3rd Quarter WGNA Meeting Summary 7/27/18 K.Agee

Our 3rd quarter WGNA meeting was held on 7/26/18 at the Hollabaugh Recreational Center, 3925 W. Walnut St. The meeting started at 7:00 p.m. and was chaired by District 6 City Councilman Robert Vera who was acting on behalf our President Ricardo Rocha (who came in later).

Councilman Vera is also WGNA’s Treasurer, and he reported that we have a total on $1,626.11 in reserve. There were no withdrawals since the last quarterly meeting on 4/26/18. Roll call indicated all officers present except President Rocha.

Ken Agee, acting Secretary, read the minutes of the last meeting and gave updates from the Old Business section of this quarter’s meeting (mostly about construction activities at the old Wyrick farm, former Raytheon campus, and Hypermart property.

Assistant City Planner Rick Vasquez was the first speaker. He provided an overview of the upcoming bond proposals, which will be put up for a vote in one of the 2019 elections (either in May or November, depending on some details). There will be four “bond hearings” coming up, in which city residents are encouraged to attend. The City of Garland website has details for all four meetings, but the one of interest to us will be held on Saturday 8/11/18 at the Hollabaugh Rec Center, 3925 W. Walnut, starting at 2 p.m. Current proposals for Hollabaugh include upgrading the parking, the gymnasium, and possibly upgrading a meeting room to include kitchen facilities.

The next speaker was Steve Oliver. Steve is a Professional Engineer with over 30 years’ experience in the City’s Streets Department. He is currently the Streets Dept Director. He had a short computer presentation that covered the various street and alleyway upgrades in District 6 (also the boundaries of our WGNA organization). Some of the challenges for our area are the fact that most of the (concrete) streets were constructed in the 1960’s and 1970’s and they are reaching the end of their lifespans at about the same time. Meanwhile, the 2008 recession had limited the budget for maintenance. Typical budgets for streets during the years 2010-2013 was about $10 million per year, but in 2018 it’s up to $26 million, so they are finally able to catch up a little. Future budgets also look good, so they expect this trend to continue.

Steve encourages us to let them know if there are problems with streets in specific places they might not know about. They have a smartphone app called eAssist which can provide them with precise geographic locations. The phone number for reporting street issues is 972-205-3555, and their email address is street@garlandtx.gov.

Next speaker was Jermel Stevenson, who is the Directing Manager of Parks & Recreation. He also manages the Cultural Arts Center and even oversees those decorative median displays on our major streets. Jermel and Councilman Vera recently teamed up to make it possible for the Hollabaugh Rec Center to have Wifi internet connections for computers, which might open up possibilities for streaming information during meetings, etc. They also worked together to lock the parking lot after hours to prevent apartment dwellers from using up the valuable parking spaces at the Center. Both projects will be monitored and applied to other Rec Centers once all the bugs have been worked out. Parking is one of the shortcomings for Hollabaugh, but Jermel warns that it is a constant battle to find the correct balance of “green space” for outdoor activities versus this kind of need. There will probably be further discussion about this subject during the upcoming bond meetings.

The final guest speaker was Rudy Morales, who is a housing inspector for the Housing and Community Services department. Rudy had a computer presentation covering various city-sponsored projects for homeowners. Most of these programs come to Garland in the form of Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) which is a Federal program administered by HUD to help impoverished citizens.

Ø Minor Emergency Repair Grant: Designed to help older homeowners (age 62 or older) with health & safety related issues like replacement of an air-conditioner, hot water heater, gas or sewer line, handicapped hardware, etc. It is limited to $5,000, but there are no expectations for the money to be repaid unless the homeowner sells or transfers the house within 5 years of the upgrade. Owner-residents not over the age of 62 may also be eligible if they are declared disabled by the Social Security Adminstration.

Ø Single-Family Home Rehab Program: Provides up to $25,000 to qualified owner-residents, although it must be repaid with 5% interest. There are lots of restrictions to this program (example: owner must make less than 80% of the local median income as defined by HUD) so it is probably best to contact the City (972-205-2130) for details.

Ø New Construction Home Infill: You may have seen these homes around town, were the City buys up blighted property in areas zoned for single-family housing. They construct new modern homes (minimum 3 beds, 2 baths, energy efficient) and sell them to qualified buyers. The buyers must meet various HUD requirements such as income, mortgage qualification, and completion of some required homeowner training). Again, it’s best to call City Housing at 972-205-2130 for details.

President Rocha gave a tentative overview of the upcoming Neighborhood Night Out. WGNA intends to participate, possibly with the help of the Iglesia Cristiana Bethel Church (3525 Lawler). This statewide event will be done this year on Tuesday evening, October 2^nd, starting about 7 p.m. Keep checking back with the www.wgna.info website for updates.

President Rocha adjourned the meeting at 8:34 p.m.

Next meeting is scheduled for October 25^th at the Hollabaugh Rec Center, 3925 W. Walnut St, starting at 7 p.m. in the main meeting room.