Archive for the Northwest News Category

I am going to assume, like me, most of you were completely blindsided by the extreme level of impact COVID-19 is having on our daily lives and economy. If on the other hand you are clairvoyant and predicted we would all be sitting at home glued to red bubbles on maps and watching in awe the bizarre behavior over toilet paper, then call me. I have some stock picks I want to ask you about. The Bad News Earlier in the week, Patrick Jankowski, senior economist with the Greater Houston Partnership gave his prognosis for the Houston Economy in 2020. To be blunt, it was depressing. He said, we are in a recession, that for Houston it won’t be as

Coronavirus, trade wars, market corrections, Brexit, upside-down yield curves and more are all stacking up to ensure our economists will have their hands full as they assess the Houston, U.S., and global economies. They will forecast the condition of jobs, real estate, trade, and markets for the upcoming year. I anticipate some head scratching and lively debate as we attempt to make sense of economic peculiarities currently facing Houston and the World. On April 2, at the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce Economic Outlook Forum, Patrick Jankowski of the Greater Houston Partnership, Jesse Thompson of Federal Reserve Bank-Dallas, and Dr. Luis Torres of Texas A&M, Real Estate Center will present their facts, findings and predictions on the state of the

Many are not aware the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce has a 501c3 charitable not-for-profit foundation. This foundation was created in 2005 to serve as a vehicle for community members to invest in community and economic development, and in turn receive a tax deduction. The Foundation has historically served to fund two main initiatives, the Green Medians Project, which landscaped the middle medians on Cypress Creek Parkway and education scholarships for students graduating from Aldine, Klein and Spring ISD. The Green Medians Project was completed in 2010, basically leaving education scholarships as its main source of activity. The Chamber has a long tradition of giving to education scholarships to high-potential students with lesser economic means. By providing scholarships to our

  Own, support, ignore. These are the three decision buckets the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce board of directors will utilize to determine the future direction of this organization. There are no shortage of issues and objectives for which the Chamber can undertake. It is particularly the case in our area where there exists a large concentration of residential development combined with a void in governmental responsibility to address many of the needs residents seek. Therefore, lines of responsibility start to blur when people reach out to the Chamber and other organized groups looking for solutions to their problems. Obviously, the Chamber cannot solve all problems, and quite frankly, the limitation of resources and lack of authority only allows for

Proposition 8 on this year’s general election ballot authorizes the creation of the Flood Infrastructure Fund (FIF). With only one dissenting vote, the 86th legislature passed Senate Bill 7, authored by Senator Brandon Creighton (R-Conroe) and sponsored by Representative Dade Phelan (R- Beaumont), a comprehensive bill putting the State of Texas permanently into the game of funding flood resiliency. This bold step by the legislature appropriated $2 billion dollars for a variety of flood related measures. $793 million of that appropriation will be directed to the Texas Water Development Board (TWBD) to fund future flood infrastructure projects statewide. The Houston area stands to gain over $200 million of this funding which will help supplement the $2.5 billion Harris County voters

Several months ago, I wrote an article about the efforts afoot to once again address the community concerns around the condition of Cypress Creek Parkway. The article generated a fair amount of response, all of it positive. The article also generated additional inquiry about the nature of management districts, a potential solution to these concerns. This article is dedicated to help answer some of the questions about what a management district is and what it does. What is a management district? Paraphrased from Chapter 375 of the Texas statutes, “a municipal management district (MMD), or improvement district are necessary to promote, develop, encourage, and maintain employment, commerce, economic development and the public welfare in commercial areas…of metropolitan areas of the

As we move closer toward formulating strategies for the Chamber, we begin to identify and categorize the opportunities and initiatives the Chamber elects to take on. Going forward, anything the Chamber does must be able to demonstrate one, how it benefits its members, and two, benefits the local economy. Those two qualifiers must be answered before any initiative can advance. If a proposed initiative passes the initial sniff test, then we decide if this initiative is a direct or indirect benefit. A direct benefit is a program, service or project the Chamber undertakes whereby the member receives a direct benefit to his/her business as a result of participating in said activity. An example of this would be attending our Networking Breakfast.

From the first day I started working at the Chamber, not a meeting has gone by where someone does not raise the question of “What is being done to fix 1960?” While recently cleaning out the Chamber’s storage closet, we stumbled across old printed Chamber newsletters from the 1980s proclaiming the need to clean up litter, bandit signs, business signage and reduce crime along the FM 1960 corridor. Here we are, some thirty-plus years later, and although we have changed the name of the thoroughfare, planted landscaping down the middle of the street, held countless committee meetings, and volunteered hundreds of hours, we are still having the same conversation today about how to “Fix 1960.” Much has been attempted and

A Legislative Update   Like Hurricane Harvey, something unprecedented has occurred in this 86th Texas legislative session, and yet seems to be going completely unnoticed. Two months ago, I wrote about the efforts of the Houston Northwest Chamber of Commerce and its involvement with the Harris Plus Flood Solutions to move bills through the legislature to fund ongoing Hurricane Harvey recovery and future flood mitigation projects. Well, much has happened since February, and it is all good news. On March 11, Al Haines, Chair of the Flood Mitigation Task Force and I, along with a delegation of other members of Harris Plus Flood Solutions, traveled to Austin to testify in front of the Senate Committee on Water & Rural Affairs.

Coca-Cola, McDonalds, Ford Motor Company, Budweiser, and the list goes on. Corporations around the globe spend billions of dollars every year building and promoting their brand. The mere mention of their names generates a visual and more importantly an emotional connection to their logo, symbols (i.e. Budweiser’s Clydesdale horses), and their products. If executed properly, collectively all these associations and images create a unique identity, one that sets them apart from their competition. For instance, when I see a photo of a Big Mac on a billboard, I know with 99.9% certainty I am not thinking of the King, and of course the company believes I “deserve a break today” and that I use that break to make a pass