McAfee Bail Bond Hearing Postponed to June 10

Call to action

Bond has been set at $500,000. McAfee’s lawyer is trying to change it to $100,000 at a hearing now scheduled for next Thursday, June 10, sometime after 9 am at the 339th Distirct Court, Judge Maria T. Jackson, Harris County Criminal Justice Center, 1201 Franklin, 14th Floor, Houston, Texas 77002.

Anybody who can free the time should make an effort to appear at the hearing to demonstrate to the Judge that neighbors do not want McAfee back at Tangley.

To read state representative Ellen Cohen’s letter to the assistant district attorney click here.


CIVIC CLUB
ANNUAL MEETING

A Summary

Thanks to the concerns about the Civic Club’s effort to change our deed restrictions without a vote of homeowners, the Civic Club annual meeting was well attended. All 100 chairs were filled and as many as 25 others were standing at the back.

Civic Club leadership, however, packed the agenda with political speakers (mayoral candidates Locke and Parker; state rep. Cohen; and a rep. of council member Clutterbuck) and presentations on a preservation initiative, stop Ashby high rise and other matters before presenting what they described as their alley initiative. The alley initiative was their term for their effort to change our deed restrictions without a vote of homeowners.

The Civic Club’s efforts to change our deed restrictions without a vote of homeowners sparked more questions, comments and discussion than all other topics combined. Concerned homeowners asked numerous deed restriction questions. These included “why are the deed restrictions posted on the Civic Club website different than those filed at the courthouse; why doesn’t the Civic Club organize a homeowner vote on the modifications they want to make to our deed restrictions; and why doesn’t the Civic Club post the courthouse-filed deed restrictions on their website.”

Civic Club leadership generally was non-responsive to the numerous questions asked about deed restrictions. Only two board members spoke in response to these questions and their answers primarily were general in nature and reflected a view that the deed restrictions need to be modified in order to protect our alleys.

Conclusion: If you are concerned about the Civic Club making unilateral changes to your deed restrictions without a vote of homeowners, you should express your viewpoint to them in an e-mail addressed to both info@southamptoncivicclub.org and president@southamptoncivicclub.org.

∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗ ∗
OUR CONCERNS:
In recent years, the Club has evolved from an informal organization of neighbors helping neighbors into a corporation controlled by a small group with minimal regard for the Club’s voluntary membership. As a result, it now appears less than half of the homeowners in Southampton belong to the Civic Club (it is difficult to know for sure because the Club is secretive about such matters).

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DEED RESTRICTIONS:

Most recently, the Civic Club unilaterally attempted to modify our deed restrictions without a vote of all homeowners. They are doing this by promulgating their own version of our 1923 deed restrictions and then pursing legal action and threats to put their version of deed restrictions into place. It’s no wonder less than half the homeowners now appear to be Civic Club members! top of page

SHCC TRACK RECORD:

Since 2004, the Civic Club has made a number of decisions of dubious value to the neighborhood. These include:
(a) an effort to impose a management district on our neighborhood which would have resulted in higher property taxes to pay for services which should be provided by the City of Houston anyway. ...more
(b) support of the Rice Village Bolsover street sale which encouraged area high rise development actions and resulted in an ugly dumpsite near our neighborhoods western border. more...
(c) a proposal to change our three foot easements into rights-of-way owned by the city (an attempted property grab from homeowners). more...
(d) a strung-out effort at deed restriction renewal which focused on the creation of a property owners association with the potential for effectively increased property taxes much like the poorly thought out management district. top of page

BYLAWS:

The Club bylaws put into place in 2004 allow an entrenched Board of Directors to maintain control rather than members. This was done by not providing for membership votes on basic matters such as:

(a) additional directors/officers (the Board of Directors have the sole ability to select as many additional directors/officers as they please).

(b) officers (directors select officers not elected by members).

(c) bylaw amendments (only they can change the ground-rules),

(d) dues levels (they can raise them to whatever they want)
...more
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NEW ON THE BLOG:

An Open Letter to Chris Amandes



HIGHLIGHTS:

"West U Examiner reports on lawsuit"

...more


"Easements such as those in Southampton could not be treated as rights of way..."

—Gary Dzierlenga, senior assistant city attorney...more



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