronics items with batteries inside. Following the guidelines offered at Call2Recycle.org, items will be collected at WHCA General Meetings, like one planned for September 10th.
 

Announcing the WHCA September General Meeting & Candidate Forum!

The next WHCA General Meeting of members will be Tuesday, September 10th at 7pm at a location yet to be determined.

The highlight of the agenda is a Candidate Forum moderated by WH resident and long-time political writer Charles Kuffner. Confirmed forum participants include; Karla Cisneros, Cynthia Reyes-Revilla, Isabel Longoria, and Gaby Salcedo. All four are running for Houston City Council representing District H, which includes Woodland Heights.

Residents attending the Candidate Forum will be able to submit written questions, to be asked by the moderator, and answered by each of the candidates.

Charles Kuffner (Moderator)

Karla Cisneros

Cynthia Reyes-Revilla

Isabel Longoria

Gaby Salcedo

Also on the agenda:

The usual suspects will be on-hand to present the current state of WHCA activities. We may also have some news from the Lights in the Heights Committee.

Be watching your inbox for further details about this most interesting and timely event.

WHCA July General Meeting Reminder

WHCA General Meetings are usually held at one of the public schools in the neighborhood. However, when school is not in session these locations are not available. Happily, our newly minted bylaws give us the flexibility of holding the meeting at a nearby establishment. So, for the very first time, we are pleased to announce that the next WHCA General Meeting will be held:
 

Tuesday, July 9th at 7pm
in the back meeting room at
A 2nd Cup, 1111 E 11th St

The agenda:
TXDOT have hosted a number of public meetings recently, trying to sell their I-45 Expansion plan and collect Public feedback. You very likely received a TXDOT flier in the mail his past week.

Jim Weston, President of the I-45 Coalition, a WH resident with a long history of tracking the project, will present an independent summary of the state of the current plans.

Leann Mueller will present about a local effort to promote slower, more careful driving in the Greater Heights. She leads a local instance of a larger, national effort promoting adoption of 25 MPH as a speed limit in residential neighborhoods.

Also:
As usual, there will also be updates from the WHCA board of directors.

This meeting is your bi-monthly chance to have your voice heard. Like something that we've done? Come say so! Don't like something? Well, we need to know. Have suggestions for something that should be done? Most definitely let it be known.

We hope to see you there!

WHCA September General Meeting & LITH Neighborhood Forum

The Woodland Heights Civic Association has bi-monthly General Meetings. The upcoming meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at 7:00 PM in the Hogg Middle School cafeteria.

This meeting will have the added dimension of offering a Neighborhood Forum to discuss the plans for the 31st annual Lights in the Heights festival. The upcoming Meeting and Forum, like most of our General Meetings, is open to all who wish to attend, whether or not they are Members of the Association.

The Association’s Board of Directors and related committee members will be on hand to entertain all discussion points as they pertain to the LITH festival. The goal is to provide a platform for all those wishing to express comments or concerns about the LITH events as outlined in this newsletter.

We understand in such a diverse neighborhood as ours, perceptions and expectations can vary, but it is our hope this forum will foster a constructive dialogue amongst neighbors. The Board will listen to those varied opinions, learn from our neighbors and, if appropriate, act on comments or criticisms from the stakeholders in the neighborhood.

Of course, the LITH Neighborhood Forum will be part of our regularly scheduled General Meeting and subject to the Association Bylaws. If you are curious about those Bylaws, they are all on the Association website at https://www.woodland-heights.org/bylaws/.

To be heard you must attend. Please plan to attend.

Harry McMahon, President
Woodland Heights Civic Association

WHCA General Meeting Tonight!

The March General Meeting of the WHCA will take place tonight! That's Tuesday, March 20th at 7pm in the cafeteria at Hogg Middle School, 1100 Merrill. 

The focus of this meeting will be the election of a new board of directors for the 2018-19 fiscal year. Over the past seven weeks the nominating committee has sought out candidates to run for the board. Now that nominations are closed, the final list of candidates is as follows:

• President: Matt Reynolds (current President-Elect)
• President-Elect: Harry McMahon
• Deed Restrictions: Melissa Sternfels
• Communications: Michael Graves (Incumbent)
• Membership: Jay Francis, Kelly Hare
• Treasurer: Sharon Greiff
• Beautification: Stephanie Riceman
• Security: Cody McGregor
• Infrastructure: Matt Johnson (Incumbent)
• Secretary: Debbie Hall

This meeting is your once a year opportunity to meet the candidates and cast your vote for who you think should help steer WHCA for the coming year. Come let your voice be heard!

Nominations from the floor of the meeting are not allowed. All WHCA Board members must be current homeowner members of the WHCA, and the VP of Deed Restrictions must also be a licensed attorney.

WHCA General Meeting - July 11, 2017 at 7:00 p.m at Lucky's Upstairs

It’s summertime, and school is out! 

As a benefit to our membership and the Woodland Heights community, the Woodland Heights Civic Association is hosting the July General Meeting at Lucky’s, located at 2520 Houston Ave, just at the edge of Woodland Park.

In addition to hearing updates from our neighbors and the board, we will sample some of the many appetizers from Lucky’s new and very much improved menu! And don’t worry about getting thirsty, nonalcoholic beverages also will be provided.

We look forward to seeing you there!

WHCA General Meeting Reminder

We want to see you there!

The next WHCA general meeting is set for Tuesday, March 21, at 7 p.m. at Hogg Middle School Cafeteria. The key item for the meeting is election of new WHCA Board members for the 2017-18 term.

The following positions are up for election:

• President (presides over board meetings, oversees all business and operations of the Association)
• President-Elect (president in waiting for the 2018-19 term)
• Treasurer (handles the WHCA's accounting, must be proficient in accounting concepts and software)
• Secretary (prepares minutes of WHCA board and general meetings, maintains books and records of the WHCA)
• VP, Beautification (responsible for nominating yard of the month, proposing and executing other beautification projects)
• VP, Communications (responsible for maintaining the website and preparing and distributing the newsletter)
• VP, Deed Restrictions (responsible for monitoring land use and deed restriction issues in the neighborhood, must be a lawyer licensed in Texas)
• VP, Infrastructure (responsible for monitoring all infrastructure issues in the neighborhood, such as the recent sidewalk construction and METRO issues)
• VP, Membership (sign up new members each year, maintain database of members)
• VP, Security (responsible for managing the Constable program and contracts)

If you would like to nominate yourself, download the nomination form, fill it out, and email it to the nominating committee at pat@flagstonemortgage.com. Nominations must be submitted by Monday, March 20th. Nominations from the floor are not permitted.

Please note: to be considered for any Board position, you must be a paid member of the WHCA prior to election. Thanks!

Urban Farmer Richard Hall Speaking at Next WHCA General Meeting

Richard Hall, longtime Woodland Heights homeowner and well-known urban farmer, will be our featured speaker at the Nov. 15 meeting of the Woodland Heights Civic Association. The meeting is open to the public. It will begin at 7 p.m. at Hogg Middle School, 1100 Merrill.

Dr. Hall will explain in detail the operation of his family “farm” in Woodland Heights. ”We’ve got hens, grow herbs and veggies, plus bananas,” he said. The Hall family maintains several compost bins, they recycle rain and condensation from air-conditioning to water their gardens. Dr. Hall is a wonderful speaker and we're very excited to have him.

We hope to see you there.

General Meeting Recap – July 2016

Unfortunately we weren't able to video record this month's meeting but here's a quick recap of what transpired. First, our guest speakers:

• The City of Houston gave a short presentation regarding the pending sewer line work the 900 blocks of Bayland, Highland, Omar, Merrill, and Redan. The old cement sewer lines will be replaced beginning in the August/September timeframe. The entire project is expected to take 2 to 3 months.
• Neighbor Jim Weston of the I-45 Coalition spoke briefly to inform us there have been no new developments in the I-45 project and the next step is the as yet unscheduled last public meeting prior to the project start. That meeting is expected to occur sometime at the end of the year.
• We also heard from the organizers behind the Pierce Skypark, a project seeking to transform the Pierce Elevated portion of I-45 into an expansive green belt similar to the High Line in New York City.
• Finally, we heard from a representative from State Rep. Carol Alvarado's office who told us about a town hall the Representative is hosting about the Zika virus. The event is Wednesday, August 3rd, 6:30pm at the E.B. Cape Center Auditorium, 4501 Leeland St. Come learn about the virus, what you can do to prevent infection, travel warnings, and understand the pregnancy risks.

Next up, WHCA business:

• Treasurer Melissa McKee updated us on the association finances since the last general meeting. If you have specific questions please feel free to contact her directly.
• VP of Security Steve Howard let us know the Constable Patrol program is short subscribers to sustain a second shift. If you haven't renewed your membership yet please do so as soon as possible.
• There were no updates regarding the traffic management plan. As soon as the WHCA receives information we'll share it on Nextdoor and the WHCA news page.
• The historic district guidelines for the Woodland Heights, though in very early stages, are moving forward. If you have questions about these please refer back to our previous article on the matter.
• A point of discussion was raised concerning the board's authority to allocate funds as allowed under the current bylaws.