07/30/09 10:47am

Texas Watchdog has released an interactive map that links to the financial disclosure statements of Houston’s city council members, including Mayor White. Each disclosure, which covers calendar year 2008, includes an accounting of real estate holdings by officials and their spouses — along with the usual stocks and bonds and mutual funds and business interests stuff.

Unfortunately, the map itself appears to note only the council members’ primary residences — not any strip centers, spec McMansions, apartment complexes, land grants, or tool sheds that might be lurking in their portfolios. For those goodies (if any), you’ll need to poke through the linked personal financial statements.

The statements, which state law requires council members to complete, are broken into 2 segments; real estate holdings are listed at the end of the first. Of course, for the more sophisticated investors in the City Council crowd, the more interesting properties are likely to be held under the name of some sort of business entity — like, say M/A Khan Holdings LP. You’ll find that sort of info in part 2.

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04/09/09 10:36am

LETTING THE TIRZS FLOW Work on public improvements connected to the 4-million-sq.-ft. Regent Square project in North Montrose will begin by October, and work on the actual development will begin by a year later, according to an agreement approved by city council yesterday. GID Urban Development Group, the project’s developers, will be reimbursed for $10 million of its work on public streets and sidewalks through the Memorial Heights TIRZ. What’s next? “[Mayor] White said he generally has shied away from such public-private development efforts, but would continue to review opportunities on a case-by-case basis for distressed properties, such as Sharpstown Mall, and for other major projects already in the works that have been delayed or canceled amid the national economic crisis. . . . The mayor made note of a number of properties to which he hopes to attract developers, including in the Leland Woods TIRZ near Homestead Road and East Little York, the Near Northside TIRZ immediately north of downtown Houston, and in the Fifth Ward TIRZ. Other potential incentive packages may not be administered through a TIRZ, he added.” [Houston Chronicle; previously in Swamplot]

04/01/09 11:31am

What’s inside that special $10 million life-support package for the Regent Square development City Council is considering?

The reimbursements proposed for Regent Square would be administered through the expansion of the Memorial Heights Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone. Under a TIRZ, property tax revenues generated within the boundaries are frozen at a specified level. As development occurs and property values rise, tax revenue above that level, known as the increment, is funneled back into the zone to pay for infrastructure and capital improvements to help attract further development.

Under the plan before council today, part of the increment will be given back to the specific developer rather than the redevelopment authority that operates the TIRZ.

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03/10/09 3:47pm

READY FOR THE NEXT RACE Last week, Realtor Karen Derr had to give up her plan to run in the special election for City Council’s District H seat, after she failed to meet the paperwork deadline to get herself on the ballot. Abc13’s Miya Shay tracks her latest plans:Derr’s retooled website now says she’s running for At Large 1. That’s the seat currently occupied by Peter Brown. The election is in November, so it’s certainly not too early to start. The joke at City Hall is that At-Large seats are usually easier jobs. If your sidewalk is mangled or you need a speed bump, you call your district council member. So, what do At-Large council members do? Mainly, with no district to manage, At-Large council members are allowed to address issues they are passionate about. It might be housing, public safety, city finances, or some less well defined passion. Then there is the other passion I find politicians can’t live without: running for another elected office.” [Houston Political Blog; previously on Swamplot]

03/06/09 10:53am

THE REALTOR AND THE MISSING PAPERWORK After selling her Houston real-estate business last year, Realtor Karen Derr became one of the first candidates to announce an interest in running for City Council in District H, even before it was clear Adrian Garcia’s former seat would be available. But her ramped-up campaign missed this week’s filing deadline, so Derr won’t be on the ballot: “Derr tells 11 News that she thought the city’s deadline matched a state deadline for special elections, which is not until later this month. ‘To tell you the truth, we’ve been out with a very grassroots campaign on the trail and going to three and four meetings a day,’ she said. ‘We dropped the ball, evidently.’” [11News; previously in Swamplot]

11/07/07 12:23pm

Slow-motion news flash: City Council has just voted to put off a vote on the mayor’s whipped-up-in-a-jiffy highrise traffic ordinance for 90 days. The ordinance would have required traffic-impact studies for projects “very much like” the proposed Ashby Highrise, and allowed the director of public works to force building-size reductions as a result.

Guess those signs will be staying up through the holidays.