Howdy WHA Members!
It’s rodeo season! Though you might not have thought it given the February weather. In addition to some wicked weather, last month brought us decreasing COVID numbers but increasing crime numbers. Mayor Turner held a press conference about the new crime reduction initiative “One Safe Houston” where he said, “Violent crime is a public health crisis.” The initiative will focus of four key areas: Violence Reduction and Crime Prevention, Crisis Response Teams, Youth Outreach Opportunities, and Key Community Partnerships. From a West Houston Association perspective, public safety is an important part of quality of life across the region. One aspect to consider for us is “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design.” Many concepts from CPTED are already part of the quality development WHA advocates for. Moving forward we will be digging deeper to see what we can do to provide leadership on this topic across the region to increase public safety. Meanwhile we are working with Chambers of Commerce to get the public safety discussion happening across the region.
Next week, on March 9th we will be holding our Harris County Update with David Berry. Harris County was the only large county in Texas without an appointed administrator or manager — until now. Come join us as Harris County Administrator David Berry talks about this newly created position, the roles and responsibilities of his office and staff, and what some of the 2022 priorities are for the county. Dr. Tina Petersen, the newly appointed Executive Director of the Harris County Flood Control District, will be in attendance, so this event is a great opportunity to meet her as well. If you have not already registered, please do so as soon as possible.
If you missed it, our 2021 Annual Report is up on the WHA website. You can view it as a PDF or a digital flipbook. Later this month we will have a new WHA trifold that you will see on the tables at our upcoming events. Special thanks to L&P Marketing for donating the time and resources to work on the new Tri-Folds with us!
In the meantime, we encourage you to be a part of improving quality of life here in West Houston by participating in one of our committees. Sustainable Infrastructure is meeting March 8th, Government Affairs on March 14th, Water Resources Committee on March 17th, and our Membership Committee is meeting on March 18th. You can reach out to the committee chairs or WHA staff for more information on how to get involved!
Thank you for what you do for the greater West Houston region!