| Meetings and Events | Unless otherwise specified, all meetings are held at H-GAC conference rooms A, B, or C; 3555 Timmons, 2nd Floor, Houston, TX 77027 (map) |
| | | Director's Welcome | | This is the February 2008 issue of the Houston-Galveston Area Council's (H-GAC's) Community and Environmental Planning (C&E) E-newsletter. We hope this monthly newsletter will keep you up to date on the wide variety of community planning, economic development and environmental programs going on at H-GAC. We want this information to be useful and are very interested in your feedback! If you have any questions about any of our programs, please feel free to contact me at 713-993-4560 or Jeff.Taebel@h-gac.com. |
| H-GAC Ranks #1 in Loan Amounts for 2006 | The Houston-Galveston Area Local Development Corporation is a major player in the Houston small business financing arena. With an approved loan portfolio of over 54 Small Business Administration Loans totaling over $45,000,000, the H-GALDC ranked 1st in dollar amount and 11th in loan volume in the city of Houston during 2006*. The H-GALDC currently manages a loan portfolio of over 300 loans totaling over $159,000,000 across the state of Texas and continues to set production records on an annual basis. These loans have created over 3,600 jobs for the citizens of Texas and have helped over 300 entrepreneurs realize the dream of operating a successful business. *Source Houston Business Journal 2008 Book Of Lists and the U.S. Small Business Adminstration |
| Local Watershed Group Working to Improve Water Quality in Dickinson Bayou |  To the novice environmentalist, Dickinson Bayou appears healthy: beautiful homes and trees line its banks, various birds wade in the water, and people are out on it using their boats or jet skis. But according to the state's environmental agency, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the bayou and its watershed are impaired for contact recreational use (such as swimming and waterskiing due to high concentrations of bacteria). One group working to find out why is the Dickinson Bayou Watershed Partnership. Composed of a variety of stakeholders with a common interest in the project and for the watershed in which they live, the Watershed Partnership's mission is to protect, preserve, and restore the quality of the Dickinson Bayou Watershed and its communities said Bud Solmonsson, watershed coordinator for the Texas Cooperative Extension. Since 2005, the group has sought to determine if the impairments are due to pollution from point (permitted facilities) or nonpoint (unregulated stormwater and direct deposition) sources. Read the full story here. |
| H-GAC Awarded FHWA Grant for Ecosystem-Based Infrastructure Projects | H-GAC received funding from The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to develop a geographic information systems (GIS)-based environmental resource identification map for its eight-county region. This effort will assess critical conservation areas, integrate resource and conservation planning through a regional decision-support system, and identify high-priority mitigation locations. It represents the area's first regional, systematic identification of critical environmental resources on a scale that is necessary for transportation and conservation planning. For more information on this grant program, and to see other projects that received funding, visit the FHWA website. For more information about the H-GAC project contact Meredith Dang, C&E's Land Use Transportation Coordinator. |
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| 2007 Parks and Natural Areas "Best of the Best" Honor Awards Competition |  H-GAC is pleased to announce the 2007 Best Practices in Parks and Natural Areas Honor Award Winners. These organizations have made a significant impact on planning and project implementation for parks and natural areas in the region. Arthur Storey Park Stormwater Detention Basin and Park (pictured above) received a "Best of the Best" award last year by: - Changing the way flood control is planned and designed, along with the uses of flood control properties;
- Demonstrating a watershed project that integrates flood control, parks and natural areas;
- Providing essential open space for a population-dense part of the county;
- and exemplifying inter-governmental partnership.
This year's awards presentation will be held on Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at H-GAC's Board of Directors meeting at 10 a.m., with reception following at 11 a.m. at H-GAC. |
| TreePrint Workshop - March 31, 2008 | Trees provide a host of benefits to our region: >>Storing $721 million worth of carbon >>Generating $109 worth of environmental benefits per person per year >>Saving $90 per household in energy costs per year >>Removing more than 60,000 tons of air pollution per year The TreePrint workshop will provide decision makers with the tools necessary to quantify the economic benefits of urban forests and help foster community involvement and awareness of urban forestry programs. Register for this two-day workshop to learn about the benefits of developing a regional TreePrint project, facilitated by Eric Douglas, Principal Consultant with Leading Resources, Inc.. March 31- April 1, 2008 TxDOT Training Facility 7600 Washington Avenue, Houston, TX 77007 For more information or to register visit www.h-gac.com/treeprint or contact Michael Merritt with the Texas Forest Service at mmerritt@tfs.tamu.edu. |
| National Recycling Coalition's 27th Annual Congress & Expo Call for Papers | 
The National Recycling Coalition's (NRC's) Annual Congress & Expo is a great place to exchange new ideas about recycling, waste prevention, and composting. The NRC is looking for volunteers to present as part of a concurrent educational session; help organize and/or moderate a concurrent educational session; host a table during the Table Topics Networking Lunch; or provide a table-top display at the Recycling Education Networking Breakfast. If you would like to participate, visit them online for more information. |
| An Uncertain Future for Plastic Bags |  China launched a surprise crackdown on plastic bags on Tuesday [Jan. 8th], banning production of ultra-thin bags and forbidding its supermarkets and shops from handing out free carriers from June 1. Supermarkets and stores will be prohibited from giving free plastic bags to customers after June 1st, as well. Instead, such establishments are directed to charge for any non-banned bags to discourage their use. The extensive ban also will bar the use of bags "in passenger trains, vessels, buses, planes, stations, airports and scenic spots," according to the announcement made on the general office's Web site. Read the full story here.
The recycling industry journal Resource Recycling provided an international bag ban update in its latest e-journal reporting that plastic bags continue drawing the ire of municipalities and countries all over the world. In addition to China's actions, Australia moved closer to banning single-use polyethylene shopping bags, with Environment Minister Peter Garrett announcing that he will either impose a levy or ban plastic bags outright by the end of the year. Area retailers oppose the move. The tiny town of Huntingdon, Quebec became the first municipality in the Canadian province to ban plastic bags at retail establishments. The bylaw for the town states that no retail outlet can distribute plastic bags. New York City Councilors have decided against a ban. Instead, the council adopted a bill that creates a plastic shopping bag recycling system, requiring stores of 5,000 square feet or larger to provide an easily accessible, visible container for customers to return all types of plastic film. The plan requires that retailers create a reporting and accounting system to track bag collections, as well as compelling them to solely distribute plastic shopping bags that contain the printed message: "Please return this bag to a participating store for recycling." And lastly, Texas based Whole Foods Market announced that it will end the use of disposable plastic grocery bags at the checkouts in all of its 270 stores in the U.S., Canada and the U.K. with the goal to be plastic bag-free by Earth Day, April 22, 2008. Beginning immediately, each store in the Company will work on depleting stocks of disposable plastic grocery bags at the checkouts and will help raise awareness about the benefits of reusable bags. Over the next three months, stores will reduce plastic grocery bag inventories and increase selections of reusable bags for purchase. Whole Foods Market has encouraged shoppers to bring their own bags for years by offering a refund of either five or ten cents at the checkouts, depending on the store. The Company also sells different types of reusable bags, ranging from canvas to its new large, stylish "A Better Bag" - a sound environmental choice since 80 percent of its content comes from recycled plastic bottles and it is an economical choice as well since it costs only 99 cents. Click here to read the entire press release. |
| Center for Houston's Future Asks for Your Comments | 
Center for Houston's Future is partnering with Houston PBS to produce a series of town hall meetings. Houston Have Your Say is a partnership that will produce two live, sixty-minute Town Hall style broadcasts this Spring. Each program will explore a single issue, allowing for in-depth treatment of each topic. Potential topics include immigration, health care, education, and urban growth. Visit their website in February to vote on which topic most interests you! You can voice your opinion now by taking a moment to say what is most important to you about Houston's environment by accessing their quality of life survey. The purpose of the survey is to obtain individual views on the multiple attributes of quality of life and environment included in the Center for Houston's Future Quality of Life and Environment Indicator Report. Your feedback will help them plan for future action and issues of the report. |
| Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo | 
Gulf Coast Green 2008 Symposium and Expo is the leading green building conference in the Gulf Coast region. This year a two-day symposium on building targeted to design and construction professionals will be held on Thursday, April 3 and Friday, April 4, 2008 followed by a two-day consumer Expo on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, 2008. The consumer expo will be Texas' first green building consumer expo featuring certified green building products and materials. The Consumer Expo is free and open to the public. Gulf Coast Green 2008 is hosted by the Houston chapter of the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment (AIA COTE) in partnership with the Greater Houston Area Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Houston Chapter of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), and the Houston District Council of the Urban Land Institute (ULI). For more information please visit www.gulfcoastgreen.org. |
| Estate Planning Options for Family Forests - February 28, 2008 | 
An important component of managing your family forests is planning for the future, today! Planning today will leave a legacy for family and the next generation to enjoy tomorrow. Experience has shown that by not planning your estate, more complex and detrimental issues will be facing your surviving spouse or heirs. Keeping up with current tax laws can help protect your investment. Whether you own 1 acre or 100 acres, provide accounting services to timberland owners, manage natural resources, or just want to gain a better understanding of estate planning - this conference is for you! Click here for the registration form. If you have any questions or comments about this Texas Forest Service conference, please contact John R. Warner, 936-273-2261 or jwarner@tfs.tamu.edu. |
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