President’s Desk: November 2021

Howdy WHA Members, 

While here at WHA we update our Development Map about every three years, election officials must update theirs every ten thanks to redistricting. The districts as enacted during the 87th Legislature include State House (Plan H2316), State Senate (Plan S2168), and Texas Congressional (Plan C2193). For a convenient “before” and “after” snapshot of how this impacts you or areas you are interested in, check out this web-app from the Texas Tribune 

Another major part of redistricting for the greater West Houston region is happening in the Harris County Commissioner’s Court. Last Thursday the court voted to adopt the “Ellis 3” map in a 3 to 2 party line vote. This map swaps the bulk of the geographic areas of precincts 3 and 4. This means that the majority of people who voted for Ramsey in the 2020 election will get to vote again as residents of the redrawn precinct 4 where Cagle faces re-election in 2022, which now leans more Democratic than both the old precincts 3 and 4 did. The new map also slightly increases the amount of precinct 1 territory in greater West Houston (north of 290 inside the 8). Meanwhile Fort Bend County has delayed their redistricting plans until November 4th.

Click on Map to enlarge image

State Senator John Whitmire spoke at the WHA State and Local Updates Luncheon on October 14th. Whitmire spoke at length about crime, regional mobility, and infrastructure projects in West Houston and argued that many of these issues are beyond party politics. Special thanks to our Sponsors and Quality Growth Partners: Allen, Boone, Humphries, Robinson, LLP, BGE Inc, Howard Hughes Corporation, Johnson Development, LJA Engineering, RG Miller Engineers, Caldwell Companies, Costello, Inc. DEC, EHRA Engineering, Houston Community College, Inframark, Jones | Carter, Masterson Advisors, META Planning & Design, MetroNational, Mischer Investments, Parkside Capital, Schwartz, Page & Harding, LLP, Texas Children’s Hospital, Twinwood, and Vogler & Spencer Engineering. 

Later this month we will be hosting our final event of the year. Our 2021 Annual WHA Awards Ceremony on November 17th at the Hyatt Regency Houston West. We look forward to having you join us at the Hyatt Regency Houston West from 6-9pm. The evening will feature live music, recognition of our 2021 Sustainability Stars recipients, graduation of our current WHA Rising Leaders, announcements about incoming WHA Board Members, and presentation of our 2021 Star of Excellence Award.

We also have some committee meetings coming up including Government Affairs (11/8), Sustainable Infrastructure (11/9), Water Resources (11/18), Parks, Recreation & Open Spaces (11/30), and our next WHA Board Meeting is November 16th. For more information about an upcoming committee meeting please reach out to me or Jennifer Boggs 

Thank you for what you do for the Greater West Houston Region!