How important a person views details affects how they select who they vote for. If details are important to them, they tend to want to know more about the people running for an elected office. Others may be more interested in who is supporting that person and what they want to do in office. To some, every idea has merit and should be given a chance – “It would not be proposed if it could not be done!” Those that want to know more details about: Who, What, When, and How. All of these questions are important for any project to be properly defined and not left to the imagination of others.
Elected officials and the Management Team must ensure that due diligence has been done for the “Who” that has been selected to be involved with the project. The “What” defines the project and the number of experienced developers interested in that project should provide a gauge into the size of the risk it is. A sign of desperation is when developers are not interested in the project as defined and a “developer” is selected without proper due diligence in the vetting of that company.
The people currently serving on the Jersey Village City Council has proven that they either don’t know how to conduct “due diligence” or they are so desperate to do something quickly that don’t care about the details. Either case is bad for the residents of Jersey Village. For several years, JVCC has been selling the idea that “Village Center” was going to be this great location that will be like “none other”. A drawing of how it will look got a lot of people “on board” and it got some people elected because they “believed in the project”.
The truth about the developer having no financial backing came out several months after the May election last year. Those council members were so desperate to start the project that they were asking if Saul could put up a $100K, then as low as $1K toward the project so they could enter into a $10.5 million contract for the city hall building.
Details regarding the research done by the Jersey Village Concerned Citizens Committee was posted on this website last May following Bobby Warren’s Village Center Meeting. That research raised serious questions about the truthfulness of what was stated during that meeting and about their real project experiences.
During the meeting on February 21, JVCC agreed to enter into a Letter of Intent with KHJR Real Estate Advisory Services, LLC to revive the Village Center project. It is clear that they still have not done due diligence on this company or they would have found out that KHJR has not presented the truth about their project involvements.
Year after year, they continue to pay for studies and designs for projects that never get completed. Jersey Village residents pay some of the highest property taxes in this part of Texas and city council refuse to provide Homestead and Over-65 Exemptions like Harris County and the City of Houston.
Not one person on City Council or the Mayor deserves to be re-elected this year or next year! Time for new people that will listen to all the residents’ concerns.