Subject: Jersey Village City Council Actions
Issue – Those running for a council position or currently sitting on council make promises about their great ideas for our city to get residents to support their plan. Then, they never accept any responsibility when it turns out to be a bad plan.
This burns me up. Back in 2011, my husband and I went to the Citizens Fire Academy and Mr. Curtis Haverty pushed the idea to us that the train stop for the high-speed train to Dallas would have a train stop in Jersey Village by the side of 290 where Jones Road ended. He said that the train stop would jumpstart retail, restaurants, and shops in that area near the train station. Curtis said we just needed to build the Jones road extension across 290 and connect with 529.
Well, he convinced us to vote for him and to support that plan. The Jersey Village City Council used the money they had access to and worked with Harris County to get Jones Road extended to 529. That project was not presented to the voters for approval. Curtis now likes to tell people he was the key person in getting the Jones road extension completed. Perhaps in time, that may turn out to be beneficial to JV; however, it has yet to be the case.
It has been over 10 years and during that time, JVCC has been forced to buy 43 acres of land for $8.2 million because of what type of businesses they wanted to be built there. They have wasted about $500,000 on plans with a developer that could not afford to build anything there. The $478k for the architectural drawings for the planned new city hall in that project got JV residents nothing. They continue to want more money for a feasibility study after 50 developers have turned them down. Even after many of the developers gave them the reasons why they would not consider doing the kind of project they want for that area. And they still want to pursue a project that includes building a new city hall there even after over 900 registered voters signed a petition to force a vote on any movement of city hall from its’ current location. Those on the city council will not listen to what the residents have told them they wanted City Hall on this side of 290. And I have not even said anything about the spending at the golf course. That is for another time.
When we moved to Jersey Village in 2006, we had such high hopes and wanted good things for the city. Now, I have lost confidence in anything productive ever happening now.
Deborah Mauriello, Jersey Village Resident